Sammy =^-^=

TO KEEP OR NOT TO KEEP

Changi Prison have already been preserved and i want to agree with this decision using the perspectives that i had generated. Changi Prison was designed to be a maximum security prison to house up to 600 criminals sentenced to long-term imprisonment in Singapore. The remaining structures of the original prison – the entrance gate, wall and turrets – stand as an enduring symbol of the suffering of those who defended Singapore and the tumultuous years of the Japanese Occupation (1942-1945). I feel that Changi Prison should be preserved due to its long term history of Singapore, it takes many people back to those days where life was different. It holds many memories and i think that many future generations would learn alot regarding Singapore's history. People from other country can also understand Singapore better in a different aspect. The sight of the Changi Prison structure leaves a huge impact on others as they might want to see inside and think, 'Wow, this place used to hold prisoners!' Therefore i agree to the fact that Changi Prison is preserved.

WHY DO YOU THINK SINGAPORE CANNOT AFFORD TO BE COMPLACENT?
Singapore is indeed a very successful country as it improved from a third world country into a first world country, where the economy and living conditions are good. However we must never forget that we were once a humble fishing village with not much power. If we were to be complacent, who knows what would happen to Singpore in a few years or evem seconds. According to the source provided(econs reading 2), " China's top officials study at Singapore's knee". This shows that even people of high status respects Singapore for what we offer and it is so good that they study here instead of their homeland. Singapore may not be a country as huge as China or the best in everything but people from other countries look up to us. If we were complacent and do not seek to improve further we would one day lack behind and lose out on current affairs. Therefore we must always do our best and become better each time we do something. Singapore still has a lot to learn from other countries and in order for the relationship between countries to be strong and peaceful, Singapore must never be too proud and complacent but instead must be humble and willingbto learn.


BEFORE MEETING MY CHINA BUDDY
I feel very excited as i would be able to learn new things from her/him. Though i also feel nervous as i do not know who my china buddy is and how is she/he like. I really hope we have a common interest as it would be easier for us to engage in a conversation. I hope to learn alot from my china buddy, mostly chinese i think! Hopefully my china buddy understands my chinese.:)

ECONOMY- AGING POPULATION:

3-2-1 lesson reflection

The first thing i found out was that there was actually a Two Child Policy implemented in Singapore before, I knew there was a One Child Policy in China but I never knew that Singapore once had the same kind of policy implemented.

The second thing i found out was that China's One Child Policy was implented in the year 1979.

The third thing i found out was that the China's One Child Policy ended after 35 years.

The 2 perceptions i have gained are understanding the point of views of the citizens, know what they feel and think towards the policies implented and the secong point is to change according to their wishes, higher ups may have reasons for implementing the policies but the citizens are what makes the country a country, listen to them.

The 1 question i have is how long did Singapore's Two Child Policy last?

CHINGAY PARADE 2016:

When people talk about Chingay, what goes through my mind was actually just an occasion where there is a mass display of lights and they had little significance. I  still had that mindset until we were given a talk about what exactly is Chingay all about.

                                                                                 ( look at everyone so focused on the perfomance)





The word Chingay is equivalent to the Mandarin zhuang yi (妆艺), which means "the art of costume and masquerade" in the Hokkien dialect. Due to the fact that firecrackers caused deaths and injuries from fatal explosions, it was banned in Singapore and the absence of traditional firecrackers to celebrate the Lunar New Year caused unhappiness and reduced public enthusiasm for the occasion, which was customary New Year practice to drive away evil spirits. As an alternative, then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew suggested the staging of a Chingay parade similar to those held in Penang.  

Chingay was made it an annual festival ever since the first Chingay Parade.The modern Chingay parade began in 1973 and has evolved over the years into a multi-cultural event including participants of diverse ethnicities and nationalities. I think that it changed over the years due to Singapore's beliefs in racial harmony and equality no matter race or religion, and i feel that it has really strengthen the bond between people of different races and age.

Chingay 2016 marks the first year of Singapore's next 50 years towards SG100 and this year's theme is "Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore" It celebrates the legacy and wisdom of our founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and other founding fathers based on the core values advocated by them and pledging our support to live by it and move forward together towards a Brighter future Singapore! With this as the purpose of Chingay i feel that the organizers have successfully fulfilled the purpose, however i feel that it can be improved as in the first place we celebrated Chingay as it was suppose to replace the ban firecrackers and bring out the celebrative moods of people.6

I attended my first Chingay parade which was on 30 January 2016, on that day everyone was really excited and pumped up to watch the Chingay parade we had been hearing annually but never actually seen what it is like.

                                            

The picture beside was the first item of Chingay, the grand opening 'VoyageSG100'. I still remember how amazed i was to see over 800 people dressed in blue with lights on their costume. I could see the amount of effort put in just to create and make the costume, furthermore these are not including the number of rehearsals they had gone through. I must applaud for them to put up such an amazing show.

Following it is the Chinese, Malay and Indian cultural performances draws audiences in appreciation of local cultural heritage and legacies through performing arts and music.(here's a short video)

There are 3 more segments titled 'Friendship all over the world', 'United and Vibrant community' and lastly 'Lights of legacy'.They all had huge significance, for the third segment regarding Friendship was about the invited talents from other countries, 'United and Vibrant communtiy' had performances of pole dances, ballet, and other dancing performances showing how interesting our communty can be.The last segment 'Lights of Legacy' with 3,000 performers lighting-up Singapore's city skyline with bright bulb-shaped Sky Lanterns that carries the commitment of the people.

Of course there was something we will see at almost all of the major celebrations in Singapore, Fireworks! However it was a pity that the fireworks was situated behind us and we couldn't really get a nice view of it. Nonetheless, I could still hear the cheers and applause of all of us at the F1 pit!

Here's a few more pictures i took!

In a nutshell, I felt really happy that i got a chance to attend Chingay and watch the awesome performance put up by everyone,no matter their race, religion and age. When i was there, i could feel the hardwork  put in by everyone and also the Singapore Spirit to always stay as one in the air. It showed me how Singapore would perservere no matter stands in our way! Of course the celebrative mood was there, and Chingay had really accomplised its purpose of bringing everyone's mood up with the dances, performances and music, there were even instances where all of us stood up, cheered and danced with them! After all maybe firecrackers are not really necessary to make us happy, am i right?:)

POVERTY AND HAPPINESS:

I think that poverty and happiness are not related. And that being rich does not necessarily mean you are happy. From the chart shown, Singapore's experience well-being(6.5) is higher than China's experiencial well-being(4.7), however Singapore's happiness index score(39.8)is actually lower than China's happiness index score(44.7).This clearly demostrated that if you are rich you may not be as happy as those that are poor but happy.

I feel that this is because in a country like Singapore that focuses and competes alot in earning money and working, people here are very tense around each other and always rushing for time. We do not even have the time for ourselves to enjoy life. On the other hand, a country like China may not have the best well being but its people feel freedom and just work at their own pace.

                                                                       

Research has also found out that animals that live together in a cramp space are less happy compared to animals that live in a spacious habitat.Maybe Singapore's land space is also affecting our happiness index score as compared to China of course the most obvious difference we have is that they have much more land and space.

RV60 REFLECTIONS:

We celebrate RV60 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of River Valley High School. It is an important day as it reminds us that 60 years ago, our school was born. Throughout this 60 years there were tough times but we never gave up and broke through those times. And during this long journey, we found our identity as a rvian and together we had rv spirit and that was what kept us together.

The issues were that because the celebration is in january, if we only started rehearsals when school started we would not have enough time. Therefore we had to start during November 2015.This event includes a lot of people other than students so we had to plan alot in order for the whole event to be organised. During rehearsals we also cannot ensure that everyone goes for it so it is quite tough to stay organised when some people never appear for practice.

The unique situation would be that it is a mass rehearsal so the whole school is involved. A little different from National day parades as only some people and the volunteers are included. I think that people would volunteer as its is a day that has  a big significance to it.There would only be one chance every year so its either do it or miss it.

During RV60 i could infer that the students in our school has a lot of school pride as all of us participated actively in the rehearsals. I can also assume from my inference that the students of rv cares alot about the school and wants to do something for it during its big day. The possible implications when the students view negatively about his/her own school would be that he or she would not care about the celebrations and not do a single thing, his/her absence would affect the mass display performance.

I am most proud to be a student in rv due to our spirit of never giving up and helping each other during tough times. As our principal always say '携手共进' and '感恩立德' i find both of this really meaningful in my life.

EXTRAORDINARY IN ORDINARY RV:

This is a photo taken on RV60 right before wushu's performance by me,it shows the beautiful sky at the evening displayed to us during our school's birthday!It is an extraordinary in our ordinary school life as not everyday and anyone can enjoy this memorable occasion. It is only that we had RV60 so i could have seen this amazing sky from the school, if not for this day i would have never known that such an extraordinary display could have been seen from our school.

Though it can't be seen from this picture i feel that it also shows how much effort we put in just for rv60 and i think that its really impressive. We stayed by until 7pm(or even later)and practiced over a three month period of time. River Valley High School is just like any other school so why do we put in so much effort? It is because we have rv spirit and want to do somthing to show our support for the school.This is also something extraordinary we can sense from the students of our school.

I think all of us were very happy about the outcome of our hardwork. Tough there were times we were tired and times that were tough, we persevered through and gave in our all during the actual big day! It was a very memorable experience for me!

SELF INTRODUCTION

Hello! My name is Sammy and I'm from class 2K! my register number is 13! My CCA is NCC and I really enjoying going for CCA sessions. Its very fun and I get to learn things.

I'm looking forward to this year's CID as there is OELP and of course for more learning! I actually hope that I can get to visit Taiwan as I have never been there!

I was from Woodgrove Primary School and nowadays I still chat with my friends.We also go out together sometimes!

More about me is that I draw and I'm attached to it:) It's like a hobby that I will never drop, but recently I'm more busy so I have less time for my hobbies.

During my primary school days I was a very lazy and a person that don't really excercise but ever since I started secondary school I have been a lot more active in terms of exercising and I hope to maintain a healthy lifestyle!

(as lazy as gudetama)

During my holidays I only went Malaysia to visit my grandparents and my younger cousins!I have 8 cousins from Malaysia and some are just like 5? So our age gap is quite big. But they are really cute!!:3

I actually only see my grandparents once every year so I really treasure the time I spent with them there!That actually concludes my holidays!

Hope that you understood me more after this self introduction!:)