Japanese Exchange Students

Today proved to be a very interesting day. From right after assembly, I have been helping out with the Japanese Exchange Students. There was some 80 Japanese girls from Josei High School (I think that is their school). It was a very busy day and the day started out with a presentation of a skit from the Hua Yi students. Then, the Japanese students had a song and then a dance. Only lower sec got to watch (except for the upper sec that snuck in to see their performance).

After that, we led them to the Heritage Gallery and were encouraged to interact with them. I was sort of held back as I don`t know how to speak Japanese and just stood there watching. Then, when they went down for lunch, one of the Japanese teachers as me to sit down and interact with a group of students. There was a very quiet moment for a while------------, then I decided to do introductions of names. It was difficult to catch all of their names and actually remember them, but at least there was some interaction going on. Another thing, these students are really NOT camera-shy. I mean, almost every single one of them has a camera. After taking a few pictures, and going on for interaction time, I had to go up to present my CCA presentation and demonstration to them.

Though I could tell, when I was speaking, most of them didn`t really understand what I was saying. So I`ve decided before any exchange students come to Hua Yi, I better learn up a few phrases, SERIOUSLY!!! It was fun meeting them and all, and they later on went to the 3E and 4E classes. The group that went to our class taught us about origami, and later had us try to make a jumping frog origami. During the debrief in the AVA room, you can realize that half a day at Hua Yi goes by so quickly, and the Japanese students will be going back to Japan after today. It was nice having them in Hua Yi, and it overall improves Hua Yi`s relations with schools, not only nationally, but now internationally.

Racial Harmony Day and Upcoming Events

Hello! Here is an update of Racial Harmony Day which was commemorated last Friday in Hua Yi. This year`s Racial Harmony Day was more unique than other years as we had our Study Hall guests together with us to commemorate this day. The ONE Advocates got into their various traditional costumes as they went on stage. With Alan as the MC, Racial Harmony Day got off to a start. The first item of Racial Harmony Day in Hua Yi was a traditional Indian dance performed by the Study Hall students. Next up was the presentation of Racial Harmony Day by the ONE Advocates: Evann, Melissa, and Say Yun. This included explaining what is the importance of racial harmony in Singapore and explaining what the Declaration of Religious Harmony meant, before all of the Hua Yians stood up to recite the declaration. After that, we had a skit by the Study Hall guests, a Chinese dance performed by the Dance Society, a few traditional Indian songs by the Study Hall guests, and another presentation made by the Study Hall guests on Lucknow, India. As this was the last day for the Study Hall students in Hua Yi, there was an exchange of gifts between Study Hall and Hua Yi.

The next big event the ONE Advocates will be planning for is the 42nd National Day in Singapore and will be an important event that is upcoming in a few weeks time. Until then, wait and see for what is in store for Hua Yi. Bye.

NS Song

Hi everyone. I've found something interesting over the internet. A funny look at National Service. So boys, you may want to take a look at this. Done by a local cartoonist, he made an NS song to go with his animation.

Take a look by clicking here.

The song stated that NS is a waste of time and we will not really need it if Singapore has good ties with her neighbours. What do you think? Post your comments!

Committee and Racial Harmony Day

Hi! A brief updates on currents events occuring in our school. First of all, we had a meeting yesterday with Mr Amran discussing some issues. One of them was the new committee and roles assigned to the different people. Here are the roles assigned to the ONE Advocates:

• President: Alan
• Secretary: Evangeline
• NRIC: Melvin, Ghazali, Yu Lin (Band)
• Blog: yours truly, Patrick
• Recruitment: Fadli
• Events: Say Yun, Nurulnisa, Melissa, Hui Min

Well, watch out for the Racial Harmony commemoration tomorrow. There will be a skit and a presentation by the ONE Advocates and some performances from our guests the Study Hall students as it is their final day in Hua Yi before they go back to India.

Amazing Race

Hello, it`s been a long time since I updated the blog. Well, this is an update on the amazing race we went through on June 30th. On the right, as you can see, is the badges we recieved in the beginning of the race. I`ve got to admit, we got really confident at the beginning as we went to the race totally prepared, with a bus directory, a street directory, and even a camera. But when we started out, it was quite a pain. First of all, we realized we were going to Raffles Place as our first stop, and most of us were unfamilier with the first stop, which was a temple called Yuan Hai Ching Temple.
Then, we realized our JJC counterpart, Yuen Shen (I think that is how his name is spelled) didn`t have his EZ link card. Quite a horrid start to our day. But, in the end, we came out okay. Out of some thirty something teams, we came out 11th. Not too bad I would say, though a little disappointing as we missed out of the top ten. Here is a list of the stops we went to throughout the race: Yuan Hai Ching Temple, Sri Mariammam Temple, Thian Hock Seng Temple, Ann Siang Hillpark, Armenian Church, Malay Heritage Board. Along the way, we learned a lot about these religious places. From the spiral joss sticks of the Yuan Hai Ching Temple to the Arabic writing that we learned of in the Malay heritage board.