nasi le-MAK: Project Taiyang Part II

Recently I have been quite busy with school work due to the many projects coming up so soon in the semester that I didn't have time to finish the 2nd post. Here we go!

Day 8

The day of R&R has arrived and we woke up at the wee hours of the morning to meet the teacher in charge and the tour guide at Hu Shan. We reached there at 8am and the whole bus load of us just crashed until the tour guide arrived and tried to garner our attention. Not trying to be mean to her or anything, but I guess most of us aren't really interested in Dabu in general for it was a rural area and did not serve of any boasting purpose to us in the future. It is unlikely that we would go tell a friend that,"Did you know? I went to freaking Dabu man, that shit is dope!" or anything like that. So our tour began as we hit the old streets of downtown Meizhou. Finally the banner was out of the bag as we took a photo in the freezing weather. The 寒流 just hit us and shit just got real.

Project Taiyang members!

We then proceeded to consume our lao shu fen for lunch. It didn't taste well for they literally gave chance on the spices, salt and dark sauce. It tasted like plain water and noodles. Luckily the meat in the meal salvaged the situation.

Looks ordinary, tastes ordinary

We went down to a temple for some prayers and we offered money so that our GPA won't we that bad.

Just 3 idiots

We continued our journey to Lee Kuan Yew's house and we had an eye opening experience that day. Little did we know that a man from such small beginnings can come to build and rule a nation one day. We are certainly in debt to him for how prosperous our nation is today.

In front of Lee Kuan Yew's house

Day 9

Today was the day we went nuts! In the morning we took a long drive to the farm whereby we were able to experience half a day of being a farmer. As we reached the area, Jing Ci and Rachel freaked out as the prospect of dogs loitering around the house. They clanged onto anybody they could find in the vicinity for dear life while the rest of us laugh at them. So the locals explained to us that dogs that loiter around would not bite but those which were chained up would murder people. That just didn't sound right to us so we proceeded with caution to clear the vines at the farm. Me being the genius destroyed a water pipe within the first 5 minutes of work.

Tried to show that I was doing some work

So i was banned from doing any work and reduced to the sidelines of watching people work. We were clearing the weeds of plants and clearing vines so that the farmers' crops could grow and prosper.

Singapore style, one person does work while the rest eye power

Next up, we took a long trek down to the cow sty whereby we were able to feed the cow! It was an exciting and refreshing experience as this is something we would definitely not be able to do in Singapore given the environment we live in. Everyone took turns feeding and we got better at choosing the type of vegetables the cow liked.

Hey I fed a cow

We climbed uphill to the pig sty and even i was shocked when the guard dog barked at me. It literally jumped over a few barriers and got as close to us as possible. Luckily it was chained up or we would have been his next meal. That summed up our visit at the farm as we had some lunch and proceeded to the village for our home visit.

Just a pig

The home visit was really an eye opener.

Just the view from our host's house

The host who received us was kind and friendly and she introduced to us the culture of tea serving when people are visiting. She talked to us merrily about Singapore and how we Singaporeans don't appreciate tea and only drink coffee or Milo. She then told us about the high cost of living in Singapore as compared to China whereby our items cost more than 5 times the items cost in China. She then brought us outside to make some 梅菜 whereby we need to mix salt and vegetable together. It sounds easy but trust me, it is just plain hard work.

Our host and the homestay team!

After spending a huge amount of time making the 梅菜, we proceeded down to the farm for some real farm work. Our job scope was simple, we had to water the plants that Auntie Ho planted. Sounds simple doesn't it? Oh no it really isn't. Have you ever took water directly from the stream? Yes, you have to fill buckets of water constantly, then use these buckets of water to fill another main bucket whereby you get to scoop water our to water the plants. So as Jenn, Jermaine, Chee Ming and Yujie was having fun watering plants and taking photos, I was busying scooping water out of the stream for the next 2 hours. I was so exhausted by then that I slipped on the rock staircase and had a minor cut on my hand. This made the exco panic and Wen Ge had to escort me to Rachel for her to administer first aid on me.

We then proceeded for dinner at a farmhouse opposite the school. Yes, I know I normally don't mention meal times but today was special. They decided to serve us Bamboo shoot which tasted like rubber. Since it was rude to leave a huge amount of a dish behind in China, we had to take turns trying to finish it. So when it was Chee Ming and my turn to eat it, we took a bite and went to the toilet to spit it out. It was really disgusting, the flavour of it was just plain weird. I am never going to eat another bamboo shoot in a long long time.

Day 10

Today was the last day I was going to be teaching and I was totally looking forward to it. As usual, we went to prepare in the morning and moved out to the school to teach. However after lunch we had some free time so the genius Jing Ci suggested that we take a hike up the mountains. She managed to convinced her new bff Jenn to follow her and dragged Chee Ming, Jeremy and I along. Pin Yi agreed to come along and Jing Yang decided to accompany us also. Jermaine overheard our conversation and invited herself onto the trip. And so the trekking party was formed as we began our ascend into the unknown.

When Pin Yi said,"爬山不用用到手." I thought he was joking when he said that but the first mini hill up was already damn shag. It was almost vertical and was tilting at at least 60 degrees. After we cleared the first obstacle, it was a long climb up. First, we reached the tombstone of a villager and we prayed to it, asking for its blessing for it was a cultural norm to do so in China. As Pin Yi and Jing Yang climbed the fastest, they were hollering at us to climb faster. However, we could not do so as Chee Ming was pes C, I failed IPPT and Jeremy, well was Jeremy. We tried our best but took multiple rest stops as the climb up the mountain was really tiring. The girls decided to stop a short distance from the summit as Jermaine could not take it anymore, they were afraid her asthma attack would act up.

Yes Singlet in Winter is a thing

Jeremy, Chee Ming and I pushed ourselves all the way up to the summit expecting a view. Yes, there was indeed a view. In between two trees, there was a small gap of even more trees on another mountain and the road sloped down. We were disappointed but we still took a selfie on the top of the mountain to end off our first and last trip up the mountains.

The trekking team

Day 11

This was pretty much an uneventful day until night when Yueqi forced most of the Taiyang members to play her 恋爱大挑战游戏. Basically it was simple, if you were a guy, she would put 2 girls name and let you choose one of them. She will pit girls against each other until you get the final answer. Apparently Jenn is some hot stuff in Taiyang followed by Yueqi. This was also the day the night clique was formed. This was a group of people who could not fall asleep in the cold and spent the night talking away. After Yueqi's game, we proceeded to play traffic light as we knew each others' dirty little secrets.

Day 12

This was the day I think we discovered gold whereby we found a surefire way of keeping the kids' attention the whole lesson. They actually loved the process of coloring whereby they would keep quiet and just sit down at their desk and start coloring. It was pretty amusing to us that kids who were normally very active and naughty would just sit down and color. We actually had time to go around the classroom and ask Jing Ci to take picture of us teaching the kids.

P3 team and the kids!

Day 13Last day of teaching

This was the day I decided to be screwed up and annoy the girls in the class. The kids kept on calling me 乞丐老师 so we decided to go all out retarded. Jeremy went to ask the class if they remembered what was 乞丐 in english. Of course they had already forgotten so i proceeded to remind them that is was beggar. So i asked them to repeat after me BEG-GAR.
“所以如果你们不努力读书的话以后会变成什么？”
"BEGGAR!!"

Day 14 Finale Night

Today was the day that we were totally shagged out. Starting from the morning, we left our house at 8am to hit the market to secure the ingredients and equipment required for Finale Night. Pin Yi had drawn out the groupings the previous night and divided us to have sufficient manpower to complete the different tasks. Jing Yang, Jing Ci and I were tasked to buy the spices for the ba ku teh and games equipment. Basically, the market situation in the morning is the same as Singapore. It was packed like sardines and people were busy taking plastic bags to wrap the stuff they were purchasing. We had the worst job as we could not find paper plates. Even when we found some in the store, they didn't have sufficient amount. We had to improvise and buy bigger bowls instead to fill the void of paper plates. By the time we were done running around town, the other groups had already finished the purchasing and were lepaking at the 炸鸡店.

After a quick lunch we head down to the school early to set up the game. Jing Yang, Pin Yi and I set up the game area while Grace went to the kitchen to set up her cooking stuff.

Shit was serious in the kitchen

So it started to rain and we were glad that we had a contingency plan whereby we shifted the games indoors according to the plan. We used the platform and stage area instead of the grass patches. Jeremy and I were the only ones in charge of the primary three as Jenn and Sara were sent to the kitchen to help out. Our job scope of the day was simple, we would not let them go out of hand and need to control them. I explained to the kids on how to play captain ball and proceeded downstairs to the platform to play the game. It was pretty interesting as the kids requested to split into guys and girls. And the girls were totally serious as they had a team talk and all

Hup Hup Fighting Fighting Fighting Fighting Fighting!

So the girls trounced the guys totally as the guys did not have team work. Halfway through the game, one kid fouled and I pulled him out of the game. So he decided to have a little fit and tried to push Jeremy off the platform. He totally pissed Jeremy off and he had to shout at him in order for him to stop. Eugene had to come over and help us out to calm the kids down. We cut short the game and went upstairs. However, the same situation occured whereby the "chicken game" we played could not catch their attention for a sustained period of time. As they get bored they decided to poke around the classroom and discovered the gifts. Since I had already told them not to do so since the beginning of the lesson I totally snapped. I shouted at them to get their asses seated down and Jeremy slammed the door to make it realistic. The kids quietened down as we left the classroom. We formed a mini-ploy with Jing Ci as we coaxed her to go into the class to say that we were pissed off. We even brought Jing Yang into the fray to complete our "Mediacorp" acting. By the time we went in they were crying. Jeremy went down to find Jenn and I was left alone with the kids.

This was the most important and highlight of the taiyang trip for me. I was the only teacher there and I had to pacify 18 kids, telling them that I was not angry at them anymore. The first step was to tell them to smile. I went from kid to kid and told them to flash a smile. I started with Shan Shan, He Zhen Pin and moved down the row. The kids began to laugh as I mingled with them. I realised this was what community service was about. It was not really about allow the community to learn. You have to learn with the community. I learnt today that I wasn't so bad with kids after all and maybe I had this charm that could calm kids down and I need to learn to utilize it.

We don't just teach, we learn too.

As the day wore on, we said our goodbyes to the kids and I promised I would return next year and continue to be their 小瀚老师. The finale night soon began as we went up stage for out group dance. I feel very appreciative of Grace as she single handedly choreographed the dance according to the MV she had watch. After the applause, it was time for the principal to give his speech and start his mini-concert. Eugene and Yu Jie then provided them ample entertainment as Yue Qi was the emcee making the programme flow.

The 3 stars of the night

Finally it was our turn as the 筷子男孩与沙拉 whereby Sara performed All About that Bass feat Pin Yi, Jeremy, Jing Yang and me.

Singing our hearts out

We went totally nuts as we showed off our flashy wave moves and harmony. I don't think the locals were impressed but we had the fun we wanted, The night concluded with the teachers having their own karaoke session. The primary five and primary six team were having a hard time saying goodbye as most of them were in tears. Of course I was also in tears after i saw my GPA.

We proceeded to the 炸鸡店 for dinner as Zong Wei and I paced across town in order to find fireworks. However, we learnt that in Dabu fireworks weren't allowed and was banned so we would be unable to find it. We then bought bubble tea for everybody as a form of celebration.