Japan Exchange - Christmas!

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[I have missed out a lot of posts so I decided to restart from the beginning of where I had stopped.]

For the first post, please visit here.

The next day after I arrived I visited the local market and cycling around the island the next few days.

 
Good bargains can easily be found in the local market

Had a pleasant cycling trip in the cool winter breeze

Then I started going to high school with Kyohei my host brother. The thing is, my Japanese was very limited and I certainly couldn't follow a lecture in Electricity or Mechanism in Japanese. (Kyohei was a year one student in Electricity stream and I entered his class.)
He then tried to rearrange my timetable so that I could go for classes like cookery,calligraphy, arts etc.

It's near Christmas then so they were quite a lot of events. 
One of which is the Christmas tree lightning ceremony in front of the Town Hall.

  
Me and Kyohei hanging out at the ceremony

Then I was invited to another Christmas party. Hosted by the Tanegashima International Friendship Society.

The entrance to the venue

 
  There were more foreigners than I had expected. Some of them were even invited to gave a small talk.

 And then I was invited to talk as a special guest as well. I was really nervous because I had been told to speak in English but they suddenly requested it to be in Japanese.

And then there were some performances. This is the taiko (太鼓).

The youngest performer. 

Photo with the mayor and the president of the club. One thing which is worth mentioning is the name of the president which is 小浜 in Japanese and it reads O-BAMA. Funny isn't it.

After that they had this sing-along session and everyone went really high!

 
Some of the people I met. The very funny Sakamoto brothers and the girls from Leo Club.

[ This is the second post of this series of blog. More and more coming! Please come back (: ]

How to plan the public transport route in Singapore

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A few days ago I went to Singapore with my family. In fact it's a one-day quick trip because my dad wanted to repair his broken watch and my mum wanted to do some shopping. I followed them and thought that I could use this opportunity to pay a quick visit to two of my friends who have been working in Singapore.

I have numerously heard about the efficiency of public transport in Singapore but I have yet had a chance to try it out. Hence I decided to give it a try this time. The thing is, after all it is really efficient. And it was so easy to commute that I had no difficulties in finding my friends and running around the place. My friend even asked me how I managed to reach her workplace as it was quite obscure to foreigners.

It's not about my luck, of course. It's because I certainly took advantage of the technology. Singapore, like many other big cities, has a very extensive and well ordered public transport system. Therefore everyone can easily plan and decide the route they want to take before they depart for the journey.

If you are from Singapore, or planning to visit Singapore, there's definitely something you cannot miss out.


DISCLAIMER: I do not get paid recommending these sites/apps. I just want to share it out cause it's really useful.

First is the website http://gothere.sg .


Go to the webpage and type in the the directions you want. For example, let's pretend we are going to orchard road from city square mall.


From there you can select whichever method you want, be it bus or train or taxi. The good thing is it points out the fare and time needed. Then you will see the very detailed explanation below your option. Walk how many metres, take which line to where etc. 

This is easy enough but if you want to reassure the plan is correct. Double check it again in Google Maps.
Please take note that gothere.sg is only available in Singapore, whereas Google Maps is available for more than hundred of cities.


Go to Google Maps and click on Get directions as shown in the picture.


Now let's pretend we are going to Universal Studios from Orchard Rd. It features virtually all public transport mode in Singapore so don't worry if you are heading to somewhere offshore.


There you go. A detailed route information. You may want to print it out, just click the printer icon up there.

Alternatively, if you haven't got the chance to plan your route beforehand. You may still plan on-the-go if you have a smartphone. Let's say you have an iPhone.

gothere.sg is available from Appstore. 


1.gothere.sg icon  2.the main screen, select Directions and insert the details. You can opt to use your current location.  3.The same thing as in the website  4. There you go, a detailed instruction. 

Don't forget Maps in both iPhone and Android as well.

 
iPhone: In Maps, click on Directions in the bottom bar to use this feature. And select List on the bottom right hand side.
Android: Android devices have the most detailed transit information. If you have to take a bus, it even lists out EVERY STOP on the bus route so that you can get prepared before it reaches your stop.

* TRANSIT on GOOGLE MAPS  is not only available for Singapore but also lots of cities like London, Hong Kong, NYC etc. However, it's not available in Malaysia. Maybe it will, in the future.


I hope it's useful! More and more blogs are coming, I am re-blogging all of the events I haven't yet blogged during these few months. :)

Places I've been to

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I love travelling.
And I mean really LOVE.
I know it has been discussed like more than a thousand times, but travelling does do good to us.
The old cliche is certainly true: travelling might broaden up our mind.

In fact I always consider myself  very lucky to be able to visit quite a lot of places at my age.
Recently I have been digging up to my travelling photos and surprised that I started travelling when I was a little kid. Reviewing those pictures again now is definitely reminiscent of those journeys and they were indeed wonderful. I would like to share some of my hand-picked photos.


Gold Coast, Australia, the very beginning of my travels.
I first traveled with my family when I was four. In fact I was brought along in almost every journey my parents went. Little did I know all of these journeys will eventually become a greatest part and the most enjoyable part of my life. Some of them are special enough to be influential up until now.

Queenstown, New Zealand 
New Zealand is definitely the most tranquil and peaceful country I have ever visited. Queenstown is a small town located in the South Island of the country, famous for its adventurous activities especially the bungy-jump. Though I didn't make an attempt LOL. 

Jeju Island, Korea
The first and only skiing experience in my life. Lesson I learnt: no matter how chilly the weather is, you will still end up sweating like you've just come out of a sauna after the ski. 

Amsterdam, Holland
Legal drugs, legal prostituition and what's more? The Netherlands is the most liberal nation in the world. Dutch people are nice and friendly. And don't worry if you don't speak Dutch, they speak English even better than some of the Americans. :)

Paris, France
Paris, ah Paris. I should admit it was quite different from what I'd expected. Well maybe the stereotype was certainly correct. Rumours about rude Parisians, unclean streets are perhaps the consequence of a really heavy travellers traffic. At least I saw the Notre Dame and mounted the Eiffel Tower!
  
 London, United Kingdom
Elegant, posh and brilliant. London is a world city but also a friendly city. It was Christmas when I was there, and even on the busiest street in the city, there were locals greeting Merry Xmas to me! 

These are some of the most memorable places among those trips. I would certainly love to visit them again. In fact, I am so desperate to travel now. Buy me an air ticket and I could fly to anywhere in the world right now.
To be continued.

Growing up

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Today on the radio, I heard a very warm and pleasant advertisement regarding Valentine's Day.
It featured a man in his mid-fifties replying a letter for his daughter who stayed far away from him.
It was in Cantonese, and the way he read the letter out loud was indeed touching.
I managed to roughly recall it out.

I've been forgetting things these few days. And I keep thinking about old times. When you were a child and whenever you cried helplessly in my cuddle, I would placate you and you would eventually burst into laughter. I love watching you smile. Well, I heard about Valentine's day a lot recently. Is it approaching? I don't even know why, but it seems completely irrelevant to me. Maybe it's because there has been so many festivals lately and celebrations simply left us numb. 
Easter,Xmas Eve, Xmas, New Year, Chinese New Year, Ren Ri (人日), Yuan Xiao Festival etc.
And now Valentine's day is coming.
I still remember when I was in high school, we would always hang out on Xmas Eve and partied as if we  were mad. The excitement and joy was impressive. Of course I still celebrate festivals now, but not as passionate as in those days.
Let me ask you one thing, would you prefer a lover who put his great effort on this specific day, present you roses, fireworks, red wines and a romantic night? Or you want a lover who doesn't take Valentine's Day very seriously, but treat you well 365 days every year?
(Laughter) I assume you would pick option A. But as you are growing older, you will definitely fancy the latter option. In my opinion, love should be really simple, plain and without posh or elegant decoration. It's because love is a sheer pleasure from the deepest part of our heart.

Maybe he was true. Growing up means that we would never see things in the same angle anymore. Maybe something we once regarded as a piece of worthless junk will become invaluably precious to us. Or once we thought extremely important will mean nothing anymore.



To me, the most important at present.

Life is like a box of chocolates

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Yes, and we never know what we'll get next.


Maybe the Irish Black Chocolate is your cup of tea, but sometimes what you can get is just an almond pie.
And vice versa. 

We might have a lot of options, as offered by our journey through life. But it is very likely that all choices all not appealing. Then you'll have to compromise. And move on.
Because this is why we are born.

Sometimes time moves so fast that we could simply forget what had happened .. without pain.
All those memories, which seemed extremely meaningful and momentous back in those days, are deemed ridiculous and insignificant at the moment. 

And what I once had faith in, lost and regained, is completely nothing to me now.


I really wish I could get myself a ticket again like this.
And then I can go away. At least a while. To somewhere beautiful, and motivating.

Then come back with another myself.


I'm back!

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Yes I'm officially back from Japan.
You know, I originally brought along my pc so that I could update easily but then it ended I only managed to post a single blog entry before I returned.
So now that I would need to trace back those days and luckily I've got a lot of pictures reminding me what I have been through.
I need to thank to lots of people there which make my stay extremely enjoyable.


I am really grateful towards my host family. They hosted me with kindness and warmth and treated me as if I were their own grandson/son/brother. 
I really burst into tears that day when I was on the flight leaving Tanegashima. I really couldn't bear leaving them.
Even though I have returned, I am still in contact with them and some casual Skype calls can really cheer me up.


They even delivered Japanese rice to my home! I was so shocked because I only told them I liked Japanese rice once and they could remember it. It was sweet. 

Then I knew a lot of people in the school where I went to. Especially thanks to the E-1 Class of Tanegashima High School. Nearly everyone offered me help and treated me nicely during my 4-day-lesson at there.


This was the last day before winter vacation and I wore YE formal suit to give a bilingual speech at the school closing ceremony.
A lot of people told me they were touched by my speech so I guess I was pretty successful!

Lastly a special thank to us Fukuoka YCEs!


Yes we are awesome!! Made friends with you guys and it was really fun! And I wouldn't forget we laughed during the whole flight from Fukuoka to Bangkok!
So glad that we made it altogether :D

(this is an rough update about the trip and details will be added one by one, very soon!!)

These few days in Japan

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Yes, if you do not know my story yet, I’m here to tell you.
I participated the Youth Exchange programme hosted by Lions Club and eventually I got chosen and was transferred to Japan.
My host family stays in Tanegashima, an island off the southern part of Kyushu island. I took four flights including transit from KL to here. It was really quite a journey.
Tanegashima is a very beautiful island, with extremely gorgeous seasides, dazzling scenery, tranquil lifestyle, and generous people. It would definitely be a pleasant stay.

Gorgeous seaside

I was welcomed with open hands. My host family consists of four members, father, mother, son and daughter. They have been treating me very well. I have putting up quite fine with my host brother Kyohei Nishimura, he’s sort of funny and kind, and of course takes good care of me.



I was taken to the Tanegashima High School second day right after I arrived, and experienced something quite new there. As seen of TV, they can bring mobile phones, they do not have school rules about hairstyle and so on. What impressed me is that, they do have a lunch time at around 1pm and then will brush their teeth TOGETHER after meal, before next period.

Today I even went to the Christmas party hosted by Tanegashima Foreigner Society. It was quite enjoyable as there were a lot of activities and I even gave a speech there.. in Japanese!
Speaking of which, though I have learnt Japanese before, but I still barely speak it fluently. I can handle easy conversation, but when it comes to TV programs or formal events speeches, it was hardly understandable to me.




Will keep on learning and hopefully I can speak it fluently before I return home.
Stay tuned if you’re interested as I am gonna update spontaneously.
For more photos, please refer to: Facebook Album

尋找靈魂

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我說我最近很喜歡聽靈魂音樂，有人就問我最近是不是失魂了。
倒是沒有那麼嚴重，我的靈魂二十一公克（可能更重一點）還好端端的健在，只是我懷疑它是不是一有點不一樣了。

 如果人生要面對的成長，靈魂也一樣面對，那麼它會不會也變得很叛逆？跟外表的自己截然不同？或者你就跟你的靈魂有兩個不一樣的個性，各自生活？

可能真的是這樣也說不定。一個外形彪悍、要求一絲不苟的老師，內心可能住著一個小女孩；一個弱不禁風、體弱多病的小男孩，內心可能充滿著無限偉大的夢想；又或者是一個開朗、上進的乖孩子好學生，內心是個極度壓抑憤世嫉俗的憂鬱症患者。

 當然他們不是有多重人格，也應該不至於是精神分裂。每一個人本來都是在扮演多個角色，只是很多時候這些角色都融入得很完整，讓我們自己都毫無察覺自己原來那麼多變。

 所以我覺得唱靈魂音樂的人真的都不簡單，因為一個人的靈魂已經是那麼的錯綜複雜了，他們還得探索出歌曲的靈魂，再把它唱進每一個人的內心深處，讓人們平靜、安心。

 那是一種天賦。如果你要學，放棄吧，任你怎麼模仿、學習、鑽研都是掌握不來的。這是一個淨化人們內心深處被弄髒的心靈、平定腦海裡面上下起伏的思緒、放鬆人們緊繃心情的天賦。

 也是一個讓人們找到自己的靈魂的天賦。
我還沒找到，不過我會不斷地找下去，有一天我一定可以填補自己心靈上的那個缺口，讓我的人生完整。

First day in Vietnam

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I know it's been some time since my last entry before the holiday I'm so sorry because I was too occupied to update.I had a trip to Vietnam and taken a lot of pictures, take a look at them on Facebook if you're interested. I went to the Bookfest at Kuala Lumpur and managed to witness Giddens aka 九把刀 giving an awesome speech. Of course I bought like nearly 20 books there.
And then we are painfully reminded that school leaving exam is only 28 days away. Terrific.

We departed at 9.30am and landed in Hanoi at around 12.30pm. Then straightly we went for lunch. The meal served was Vietnamese Pho Noddles in a well-known restaurant.

Chicken Pho Noodle

And then we walked across the road and arrived at a famous tourist attraction named The Temple of Literature or Temple of Confucius.

The entrance to the temple

And amazingly we found that there were Chinese writings all around the place. There were actually some moral values formed by bonsai and displayed at the temple.


Due to jet lag we were too tired to continue the city tour so we went back to hotel for some rest. We didn't go anywhere until we went for dinner. Every building in Hanoi seems to be slim and slender in size. They might be three or four storey in height but tend to be a rectangle more than a square.

And then I managed to have a little drink of the local Hanoi Beer. They were actually lite beer (compared to those we usually drink) and I could drink quite a couple of cups. There were quite inexpensive too.

 
The restaurant and the Hanoi Beer

During the trip I witnessed a lot of people living in poor condition and under the poverty threshold. No matter how hard it is, they would do their best to make their life at least meaningful. 
I did not take pictures of them as I considered it disrespectful. But I ran a search and unsurprisingly there were a lot more people living like this.

There are people out there who are fighting for living :





Life is hard. Just keep on moving. LOVE LIFE <3


-Stay tuned to other posts about the trip- 

to be continued.

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1. 這篇entry沒有照片，純粹只是最近生活的簡述。我知道我很久沒更新了，所以一次過把要說的話說完。

2. 期中考剛結束，只能說因為沒有好好用功所以這樣的成績是自作自受。真的要好好努力了。統考從250到150到現在50天倒數。

3. 有感於自己真的生活得太慵懶了，所以發了個誓考完試後要盡全力打工賺錢，做不到的話就要向我一個朋友“敬禮”。

4. 幫自己開了一個銀行儲蓄戶口。說來慚愧，長這麼大銀行的ATM Machine還有Cash, Cheque Deposit Machine都不會用，還好有好心的陌生人幫忙。把Taylor‘s寄來的200塊支票存進去了。至於為什麼會有這張支票，請看--> 這裡。

5. 不久前去郵政局要買Wang Pos也一樣碰壁，還因為去錯counter被郵政局的職員罵。

6. 前幾天去看Rise of the Planet of the Apes，看了後很失望，完全沒有好萊塢電影的水準。

7. 參觀了多次教育展，加上很周詳的考慮，也算是對未來找到了方向，希望會達成目標。

8. 明天早上10點的飛機飛往越南，拋開一堆的補習什麼的很不怕死的去旅行個五天。

9. 旅行回來要去第6屆海外華文書市！


to be continued.

Our Class Decoration theme - LEGENDS

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And so the Class Decoration which lasts for a month has officially ended - but the result remains undisclosed
well as I promised I shall fully introduce you what my class - Senior Middle Three Commerce Zhong has presented

 LEGENDS

Indeed we themed at those legendary person who succeeded in the business field, and most importantly, contributed to the society upon their success
And that would be, (from top left) Alice Walton, Warren Buffett, Li Ka Sheng, Carlos Slim, Mark Zuckerberg and last but not least, Bill Gates
*For their details, look into them at Wikipedia if you are interested 

As we know there are tons of visitors like you, will not be familiar with them, we prepared some watch boards with their details on for reference 

Explains why we choose to illustrate them 

Besides the mural, we have four more small pictures painted on the side walls of our class and each of them stands for a meaning in addition to our theme.

The side walls

The top left simply implies that we are born in a digital era which requires more creativity and imagination.Top right pictures the heart of world's financial district Wall St and means that we need to find our own way to pursue. 
Bottom right illustrates the Empire State Building and World Trade Centre indicating that finding a correct path will lead you to your business kingdom.
The last is a wheel of fortune which has famous quotes of successful persons written on it as to encourage ourselves.

And there is the header on top of our blackboard.

Another form of successful persons.

We firmly state that they are legends not because they are rich, the main point is that they are willing to contribute eg. donate billions of money, found a foundation etc.
And we understand that not everyone has the ability to become one of the listed richest person, but that doesn't mean you can't be success.
No matter what your jobs are, as long as you do your jobs willingly, and contribute to your society in your own ability, you are a success person.

A random pic. Our bulletin board. 

Do you see two persons kissing? or a cup or a vase? 

Besides painting our classroom, each class need to present a sculpture as well.
And we chose to make a book, headlined with Warren Buffett.

The handmade super-sized book.

This is like a biography of him and one of his quotes on the back of the book.
"Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future." 
As to why we chose to make a biography-like book, it's because we believe that only successful person could have a chance of having his or her biography published.
And we yearn for a life like that. A successful person who contributed a lot to the society.

WE WOULD BE THE NEXT LEGEND.

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