Saturday, 29 September 2012

26 September 2012 (Day 21):

While some found today a waste of time, I think it was quite eventful. What am I talking about? I’m talking about today’s Mid Autumn Festival Celebration with the TUT (Tianjin University of Technology) students!
 

After our APS (Aircraft Propulsion Systems) lesson in the morning, we shifted the tables and chairs out of the room. At about 1pm, some of them carried the soft drinks and snacks from the hotel over to the classroom.

The schedule for today
 

The snacks we prepared
 

Paper to write your wishes on!

 
At 1.30pm, we were supposed to report at the classroom to get things ready. The dress code was our OIP (Overseas Immersion Programme) shirt and long pants. I must admit that I got tired of waiting there doing nothing for an hour so I left for the hotel and returned to the classroom by 3.30pm.

At 3.50pm or so, my class, T3T5, went to the lift lobby so that we could rehearse our songs. Once we were done practising, we went back to the area outside the classroom and found that a huge crowd of people had arrived. These TUT students were invited by our student leaders and they were mingling well with us polytechnic students.
 

Look at the crowd!
 

I was glad to see Sheila, the China “buddy” whom I made friends with on Day 16, and her friends. We asked each other questions about our school systems and examinations for Chinese. From what they told me, they had Chinese tests on the first day in school every year.

At 4.30pm, we were ushered into the classroom where T3T6 showed them a video about Singapore (many of the TUT students commented that Singapore looked beautiful). Following which, my class sang 2 songs and T3T4 danced “Oppa Gangnam Style”. The TUT students performed as well. There was a dance item (with some of my classmates), a song performance of “Yue liang dai biao wo de xin” (The moon represents my heart) and an instrumental performed by 2 university students who played the erhu and pipa.

T3T4 peforming their dance item…

 
“OPPA GANGNAM STYLE!”
 


The erhu and pipa instrumental
 

Once the performance was over, we left the classroom and talked to the TUT students. While we were having refreshments, Sheila taught me a game. It is similar to “Rock, Paper, Scissors” except that it is called “Ren, Qiang, Qian” (“Man, Gun, Money”).


Hand symbols (from left): Man, Gun, Money (you have to rub your thumb and index finger together when you make this symbol)
 

Here are the rules:

Man can use Money, so Man wins Money.

Money can buy a gun, so Money wins Gun.

Lastly, Gun can kill Man, so Gun wins Man.

Each time a person loses, he/she will have to take one sip of his/her drink. If both show the same hand gesture, both will have to take a sip from their cups.

Once, Sheila and I showed the same hand gestures, 4 times in a row! You can imagine how much green tea we drank. I think my stomach’s still sloshing about with it.


We don’t know how many cups of green tea we drank but heck, it’s fun!
 

When we talked more about the games we played, we both realized that we actually have similar games but with slightly different rules.
Once we had finished our drinks, we moved over to the table where everyone was writing their wishes on huge pieces of paper. I wrote a wish in Chinese saying that I wished to be happy every day. After reading my wish, Sheila then used a green marker to draw an apple around my wish. She told me that the 1st character in the Chinese word for Apple, ping in ping guo (苹果), looks and sounds similar to ping . The latter ping is commonly used together with an () to form the word ping an, 平安 (translated as safe). So in pictorial terms, she gave me an apple so that I will be safe. This was an interesting thing to learn about.



Sheila’s wish (encircled by a tree) and mine (in an apple).

By then, the party was over and most of the tables and chairs had been shifted back into the classrooms. Sheila and I exchanged goodbyes and parted ways. From what I gathered, some of the other TUT students who had made friends with my classmates, were going out for dinner with them- That sounded nice for both parties.
 
I, however, was tired (but happy) hence I returned to the hotel. Now as I end this entry, I hope that you, dear reader, will stay safe from any bad dreams tonight!


Apples for your dreams tonight! J

Best regards,
Marianne

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