因为有你，川渝更美好 | Because of you, Sichuan & Chongqing will be better… :]

Simon treated me at New York New York Ang Mo Kio Hub on Tuesday and gave me box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates and a card of encouragement. I appreciated these very much! Thanks, Simon! See the photo below. When I am eating, is it very similiar to the real Kung Fu Panda, Po? Haha…

I finally received my high school testimonial yesterday, after the Higher Chinese O Level paper ended. Yay! The following is a a brief but quite accurate account of my 4 years in high school:

HIGH SCHOOL TESTIMONIAL FOR MA HUAQING

Huaqing joined Hwa Chong Institution in January 2005 and was among the pioneer batch students in the Integrated Programme.

Huaqing demonstrates his flair in the languages and he writes well in both English and Chinese. He has keen interest in social studies and the humanities subjects. In April 2008, Huaqing became China’s national hero of a sort, by successfully making the BBC apologize to China for its fabricated news report about the Olympic Torch Relay in London. In recognition of his efforts, he was widely praised by Chinese netizens and even the Chinese media such as Chengdu TV Station, People’s Daily and China Central Television. 

Huaqing’s interest in the languages is also evident from being one of the minorities to take up Malay as a third language in MOE Language Centre. Huaqing cherished the opportunity to learn a third language and had achieved an A grade for the subject. He was interviewed by Berita Harian in March 2006 and an article entitled, ‘Pelajar China kuasai Bahasa Melayu’ was published on 14 March 2006. Huaqing was also one of the Young Diplomat Gold Award recipients of the United Nations Association.

Huaqing is very passionate about his hometown, Chengdu. He started an English website to promote various aspects of Chengdu to the world on 6 December 2006.

However, Huaqing lacks the perseverance to strive for certain subject disciplines. He is, nevertheless, a talented student! 

Last night, Kia Wee, Edward, Ivan, Sai Meng, Hong Nan and I met up at Ngee Ann City. Our original plan was to eat buffet at Seoul Garden, since we thought the price of S$18.99 per person is quite affordable. But we were wrong. We were shocked at the various “hidden charges”: GST, service charge, etc., which totalled up to more than S$30 per person. WTF?! Even for air tickets, the new regulation says that the price displayed in advertisements must reflect all the hidden charges you know! I am glad that Kia Wee made a good suggestion: go to the Breeks Cafe just opposite Seoul Garden instead. And it turned out to be a right choice: each one of us spent about S$20 and were full. Here are some of the food we ordered:

 

During the meal, we talked about a wide range of things: from a certain teacher’s appearance on ChannelNewsAsia today expressing her emotions towards Barack Omaba’s landslide win of the US Presidential elections, to funny jokes happened in school…and many more. I even shared some differences between Putonghua, Sichuan dialect and Chongqing dialect, such as:

When referring to a person boasting about himself, in Putonghua we say 吹牛皮, while in Sichuan dialect we say 冲壳子, and in Chongqing dialect we say 冒皮皮.

When referring to a person talking nonsense, in Putonghua we say 瞎说, while in Sichuan dialect we say 打胡乱说, and in Chongqing dialect we say 丰都城拉二胡（鬼扯）. 

It was a very fun discussion. After the meal, a young lady passing by was kind enough to help us take this photo for future remembrance. I will definitely treasure my friendship with Kia Wee, Edward, Ivan, Sai Meng and Hong Nan, even as we proceed on to JC next year.

 

The following photos were taken by ourselves: 

Me and Kia Wee

Sai Meng and Me 

 
Me and Edward

 
Me and Hong Nan

 
Me and Ivan: Ivan’s face looks so cute! Haha…

Time flies. I am amused that with the end of yesterday’s Singapore-Cambridge Higher Chinese O Level Paper (the only O Level paper we need to take), 4 years of high school has come to an end. I am also very glad that we have been through many struggles and overcome them together.

I would also like to acknowledge the following people who have brightened up my life throughout the 4 years in High School:

Kia Wee and Edward – for being so encouraging, supportive and caring towards me in difficult times…a friend in need is a friend indeed;

Jing Yi - for being so encouraging and caring and standing so firm together with me in the battle against You-Know-Who;

Zheng Lin - a generous friend so helpful and willing to let me borrow his DVD burner a few times this year; 

Gideon – a humble and interesting soul in 4P; 

Abner and Earnest – for helping me with Maths;

Yin Jiunn and Jiashen – mugging together with me in preparation for tests;

Joel, Bin Hao, Li Wen, Kok Seng, Guo Fei, Ren Xiang, Zhen Yao and Zhe Ren and all other classmates in 4P except You-Know-Who - for making my stay in 4P this year the most enjoyable class experience throughout the 4 years in high school;

Bing Kun - a humble, hardworking and approachable soul and Chemistry PRO;

Xueyan – the very rare but also very kind and understanding person from a class of evil, cold-blooded creatures; 

Larry, Glen, Jordan, Jun De, An Rui, Qiu Lei, Willie, Wilfred, Chin Kiat, Hong De and Zhi Yi – my easy-to-get-along and caring ex-classmates in 2K(2006);

Jie Qi - a helpful, humorous and easygoing Aphelion consortium mate who is obsessed in buses; 

Glendon, Hubert, Bryan Hee, Mark Hee, Aaron Koh, Yi Cheng, Chai Bin and Cai Yong - good friends in Humanities Programme 2007;

Edmund, Tze Liang, Jun Yi and Heng Yang – friendly Ortus consortium mates;

Zhao Xing – for mugging Maths and Physics with me on MSN in the wee hours;

Andre and Sai Meng – who were my first two friends made in Hwa Chong during the Secondary 1 Orientation;

Hong Nan, Ivan, Benjamin, Cavin and Wei Rong - easygoing and very talented souls (in sciences, music and humanities) in iSpark;

Benny and Wilson – very easy-to-get-along Aphelion consortium mates; 

Kwang Chian and Xiao Heng - for being so helpful and easy to work with in Lit class;

Justin – for taking the same bus 74 every morning with me to school;  

Swee Kiat and Dah Wei – who were my Malay classmates in Sec 2;

Jerrold – who has the same opinion about NCC as me and quitted;

Dominic – well-built waterpolo athlete and ex-classmate in 2K(2006) who never fails to poke me for fun;

Kevin Koh, Kevin Ishak and Wei Ern - for having gone through a period of suffering together with me in NCC a few years back; 

Shi Shuang – for generously helping me with Maths, Chemistry and Physics by letting me borrow her 10 Year Series in Sec 3;

Hewlett, Shi Wei, Lian Joo, Marvin and Rui Yi – for being so understanding and patient with me in those NCC days;

Che Jian – for your invaluable advice and encouragements as a senior; 

Mr Chua Chee Siang – the powerful One/master/guru/coach in tuition;

Mr Yeo Kee Sheng and Mr Eugene Chan - for being very helpful, approachable and responsible TAs to aid us in our learning; 

Mr Hon, Dr Hon, Mrs Ke, Mr Bala, Ms Boey, Mrs Chua, Ms Ang, Mr Samuel Lim, Ms Sunita, Mr Gilbert, Ms Huang Si Jian, Ms Hannah Yeo, Mrs Ann, Ms Te Yoke Ching, Mr Chia, Ms Bian Jiang, Ms Adeline Tan, Mr Nan Zhiguo and many other teachers – for teaching me well and rendering valuable assistance and guidance to me in times of need.

I am staying up very late to write this very memorable post. It is already 4 am now. Looking outside my window, the bird’s eye view of Bishan at night is rather enjoyable, and I felt a little nostalgic. Many lights remain lit, and this scene is quite similiar to what I saw every time on the airplane back to Singapore, as the aircraft prepares to land in Changi Airport.

Yes. I will be flying off to Chengdu on 7 November in the morning, which is going to come to pass about one day later. I have worked hard for one year with the initial intention of enjoying the End-of-Year Holidays to the fullest extent in Chengdu, Chongqing and maybe in Shanghai and Shanxi as well. Now that I am leaving Singapore soon and will only come back in January next year, I somehow miss a lot of people and events.

Indeed, even though the year 2008 had many unfortunate events, I have escaped from many misfortunes. While I will be enjoying my long-awaited holidays in China, I definitely will cherish the fond memories with my friends in this school year.

So, goodbye to all my friends! See you next year! 

23rd and 24th October were the last two days of my student life in Hwa Chong Institution (High School Section). I brought my camera to school and took photo with some of my friends for future remembrance. Click on the photos for an enlarged and much clearer view.

On 24th October, me and 5 other good friends of mine went to the La Mei Zi Chongqing Zhengzong Laohuoguowang Hot Pot (Sichuan style steamboat) Restaurant for the 4P Mini Batch Dinner cum Graduation Celebrations.

During the dinner, we discussed many interesting events took place this year in school, and I also filmed a few videos of us eating and chatting. I am glad that everyone enjoyed the dinner, but also felt the deep nostalgia that we will be splitted into different classes again next year, when we enter the College Section. This might be our last gathering as a class. Nevertheless, we will still keep in touch.

We spent S$104 altogether. After the hot pot dinner, we went to Dhoby Ghaut for a random walk so as to help our stomachs digest the food. All ended up playing LAN except me and Yin Jiunn. We took buses home outside Plaza Singapura eventually.

Honestly speaking, classmates from 4P2008 are people I can most get along with throughout the 4 years in High School Section. We have been through many struggles and troubles this year, but have all overcome these obstacles and made our way to JC. I will definitely remember the year 2008 throughout my life, not just because of the Beijing Olympics, but also because it’s my happiest year in High School.

My dear friends, all the best in JC!

View all photos here:

I was shocked when one of my friends has recently shown me a blog post containing very offensive comments against me. It was written by Low Kok Seng (4P). The post was made in October 2007, when I did not join 4P yet. We knew each other since Sec 1, but did not have much interaction until this year, and there was no conflict between us. Therefore, I could not understand why he had to flame me online like that.

Even though this post has definitely caused much defamation to me, I had tried to solve this issue in a peaceful manner by talking to Kok Seng and asked him to remove it, in a very friendly tone. We are classmates, after all, so initially I did not plan to complain to teachers regarding this issue.

However, to my disappointment, Kok Seng first said that he “did not post it at all”. When I asked him for the second time, he said that “it was not his blog”. Yesterday, I had shown him the page in computer lab, and he confirmed that it was his blog, but “the post was not written by him”. According to Kok Seng, the offensive comments were “included in his blog’s template” (which is not the truth, because it did not appear on every page). I asked him if he could remove this in the template, he refused. He added that it is “very time-consuming to delete”.

Kok Seng was clearly giving all kinds of excuses, as he didn’t wish to remove the offensive and false comments about me at all. Thus, I had no choice but to approach a higher authority and seek help to solve this issue. In consideration of the huge, negative impact caused by this post and his refusal to cooperate, I sincerely hope that he could delete this post, and apologise on his blog regarding this issue, so as to answer for all the harm caused.

This morning, Mr Sung made Kok Seng to remove the offensive comments from his blog and I have forgiven Kok Seng. According to Kok Seng, “someone forced him to post those offensive remarks”. I am not interested to know which version is the truth, as long as he has learnt the lesson.

I have also seen his apology on his blog today, as shown in the snapshot above. Kok Seng’s eventual willingness to cooperate and make up for his mistake has saved himself from getting 5 demerit points. I am happy to see that this issue has come to an end and is a win-win situation for both parties. Kok Seng will be representing our class to sing during assembly tomorrow, and I wish him all the best. =)