The alarm clock rang at 7am and pressing the snooze in my cellphone was the best solution. My roommates were still sleeping soundly and we were reluctant to wake up to go for the morning class. BUT eventually one by one managed to wake up hesitantly and fortunately we were not late for class.
Ms Grace took the class instead of Ms Zhang and I simply love her class. She knew how to lure the students from sleeping and her teaching methods can be interesting as well. We were introduced to chinese philosophy which dated thousand of years ago.
We learnt on the history of chinese philosophy, the teaching of Confucianism, Taoism, Moism and Buddhism. I found out that there were 4 dynasties- Xia, Shang, Qin & Han back then and different teachings have different views to offer. Take for an example for confucianism, the major concepts will be on humanity, rectification of names, heaven and spirits, governement by virtue and doctrine of means. I admired and impressed by those ancestors who spread the teachings around and popular till now. Apart from that, Ms Grace showed two videos on the teachings which was in Chinese.
My dear good friend, Jiali, had to translate to Diyanah and I what's the story was all about. Fortuitously, my chinese was satisfactory and I managed to undestood 3/4 of the video. Good! :)
We were supposed to read and share some view regarding the chinese philosophy but we only read the paper given to us. Guess, everyone was relatively shagged from the 3 days 2 nights Tour. Class was dismissed at 11.30am and everyone went for an early lunch. Diyanah and I dint feel like eating lunch so we went back to the dorm and loosen up ourselves.
We had a birthday surprise for Zhen Zhao and he was unaware of what's happening. Everyone managed to keep the secret and we met at 5pm at the dorm's lobby before proceding to Grenery's Cafe. We invited some of the local students as well. When the birthday boy reached, he was bolt from the blue when we sang for him a birthday song. I bet he must be shy when we sang for him because many heads turned and look at us.
 |
| Greenery Cafe. Awesome place! |
 |
| listening attentively to teacher? |
 |
| 19th Birthday! |
 |
| Surprised bdae boy! |
 |
| He always think that it's his bdae! |
 |
| The bdae boy! |
 |
| My dinner for the day! Like always! |
 |
| Group D! :)) |
 |
| One of the group with their mentor! |
 |
| love this shot! |
 |
| The 4 muskeeters! |
 |
| ZZ with the local students |
 |
| The 2 PM teachers! |
 |
| So that must be the present!!!! |
 |
| We conquered two rows of tables! |
We ate dinner and mingle around with the local students. We gave him a birthday present from the whole lot us and cut the birthday cake. Diyanah had her present from us too!
 |
| Ahhhhhh!!!! so that's the present! |
 |
| The birthday girl and birthday boy! |
After dinner, some of us went to have a quick shopping but alas, Diyanah and Jiali accompanied me back to the hostel as I had a really bad stomach ache. Took medicine and decided to rest early since tomorrow we have our 1st Industrial visit to Wisco!
Reflection: After getting to know more about chinese philosophy and their teachings, I'm enthralled by the way our ancestors have come to this far and spread the teachings around the world. Like example, as for the Confucianism the founder, Kong Zi emphasized on personal and government morality, correctness of social relationship, justice, traditionalism and sincerety. Lao Zi who founded Taoism had his own philosophical system which is the Way things happened and the course, principle, substance and standard of all things must conform. And Chinese Buddhism was brought to China from India and it became popular during the Han Dynasty. From then, many chinese pilgrims constantly went to India to study the religion at first hand and to bring back the sacred texts.
Our generations will not be enthusiastic in learning about the history of chinese philosophy so it may died down a few years later, in my opinion. Nevertheless, teachers and parents will teach some of the history in the later generations.
As the bond in us grew stronger, we started to distinguish a person's habit. In my opinion, Zhen Zhao has done alot for this trip and we should make this birthday party a memorable one. He has always been there whenever we needed him, and he took an extra mile to ask the local students to bring us to the shopping centres in Wuhan and more. He has the potential to be a good leader and he solve problems in a calm manner.
"Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies. " by Aristotle
No comments:
Post a Comment