Group Pic with the poster :D

Poster is on a horror movie

Reflection -Sinyee

In light of the recent CID lessons, I think we've have gained quite a lot of worldly knowledge on a range of topics from preparation for our Overseas learning journey to poverty in singapore and understanding the history of a photograph. In a lesson, we were shown two comparative pictures, a well-dressed mother and her child in arms; a man with a placard asking for a job. When presented with one hundred dollars and asked to make a choice between giving the mother and the man, many cast their votes to the mother, with piety in their hearts. I asked, can we split the hundred dollars? Can we give the mother half and the man half? The answer I got was a simple no. Even though in reality, that is possible, in a scenario where you could not half the money, who would you give the cash to? Someone suggested buying daily nessecities and distributing it to the two. I thought, this is a feasible plan. However, when it came to my decision, I would give it in it's entirety to the man. My reasoning is that the women and her baby are clad in warm looking clothes and the baby looks well-fed, they might be phonies, or fraudsters. The man is asking for a job, so I assume that he wishes to be self reliant. As the saying goes,' give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day, teach a man how to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime.' Without prior knowledge of the background, that was my reasoning at the moment. 

Turns out, the women and her baby are part of a syndicate in India. The man geniunely is a beggar who met with misfortune. He needed financial aid to get back on track. So to say, althought the women and her baby are not entirely innocent, they are pitiful. Part of their donations , perhaps most of it will be returned to the syndicate. This made me view the pictures in a different light. 

The lesson impacted me greatly, although a picture speaks a thousand words, are we interpreting the words correctly? This allowed me a deeper insight on pictures and the meaning behind them.

-sinyee

Reflection - Mei Ling 12

From the past three lessons, I have learnt that observation skills is indeed very important. We should pay attention to our surroundings and not just go around blindly and not learning anything. For example for the exercise where we were supposed to find a person in our class which fits the description, it was very hard for me to find someone who fits the description as I did not really observe well enough to notice what are my friends habits, hobbies for example. I then realize that we had to pay attention more, in order to find out more and learn more to know what is going on. We must also have a reason for why we say so as we cannot just assume that he or she really does it that way or has a habit of doing that for example. We can use our five senses to pay attentions on by seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting and sensing. For example, we can walk around somewhere and we can look around to see what others are doing and we can also listen to all the different kinds of noise and the environment it is like. This is what I have learnt from the lessons.

Chinese New Year (Mei Ling,12)

I chose the color red as it best represents  

Chinese new year as a whole. everywhere you turn, you will sight a streak of red during this festive period. Red is the color of chinese new year and red is our feelings for it. I chose red as it is bold and daring, just as chinese new year is.

This vibrant flower in the sky , is my symbol for chinese new year. Every year fireworks light up the night sky and the explosive spunds resonate throughout the neighbourhood. 

This is an image from chinese new year. It corresponds with my chinese new year color-red.  It also gives a peek at the festive feelings at chinese new year, with the throngs of people gathered to celebrate chinese new year.

Chinese New Year- Carissa Lim (01)

The colour that I have chosen is red. 

I chose red as during Chinese New Year, everyone will be decorating their houses with red decorations and red is considered an auspicious colour during Chinese New Year. The symbol that I have chosen is 福.

It means prosperity and if you flip it around, in Chinese, it means prosperity has arrived. Hence many people usually put the symbol 福 upside down. The picture that I have chosen is this. 

I chose this picture as it shows the festive season during Chinese New Year where everywhere is filled with many red decorations and it is also very crowded with people shopping for Chinese New Year goodies. There are also many decorations being put up for sale. 

These are what I chose to depict Chinese New Year as a festive season. 😄

-Carissa Lim (01)

Reflections on lessons- Carissa Lim (01)

From the past three lessons, one lesson that I have learnt is that a picture paints a thousand words is indeed true. From a picture, you can learn many things. The picture can be acted out, or truly what it happening. From the vulture pic, i can learn many things. Such as what truly happens behind the picture. It's is said that the photographer committed suicide months after he took this picture as he was very guilty for not having helped the poor girl but rather wait for the correct timing and took the photo when the vulture appeared in the frame. Although he chased the vulture away after he took the photo, it was still rather inconsiderate of the photographer to have done that. I have also learnt that what the picture shown might not be real like that photo of the woman with the baby. Although she seems to be very pitiful with the baby like she has no money for the baby powder and such but in fact, she is just part of a syndicate which tricks people into giving them money by acting very pitiful and sad but actually most of the money goes to the syndicate which gets most of the money and the woman only gets a small part of the money and the picture showing the women and the baby is just an act for the man to give them money. Whereas the man sitting down begging for money is truly poor and has lost his home and all his assets. I also learnt that we should not trust people so easily as they might just be acting to gain your sympathy, hence we should find out more about what we have observed before we make any decisions. This should be the same when we go to either China or Taiwan as we should pay more attention to what we are doing or seeing as what we see might not be the actual truth hence we should do more research before hand in order to know more and learn more from it. 

-Carissa Lim (01)

Chinese New Year (sinyee,9)

Hah,now this is what I call new year's color!

I chose the color golden, not only because of the prospect of getting ang bow money( although I don't dislike it) , but also because golden was the first color that came to mind. CNY to the Chinese means a new year according to the Chinese calendar, a time for new clothes, new goals, new everything. It is a fun fun fun time. Golden is a fun color, and to me it never looks old, it always has a peculiar shine to it, just as Chinese New Year does.

Source:google

Nian would be an eternal symbol of Chinese New Year to many, its legend passed down from one generation to another. From granny to daughter, mother to child. Nian's story is of a fearsome creature with sharpened horns that glint in the night and scales that were impenetrable. He was notorious for devouring people and hence people used all things red and noisy to ward him off.(that was his one achillies heel) . His true size varies with different story tellers but in my family's version, Nian rose to as tall as the ceiling. I chose him as a Chinese New Year symbol as he struck fear in me as a kid. Now I realise my mother also used Nian to keep us away from the ang bow money which according to her, would ward Nian if we placed it under our pillows. Now I can't wait for the spooked expressions on my little cousin's faces when I tell them the story this year. Haha .Nian, to the Chinese would always be part of New Years, his legend lives forever in the spirit of Chinese New Year.

 I love CNY, it's almost always my favourite time of the year with the exception of my toddler years, when the firecrackers my relatives set off in Malaysia would send me looking for mama. But now, it's the highlight of Chinese new year. In the picture above, my neighbors are lighting up what the Chinese call,' 孔明灯'. It is a lantern that carries the well wishes of the family away into the sky. The moment the lantern takes to the sky is an incredibly special moment for the well-wishers as they pray that their wishes are answered. As bright fire lifts up into the night , the effect is overwhelming and breath-catching. However, there is always the risk of it landing into some bush , hence my neighborhood always makes sure the fire burns out before reaching the ground and water is always readily accessible should it be needed to douse.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEARS:D

-sinyee

Chinese New Year-Ivan (31)

I think that this colour would represent Chinese New Year because every time during Chinese New Year, we would have many red decorations in our house. According to the older stories, there was this monster who was scared of red and that's why we used red during Chinese New Year. Now, my house has also filled with some red decorations at my door, on the walls on even placing a red mat over my dining table. Anyways, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

Reflection-Ivan (31)

What have i learned over the past few CID lessons? Well, i remembered on the first lesson we were talking about where we will be going during May and they are either Taiwan or different parts of China. We were told that only 2 classes are able to go to Taiwan and my class really hopes to be able to. Mr Wong told us that whether we can go to Taiwan will depend on our blog so we are all trying our best to improve our blog by including more content and some decorations of our blog. After that, we learnt about the vulture and the child. Although it was the first time i saw the picture, now i have learnt more about it. Mr Wong asked us to research about it and to find one word to describe it and our group chose the word 'desperation'. To see more about it please refer to our previous post. The next lesson was about a man and a woman carrying the baby and we were to decide whether who are we going to donate to i decided to donate to the man. After learning the truth of those pictures by my teacher, i decided firmly to donate to the man. The woman might also be poor but i do not really support the fact that the money i donate not only goes to her but yet through a complicated process. Among all these lessons, i think that the second lesson was a lesson that i have personally learnt so far. I was able to research and know more about how the picture was taken and who the photographer was. Kevin Carter, who was the photographer, was waiting for the vulture to approach the poor and weak child before taking the shot. Even though after that he chased away the vulture but i still think it is still quite cruel to stand there and take the picture when the child could have died. Unfortunately after that, i learnt that he committed suicide. I have learnt a lot during the past 3 lessons and hope to learn more!
- Ivan

Vulture

desperation 

the one word is desperation. the child is desperate for food so he is kneeling on the ground because he is hungry. the only source of food in front of him is the grass. The child is grasping at the grass. He is too weak to move himself up even with a vulture eyeing him. This shows his helplessness and desperation.

FOUR PICTURES of rvians

SCHOOL SPIRIT

HAPPINESS 

FEAR

LIFE

POVERTY IN SINGAPORE

Source: therealsingapore.com

      Surely you've watched charity programmes broadcasted on television, featuring teeny tiny apartments in shambles, and an elderly couple living in these worn down apartments. Or you came across the man living under your HDB blocks, his bed made up of newspapers and the creepy-crawlies as his companions. And one line we've definitely heard at least once in our life, ' karung guni, poh zhua gu sa kor, pai leh-lio, dian si ki...'. The neighborhood karang-guni, or the modern rag and bone men.

     These are all just the examples of relative poverty in singapore. Relative poverty is more common in singapore than acute poverty, the latter meaning absolutely no ability to sustain life. Relative poverty refers to having ability to sustain life to a certain extent. Here in singapore, it refers to families or people living under the poverty line.

    Now you ask, what is the poverty line in singapore? 

    Before I did research for this blog topic, I too had no idea of the exact poverty line in singapore. Internet searches and news reports turned up many shocking results.

Source: thehearttruths.com

 This pie chart was came up with in 2011.  If Singapore's poverty rate increases 1% average annually, (and this is a big if), it should be safe to assume singapore's poverty rate, now in 2014, is 29%. That's well over a quarter! Now, look at this,

Source: straits times

    Stastistically, Singaporeans have enough money to get by, but not enough for personal luxuries that cost more , eg, a car. (Considering COE rates now). Ok, we got through that. Now let's compare poverty rate in singapore to poverty rate in other countries.

Source: again, from thehearttruths.com

      Thses graphs compared the poverty rate in singapore to asian countries and the rest of the world. Undoubtedly, singapore is a wealthy country but it's income inequality is larger than other countries. But well, that makes sense, does it not? As a richer country, people who are not as financially able will increase the income gap. 

     An article on The Economist, titled The stingy nanny, discusses the situation of poverty in singapore. A passage from the article reads,

'The government does run a handful of schemes directed at some of the needy, from low-income students to the unassisted elderly. But these benefits are rigorously means-tested and granted only sparingly. The most destitute citizens' families may apply for public assistance; only 3,000 currently qualify. Laid-off workers receive no automatic benefits. Instead they are sorted into “workfare” and training schemes.'

    People would ask why isn't the government doing more for the poverty in singapore? But let us see this in a another light.

   In layman terms, 'gini coefficient' simply means the distribution of income in citizens, or the income inequality. The government stance is for the needy to be self-reliant, but will still run welfare programmes to aid them through. And a thing to note is that the low income rate of foreign workers also contribute to the rising income inequality. 

      

        Shocked, eh? Now close that gaping mouth and read on. This is the estimated gini-coefficient pie chart in 2025. By then, the poverty class in singapore would have increased to 40%. 

      More on the face of poverty in singapore

Source: Jeremy-chen.org

The bottom line is, poverty in singapore is becoming more common in our rapidly aging society. A question to ponder over, with the rising poverty line, will you fall under the poverty class too?

How will this affect singapore's economy?

What i did over the holidays (Mei Ling 12)

Basically my holidays were spent almost all at home, eating, sleeping and doing homework... Except for going to school for CCA, when i hung out with my friends and when i went to Malaysia... I spent a few days out with my friends, doing homework, catching up with old friends, watching movies etc. I went back to school almost 3 days a week for CCA. I went to Genting with my family on the first week of Dec. Going to genting is a 'annual thing' for my family for we would always go there every year. However it was not fun this year as the outdoor theme park is closed for renovation and it isn't cold there... After going to Genting, my family and i went back to our hometown in Malaysia. Though there weren't much things to do there, life there compared to Singapore is way more relaxing because life in Singapore is always very hectic and stressful. 
So thats basically what i did over the holidays... 

-Mei Ling

What I did over the Holidays (Carissa 1)

During the first few weeks of the holidays, my family did not go anywhere and I was either staying at home doing my homework or going to school for physical training(PT). Until the last few weeks of the holidays, I went to school for my CCA and also during those weeks, my family went to Pulau Ubin by boat and we went kayaking, cycling and fish spa. It was a great experience kayaking but was also tiring at the same time as we had to paddle continuously. We also went to the zoo as my sister kept begging my parents to bring her to see the pandas, Kai Kai and Jia Jia. We saw the pandas and also learnt a lot from the zoo. We also went to sentosa and went on the Mega zip and obstacle course and I felt that the mega zip was very fun and exciting as we get to slide over the beach and see everyone looking at us. On the last day of 2013, my family went to marina barrage to see the fireworks and count down together with all the people waiting there and it was a great one. The fireworks lasted for quite long and was very spectacular.

 I also saw many people at Marina Barrage but most of them seem to be teenagers. I wonder why they did not spent their time with their family members and have fun with them but rather have fun with their friends and shouting and screaming there. I was very glad to have spent the last day of the year with my family and be there together. All in all, it was a very exciting holiday though there were still homework to be done and there was also CCA which I didn't have when I was in primary school. 

- Carissa Lim  

What i did over the holidays (Sinyee 9)

Frankly speaking, my holidays were mundane, my days were uneventful. Besides the movie trips , outings, cca sessions in between , I am a couch potato . (to put it simply)

Source:google

😂 This couch potato cat was exactly how I was during the holidays.

 I mean, who doesn't enjoy a good show and crunchy chips?

And the sofa was just too inviting

The only noteworthy thing I did during the holidays was a book marathon, my very own personal 'bookathon'. I beat my records during last year's holiday which was 13 books, regardless of length. This year's holiday, I successfully conquered 16, three more than last year's.  yeaaahh, congrats to me🎉 16 is a pretty miserable number, but I hit my target, so you could say this was a tiny win for me. 

Times when I'm not a couch potato or burying my head in a book,  I'm back in Malaysia. But to me, this is not exactly what I would define as interesting as I return to malaysia every week, or try to.However ,it can be a little disorientating when I return to singapore as Malaysia to me works at a leisurely pace, while singapore can be a whole lot faster.

And then there's homework too. All in all, that was how I spent my holidays.

-sinyee

What I Did Over The Holidays (Raphaela 5)

During the holidays I went to Hong Kong, Macau, LA and Las Vegas...I went to Hong Kong and Macau as tourists and go to different parts of the country buying lots of stuff and also went to a lot more sight seeing to look at the beautiful places there is in Macau...I also had the urge to go bungee jumping at the Macau tower but I was too scared to do so because it was freezing cold and too high up😁...Whereas for LA and Las Vegas I back to visit my friends and had a very fun time with them as it has been a year since I met them:) I stayed there for about 3 weeks but even so I still miss my friends a lot:) Either than going overseas I also hanged out with my primary school friends a.k.a my best friends for life:)I also went to visit my grandma at her cemetery when it was her birthday in LA as I really missed her a lot and also because I felt sorry for not celebrating with her the previous year...so....that's all I did for my holiday☺️

-Raphaela

What i did over the holidays (Ivan 31)

I stayed at home during the holidays and i didn't go any countries. Over the holidays i asked my primary school friends to come over my house almost everyday to play some games like catching. Other than that i went to volunteer for some Buddhist society events and of course do homework.
Ivan

Group Picture

Mei Ling, Sin Yee, Ivan, Raphaela, Carissa