Another slow day for all of us. Had the whole afternoon off to catch up on our blogging (I didn't succeed; slow internet connection is slow) after a morning of lessons.
One of the things some of us were looking forward to the KTV nearby! Had a short meal at McDonald's before heading in. Ordered some original Chicken Thigh Teppan burger that Nicholas ended up eating because he's clueless like that. :/ I ended up eating the spicy version of the same thing and was super full from the drinks.
The KTV lounge was actually quite huge. Had to take a small lift (only about 7 people could fit before it buzzed us for being overweight) up to the third level where the rooms are. Walked past one of the rooms and it was really big! Probably bigger than our dorm room right now.
Anyway, we paid a total of RMB480 (~SGD96) for ten people, including food and drinks, which is really cheap considering how we have to pay twice the amount in Singapore, excluding drinks.
One thing is that we have to be really cautious though, especially after a guy from Singapore Polytechnic died after a brawl broke out in a China KTV lounge some time last year. Thankfully, nothing happened to us and we ended up having a really good time.
I usually don't sing in KTV lounges (ever), but I did this time, for some reason or another. Sometimes I think the company you're with really does make a difference.
Other than just Mandarin songs, there were some old English songs as well (that Yuhaw kept choosing) and some Kpop too. Was made to dance to Nobody by Wonder Girls because we're still learning it for the cultural exchange during the last week that we'd be here.
Left around 10PM, which was a little past our curfew. Was even worse when we found out that we couldn't take our usual route home since the gate closed at 9.30PM. Ended up taking the long way around in the drizzle to enter by the main gate. Crazy tired when we got back home, yikes.
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When we fell sick in Singapore, we always had polyclinics around the area and reliable pharmacies to get some over-the-counter medicine from, and our dear mothers to boil herbal tea for us.
Here, when we fall sick, we only have pharmacies where you can bargain the price for your medicine and canned herbal tea. We all swear by the canned herbal tea we can literally find everywhere here, called 王老吉, which is their answer to our Jiajia Liang Teh.
It makes me wonder how the local students staying so far away from home just to get a university education feel. Roughing it out here on your own, depending on your room mates, homesick and still having to handle your academic affairs. I really applaud them for their perseverance. Honestly speaking, what I'm going through these five weeks or so is nothing compared to their 3 years here.
But I suppose, education is really important to them. It's of utmost importance in our little red dot and very competitive, so to a country as large as China, it must be a hundred times worse. Especially now that China is becoming increasingly globalised, education is everything if you want to earn big bucks.
The locals here may not be as hygienic or courteous as we'd like them to be, but if there's one thing I'd like to commend them for, it's their perseverance and their drive to chase their dreams.
