Day 22

A day of leisure as there was no class to attend, however, it does not mean that we have free time to go out. Why? We were to set off to one of the coca cola factory to take a peek at the processes that go on behind the scene. Once again, transportation by bus took us around one and the half hour to get there. Another horrible journal full of horn blasting and bumpy roads. We alighted at one of the larger factory and spent several minutes under the scorching sun while waiting for the staff to bring us in. We were somehow, in my opinion, treated like primary school kids as we were told to stand in 2 rows and pair up with each other. Hello~ This treatment is usually reserved for kids in primary school and not for students like us. Seriously.
Anyway, we finally made our way into the building and were escorted straight into one of the rooms where a huge screen awaited us. We were told that each of us were allowed to take a glass bottle of coke while watching the screening. Glass bottles! How long has it been since we last saw coke in glass bottles? It was a surprise for me to see drinks still packaged in bottles and took several sips even though I do not fancy carbonated drinks. Usually in Singapore’s market and probably in other developed countries, one rarely sees coke or carbonated drinks in glass bottles as glass bottles were really bulky and harder to dispose of compared to the thin metal cans we have now. The screening was about the history of coke and how it expanded to different parts of the world and even how it was linked to the recent Beijing Olympics. It was quite fascinating to watch despite it being all in Chinese and that we were busy translating the screening for Edah and Hajar.
Once the screening is over, we headed off to the manufacturing plant and on the way, we were given brief details on how each of the processes are conducted and why so. We were not allowed to take any photos while inside the manufacturing plant, however I feel that the processes in the manufacturing plant for coke and the other drink products were somehow similar to the processes in which drugs are produced. Perhaps all manufacturing plants are around the same.
Next in store for us is another room whereby it’s filled with previous endorsement products that had been used to promote coke. Glancing around in the room is like a walk into the past, with its various promotional ideas, one could easily feel the nostalgia. Pictures were allowed and so camera started flashing here and there. It was really a place where one could go back in time (just for a while) and experience the successful promotions once again.

Day 23

Another early day. I really loathe people who spoil my mornings but in this case, I’ll overlook this fact. At the same garden where we had our BBQ student interaction, there were a bunch of zombies slouching around and the only few perky zombies were the lecturers. I have no idea why but that’s just the case. For today’s event, instructors from the student army (?) came and took over but giving us commands in Chinese. Seriously, no one is fully awake and thus, our reactions were like snail-cum-tortoise speed. Another thing is that I have totally no idea what is he shouting; it took several minutes and more repeats of his commands before I knew it was to line up in 4 rows. Baahhhh~ We were brought to a shelter and then commanded to be separated into groups and to start a mini “tribe”. I believe the main purpose is for the bonding between each of us.
Pharmacy Science consisted for one group and we tackled our task dutifully. First, we had to elect a tribe leader (in this case, it was Ernest.), following that, we had to make “clothes” (out of newspaper -.-) and gown up our leader and everyone else. Last but not the least, we had to design a flag to symbolize our tribe. Naturally, we thought of our Dr. Tan and we designed a flag after him. (Okay, not really exactly his face; we cute-ify his face? ) Ta-da! We were done ^^. It was really fun to enjoy ourselves like this once in a while. It was like we were transported back into time where all everyone knew it to have fun and play to the max. Now that’s really something I miss and one where I don’t mind happening once again. This is a lesson where I have to learn not to always take everything so seriously and sometimes, having fun is part of the process. Now I really know that one have to enjoy the process to fully savour the results.
Off we go for the next 2 activities, the trust fall and the leap of faith. The former is something I never liked as there was once when after I fall, I was literally dropped to the ground. So this time round, I was really freaked out when one of the instructors pointed at me and asked me to try and everyone encouraged that. I was literally screaming inside my mind, but my body didn’t listen and went up the ladder. In the end, I regretted the bravado and had to take a rest to calm myself. However, it was better this time as no one let me fall to the ground. =) The leap of faith was easier as all I counted on was my own strength, which was easier to trust. However, my aiming was off and my body weight was not centered after the leap and I fell. Oh well, I could always try this again later. I always know that these activities make sure of trust and teamwork. For someone like me who seldom trust others, it was a difficult process for me to endure. I could not trust them enough to catch me even though I know that all of them have the ability to do so. Another hurdle that I have to get over. Sooner or later, I know I can do it, but probably in another way, not repeating the trust fall again.
There was a more exciting program in store for us after our lunch. First, we had a little warm up game. It’s a little like the games we play in LSCT society so it was really easy for us to adapt to the game. What’s more anticipating is the event after it. Rock climbing! Yet another challenge for me to see if I have the strength and courage to hit the top of the wall. The sheer height of the wall was daunting and it was after a few minutes before I walked up to the instructors for a trial. It was not the height I thought I could reach; I only reached halfway before my arms can’t stretch any further for the next stone to grab on. There seem to have no improvement from when I last took on the rock wall challenge in Secondary 3. Perhaps there is; the wall I went on in Sec 3 was a purely straight wall while the 2 walls I went here was of a much difficult standard. For the rock wall, there has to be planning before moving on to the next step. This is so alike life, whereby it is always safer to plan first before moving on to the next step in life.

Day 24

Finally the day arrived. Today was the day of our CTCM common test. For a week before this day, I was busy trying to cram all the information inside my brain. I hope I did okay. As usual, I was the first to leave the class by speedwriting all my answers into the paper. I had to do that so I can leave early. Apparently, if I were to stay longer than half the time allotted for a paper, I would start to panic and lose my confidence and start to change all the answers in my paper. I know that when I leave early, people would start to panic thinking that I completed the paper early because it was easy. Well, it’s not. =)

Day 25

Another IS module, this time about business etiquette. Our class was held in one of the classrooms with computers. However, it seems that the keyboard was not used for very long as there was a thick layer of dust on it. Guess the students only looked at the screens and didn’t even bother to touch the keyboard. Well, one thing that is surprising here is that the main computer (the lecturer’s) is the brain behind the rest of the computers. It is more effective in this way as the students are forced to read the slides that the lecturer is showing on their individual computer, however, if there are students that do not like to be bound in this way will try ways and methods to overcome this. One way is to disable window explorer. =) Okay, I really shouldn’t be giving away methods to help students to slack. =X
As I read really fast, I was over the slide before the lecturer even reading the first point. It was the same method of teaching, just like the dean on the IS module on China’s history. I’m not going to repeat the same points I’d made when commenting on the dean’s teaching. In conclusion, I can only say that the teaching methods between the two countries is really like the difference between heaven and earth.
After lesson and lunch, we continued on our Ayuveda lesson and had a show on yoga. It seems that yoga is getting more and more westernized, which to me, is a good thing. Yoga, a form of exercise, is one way of distressing and keeping fit at the same time. I believe that it is actually a good thing for it to be spread to the western countries even though it originated from Asia. At least we know that everyone is getting their needed exercise. XD