Day 28 - Queen Elizabeth's Leadership Posted by SuperJuniorF , Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 9:39 PM, in

Lesson had to start late today because one of our trip members had high fever last night and was sent to the hospital today to give blood samples. Therefore at 1pm, the class start with Miss Neo showing Elizabeth on the screen. I was rather happy that the lesson started late because I was really in need to catch up with my sleep. ^_^

During the lesson, Miss Neo only showed us some scenes in the movie that potrays Queen Elizabeth's leadership.

After showing the scenes, she started to teach the second last chapter on Communication. In this second lasy chapter on Communication, I was taught that there are 4 communication styles. They are readers, listeners, manipulators and viewers style.

1) Readers

Readers style are for those who prefer print, send messages and ask for responses in writing. They prefer to read and study ideas rather than listen.

2) Listeners

Listeners styles are for those who prefer to be told the short version of a story. They remember what they hear, rather than what they read.

3) Manipulators

Manipulators style are for those who require a hands-on approach to take in messages. They want to show the actual physical problem rather than tell or report about it.

4) Viewers

Viewers style are for those who love drawings, videos, diagrams, flocharts and models.

After lesson, we returned to our dormitories with an assignment in hand. We were suppose to write a reflection on Queen Elizabeth's leadership in the movie. Here is what I wrote for the first paragraph! If you like it, you can find me to read more! ^_^

"Queen Elizabeth is a leader that possesses many great qualities. She has a vision of earning her people's love through respect, understanding and being unprejudiced. As a leader, she accepts the opinions of her advisors but at the same time thinks rationally and decides on what is the right thing to do." ^_^

Reflection

I find the show very interesting and rather meaningful. As a female leader, the scenes we watched really illustrated how superior and respected she was by her people. After the show, I really looked up to Queen Elizabeth and was inspired to be a leader as good as her. Back in Singapore, I think Mr Lee Kuan Yew is one leader that I can think of that has good leadership qualities. In the past, he led Singapore and built Singapore to what it is now. Without him, I do not think Singapore would be on the international stage doing extraordinary things.

Day 27 - Leadership is key Posted by SuperJuniorF , Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 9:48 PM, in

Today, Miss Neo returned us our test papers before going through the common mistakes made by the class. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that I have not only pass my test but have in fact, gotten 85/100! I felt a strong sense of fufilment as the memory of me cracking my head during the test was still vivid. After going through the paper, we were given a revision practical test to practice for the upcoming Practical test on Thursday.

After our lunch break, it was back to class for lessons. Miss Neo taught us the chapter on leadership and motivation. Throughout my 18 years of life, I realized that even though most of us were not blessed with the ability to lead, we can be taught to lead. A leader allows the ability of his group member to compliment each other rather than to hinder it. In a way, having leadership qualities is akin to having the key to unlocking the vast potential in any group of people.

Today I also noticed my school fence.

Shards of glass were cemented to the edge of the wall, functioning as a make-shift fence. It was indeed an eye-opener for me, as I have never seen anything like that locally. What was really inspirational was that even though the chinese are less well-off compared to Singaporeans, they refuse to give in to circumstances and come up with ideas like this for their daily life. Perhaps we need a little less affluence in our life for creativity to fill in the gaps.

Reflection

I realized that to be a leader, you have to be a good team member first. This is similar to my experience as a captain in my school's Track & Field team: no matter how good you are individually, your team would not win if you are the only one succeding. Training myself would create only one good athlete. Lead the entire team however, and I would have twenty fine athletes! However I also believe that as a leader, I must be firm and strong. I must do what is right rather that what is popular. By doing what is right, I will be able bring my group or whatever team that I am leading to success.

Day 26 - Jiang Han Lu, Food Paradise Posted by SuperJuniorF , Monday, March 29, 2010 at 10:52 PM, in

Today was the day I went out with my whole new bunch of friends! It was my first time going out with them. It felt weird at first but after about 5 minutes, I got used to them! We took a bus to Jiang Han Lu. It was my second time taking a bus in Wuhan but my first time taking the bus without the WUST students. The bus ride was so cheap! It only cost about 2RMB per ride which is about $0.40. Which means that the passenger can go as far as he wants as long as he pays 2RMB! ^_^

When I was on the bus on my way to Jiang Han Lu, I saw this lady knitting. She was able to knit at such a fast pace without even looking that I got amazed by her and took her picture! ^_^

So after 30 minutes, we finally arrived at Jiang Han Lu. The place was full of people. It is as just as crowded as Orchard Road! After I walked for a while, I saw workers setting up a billboard! It was the first time I saw workers changing a billboard manually. It was at that point of time did I realize that it was tedious work. The workers had to climb up and down the ladder for more than 50 times if I were to count the number of strips in the billboard. Good thing there are 5 workers working together. Good thing in Singapore, billboards are starting to become electronic. ^_^

The first fire station I saw in Wuhan.

The first thing I did at Jiang Han Lu was to buy food! My friends brought me around to try the food at the area. There were many food stalls but I was only able to try some because the food sold were non-halal. At least the food I ate were delicious! ^_^

Eating red bean beancurd!

Halal satay!

Spicy Beancurd! p.s. Taste like Tom Yam Soup

After eating at the roadside stalls, I accompanied my friends to an IT mall to buy laptop covers. The IT mall was rather empty. No people came to buy anything from the mall. It was the total opposite from the IT mall at Guang Gu. The IT mall at Guang Gu was so crowded that sometimes I had to walk shoulder to shoulder with a stranger! So after getting the laptop covers, we headed for Ajisen Ramen to have our dinner! Compared to Singapore, the prices were much cheaper although it may seem costly to the locals.

Scallop Ramen!

After dinner, my friends and I just went to walk around and relax for the day. After all, Miss Neo did give us a day off today from class because she knew we were tired from the trip to Wudang Mountain! ^_^

Reflection

Today I saw the most interesting thing. I woman running in the middle of a moving traffic.

Just by looking at this picture, it seems like a road in Orchard. However the difference is that there are people in the middle of the road. This is happening because no action is taken if people jay-walk in China! In Singapore, if a person is to be caught jay-walking, he or she would be fined. In primary school once, I remembered getting caught for jay-walking and I got punished by my teacher to write "I will not jay-walk again" many times on a piece of paper. To me, jay-walking is wrong and very dangerous but I still do it because it is the most efficient way to cross a road! In China, even the zebra crossing has no power. Even when a pedestrian is walking on the zebra crossing, the vehicles do not stop! The most they would do is to slow down to the point where the car is moving very slowly but it will still not stop. May be that is why the people in China are jay-walking everywhere! In Singapore, the zebra crossin has the power. Vehicles would stop if there is a pedestrian crossing the road. From just this example, we can see a difference between Singaporeans drivers and the drivers in Wuhan. ^_^

Day 25 - To The Top of Mount Wudang! [Part 2] Posted by SuperJuniorF , Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 11:46 PM, in

As I woke up this morning, the weather was quite cold. That was not the only problem. The electricity in my room bail out on me! So I had no choice but to borrow Si Hao's toilet to bath. After bathing, my whole body was shivering to the extend that I wore 3 layers of clothing to stayed warm. We had our breakfast and finally set out to climb the Holy Mount Wudang! As I took my first step to climb the mountain, I also took out my camera to take my first picture on the mountain! ^_^

As I continued walking further, I was still so amazed by the view that I decided to take a picture of myself and the view together! ^_^

The picture I took was when I was at the Gold-Gold Hole. We had to go through the Moon Goddess To The Golden Summit, which is where I need and want to reach! Here are some of the things I saw as I was walking to my next checkpoint, the Yellow Dragon Summit.

At the Yellow Dragon Summit checkpoint, I rested for about 5 minutes and continued my climb with 3 of my friends to the top!

After climbing for about 30 minutes, I reached a checkpoint whereby the path is split into two. Basically there are two paths, a 1.40km path and a 1.80km path. From what I was told by the tour guide, although the 1.40km route is shorter, it is the harder path to climb because it is steeper compared to the 1.80km path. However, due to ego and wanting to challenge ourselves, together with my three friends Si Hao, Noor and Irfan, we decided to climb the tougher route! ^_^
As we were walking up, there was construction going on at the mountain. The workers were putting cement into the rectangular stones with the round pointed head. I think they are trying to built a stone fence to prevent people from falling over the mountain and making the path safer.

This was what I meant by stone fence. ^_^

So after a long climb, we thought that we had reach the Golden Summit but we were wrong! It was only the First Heaven Gate! I was tired but I could not possibly stop here. So after resting for about 5 to 10 minutes, we continued to climb up the mountain! ^_^

Just when I was about to continue climbing, I saw something red far ahead of me. Then I realized something. Before the start of the climb, I remembered that there were 3 heaven gates and we are only at the first one! So my guess is that the small red thing is the Second Heaven Gate! Good luck Fathullah, you have a long way to go! ^_^

Look, it's ice! ^_^

While we walking on a straight path, we encounted something interesting. It is a fallen tree blocking the path! I wonder if there are such interesting encounters if we were to walk the other path. ^_^

So after crossing the tree, we reached Huixian Bridge. It should be a checkpoint since there were shops selling food and drinks. Despite the checkpoint, my friends and I did not stop to rest and continued climbing up the flight of steep steps. At this point, I came to realize that there were no elderly climbing this path! Only children, teenagers and adults were taking this path. Maybe the path is really tough to handle since I even saw someone vomitting.

So after a tough climb, we finally reached the Second Heaven Gate! ^_^

We did not rest and continued to climb up the mountain till we reach a split path again. However this time, the path is not part of the path that was created for the climbers. We took a detour and skip the Third Heaven Gate! ^_^

So after the detour, we went back on track to head for our destination, the Golden Summit! As I was walking to the Golden Summit, I saw many tents! The Taoists monks must be living there. Not only that, I also saw the Taoist classic library! I wonder what kind of books they have in the library. Maybe they have a book that teaches kung fu! However due to time constraint, I was not able to take a look at the library. A little bit more before I reach the top! ^_^

After walking past the Taoist Classic Library, we finally arrived at the Golden Summit ticketing area where our tour guide was waiting for us with our tickets. Just for your information, each ticket to the Golden Summit costs 20RMB which is about $4. At the ticketing area, I saw a few interesting things such as the Bell Tower!

As I was walking to the top, this are some of the pictures that I took. ^_^

These are locks of the people who climbed up to the top of the mountain. The locked their locks on the chain along the stairs as a form of remembrance that on has reached the peak. It was also said it is also used to give luck to their loved ones.

So finally after 2 and a half hours of climbing, I finally reach the Golden Summit! ;D

Touching the bronze bars will give luck. ^_^

So that was the end of the journey to the top of Mount Wudang! When I was standing at the top of the mountain, I felt satisfied despite the cramps I had in my legs. Now I understand why the people who were going down the mountain had wide smiles on their faces. It was the smile of satisfaction! As I went down the mountain, it was horrible. The cramps on my legs were really hurting. However I managed to get back to the foot of the mountain safe and sound and we were finally leaving Wudang Mountain back for WUST. ^_^

When I finally arrived home, the first thing I ate was Halal satays! After 25 days of stay in Wuhan, I finally found halal satays to eat. What an end to the weekend. ^_^

Reflection

Honestly after today's climb, I felt quite disappointed with my fitness level. Although I did reach the top of the mountain, I could not go down the mountain at the same pace as my friends because I had leg cramps. Each time I walk down a flight of steps and see workers carrying sedans or workers carrying raw rubbish down the mountain, I had mixed feelings. I felt happy that the were able to cope with their work but at the same time, I felt very sad that they have to do such hard labour for money. I am sure that whatever hard labour they go through everyday is almost the same or maybe even worse off compared to the construction workers in Singapore. However the difference between them and the workers in Singapore, the workers in Singapore are much more well paid compared to them. I am sure that if they get a chance to work in Singapore, they will seize it. The strength, patience and determination potrayed by these workers are just out of the ordinary. I am sure most of the Singaporeans do not have even half of the will these workers have and I really respect them.

I found this at the top of the mountain on my way down. Just thinking about the sentence. It generates crazy thoughts. ^_^