The SL workshop in the morning made me reflect upon many things.

Firstly, we started the morning with some housekeeping. Mrs. Goh reminded us that our attitude for the trip needed to be adjusted for us to deserve going on it. I agree that we need to get our objectives right before we lose track of our purpose for this journey. The reflection we did on the spot made me relook my attitude towards this trip. Although I must admit that there are some point in time where I feel as if I have lost the motivation and desire to continue on this learning journey, very often, it is the friends working together on the team who make me feel that our efforts are worth it.

Next, the simple exercise we did on offering our perspective to a picture shown to us about a classroom in Yunnan. It was interesting to see that with just one picture, and given only one sentence to write about it, we can gather such differing statements from different people. I have learnt to see and appreciate the different perspectives a team can offer. Although we may be either describing, inferring, or drawing insights from the picture, I do believe that each of these levels are of equal importance, and need each other for each statement to be significant. However, I also feel that the difference here lies not in the varying levels of thinking but rather in the way we write, whether we prioritise description before inference.

After which, we did a trial of the photo essay we needed to do. My group decided on focus on the topic of ‘passion’. We went around asking people in the neighbourhood what their passion is and managed to gather different responses. However, we also realised that the definition of ‘passion’ was really broad and people may interpret it differently. Therefore, by specifying or narrowing the definition of passion, to say ‘what do you like to do in your free time?’ or ‘what are you passionate about?’, it could make it easier for us to collate responses received.

The trip to ACM with the Yunnan TOOP team was a different experience from my other visits to a museum. The segment on the Islamic culture was really refreshing. Having seen the various ornaments related to Islam and in addition to Ms Azyanti’s explanation on some customs practiced by the Muslims, my understanding and interest towards Islamic culture has increased. One interesting takeaway would be that the start of a new day for Muslims begin from the night before that day, meaning the day begin half a day earlier for the Muslims. Who knew this! :)

The other memorable lesson I learnt from this trip to ACM was that effective learning only takes place when we are truly conscious of it. This visit allowed me to realise that when we’re given a purpose in our learning, we would then be able to truly take away some lessons from it. As we were made to look for something from the museum that represents our adjective, we tried to draw a link between what we see and its relation to what we need to find. In addition, by questioning the artefact we had chosen, there is much to learn from questioning and not merely accepting all that is thrown to us without seeking answers to our queries.

:)

Li Meng's reflections
Responsibility has always been a problem in my life, or should I say a lack of. This old demon of mine seems to be catching up with me once again. I have never been one to shun away from problems and this is one I will not shun from.
The day did not really start off very well for me and I was quite affected by it, however I constantly reminded myself what I was here for and shelved away whatever negative thoughts I had. While working with my team during the photo essay we came across a man who said his dream was freedom, I was initially rather taken aback by this and thought he was crazy. However that night when I went home and thought back it again I realized how much sense he made. How many of us truly have freedom in our life, there are always constrains holding us back, be it financial, time etc.
The trip to the ACM for me was rather interesting, other than learning new things about other country and religions. The most important thing I took back from this whole trip was finding out more about my group members. During the activity in the ACM it allowed me to understand how my group members think and how different we are from one another.
All in all this service learning trip has been one that has been fruitful and it will be one of many to come.

Sau Yee's reflections
THE DAY STARTED OFF WITH A SCOLDING.

While that may sound politically incorrect, the teachers surely expressed their disappointment with our team overtly. Admittedly, all along our attendance has never impressed me - but it was this fateful morning that it dawned on me how this could be a graver problem that I thought it was. Despite our success in fund-raising, it appears that some of us (or perhaps most) may not have invested much thought in fundamental issues such as service-learning and the underlying objectives of the trip.

Personally, I’m a strong advocate of goal-setting. I believe that having a clear goal in mind is essential to maximising our learning experience. While it is true that all of us have at least a vague idea about how the trip would be like, upon reflection it could well be wishful thinking. After all, how much do we actually know? Does what we know really constitute knowledge, or is it merely a collection of impressions which we take at face value and accept without questioning? (Well we assume that the villagers need and want our help. But is this necessarily the case?) I confess that I’ve been guilty of this superiority complex; but maybe it’s time now for all of us to take a step back and re-examine all our assumptions.

Anyhow, back to the workshop itself. I’d say it was much more fruitful than Part 1! Besides the exciting “yes-no-maybe” debate, we did a mock photo essay assignment. (On a separate but related note, this year I was again classified as “the window” - i.e. the superficial group of people who merely describe. Allow me to protest - I feel that the inference and the reflective element are all smartly encompassed in our seemingly simplistic descriptions. Sometimes the demarcation lines that separate the three groups may not be so clear-cut.)

Although our group aspired to explore the notion of “PASSION” *cues WHOA*, it was somewhat disappointing (or unsettling?) that most of the interviewees do not know or fully understand what the term entails. Most of them (majority of which being stall-holders) related it to money-making, but I doubt if that really qualifies as passion. I wonder if this is an actual trend that prevails in the Singapore society or that adults tend to be blinded by $ and thereby subconsciously relinquished what they are genuinely passionate about? But then again, it may be hard to pinpoint exactly where one’s passion lies. I really anticipate the responses we’d get from the villagers in Yunnan. How similar or how different are we?

ACM. The museum is one of those places which I enjoy visiting but never quite make a conscious effort to frequently explore. At this juncture I realised how vulnerable one’s memory can be - I’ve been to ACM less than a year ago, but everything still seemed so foreign during this visit. And I was again reminded of my ignorance, especially in the China Gallery where it occurred to me that I possessed minimal and rather superficial knowledge of my very own culture. This awakening reinforces the need for me to read up on Yunnan (and to read more in general) - after all, how much do I really know after last year’s trip? And does information contained in books describe or prescribe reality?

To end off, allow me to quote a Chinese proverb: “One who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; one who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.”

Edwin Lee's reflections
Sense of urgency, where was my sense of urgency? This is the first lesson learnt for the day. I was 10 minutes late and yet I was walking in to the room. I thought about it when I saw CR111 only have about 9 members at 8.10am. What am I going to be in Yunnan when I actually cannot come on time for a meeting in Singapore? And also what if the team cannot be on time when they are in Yunnan? As a team leader, I feel responsible for my actions of being late for 10minutes and feel responsible for not ensuring my team to be punctual. In the future, I will set a good example in coming early and ensure the team will have the imitativeness to ensure all team members come punctually.

The first activity of the day was our stand on statements flashed on the screen. Well, I feel that I did not participate much in the session as I was noting down on every viewpoints that everyone had. It set me thinking on how extreme the team can get on a certain matter: One may strongly fight for something, one may just walk off. I do not think it is scary, I do not think anyone is fully right or wrong, I think it is how people may prioritize or view things in different ways. When I actually look through all the viewpoints and arguments they have for each statement now, I have a feeling that I should be in the “maybe” section for almost all the statements. All these statements were really broad and subjective; many people can have very different viewpoints. I guess at certain point of life, we may stand in different sections. Who knows after going for the trip and we flash all these statements once again, there may be a vast change on where people stand. To sum it up for this activity, I feel that the team has participated more in this activity and I understand more about team members. Definitely, I have also learnt to see things in differing viewpoints, thinking about what each person’s argument may be and deciding individually which is most appropriate for myself.

The next activity was interesting: Writing a statement from the photo we see. I pondered quite a lot on the statement I should write. I wanted to write the Chinese words on the wall,好好学习，天天向上. However, I sort of ask myself, why show me this photo? Is there anything that the teachers want to tell me? I went with my own feeling on what is the main thing that this photo tells me which involves the hardworking students: To better myself every day. We were categorized to three groups of clear window glass, tinted glass and mirror. From this, I have a deeper understanding of how people can differ from views. For me, it went on further to what this lesson can be applied to, which is the 3 levels of evaluation we should have when we are reflecting.

Photo essay is next up! It is really difficult to approach people and get replies to them. I am actually quite worried that they will ignore us. I have to say Onion is really a courageous group, walking up to kids and adults, asking them what are their dreams. I am very proud of them and hope to be as confident as them when I do the photo journal in Yunnan. When we asked a mother of 4 daughters, she said she never realized her dream, but I want my kids to realize it, successful and responsible. Due to time constraints, I was not able to ask further about the reason of not realizing her dream which I was quite interested about.

Dream is merely a simple word to many. For me, it encompasses a lot of questions that I seek to find during my research. What was your dream? What is your dream now? Did you realize your childhood dream? Why? Why not? What factors affect people to change their dream? Are you on the route to your dream?

Besides my own group’s photo journal, I learnt more about what we have to exactly capture for our photo journal. Exact caption is needed to explain to the viewers, it cannot totally be quoted from the person. Also, the picture has to show what we want to express. From that 1 hour activity, I realized it is no easy task to do a photo journal, much thought has to be given to the photo. The angle, the lighting and the caption are all factors which will affect what we want to express and how people interpret the picture.

After lunch, it was the dreadful Asian Civilization Museum (ACM) trip!!!! What things can we learn about museum, seriously? Our own asian culture, what else?? What makes it worse was the task, linking one artefact to your chosen adjective and ask 3 questions about it. Personally, it was so redundant and annoying to me as I was getting tired in the afternoon. (Okay, I am not venting, I want to contrast my before and after feelings, hehe)

Anyway, going around observing at artefacts, knowing more about Singapore, Islam and China was really a refresh of memory for me. New insights were made when I actually went around the 3 galleries. One example is the artefact of the statue of the god of war, Guan Yu. To me, it always the same, it is just a statue of a god. This time, with the task given to ask, it makes me question every artefact I see, critically evaluating every artefact. Outdated was the adjective I chose and I shared with my group on how I suddenly I feel that the whole statue feel so outdated to me, where I see lesser people worshipping it. Also, my questions were: why pray when life is full of uncertainty? Why pray when he is just merely a loyal general? What will he react when he knows that he is worshipped like a goal now? Open-mindedness was what I learnt, from the answers to these questions. Yes, we do pray for a sense of assurance, but we still have to be open-mind that life is still under our control.

What struck me hard when further discussed about filial piety, is “knowing” more important or “doing” more important? As compared to the past, less people actually pay respect to their parents . So we were asking the question about putting filial piety at heart or putting filial piety in actions towards your ancestors? Then we furthered this question, applying to Yunnan context, knowing more or doing more is important. It was quite a good discussion that we had on this question. (Good question, IZZAH)To me, it actually linked to Mr. Heng (our college art teacher) Some matters need us to take a step back and just observe; some matters need us to experience to learn more.

Contentment, another topic we discussed while discussing Hanle’s choice of artefact. The discussion on contentment made me feel that the line of contentment is actually so blurry. Jiaming mentioned that contentment is when you have no wants. Hanle mentioned that I can have wants, but I know I cannot get it, so I will just live with it. I agree with Hanle as it is really true that we will always have wants, such as wanting to live longer our. However, some stuff we cannot actually get it, so we can be contented with what we have and just hope for the best. It is an interesting discussion as it made me think contentment can be so different to different people.

Last but not least, responsibility. Wenqing asked about are there any Emperors who do not want to rule the country. Yes, definitely there is, KangXi was an example and he still did a good job as an emperor. The group came to a consensus: Some things cannot be controlled by yourself, you are just appointed for the particular job, rather than escaping it, do to the best of your ability and it maybe an experience of a lifetime, letting you learn life lessons. This is one of the best lesson I learnt in the ACM trip today, doing the best of your ability when you are given the opportunity or a task. Do not waste it.

HAHA, I just read through the whole reflection once again, I really cannot believe I wrote that much. I have to admit I really learnt a lot today and there will be more to come, definitely!

Chin Hwee's reflections
We had our second service-learning session last Saturday. I have learnt new things which are different from what I had learnt the week before. Through the ‘Yes. No. Maybe.’ activity, I learnt that is important for us to see things from different perspectives. We may have our own way of doing things or seeing things, but I felt that we should be flexible and open enough to learn to view things from other perspectives. Especially when there are so many of us in the team, there will certainly be circumstances when each one of us has our own perspectives and difficult to come to a common agreement. In such cases, there is no right or wrong answers, what I feel is more important is that we have to learn to understand one another and perhaps try to rationalize things out. This is something which I believe is not only applicable now, but also in life in future.

In addition, this activity also introduced us to the many controversies which have aroused as a result of rising service-learning groups, which triggered me into thinking whether these service-learning projects are causing problems in the host country in one way or another. Maybe such issues wouldn’t have aroused if people hadn’t initiate groups to embark on such projects in the very beginning?

Regarding the ‘Window. Glass. Mirror.’ activity, I learnt that it is not enough to infer and analyze whatever that I see in life, but instead go a step further to reflect and relate things we observe to ourselves. This is something which I think I have to work on, on a personal level.

The visit to ACM had been a meaningful as I learnt more about Singapore history (which I have to admit I don’t know much of) as well as certain cultures and beliefs in China. In particular, the sharing session made me realize how each simple figurine/artifact can lead us to think of so many different questions. Also, it made me understand that it is through asking questions that makes us want to find out more, thereby learning new things. Even though we may not know the answer to the questions posed, at least bringing up the questions triggers us to think and discover.

Han Le's reflections

The first activity we embarked on for the day was “Yes, No, Maybe” During the activity, we were required to answer “Yes, No , Maybe” to various questions that were posed to us.

This made me think a lot as we argued out the various stands we must take and had to think about while making a decision. It is difficult to come to an agreement as everyone had differing viewpoints. However, being a group, we should decide on which stand to take together, so as to ensure that we carry out our project effectively

After that, we had to do a photo essay, where we were supposed to think up of a theme, and go opposite to take pictures. Our group chose the topic “Dreams”, as we wanted to know about what dreams different people had. We were quite surprised by some of the answers we got. For example, the first girl we interviewed at the playground told us that she wanted to be a princess. She was only 4 years old. It kind of reminds me of the dreams that I used to have. But I am older now, more mature, and know that it is impossible to achieve the dreams that I used to dream. How is it possible, in a democratic country like Singapore, to be a princess? If I told that to anyone now I’m sure people will laugh in my face. Its quite sad that as we mature, our scope of dreams gets smaller and smaller. We dared to dream when we were younger, but what about now?

Another girl that left quite a significant impact on me was an 8 year old girl. We asked her what her dream was, and she said that she wanted to be a dentist. We asked her why, and she said that it was because a dentist could earn a lot of money. Its quite sad in a way that she gave this reply, as she was only 8, and her dream was money…. I guess this is a result of the Singapore educated child. Ironically, her father just wanted her to be happy. I guess as you grow older in life, you start to place less emphasis on the material aspects of life (?)

After lunch, we went to Asian Civilization Museum. Frankly, when I was told that we were going to ACM, I was like HUHHHHHHH AGAIN ?! I’ve gone to ACM many times and I didn’t see the point in coming again as the exhibits remain the same. However, I have to say that this is the most fruitful trip to a museum. Ever.

We all had to choose an artefact that could suit the adjectives we have chosen, and come up with three topics. We touched on various topics, and shared what we thought about that topic. Edwin’s choice of artefact was the “Guan Yu” statue. He was a famous general in the Three Kingdoms era and was worshipped due to his righteousness. This led us thinking: Why did people put him in a “god like” figure? If he was alive now, would he want to be worshipped the way he was ? Also, why pray? We discussed these questions, and started on the topic of religion. I am glad that my group was quite open to different religions and could talk about religion quite freely, despite belonging to different religions. We even had an atheist, Jia Ming, in our group!

Another topic we touched on was contentment.That was my adjective, and I found a video of people farming to suit that adjective. In the video, they all looked happy and did not seem bored doing the things that we would have gotten bored of in a minute. What is contentment? I said that I was contented and many people in my group seemed to be shocked. To me , contentment is not about having no wants, but rather, being happy with my life. At least I do not need to worry about food or my electricity being cut off, my life is okay, I have everything that I need, and that is contentment for me. I rant occasionally (okay, I think quite frequently) about things, and what I want. Sure, my life could be better, but I am happy with what I have now. I pride myself on being a happy-go-lucky/optimistic person, but I am not sure if that is exactly good. I guess time will tell.

I think that the learning I have got today is largely due to my VERY COOL group members of ONION ! Izzah, Wen Qing, Aonan, Jia Ming, Edwin, and our teacher in charge, Mrs Goh ! If not for them contributing and sharing, all of us would not have learnt as much. THANK YOU we’re the coolest group ! :D

Magdalene's reflections
The second day of SL started off on quite a bad note because I was late for the meeting, and apparently so were alot of other people. I realised that as a group leader, I was setting a very bad example for the rest of my group and I should be more responsible in trying to wake up on time and getting to meetings punctually. The mood seemed solemn in CR111 and everyone still seemed sleepy as we got to our first activity of "Yes, No, Maybe".

Through the activity, Edwin picked on those who usually kept quiet to state their views on why they stood there. I think this reminded me on how as a leader, I have a role to play in making sure everyone's opinions are heard. Also, as I am quite outspoken, I have to give everyone their own chance to speak instead of overpowering them with my loud voice. I think the activity also made me realise that all of us really don't know for sure what will happen in Yunnan. With the exception of those who have went last year, what we believe to be true about Yunnan might not be what it is. All of us also have our own different beliefs which we will not let go off easily and thus we have to learn to compromise.

During the activity, no one (except me) changed their position throughout the course of the "argument", showing that is hard to convince others to accept your views as well. You cannot except everyone to have the same views as you, thus you should accept their opinions and come to a conclusion that everyone can accept.

Another activity had us looking at the same picture but yet describing it differently. I think this showed alot about what kind of people we are. Sadly to say, I think I'm quite shallow as I merely described the picture while others could make their own inferences about it. Hopefully this will change before the trip and allow me to see things differently

For our photoessay trial, my group RAINBOW, chose the theme Love. We went around taking pictures of expressions of love and it was really heartwarming to see a parent holding on to their baby, or playing with their kids. Small acts of love can mean so much, but our group neglected to talk to the people we photographed and thus were unable to full capture the true emotions behind their actions

Next we went to the Asian Civilisations Museum, which I thought was a good experience even though I have been there before. Because we had to pick an artefact that fit a pre-chosen adjective, and then ask questions about it, it was quite fun I guess?? My adjective was "Sweet" and I picked a very delicate looking bowl. I think all our questions about our chosen artefacts reflect our desire to know more and some of my group members asked very good questions. When listening to each other's questions and trying to answer them best as we could, we could tap on the knowledge of various members.

In all, I felt that the SL made me realise how much better I could be, to improve myself for the sake of my team and myself as well!!!!!!!!!!