From January 17th to 22nd 2011, I joined this sister school program between SMAN 1 Bogor and Hua Yi Secondary School Singapore with 19 other students. The purpose of this program is basically to share each country’s culture and experience the learning process in each school. I had one of the most amazing weeks in my life, because I got a lot of new valuable experiences and friends abroad. That was once in a lifetime chance to experience such things and that’s why I will never forget it.
Monday, January 17th 2011
It was finally the day I went to Singapore for the first time. I was really excited I could hardly sleep the night before. We were told to gather at school by 4.30 am because our principal, Mr. Drs. H. Agus Suherman, M.Pd.would like to give a farewell speech first before we left. Exactly at 5 am we left our school by bus, heading to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. We arrived at 7.20 am and waited for our flight at 9 am. The plane finally took off and then landed at Changi International Airport at 11.40 am. It was drizzling there as we arrived in Singapore. We were soon greeted by Mr. Shaheful Mansor, a teacher from Hua Yi who guided us throughout the program, and some Hua Yi students (which are also known as Hua Yians) whose face were familiar to me because they went to our school last year. We then headed to our hostel located at Jurong. On the way there, I saw many high buildings with sophisticated architectural designs. I saw Singapore Flyer and Esplanade too, ones of the most famous icons of Singapore in which I wish I could visit someday the next time I go to Singapore.
We arrived at River-Valley High School Hostel at around 1 pm. Before checking in, we had our lunch first in the hostel’s big dining room. After that we went to our room. Each room consists of 2 people. So there were 5 rooms for the boys on the 3rd floor and 5 rooms for the girls on the fourth floor. I was in one room with Azizah. Every student was given a smartcard to access the elevator. The girls' smartcard couldn't be used to access the elevator to the 3rd floor where the boys were and vice versa. It was kind of high-technological. We had some preparation time until 3 pm and went to Jurong Point, a Heartland mall located not far from the hostel, on foot. On our way to Jurong Point we passed the River-Valley High School. I saw some very big fields of football, basketball, and volleyball. There were still some students who did sports too that afternoon despite the pretty bad weather. Jurong Point is quite a big mall with shops that sell some branded stuffs in there. We wandered around the mall and shopped for around one and a half hour. On the first day of my trip in Singapore, I bought a pair of shoes and some chocolates already. Lol. In the afternoon we went back to our hostel and had our dinner there before going to bed.
My first impression of Singapore was that Singapore is a very clean country whose citizens are very diligent and disciplined. They respect and are very tolerant to each other despite the fact that Singapore is a multiracial country that consists of three main races, which are Chinese, Malay, and Indian. It is one of Asian developed countries worth to learn from.
Tuesday, January 18th 2011
I had a very great time that day. It was the first time we went to Hua Yi Secondary School. I woke up very early, afraid that I would be late. It was still 3 am in the morning! Anyway, the night before, we decided to sleepover in one of the girls' room together so we could have a chit chat and share many things. So, Azizah and I slept at Arin and Atika's along with Dhira and Annis. As the alarm rang, we had a small talk until 5 and went back to our own room to take a bath. Later every night during the trip, we did the exact same thing. As we know, Singaporeans are very disciplined and strict especially in time. When they say 7.30 am sharp, they really mean it and won’t give any tolerance to those who are late. We had our breakfast at 6 am and were picked up by a bus at 6.45 am. It was still very dark there in Singapore but many people were already on their way to their own work and school.
We arrived at 7 am at the school. Hua Yi Secondary School is a very big school. It has so many classrooms, several big fields, and one big canteen. At 7.30 am all Hua Yians have to attend a daily morning assembly which is held in a big hall. Unlike in Indonesia, the morning assembly there takes only around 10 minutes. So we attended our first morning assembly in Hua Yi that day. All students and teachers stood up in the hall and sang the national anthem of Singapore, Majulah Singapura. And then they all said the citizen pledge. After the morning assembly, we went downstairs to the school's cooperative. Mr. Shaheful was gonna give us the school's sport uniform. There are 4 different colors with different Olympic motto behind the t-shirt ,which are Fortius (stronger, red), Citius (faster, blue), Altius (higher, green), and Diutius (longer, orange). We got to choose the one we liked, and unlike usual, I chose the green one instead of blue because the color is just so good and it perfectly matches my shoes, haha.
We then were divided into a group of 3 or 4. Each group went to a different class for classroom experience. Aufa, Gusti, and I were in one group and went to Sec 3 EN class. There were 20 students in that class which were all still 15. The first subject we learned was Maths taught by Ms. Kuah. She was really nice and friendly, and the students seemed to enjoy the lesson very much. The next lesson was Mother Tongue Languange and so we went to Malay class. We didn’t find any difficulty in the class because Malay is not so much different from Indonesian.
Now there was this funny incident at Malay class. Aufa, introducing himself, said in Indonesian that his hobby was sepak bola (playing soccer). The teacher immediately told us that in Malay, they reverse the word sepak bola to bola sepak. And then there was a girl who asked him what his other hobby was besides bola sepak. His answer, made the whole class burst into laughter. He said basket bola instead of bola basket because he thought it needed to be reversed too, whereas the word bola basket remained the same in Malay hahahahaha! At around 10 am we had our recess accompanied by some Hua Yians who had been chosen before. From Sec 3 EN class, we've got Afikha and Aaisyah as our peer students. We bought some snacks at the canteen. After recess, we had flash animation class taught by Ms. Zaheera. It was the very first time I learned about flash animation and to me it was pretty difficult.
We arrived at 7 am at the school. Hua Yi Secondary School is a very big school. It has so many classrooms, several big fields, and one big canteen. At 7.30 am all Hua Yians have to attend a daily morning assembly which is held in a big hall. Unlike in Indonesia, the morning assembly there takes only around 10 minutes. So we attended our first morning assembly in Hua Yi that day. All students and teachers stood up in the hall and sang the national anthem of Singapore, Majulah Singapura. And then they all said the citizen pledge. After the morning assembly, we went downstairs to the school's cooperative. Mr. Shaheful was gonna give us the school's sport uniform. There are 4 different colors with different Olympic motto behind the t-shirt ,which are Fortius (stronger, red), Citius (faster, blue), Altius (higher, green), and Diutius (longer, orange). We got to choose the one we liked, and unlike usual, I chose the green one instead of blue because the color is just so good and it perfectly matches my shoes, haha.
We then were divided into a group of 3 or 4. Each group went to a different class for classroom experience. Aufa, Gusti, and I were in one group and went to Sec 3 EN class. There were 20 students in that class which were all still 15. The first subject we learned was Maths taught by Ms. Kuah. She was really nice and friendly, and the students seemed to enjoy the lesson very much. The next lesson was Mother Tongue Languange and so we went to Malay class. We didn’t find any difficulty in the class because Malay is not so much different from Indonesian.
Now there was this funny incident at Malay class. Aufa, introducing himself, said in Indonesian that his hobby was sepak bola (playing soccer). The teacher immediately told us that in Malay, they reverse the word sepak bola to bola sepak. And then there was a girl who asked him what his other hobby was besides bola sepak. His answer, made the whole class burst into laughter. He said basket bola instead of bola basket because he thought it needed to be reversed too, whereas the word bola basket remained the same in Malay hahahahaha! At around 10 am we had our recess accompanied by some Hua Yians who had been chosen before. From Sec 3 EN class, we've got Afikha and Aaisyah as our peer students. We bought some snacks at the canteen. After recess, we had flash animation class taught by Ms. Zaheera. It was the very first time I learned about flash animation and to me it was pretty difficult.
At 12 am we had our lunch at the canteen, then off we went to Marina Barrage. We were pretty tired on the way there, but the Hua Yians made the situation at the bus feel alive. They taught us a song called "The Vampire Song". It was actually quite an inappropriate song because it has an explicit content but it was fun to sing so we sang all the way, lol. They also taught us this cheers known as "The Bumble Bee". After all we just had some fun in the bus. Marina Barrage is a water reservoir that supplies the need of water of Singaporeans. The scenery there is so beautiful especially because it’s got Singapore Flyer as the background. We took a lot of pictures there. The next destination was Merlion Park which was located not far from Marina Barrage. The Hua Yians told us there were 3 kinds of Merlion statue: Papa Merlion, Mama Merlion, and Baby Merlion. The first one's called Papa Merlion because of its huge size that we can't take a photo in front of it with the whole statue captured. That one is located in Sentosa Island. The Merlion we visited that time is Mama Merlion. It has a smaller size than Papa Merlion's in which many tourists use it as the background of their self-pictures. The Baby one, is located not far from the mother. We took some photos there, and immediately went to our last destination, Chinatown, because of the tight schedule. Chinatown is a place where we can buy some souvenirs and Chinese stuffs with low prices. It was really crowded there. Most of the souvenirs I got from Singapore were bought in Chinatown. At 5 pm we went back to our hostel to have our dinner and rest. Overall, that day went really interesting and memorable. The friendly students of Hua Yi who accompanied us during the trip made me enjoy it so much.
Wednesday, January 19th 2011
We had to wake up very early that day because we had to do some preparation before performing an art performance in front of all Hua Yians after the morning assembly. We were quite nervous because we had so little time to practice. We performed 3 traditional dances, a Sundanese song accompanied by kecapi, and an ensemble. I think the performance went pretty well. When I asked some Hua Yians about their opinions on our performance, they commented that they were so excited and they liked it very much. I was so relieved and also happy to hear that. After the art performance, as usual, we went back to the classes for classroom experience. When I went to my class,the students were doing physics exam. They were all so serious and no one cheated. Not long after, the bell rang and Miss Nasuha came in, teaching us English. She was really good at teaching and I learned a lot from her. I could understand the materials she taught us easily.
At 10 am we had our recess, and, as usual, had some snacks while mingling with other Hua Yians. We went to science lab after recess to learn about polymerisation. In that class we made a paperweight and decorated it as we liked it with some dry leaves and seeds. I had quite a fun time there because I’d never done it before. Before lunch, we got 30 minutes to go back to each class again. I learned design and technology taught by Mr. Ng which later I found out as the class’ form teacher. He’s very funny and nice, and I really like the way he encouraged a shy student to speak. Design and technology is a new subject to me and I enjoyed it a lot. At 12 am we had our lunch and then left the school to go to Singapore Zoo at 2 pm. We wandered around the zoo for quite a long time, and I saw many new animals I’d never seen live before like hippos and kangaroos. I was so worn out as we reached our hostel at 4.30 pm and took a short nap before having a dinner. In the evening we went to Jurong Point again on foot by ourselves and came back to the hostel at 10 pm.
Thursday, January 20th 2011
We all woke up a little bit late that day as we were so exhausted after shopping at Jurong Point and having a chit chat all night long the night before. As we reached the school, we were told by Mr. Shaheful that the Secondary 4 students were going to have weekly exams and thus we went to a sports center instead to watch the Secondary 3 students having their swimming lessons that morning until 9.30 am. The swimming pool was so big and the water seemed so clear. We went back to school at 10 am and directly had our recess. After recess we had an outdoor activity which was flying fox. Because of most of the girls didn’t bring any t-shirt and pants, only the boys did the flying fox. Atika, the only girl who brought her pants tried it too. Some of them screamt at the top of their voice because it was their first time experiencing flying fox. They commented that the flying fox was a little bit scary at first yet fun and addictive. I wish I had bought some pants to try it too.
After having our lunch at the canteen, we waited for around an hour until the bus arrived at 2 pm and took us to Singapore Science Center. Singapore Science Center was one of the destinations I’d been waiting for and I wasn’t disappointed at all. It was like the coolest place I have ever visited. It was officially declared open by dr. Toh Chin Chye on December 10th 1977. It was built as an institution to promote scientific and technological education for general public dedicated to the world of science of all ages. There were so many cool, innovative, and fun technologies I’d never seen before. The place was designed in such way that’s really attractive to the visitors. We spent around two hours there but the time didn’t seem enough as there were still other sides I hadn’t explored.
The day was ended by having a dinner together with some Hua Yians and their principal at Eighteen Chef restaurant located at Fusionopolis mall. Before having our dinner we were taught by Mr. Benny Se Teo, the one who founded the restaurant, how to bake a brownie. We had so much fun as Mr. Benny explained us in a friendly, humorous way. In each dining table there should be a mix of SMAN 1 Bogor students and Hua Yi students, so we could share many things each other while eating the meal. During the dinner we played many games including truth or dare and took some pictures together. It was the time I started to realize that we’d made a friendship bond with the Hua Yians. We joked and laughed along and that made us become closer and closer each day.
Friday, January 21st 2011
It was the last day we went to school. We didn’t go to the classroom as usual, but to the design and technology lab with other SMANSA students. In design and technology class, we were taught by Mr. Tan to design and make our own glasses made of plastics. It was totally my first experience to design something and was pretty satisfied with the result. The process of the making of the glasses wasn’t easy though, but fortunately there were several Hua Yians who are already used to making such stuffs who helped us. After the design and technology class, we got the chance to come back to our class for the last classroom experience. The class I was in was having Geography lesson back then. When the bell rang, we had a short farewell by taking some pictures together with the whole class.
We immediately left school and went to Vivo City, the largest shopping area in Singapore, for a while, while waiting for the boys doing their Friday prayers nearby. From Vivo City we directly went to Sentosa Island by train. Sentosa is a very beautiful island with fine and clean beaches. We spent some time there by the beach, and then took some pictures in front of Universal Studio. Then, at 7 pm we watched a show entitled Songs of The Sea. It is a work of art, live cast, dramatic effects, and pyrotechnics set in the sea. People were so mesmerized watching the beautiful night sky of the beach where Songs of The Sea was showed. We had a really tiring and fun time that day. We went back to the hostel and packed our luggage first before going to sleep.
Saturday, January 22nd 2011
I could scarcely believe it was our last day already in Singapore as time flew so fast during the week. When we had our breakfast we were all ready with our own luggages and checked out of the hostel. Before going to the airport, we went to Japanese Garden first. Hua Yi Secondary School was celebrating its birthday and held an event named Sports Extravaganza. So, we all walked 3kms around Japanese Garden with all Hua Yi students and it was pretty exhausting. The principal and some other Hua Yians said farewell before we left. Some of them accompanied us to the airport. It was a hard day, because we had to say goodbye to those whom we’d become very close friends. We took a flight to Jakarta at 11 am and landed safely at Soekarno-Hatta airport at 1 pm.
What a one-week journey I had. I feel so grateful for having been chosen to join this program which gave me such a lot of experiences. The best trip ever so far!
No comments:
Post a Comment