Woke up to the sounds of the traffic behind our hostel today. I got lucky sleeping further away from the balcony, but it was audible nonetheless. Went out to the balcony with my bed hair and crumpled sleeping clothes to take some photos of the bustling street and then quickly ducked back in because I realized they could easily see me. -___-
No idea what this street is like, though. since I haven't started exploring yet. Couldn't get a clear shot of what the lady with the streetcart was selling either. Ice cream? Tofu? Soya bean milk? Fish sticks? Only time will tell.
At around 1030, left the hostel to a way better view of our surroundings. Since we arrived past midnight, the first impression of the place wasn’t the best, but it looked great in the day. Walked past a driving school (on campus!), hair salon, laundry place and then their version of NP’s Atrium, which was actually just an open space where students could set up their booths.
Hair salon and laundry place. There's about three laundry places around our dorm, but all the rates are the same, as far as we know. The hair salon features a really cheap haircut though, but their skill has yet been proven.
This is a public art display!
Okay, maybe not, but you sure can give them props for their creativity and innovation.
Directions to an on-campus clinic.
The China-equivalent of our Block 50 for the next month. Not as glamourous as the blocks back in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, but it's already pretty decent.
The view of the administrative block from the top floor of our classroom block.
Our very tired classs rep; a.k.a Shiling.
Trip mates across the hall! Eliza, Michelle and Eudora.
Our Project Management classroom. We got the better end of the stick, since our airconditioning unit is pretty powerful and we have a water dispenser in the classroom.
Went to take a look at our practical room too, and unknowingly stumbled into an on-going lesson. Oops.
Group A (Liangxun, Brenda, me, and Hanhui) in front of the adminstrative block. Pardon our squinty eyes, it was crazy sunny today.
We have barbed wire in Singapore, they have broken glass. This is what they have at the edge of their walls to prevent theives from climbing over.
After the surviving the severe heat from walking around the campus, we retreated back to our hostels to change and rest for awhile before heading back out to the supermarket.
We grabbed a few necessities at the supermarket, spending a total of RMB271.80, which is equivalent to approximately SGD54. After speaking to one of the China students who came along to bring us around, she actually commented that I spoke fluent Mandarin. Pretty awesome for someone who barely spoke any Mandarin back at home! I actually had fun playing translator for Diyanah and Sheila, although sometimes I couldn’t switch fast enough and ended up speaking Mandarin to both of them, heh.
Had lunch after that at Greenery Café (?), which is this really nice restaurant. A four-course meal (with steak and jewfish) came up to RMB148 (~SGD30) for two! I didn’t have it, though, since neither Weilin nor I wanted to have steak. I had this huge mountain of Japanese Eel Fried Rice instead that was only RMB29 (SGD6). The ambience there was great (albeit a little too dark) and the service was good too, although it might probably be due to us spending more than the average customer and being foreign too.
Much fail came about when Brenda and Shiling was trying to explain to the waiter how they wanted their steak. Apparently none of us knew how to say “medium-rare” and we left the waiter even more confused. Well at least we know we probably shouldn’t let Shiling or Brenda order food for us again, hur hur.
Spent the rest of the day back in the dorm room editing photos and blogging about our first day. Uploading the photos were such a chore since my photos were huge and the connection was mind-numbingly slow. :/
Had a dance practice at around 8PM with the other MDE girls for our performance. I used to laugh everytime some one danced to Wonder Girl’s Nobody, but now I have such respect for them. That dance is nowhere near easy, especially for someone like me who has two left feet. Nonetheless, it was only the first practice hopefully after three weeks, I’d actually get the hang of it.
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Another cultural shock! While having lunch, I noticed this metal chain under the table and got curious. After consulting Zhenzao, turns out it’s actually for customers to chain their bags down to prevent theft. Quite an innovation, I must say. I suppose this is the norm for the Chinese, but instead I thought it was for chaining pets. Not very logical, but it was really my first thought. Hmm.
It’s also great to see that China (or Wuhan at least) is so stringent when it comes to being environmentally-friendly. We had to pay RMB10 for each plastic bag we use at the supermarket if we didn’t have any recycling bags.
If there's one thing you can definitely praise the Chinese for, it's their innovation. They make use of the materials they have to get through with their everyday life (read: the plants to dry their clothes and the broken glass). We don't see this often in Singapore since we have a very good quality of life and don't need to make use of such methods. Yet they make do with what they have, which is something I find commending. Anyhow, it's still a form of recyling (in the case of the broken glass) and it definitely helps reduce wastage.
