Photo Challenge

RV spirit

"在立化我不孤单〜"

Happiness

"Year 2 = Got juniors to bully"

Fear

"Boo hoo I'm so scared of Yang Hui"

"OHMYGOD"

"OMG Teddy Bear so scary"

Life

"Pole dancing is my life"

Poverty in Singapore

Everywhere you look, in Singapore there generally isn't much beggars. However, if you visit places like Australia, and North America, you will find that in the streets, will be sitting many beggers, young and old, men and women begging for money.

This is not commonly found in Singapore. The Singapore Government has stated that he will not be providing for people who are too lazy to earn money themselves when they have 4 perfectly good limbs. Selling tissue, passing out flyers can earn them enough money and there are flats that the government built just for these people. People in Singapore, in order to survive, have to earn their own money because no one will be there to provide for them.

Though beggars are not so common in Singapore, that doesn't mean that there isn't any poverty experienced in Singapore. In Singapore, we have many workers that come from other countries and mostly are only working as construction workers. There are about maybe 10-20 of them just sharing 1 house. Just imagine, families average size of 4 can share a 4 room flat and they have to share about maybe just a 3 room flat in order to pay less rent. Just imagine how tough their lives would be.

This is a example of Poverty in Singapore. They have to work hard everyday, wake up as early as 5am and go home as late as 11pm. They have to work be it rain or shine, and yet their monthly salary is very little. 

Also, there are some other workers who are not as fortunate as these. These group of workers do not even get to live in a proper house. They do not have a proper roof and therefore whenever it rains, the whole "house" is "flooded" and they can't do anything about it. Their toilets are not even clean and they do not own a proper flushing system and have to use water. There toilets are very unhygienic but what can they do about it? They have to earn money and if they return to their homeland, they might not be even able to find a job.

Recently, on the news shows that a Chinese Man is on the streets begging for money, and it said that he has gotten more than 500 dollars in the day. However we find out that this batch if beggars actually belongs to syndicates that distribute them over the island and will fetch them to the hotel afterwards and will celebrate their "harvest". The article has also stated that begging for money in Singapore is actually illegal and there has been several arrested.

So, although their isn't as much beggars in Singapore compared to other countries. There are many people in Singapore who are not as fortunate as those who were born in a financially stable family. 

Poverty does exist, in any state, in any form.

Poverty In Africa

Last Friday during our CID lesson, our teacher showed us a photograph. It was a picture of an extremely skinny boy with a vulture in the background. Then he told us to think of one word to describe this photograph. Our group came up with the word "suffering", due to the fact that the boy is so skinny and weak and the fact that the vulture seems to be waiting for him to die so that it can eat him. Our teacher then gave us a minute to search about this picture on the internet. We found out that this photograph was taken in Africa and the boy was actually going to a feeding centre to get food. However, the boy had so little energy and the vulture appeared behind him, resulting in the photographer taking that photo. We chose the word "suffering" because the boy seems to be in great pain and suffering because he is starving and weak. The vulture also emphasises on the fact that  the boy seems to be on the verge of death as most of us know that the vulture is famed for eating animals as food. The thought that there is still poverty and people that do not have any money or food saddens me. I feel that we should help countries that have poverty by donating food and daily necessities or educating them on how to earn a living and basic knowledge about hygiene, farming and more. This way, people who live on poverty can learn and know how to live their lives.

My Holiday - AFA

I spent most of my holiday at home so I don't have much to write about however, I did go out for the AFA which was interesting and I was very excited about it for the whole of my holiday. AFA stands for Anime Festival Asia. It is a festival held annually to exhibit Japan's pop culture like their fashion, music and of course, anime. I went to the AFA held at Suntec Convention Center by myself on the 9th of November and it was quite scary because there were so many people there, it was very very crowded. But nonetheless I had a lot of fun since everyone there shares the same interest, anime! There were many booths that sold anime merchandise, fan made items, katanas and there was even a maid cafe. I bought many merchandise from my favorite animes and also saw some original artworks of famous manga artists. There were also a lot of people cosplaying and it's so cool because their cosplay was so detailed and alike to the original. I had a lot of fun there, I am so glad I went and I'm definitely going again next year!^^

Lim En Yin (8)

Holiday reflection

Going back to my grandparents' house was always fun. It was like a reunion for everyone and what I looked forward to was just playing with my cute little cousins. My grandparents live in a shophouse so I guess I was fortunate to experience the life in a shophouse. It would be very hot in the late mornings and afternoons and you could literally sweat without doing anything. What I like about shophouses are the convenience of having shops below your house and the variety of food around your place. We went to Genting Highlands for a few days. I enjoyed the time we spend together,running from the lift to our hotel rooms,playing hide and seek and of course,throwing snowballs at each other at snow world. I feel that we should treasure our time together as we only see each other about twice a year and i hope that these happy memories would stay in our hearts forever:).

JiaEn(9)

December Holidays Reflection

During this December holidays, I went to Australia for 2 weeks. I visited many places in Australia. Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

Australia, in many ways is different from Singapore. First of all, Australia has a lot of land, but not a lot of cars. Everywhere you go, there are not many people squeezing around unlike Singapore. On this trip, we drove from places to places. On the way from Canberra to Melbourne, there were many dead kangaroos on the highway, that's something I have never seen. We got a speeding ticket for trying to take over a truck and the Australian police car was very different from Singapore police cars and so we failed to see the car 'hiding' in the bushes, and hence we got a speeding ticket.

There are many small flies in Australia so wherever you go, you can't keep your car windows open because the flies will stay in your car permanently and it's quite annoying because sometimes it just stays in you and never leave.

Australians are very kind and helpful, generally most of them are kind, that's something we don't get to see in Singapore. While in our stay in Sydney, we decided to visit the Blue Mountains and Three Sisters, a famous landmark. While we were almost there, we got lost and got into a sort of a forest. There is someone living there though. After we drove quite deep into it, we decided not to go any further and asked that person who was outside how to go to Blue Mountains, he was very friendly and decided to bring us there himself so he got into his car and lead us all the way there. I appreciate his help and his kindness and that is .

something we rarely or never see in Singapore, many people in Singapore are quite selfish and only care about themselves. That is something I love about Australia.

The hotel we lived in Sydney is just opposite the opera house so from the hotel there is great view outside.

Something memorable that happened in Melbourne is that I went to Taylor Swift RED Concert and it was fantastic! Although the seats weren't hat great but the concert is still awesome.

So in conclusion, I find Australia really beautiful and their citizens are very kind hearted and friendly and that's really nice. I feel we do need to learn from them in certain ways to develop the citizens in Singapore to be kind and helpful.

       Sydney Opera House

   Blue Mountains

   The RED Tour in Mebourne

     Three Sisters

Du XuanYi (4) 2K

My December Holiday Reflection

My December Holiday Reflection

For this holidays I did not really go to many places. I stayed in Singapore for the most of the holidays and I went to Lombok as well. The life in Lombok seem to be peaceful and calm. There were very little locals and most of the people walking around the streets were tourists. Even so, there were still very little people in the area. I guess that it was probably due to the fact that it is not the peak period for tourism in Lombok. I also realise that due to the few number of tourists on the island, there were many taxi drivers without passengers. The drivers would pounce at the opportunity to give passengers a ride. The cost of food and services were also incredibly cheap as compared to Singapore. The base fare for a taxi was only 5000 rupiah, which roughly translates to about 50 cents in Singapore. A plate of sirloin steak would only cost you about 9 to 10 SGD and the service provided by the restaurants was excellent. I could tell that the local people were very sincere and hardworking in doing their job. They do not expect much in return, unlike the people in Singapore.

We went to a few temples and pottery shops to learn more about Lombok's culture. The locals treated their culture and values with due respect, probably because most of them cannot get a good education. Other than that, we mostly spent time travelling around the island for sightseeing and resting in the hotel.

From this trip, I learnt a lot of things. I learnt that you do not need an item such as an iPhone or a computer game to be happy. The locals in Lombok might not have the latest gadgets but they are much more happy than us, even when they are working. I learnt that we must be content with what we have and learn to appreciate the fact that we are fortunate to be in such swell-developed country. Nevertheless, this December holiday was an exciting an meaningful one.

Matthew Lim (29)

My holiday reflection

I went to Thailand last November. It was my first time visiting and I was very excited to understand the different culture there. Thailand, especially Bangkok, compared to the little red dot, has the worst traffic. One can never get to another place by car or he would be expected to sit in the jam for an hour or so. Hence, my family and I would always travel by the BTS (MRT). The BTS there is short and yet the platform is long. Thus there would be a space at the back of the platform. I find that rather funny as they could've just builded a shorter platform. I do not understand the purpose of the long platform.There were also no barriers so we must be very careful not to fall on the tracks. I understood that the people in Thailand earned an annual wage that's much lower than ours in Singapore. Hence, the items and food sold are always cheaper. Though earning lower income meant that life was tougher there, many Thais would still not forget to be compassionate. Being a buddhist country, the Thais practice the Buddhist teachings to be a kind and compassionate person. I saw them display this kind of good role model in many places, be it in the shopping centre or market. For instance, once an old lady entered the MRT cabin, a Thai immediately stood up, held the old lady's hand and brought her over to his seat. In Singapore, some inconsiderate people would rush to the empty seat during the process! In contrast, the Thais there immediately made way so that the old lady can get to the seat quickly and easily. I was indeed amazed by the Thais' consideration! I think that we Singaporeans should take a leaf from them. 

In conclusion, the trip to Thailand was enjoyable and I was able to broaden my knowledge about the world. The Thais displayed great culture and I think that we should definitely learn from them. I can imagine how much more civilized we would be if we could follow their excellent example. 

Joy Tan (19)

Group picture