On the 30th of January, my class and I went to watch the Chingay Parade. I think that the purpose of Chingay 2016 is to eptiomise the dynamism of Singapore's vibrant and multicultural society. There were performers of different races in their traditional costumes. The word Chingay is equivalent to 妆艺, which means "the art of costume and masquerade". There used to be the lighting of firecrackers to chase away evil spirits but since the use of firecrackers has been banned, Chingay, with all its noise and giaety, will compensate for it. I think this change of purpose happened because The Straits Times sponsored four pop singers from Tokyo. Since then, Chingay had extended invitations for international artistes and troupes. Today, Chingay has become a uniquely Singaporean Lunar New Year tradition, held during the first weekend of the Lunar New Year. It is now a national festival, celebrated by people from all races. I think the organisers have successfully fulfilled this purpose. When I went to view the Parade, I saw participant volunteers of all races wearing their different ethnic costumes. There was also music and the hosts asked us all to stand up and clap, stomp our feet or shake our pom poms to the beat. I would like to add that there was a performance of a massive group of people with lights draping on their bodies. In the night, it looked a lot like there were walking lights. The Chingay Parade was definitely lively! This shows the meaning of Chingay and the purpose of eptiomise get the dynamism of Singapore's vibrant and multicultural society.
3, 2, 1 reflection:
I have found out 3 things from the lesson. Firstly, there were not enough classrooms and teachers when the one child policy was not implemented yet. Secondly, the demand on the resources like water and space had to be limited. Thirdly, the population growth outstripped the food growth and thus there was famine.
I have gained 2 perceptions from the lesson. Firstly, Families were not emphasising enough in children because they had too many children. Secondly, optimal use of office spaces and factories was required.
I have a question after having the lesson. What happens if a lady has twins, triplets, or quadruplets after the one child policy had been implemented?
Reflections about happiness and poverty:
Being a relatively prosperous country with few cases of poverty, I feel that Singapore is not a very happy country as compared to the other countries of the world. To me, Singaporeans are quite serious about the things that they do and do not laugh at themselves. For instance, we do not have a good national cartoonist. Malaysia's national cartoonist has given Malaysia brilliant insights into its society through his lovingly drawn cartoons. Tun Mahathir Mohamad was and is still one of the toughest leaders that Malaysia has produced but his stature was in no way diminished by the cartoons Lat drew of him. It might have even been enhanced by the cartoons! I think that Singaporeans need to loosen up a bit. However, we are indeed the most densely populated country on our planet and have the least amount of physical space to live in. I have heard that when animals are housed together in close proximity with little space to roam in, they become less happy and perhaps that's how Singaporeans are. Singapore is well known for being the small dot on the world map, yet we have such a dense population. It is no wonder that we have such a small physical space to live in! However, I do think that we have to learn to live with our existential condition of lack of space and not get unhappy about it. I do not think that we want to stay unhappy for our lifetime or move out of our homeland just because of the simple fact that we have lesser space to live in than other people in the country. I feel that that would be very childish of us. We do, in fact, have to learn to adapt. If we have lesser space, so be it! Just make the most you can out of it. Even if it's small, we should cherish and love it because it is our home.
RV60 Sentiments:
Our RV60 performance was held on the 16th of January 2016. Before that, everybody were practising and rehearsing since November 2015. Although there were some that were on holiday and couldn't make it, we all tried to make it to the practises. There were quite a lot of people who were not doing what they did in their CCA. For example, people from the Uniformed Groups CCA were doing Wushu. I feel that this is a display of our RV Spirit. To me, the trainings were rather tough and tiring. However, I persisted and did not give up. The day of the RV60 performance was a Saturday. Everyone gave up their Saturdays to come to school and perform for RV60. Although there were a few people who had something on in the mornings and couldn't make it in time, they still made the effort to come, just that they came later. They ran all the way to school, drenched in sweat. We performed at night and the performance was grand and spectacular and the lighting set up by the school added to the effect of the performance. I feel that this kind of grand and spectacular performance can only be done by the one and only River Valley.
Photo in school:
I feel that my school's Science Garden is the extraordinary aspect in my ordinary school life because students are able to walk in the Science Garden freely. Strolling in the Science Garden relaxes students and reduces stress. It will also boost students with energy to help them get ready for more challenges ahead. The Science Garden also has various plants and trees. These trees provide shade. The students visiting the Science Garden can also learn the names of these plants and trees. There are signs below the plants and trees, telling the students the names of the plants and trees along with the description. In this way, the students can both take a break out of studying by walking around and exploring the Science Garden, yet they can also pick up some new knowledge. Last but not least, the Science Garden also has ponds which have fishes and water plants in it. It is rather relaxing to stand by the pond, watching the fishes swim gracefully and weave through the water plants which are fully submerged, partially submerged and floating. The Science Garden allows the students to be closer to Mother Nature too. There might also be some insects crawling or flying around, if you are lucky enough to be there at the exact time and place to see them. It is rather fascinating to see the butterflies and bees flying from flower to flower, pollinating them. Of course, we should not stay too close to the bees, in case they think we are disturbing them and sting us. This concludes my report about how the Science Garden is the extraordinary aspect of my ordinary school life.
Self introduction:
My name is Ezara and I am from 2J. My CCA is Girl Guides. I like to sing and dance! If you are wondering why I am not in choir or dance as my CCA, I feel that I would like to try out some other CCAs as I have already tried to sing or dance. I take violin classes and teach myself the piano. I aspire to be a singer, preferably at a younger age, namely my teenage years. I listen to pop, country and alternative music. I started listening to SKarf at first and then I found out about Paramore, followed by Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. These people have inspired me to be a singer and bring joy to the world with my music.
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