Date: 31 October 2009
Time: 8:00AM - 4:30PM
Venue: CR 111 & Asian Civilization Museum

Fang Ying's Reflections
The day didn’t started quite well. Although the designated time to meet was 8, at 8, there were only 3 persons. I don’t deny that I was one of those who are late too, although it was only 5 minutes on my part, I think it still reflect a lot of our attitude towards the entire thing. Izzah, who live at ang mo kio could come on time, there isn’t any reason why I, living in bedok, should be late. Hence, most of us took the opportunity to reflect upon our own actions. I think that there is no shame in making mistakes; we just have to learn from it and move on. At the moment, I promised myself that I would put in more effort, not just coming on time, but also in whatever things I do in future.
The “yes, no or maybe” activity made me realized that everyone has their own opinions towards different things. Not only we must have a voice of our own, we need to respect others’ opinions. We must admit the difference between one and another, and instead of trying to influence others, we should learn to accept them. Only then, we can work as one towards our goal.
We moved on to do the trial photoessay. We took a long time to decide on our theme and eventually chose passion. We wanted to know what people are passionate about doing. And we may from there, also see the difference between people in Yunnan and ourselves and probably learn from them. After the presentation, I realized that it is important that we do not assume. We cannot just trust our eyes, we need to use our mouth and ears to get the truth. If we merely just snap a photo and elaborate it based on our own thoughts, the photoessay may look nice but not as meaningful. My group, although did find out the truth, our photos don’t really depicts what we want to bring across. I think this is yet another experience. Due to limited time, it is difficult for us to take photos of the passion that someone have, hence this taught us that for us to be able to capture the emotions and actions that we want to, we will need to spend more time in Yunnan to capture that photo to use.
The visit to ACM was really meaningful to me. This is the first time that I really learn during a visit to the museum. Most of the time, I would just walk and walk and walk and wait for the time to leave. I guess this is because I felt that there’s a need to know more about China, before we really visit there. I felt that I have learnt the most in the Islamic gallery. Never did I knew, some part of china was mainly Islamic. We also saw some overlaps in the culture of china with some Islamic history. It was really amazing to see so many artifacts, especially those from China. History of everything is very important, however, before learning others’ it is very important that we are well aware of our own.

Charmaine's Reflections
-ABSENT-

Aonan's Reflections

2nd SL workshop

i was late for today's workshop cause i was too tired and the alarm did ring the next morning. Anyway, i started find to excuses again as it  is one of my biggest problem. I'll try to change it. I missed the 1st part of the workshop and went in the room without knowing anything, but i managed to catch up with the rest. We have to ask and find out what's happening around us, but not wait for people to tell you. Take initiative to do things, listen to others' opinions and at the same time learn to voice own views. 

photoessay trial: learn to observe the things around you even the tiniest details... and see things from different perspectives

ACM
i totally do not know the reason why we have to go to ACM before the debrief session. this is amazing that we can derive so many stuff from the artifacts. Respecting others' culture as we all know, but how many of us can really do that!? we have to have better and deeper understanding of others and appreciate them. Through the "3 Qns" session, i found out that we have lots of things to learn from each other not only the one you think is great but also those you may not like that much initially. Everyone has something special that you can learn from them. Appreciate things around you. Be aware your initial goals and aims of doing something as time passes, we tend to lose track of these mindset and yupp....

it was such a beneficial day and especially with amazing peoples.
Love the team and our trip to yunnan will definately be an awesome one :D

Yiguan's Reflections
I have learnt a lot through today's SL workshop. Since it's already nearing our trip, I feel that the team should be more responsible for our actions. A lot of us, including me, were late for the meeting. We were told to reflect upon our actions and I felt that I have not done my best in helping the team. I should take more initiative and help when I'm in Yunnan.

During the first activity, we were supposed to choose our stand (yes, no, maybe) on the statement flashed on the screen and voice out our opinions. I felt that this activity helped me know the group better. I realised that all of us has many different opinions and we should learn to be understanding and compromise with each other.

We were then suppose to do our photessay. My group settled on the theme 'passion'. Through this activity and sharing, I learnt that there is a lot more to photo taking and I am looking forward to do the photoessay in Yunnan because it will help me learn more about the villager's life.

The day ended with our trip to the Asian Civilization Museum. I was really forward to ACM because I havent been there for a long time. Also, I always have an interest in History. I found the whole trip very enriching but hoped that we were given more time because I couldnt finish looking through all the artefacts in the various galleries. I felt that the activity we carried out at the China gallery by finding an artefact which can represent our adjective was good and meaningful. I felt that I really learnt more through the sharing session as we questioned ourselves. I also know and bonded more about my groupmates too.

All in all, I enjoyed this week's Service Learning workshop!

Roy's Reflections
Last Saturday was a very fruitful day for me. I learnt many things through various activities that we carry out as a group or an individual.

Firstly, we had an activity (Yes, No, Maybe) that required us to make our own stand when we were placed in a situation in Yunnan. through this activity, I learnt the importance of making our own stand and voicing it out. One must have their own views on any situation. However, as we are a team, it is important for us to agree on a final say. It is especially crucial since we are going overseas and thus any decision made must be considered carefully.

Next, we went opposite to take photos. My group's theme is love. The mistake we made is not to ask the people we photographed for their views on love. this is because we believe that love is something that is usually beyond words. However, if we do not ask them for their views, what that is portrayed in our photoessay, may not be true. Hence, I learnt that only by asking the person himself, the truth will be conveyed. This is a good learning point since we would not want to portray the people's lives in Yunnan wrongly when we make a photoessay there.

Lastly, we went to ACM to learn more about Singapore and China history. Not only that, we went there to gain more insights on the Islamic world. Being a Singaporean, I do feel ashamed for not knowing our history and thus, it is then, that I learnt new things about Singapore. For example, the history of Singapore before Raffles founded Singapore in 1819 and what the Singaporean government did to ensure a cleaner environment in various rives etc. Knowing our roots is important when we interact with people of other countries, so as to be able to introduce our homes to them, painting a better picture in their minds about Singapore. Knowing other people's culture and history may also be important, so as to not make unneccessary mistakes or taboos of their culture and society.

Si Hui's Reflections
sorry for late post have Chinese paper that ended today.^^ Anyways reflecting on the ACM trip on saturday. OK I shall learn my lessons and stop posting the events. Well before the trip, we did the photo essay. From that, I've learn that to really understand a person, not only should you ask them question but also observe their actions. Some things cannot be assumed just by looking at the outside. There was this little and her grandfather that was extremely memorable, the love that her grandfather showed was extremely powerful. From what I could observe and from the photos that we have taken, sometimes, just normal trips and small details that you observe, may be the most beautiful thing on Earth. While that thought me observing skills, the ACM trip was more of appreciating different artifacts and another culture. There are a lot of artifacts that we have seen. However, through the sharing of artifacts that we have picked, I've learned to see things in a different ways. Through asking questions, I've come to see the artifacts in a new light! Well really hope that this help with my trip in YUNNAN! yay!
Sihui(15days to Yunnan!)

Wen Qing's Reflections
Service learning workshop part 2 started off with some minor scolding, this was because some of us were late. Also, some of our reflections were more like informative summaries of the day’s happenings rather than actual reflections. I think I’m one of those who have “summary-like” reflections, so I shall write more informally and properly this time.
I had no idea what happened after the “scolding” because I had PW consultation with the teacher. But when I came back to the room, I saw Post-its pasted on different glass walls. I asked about them, and Izzah said that the team had to write down a statement after looking at a photo of some children in a classroom. I read the Post-its which were more profound. The notes made me think, and I realized that if I was to write my own notes from the photo, I would definitely write something superficial, like “Dilapidated classroom with students working hard”, or something. We should not leave everything at surface level. Everyone should delve deeper into whatever information we have, just like by looking at the photo, we should see not just the details present, but also the reason behind why the photograph was taken and the rationale behind the behavior of any people present in the photograph. One should always think, think, think.
The photo essay was fun. Onions did a photo essay on “Dreams”, and everyone was quite enthusiastic. I was glad that we were interacting with the people and asking them questions. Dreams can mean different things to different people, and they can also change as times passes. What struck me the most was a father and his daughter. The father only wanted his daughter to be happy, but the child had dreams of becoming a dentist so that she could “make lots of money”. I thought this was quite sad. The little girl’s dreams obviously weren’t influenced by her father, so she must have got her money-making dreams from elsewhere. Is the society so money minded that even a little girl has been affected by it? What I feel is the most important in life is happiness. Happiness in a person would then affect other factors of one’s life and make everything fall in the right places. Money doesn’t do that. But I’m sure that as time passes and under the girl’s father’s guidance, the father’s dream of wanting his daughter to just be happy would come true.
After looking through the 3 groups’ photo essays and commenting, I realized that a good photo essay needs the correct angle, the correct actions of the people in the photograph, and the correct details in the photo! Also, it is extremely important to speak to the people we wanted to photograph because what we think the photo represents might not necessarily be what the people themselves thinks it represents.
Everyone had lunch, and the trip to ACM came next. I was frankly really really excited to go to the museum simply because I love museums. Everyone went to 3 exhibits: the Islam gallery, the China gallery and the Singapore gallery. The Onions went to the China gallery first, and there were really interesting artifacts and exhibits. I think China’s history is pretty amazing. I found my artifact there; it was an emperor’s robe. My adjective is “Unrestricted” and on first thought, I feel that an emperor embodies that. An emperor is free to do whatever he wants, even if his actions are not right, because the people will believe that he is the son of heaven. But upon deeper thought, I realized that this is not true. The rest of the Onions said that there are emperors who did not want to take up the duty of ruling the country. An example if Kang Xi, he did not want to be emperor but he still had to take up this heavy responsibility in the end. Hence Kang Xi had been restricted because he couldn’t do what he wanted. But Kang Xi still did a very good job of ruling the country in the end. I learnt that we should always do the best to our ability to any opportunities given instead of fighting it, because there is a reason why this opportunity has been given to us. When negative things happen, so we should not think about how best to force things to go our way but just to let everything take its course, we might learn and grow even more from this experience.
Onions also pondered over a lot of profound matters. We realized that no one religion is bad, it is the interpretation of the religion that is the crucial factor. Also, everything starts from a mere mortal. Look at Guan Yu and Buddha! Both of them were just mortals who found out the correct way of life and living. Guan Yu advocates righteousness and justice. Hanle pointed that both the police and the triads worship the same god, Guan Yu, which is kind of ironic, haha. Would Guan Yu have liked himself to be worshipped in the years to come? Would he have grown arrogant and lost his sense of righteousness and good character? I personally believe that he would not. If his good character and sense of justice has been so prominent and famous to have been noticed by everyone around him, he must have been a really good and kind person. Having such a character, he would definitely not grow arrogant and lose his personality. Mother Theresa is an example of an extremely kind person who became known worldwide, and she didn’t become arrogant. As for Buddha, we should learn more from his style of living, instead of praying to him.
We also spoke about the issue of contentment in the China gallery. Jia Ming pointed out that contentment is when someone does not have any wants anymore, but Hanle said that she is content. But it isn’t because she has no wants, but it is because she knows that it is quite impossible to achieve all her wants, so she is quite content with what she has right now. I think Hanle’s perception of contentment is very interesting, and it made me tell myself that I should learn to live with what I have, instead of fighting for things that I cannot get, and I would be happier that way!
The Islam gallery made me open my eyes to another prominent religion in Singapore. I learnt a lot about Islam, and the fact that Islam roughly translates to mean peace. All the terrorism in the name of Islam TTTT. Again, this is the misinterpretation of religion! In the gallery, I spent quite a lot of time listening to the electronic speaking machine thing, it was really interesting. I now have a rough idea of the religion and its origins. Izzah mentioned that the Islam gallery made her realize that reminders are needed in life. She said that being so caught up in her life and work, she let her religion take a backseat. It made me think. Sometimes people will get so busy with their lives that they will truly forget about what is really important to them. We need to constantly remind ourselves of the important things in our lives, or we might really lose track of them. I also realized that I have been allowing important things take a backseat in my life too.
The Singapore gallery was really puny, there were only a few exhibits. But I still learnt things from the gallery though! Things about Singapore I never knew, the Singapore rock, some old folk legends about Singapore and the hill with all the old kings of Singapore, wow. Although Singapore is a really small country, there is still rich history and legends that are waiting to be found out. There were also models of the old coolies, the sampan and coolies’ pants!
All in all, I think that I have really benefitted from the workshop. I am so glad to be part of the Yunnan journey :DDDDDDDDDD

Grace's Reflections
-ABSENT-