Though I did not go to Taiwan for the OELP week, but I still enjoyed my time in school together with the year 1s for their bicultural week. The things that I have learnt in that week is probably one of the most interesting things that I have experienced. During that week, I was the only one from my class that didn't go for the trip and therefore resulting in me having to open up to others and make new friends from other Year 2 classes and the Year 1 group that I have been assigned to.
Initially, The idea of joining the Year 1s for the bicultural week and being stuck in Singapore did not appeal to me as I felt that it would be boring and there would be social awkwardness between the other Year 2s or Year 1s and I. But on the first day, I realized that this 'unfortunate' event of being stuck in Singapore turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Coincidentally, a primary school friend of mine did not go for the OELP trip as well, and we both took this opportunity as a 'small reunion'.
The first two days of the bicultural week is mainly on Chinese art. On the first day, all the Year 2s stayed together as a group in classroom 5N to have our "Chinese Paper Cutting" activity. We were split into groups of our choice and we get to choose one own paper cutting design. My group chooses the design of a panda, we were tasked to cut out the design and followed by pasting it on another piece of coloured paper. This activity mainly taught me how to appreciate the Chinese art as Chinese Paper Cutting (剪纸) is the first type of papercutting design, since paper was invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty in China. The art form later spread to other parts of the world with different regions adopting their own cultural styles, the cut outs are also used to decorate doors and windows. This activity is also useful in cultivating patience as cutting out the paper bit by bit required a lot patience.
The second day, the activities that were planned for us mainly includes Chinese calligraphy and painting paper folding fans. The calligraphic tradition of East Asia originated and developed from China. There is a general standardization of the various styles of calligraphy in this tradition. Chinese calligraphy and ink and wash painting are closely related, since they are accomplished using similar tools and techniques. The ink brush, ink, paper, and inkstone are essential implements of Chinese calligraphy. They are known together as the Four Treasures of the Study, but for the calligraphy that I did, inkstone is not needed as the ink is already made beforehand and packaged into bottles for convenience. What we did for Chinese calligraphy was mainly learning the techniques of holding a brush, writing out the words, I even found out that the posture that we sit is important when doing Chinese calligraphy.
Fan drawing refers to inscribing calligraphies and drawing pictures on fans of various materials and shapes. The objects drawn on fans are mainly landscape, insects, birds, character sketches and other contents used in traditional Chinese paintings. What are commonly inscribed on fans include famous poems, wonderful lines, allegoric sentences or large-scale works. What we did was painting on those paper fans rather than craving on ivory or bamboo fans. Craving pictures or words into the bamboo is definitely a tough but if given a chance, I would love to give it a try.
The subsequent three days of the week was reserved for mostly games and activity. 2 year 2s were assigned to a year 1 class and to join them in the games and activity that was planned out by our school's very own bicultural camp members. They were mostly seniors in year 3 and 4 and were in charged in facilitating us, they're very friendly and definitely know how to break all awkwardness. During that three days, there was also a movie screening. The movie takes place in the countrysides of China, it tells of how a young girl tries desperately to earn money for her own education. Through this movie, I came to realize how lucky we are to be able to study in school and yet most of us are taking it for granted. It also allowed us to appreciate the high stand of living that we have today compared to the less developed parts of other countries, due to the family poverty, the girl in the movie was forced to drop out of school unless she manage to earn her own school fees.
Even though i stayed in school for the OELP week, but I do not regret my decision. But if I was given another opportunity to go overseas with my class, I would definitely seize it as the things that one can learn from overseas is first-hand experiences which is definitely different from learning online or through a movie.
Yang Zhi
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