C21 Cambodia day 5

Sad sia, today day 5, last day here. Going to airport soon. Right now, 6am, typing whatever I feel like typing here. Firstly , I would like to thank the teachers for taking their time to organise the event, taking time to plan the activities and taking care of us. Secondly, I would like to thank the tour guides for patiently explaining to us and cracking jokes with us it really gave us a good time. Especially Mr Dara. I find that he is the bet tour guide :p but the others are also good too. It was hard to say good bye. :( During this short 5 gives, I learned a lot. Especially the lives of people living in poverty, how sad and difficult their life must have been.

 During this short period of 5 days, the main thing I learned from them was to be strong, to persevere no matter how tough it is, how bad their living environment is, no sanitation, no healthcare, insufficient food, insufficient clothing. Everyday, no matter how tough it is, this believe, the shear hope that tomorrow will be better, it is this believe that drives them going. I also from them to appreciate whatever you've got. Actually, to me, it is quite embarrassing, we, people living in a first world country, we have everything, yet we don't appreciate anything, we take everything for granted. It really saddens me, compared to them, they,the food, if they cannot finish it, they will not throw it away. They will leave it over night even though the food will attract flies and pests, they will still eat it the following day for breakfast? I suppose.

I've also learned from them that e should not only help ourselves but the people around us too. In the village in Cambodia where were donating clothes, there is this 12 year old girl who have to take care of 2 younger siblings, no job, no house, no food. Thankfully, her neighbour is nice enough to build for her a house, provide food and helps her take care of her siblings when she is in school. Such selflessness displayed by her neighbour, we should all learn from her.

Thirdly, to be more happy :D. When I visited the village school the children there were very happy, playing around. Despite living in poverty, they are all enjoying themselves playing, thankful for whatever they have. Compared to us, even though e have everything, look at us, are we happy? We all have that glum look on our face, caused by stress and workload.

Finally, I would like to thank the tour guides and teachers again. This has been one of the more memorable trips. It is sad and hard to say goodbye. I'm gonna miss this place. I will put all the fun we had, the good food that was provided, the time spent together, the people we meet in memory. Thank you all, for making this trip so memorable.

This is Tang yanfeng, signing off.

C21 Cambodia day 4

Cambodia day 4

Activities doen - 3:30 am wake up watch sunrise. Visit Angkor Wat, two other temples and visit war museum. River cruise.

Okay, so basically, today, reaaly tired. Wake up at 4am. (Alarm didnt ring, thankfully Myron woke me up. Owe him one.) So , we departed to Angkor Watt, the sunrise was quite beautiful. Purplish. Anyways, after that went back to hotel for breakfast. Lol, Yunnan Boys also there, Im like........... -_-

After breakfast, go climb angkor watt, got a talk off history la. Bla bla bla...... Then visit war museum. Showed us all the weapons, and all the other things la, the cannons, blown up tanks and trucks and planes.

After that 3 hours river cruise just for spending 5 minutes in the shop. The boat also ahh, like travel half-way than kena stuck in the mud. Zzz.....
That's all, go back hotel sleep. Tomorrow last day.

C21 Cambodia day 3

Day 3:

Distributing clothes to villagers, painting school, talk by war survivor.

Painting school- Dammit, I really wanted to interact with the kids. Sway ahh! Ai ya, nvm, im the IC for the painting, no kick. Just boss around. No la , just kidding. So we were given face mask for the sanding. Really damn tough sia, scrub scrb scrub, particles fly, go into your eyes. I tell you what, really regret not bringing goggles, IT STINGS!!( BTW, last years batch did a great job. They painted the whole classsroom with blue paint. Quite appealing. ) I wont go in depth. Paint, paint drip onto you, you get sticky. Drop on shirt. Sway lo. Im gonna cut this short Tomorrow need wake up at 3:30am to watch sunrise at angkor watt. So , just imaging. Sticky, tired, sweaty. Imagination brings you a long way....

Talk by war survivor- Sad story. How he saw his whole family being killed infront of him. Can you imagine? A 13 year old boy had to go through all this. He saw how his fathers head got chopped off, how his brother is being clubbed to death. How his mother is being stabbed to death. Its so sad. He was the only survivor of his family because fortunately for him, the soldier who was executing the people by stabbing them, had missed him. He survived. Infact, he cried in front of the mass grave for 3 days 3 nights before escaping to Thailand Before leaving, he made 3 promises infront of the mass grave.

1.To avenge his family.

2.If he fails to accomplish his first promise, he will become a Buddhist.

3. If he fails to accomplish his first and second goals, he would stay far away from Cambodia.

. Sad right? :( So after the war, he became a policemen and returned to the village intending to make a revenge, but ofcourse, since there are so many Khmer soldiers, his attempt is bound to fail. He did not accomplish his first promise. And he also cant be a Buddhist because he was a policemen. So he left to Canada and accepted god into his life. After that, he returned to Cambodia to forgive his family killers. He gave them a Cambodian scarf to represent his forgiveness, his shirt to represent his love for them and a bible to represent his blessing for them. broke all his 3 promises. He now builts schools for poor Cambodian children so that they receive an education. Such a nice guy, we need more people like him so that our society will become a selfless one.

Distributing clothes to the villagers- During the bus ride, we were taught simple conversational terms like hello, thank you, in Khmer. What we do when we greet them. Eg. Clap your hands together and say :"Joom Rip Sooa " when you are greeting them. We were also taught about the effects of the civil war on the people. I really don't understand whats the purpose of war? To prove who is right? As the saying goes :" War does not prove who is right, but rather, who is left." Futhermore, the Khmer promised to improve the lifestyle of Cambodian people and bring peace to the coutry. Okay, so where is the peace you promised? Everyday, they would execute people, in faact, the first people they kill would be the professionals(Doctors, engineers, teachers) In fact, the people lived in fear everyday. They would kill everyone, even those who are innocent. Their campaign:" Rather kill wrongly than regret later." They wiped out 3 million which is half of the citty's population. did they accomplish what they promised? Hell no! In fact, because they killed all the professionals, they country cannot develop and caused the people to live in poverty. When we were donating clothings,I am saddened to see the lives of people living in developed country. The hardships they face, the difficulties they face in order to survive in one of the worlds most unfavourable conditions. Hot weather, insufficient food, insufficient clothings, no accesss to healthcare, dirty kitchens. In fact, they are exposed to infectinos and diseases in the everyday of their lives. Can you imagine? A 12 year old girl have to take care of 2 younger siblings, no job, no house, no food. Thankfully, her neighbour is nice enough to build for her a house, provide food and helps her take care of her siblings when she is in school. Sad right? No one deserves to live in this kind of conditions. Children malnourished, doing hard labour, carrying a 8kg bag of rice, digging soil to plant and grow crop. How many of us can survive can do these kind of labour? How many of us can even survive living in this kind of conditions? How many of us can tahan these kind of life. We are very lucky to be born in Singapore, we just struck a lottery, you know Toto? You either strike or dont strike. You dont srike you can be one of these children , you strike , good for you, you will be born in countries like Singapore. In fact, do you know how rare is it to even be born in Singapore? everyday, hundreds of thousands of babies are born? Whats your chances of being born in Singapore? Very rare right? All of us are lucky to be born here, we just struck grand prize. Wait, being born in Singapore is even more rare than striking the grand prize. Who has struck Toto here? No one? The truth is, all of us did! In singapore, you break your leg, easy, call ambulance. In countries like Cambodia where there is no access to healthcare, technology convinience, they have to Tahan the pain you know? Almost no one can afford the hospital bill in Cambodia. We have everything, technology, food, water, shelter, convinience, education, yet , we do not appreciate it at all. We take it as granted. We complain everyday :" Why is the weather so hot?" Why is the Wi-fi signal so weak? Even things as stupid as:" I have too much potato chips for the sauce, if I open another packet of sauce, Ill have too much sauce for the potato chips. Why cant we look at real problems? Problems like, starving children, poverty, famine. We are not willing to at all. The reason is selfishness. Most people living in first world countries are very selfish. We are greedy, when we have something, we want more. We are not willing to give, we only care about ourselves. Finally, it is ironic that people who are living in first world countries ,where we have the access to all of the worlds most advanced technology, yet, we are so stressed out and tired by either schoolwork or our job. workload therefore, we are very unhappy. Compared to people living in less developed countries like Africa or Cambodis, despite living in poverty, but, there i something that drives them going. It is this shear hope that tomorrow will be better. This hope drives them going, makes them perservere and to not give up. This can be judged by Singapores happiness rate. We are way below, compared to Cambodiass which is very high. Let me ask you a question. Do you want to live in a country where there is alot of material wealth but very unhappy or would you prefer living in a country where the people are not so rich but they live a happy life?

C21 Cambodia day 2

Activities : Nothing much, just packing up of clothings and playing with children.

Today ahh, 6:00 am morning call, eat breakfast, 8:00am depart to local school. Im in group 11, got told to pack shirt to hand them out to the villagers tomorrow. Tiring sia...... Distributed all the shirts to 60 bags , really damn sienz. I'd prefer teaching the children or painting the school. Sway lo, who ask me kena sent to group 11. Anyway, good thing is, we were expected to finish by 4:00pm. But due to the teamwork and co-operation and the great guidance of Myron lam, we finished it by 2:35. So rest of the time do what? LEPAK!!! We had 2 choices, no 3 actually, no wait, 4! Lepak in classroom, play with kids, see how the boys teach or interview people. Since, classroom is so hot. 1st options out. Since 2nd and 3rd choices can be reserved to later, so I chose to interview the tour guides. Mostly about wars and all these things. After that, play with kids, had a fun time actually. So ya, tomorrow must wake up early. Prepare video cam, like what Me lau chee keen said :" Tomorrow when we visit the villagers will determine whether you score high marks or low marks." So ofcurse, must prepare questions and video tape them. Trying to get full marks for C21 PT (performance task) so sleep now. Bye!

C21 Cambodia, day 1.

19th may 2013.
Shopping at lucky mall and old market.

Reflection:

Shopping at old market

During the bus ride, seeing the buildings, I know that most people are either very rich if not, very poor as most buildings were either slums , if not posh bungalows. Looking at the less fortunate, I both sympathise and empathise them. Children walking around shirtless, women carrying and feeding her children and at the same time trying to look after her stall. My hearts went out to them. Before entering the old market, we were told to bargain the price, but I will never do it. For the most simplest reason. They are poor people, people living in poverty. In fact, I think most of them cannot guarantee their next meal. While we, the fortunate, do not need to worry about what they have to. Most of us have more than USD 100, why do we still need to bargain? Im not saying bargaining is wrong. But bargain from 30USD to 12USD?? That's really too much, Why are we so selfish? Why do we only care about ourselves?  Why is it so difficult for us to give? To me, the purpose of life is to give. Why cant we feel the joy of giving? That joy is priceless, every time I treat a childs wound, I do not expect anything in return. What I got in return is the joy of helping someone. As the saying goes:" Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can."

Shopping at lucky mall-

Damn cheap ahh. Shoik arr, I was buying down the whole supermarket. 10 bottles of water, 5 Pringles potato cheaps, 6 packets magee mee, 6 cans of drinks two bottles of water. 30+ USD only.

What can you infer from the cartoon?

I can infer that the cartoonist is trying to critisize the healthcare system of Singapore. This can be seen by the big hole in the medicare ship and many people on-board and no help was given to them.

What is the message of the cartoon?

The message of this cartoon is that there are problems faced by the people of Singapore with regards to the healthcare expenses and many could not afford. This is shown by 3 weak people climbing up the ship, they have problems in paying for their healthcare as they are burdened by the increase in hospitalization costs, the limited use of medisave and the 7% GST surcharge.

Why did the cartoonist draw this cartoon?

The cartoonist is trying to tell the people that the Medisave and Medishield are insufficient to meet the peoples healthcare expenses. This is shown by the 3 men who said:" All fixed" As seen from the ship, there is a big hole, indicating that they have done a sloppy job. The cartoonist is also saying that if the government does not do anything it would lead to people dying as can be seen from a passenger shouting :" Who took the lifeboat?"

The purpose of why the cartoonist draw the picture is to gain support from the people that the the medisave and medishield are insufficient to meet the peoples healthcare expenses and to tell the government to provide more financial aid to the people to cope with the peoples healthcare expenses.

refraction in water

The captain of a Navy battlecruiser is standing at the bow of his ship which is moored in very clear waters. He sees a fish in the water and would like to catch it.

 If the captain decides to shoot the fish with his rifle, where should he aim?

     (a) Above the fish

     (b) Below the fish

     (c) Directly at the fish

The answer is (b)he needs to aim below the fish. If he does not and aims directly at the fish, no matter how precise his aiming is , he will notice that he can never hit the fish, he sees the fish, aim the rifle, fires at it, well, and miss, again and again.  This is due to a Science phenomenon called refraction.  What is refraction? Refraction is the change in direction of light when it passes from one medium to another, it is caused by the change of the speed of the light . When light passes from one medium to another medium of different densities, it either speeds up or slows down. If light passes from a optically less dense medium to an optically denser medium, light slows down and light bends towards the normal(  A line that is perpendicular  to the surface .)and vice versa if light travels from an optically denser medium to an optically less dense medium. For example, air is optically less dense than water, so when light enters enter it slows down and bends. Therefore, when you put a straw or rifle in the water, it appears bent.

The thick white line in the middle is the normal. Ans the dotted line is the normal.


So when he looks into the river, refraction happens and the position of the fish is actually lower than he perceives.It appears closer to the surface than it usually is.
The dotted line shows the position of the fish that we see, while the straight line shows where the position of the fish really is. The light coming from the fish is refracting (away from the normal) as it passes into the air to his eyes, hence, the fish looks shallower than it really is.



Question 2.

 If the captain decides instead to zap the fish with a laser, where should he aim?

     (a) Above the fish

     (b) Below the fish

     (c) Directly at the fish

He should aim directly at the fish the answer is (c). This is because laser is a form of light and refraction occurs. So when you shoot the laser directly at the fish, when the laser pass from the air to the water, which is from a less optically dense medium to a optically denser medium, the laser beam slows down and bends towards the normal ( A line that is perpendicular to the surface.) The laser light will refract as it enters the water, following the exact reverse path as the light coming from the fish to his eye, hitting the fish, this is unlike throwing the spear at the fish because the spear is not a form a light , therefore, refraction does occur and we have to aim the spear below the image of the fish  that we see in order to hit the fish. But for the laser, it is a form of light, therefore, refraction occurs and to hit the fish, we have to aim directly at the fish.

Picture on the left: Light travelling through water.(Straight line)* Picture on the right: Light travelling through water and hitting fish(Straight line)*

*Straight line= Path that lights travel.

*Dotted line= What we see