Reflection ENC Week :D

My feelings about the trip:

The trips to Kampong Glam, Little India and Kampong glam were very fun and enriching at the same time. I got to learn about the culture and I learnt so much new things I never knew.

Kampong Glam:

On the first day of the learning journey, we went to Kampong Glam. We were allowed to roam around the streets and try out their amazing traditional Malay food. When I went there, I ate Nasi Lemak, a traditional Malay dish. It contains of very fragrant coconut rice with ikan billis, a fried egg and a fried chicken wing. It is really delicious and the chilli they give, tastes really good with the dish. While walking around the streets of Kampong Glam, we saw a man eating some really interesting looking Malay dish, so we decided to ask him what he was eating. He was very kind to tell us the different type of Malay dishes and the type of spices they use. It seemed like the Malay cuisine is actually a fusion of different cuisines. I never knew that until I went for this learning journey.

The next day we went to the sultan mosque. There was a tour guide who told us the different features of the mosque. He said that the black ring around the base of the golden dome was actually glass bottles that were donated by the poor as a contribution to the mosque. It is really amazing to see how they thought of ideas of letting the poor contribute and do a part. 

We went to the Madrasah school later that day and we got to see how a Islamic school is. We were also introduced to what they learn. It is really astonishing to see the number of subjects they have to learn and it is much more than what we have to learn. They also sang their prayers and introduced traditional Malay instruments which even had a chance to play. It was super fun and very interesting.

Little India:

On the last day, we went to little india and we explored Tekka market and we saw a lot of different clothes and food. We tried the indian rojak and we realised how it was similar to Singapore, there were many different fruits and flavours, just like Singapore with many different races. I also went to try henna, a special paste that is applied to the skin to leave temporary dark marks. It is normally drawn as really pretty floral designs and it looks amazing. While walking pass a dessert shop, I asked the owner if there was a reason why their food are sweet. He told me that it meant prosperity to them so they eat it.

Overall reflection:

I was really glad to go on this trip as I found out a lot of information I never knew about this culture before and it was really fun and enriching. I wish to have more trips like this!

The Economy part 1

This was the old Singapore river. Dirty, polluted, overcrowded with boats and packed with houses on the shore.

This is the current Singapore river. Clear blue water with a few ferries. Industrial buildings and houses all around it.

Singapore has changed so much from 50 over years ago. Growing from a 3rd world to a 1st world country almost everything changed. Its economy too.

It was not easy for us to turn from a third world country to a first country world in a short span of 50 years. It took a lot of hard work and effort to do so.

We should not be complacent as there are many big countries like USA and China who can easily take over us. They have more land, resources and man power than us. A project that they can take merely 5 years to do, Singapore will probably take double the time. Compared to other developed countries, we are just like a small island which can be easily overtook.

If we do not have a good relationship with China, whenever we have problems like lack of resources, we will have a hard time finding another country that will be willing to help us.

Hence, we should not be complacent and our relationship with China is very important for us.

The "C" word

The iceberg model

This model describes the hidden part of cultures we do not see, and the visible ones. From the picture, we can see that food, music language and games are visible to us and it is very obvious and we can know what type of cultural food or music just by clicking onto youtube and searching for it. However we cannot clearly things like their values or body language just by watching a video. We have to interact with the people and experience their lives to know the actual full culture

Singapore's culture

Whenever someone thinks about Singapore, they would probably think of the word "Singlish" or "kiasu". We Singaporeans love to compete with other and use improper English. This is probably why foreigners think of this two words as soon as they hear the word Singapore. However, this is just the surface of our culture, we have more on the inside where people cannot just point out easily. They think that Singaporeans are "kiasu" as they are afraid of losing and not winning. However from my point of view, we are "kiasu" as the society out there is harsh and if we do not buck up and not compete to be the best, we will probably not be able to get a decent job in this fast paced world. So, I am just trying to say that the inside of a culture needs patience and detailed viewing to find and learn about it. There is so many things hidden that we need to find out patiently.