World Choir Games!!!

WORLD CHOIR GAMES!!! finally get to blog! although i'm supposed to be packing now... but who cares!?! yes! the NTU Choir is back from Xiamen! we brought back 2 Gold Diplomas and 2 Silver Medals! not bad i wud say for a new choir... a little disappointed... but happy for the choir... but wat i realli miss... is not the competition! it's the choir!!! omg!! i MISS the choir!!! why cudden we have gone their for 14 days? shud have registered for 2 categories in the 2 different halves! den can spend more time there luffing... going crazy... bitching... singing... panicking... etc etc... haha.. all in a nutshell... the xiamen trip was F.U.N!!!! outside the convention center after the typhoon... let me start with the weather... OMG! the weather there is HOT!!! it's so hot tat i cud still feel the heat radiating from my skin in the night! haha.. i think i did get a tan... haha... but the heat cooled off slowly... becos towards the 5th day... a typhoon came... haha... fortunately it was just passing xiamen... and headed for taiwan instead... but accoding to the ppl in xiamen... the typhoon rarely strikes head-on in xiamen.. it usually passes thru... but then... who noes... haha... but it was super windy lor! gosh... i wud say if u are lighter than 40kg... chances are u might get blown away.. haha... look at the pic above... our hair are like blown all over the place... look at all the MUSHROOM hair!!! haha... so much for gel and wax... haha... super strong? i dun think so... haha basically... our 7 days there are quite routine actually... first few days was tough... cos we had to wake up really early... cos one sound test was at 8am on sat... and the prelims was at 9am on sun... so... to have breakfast... change and warmup... we wake up at 430-5am... nuts rite? haha... but no choice... practice more impt... breakfast was at the hotel... but their bf menu... haha... 6mornings... ALL THE SAME!!! haha... man tou... bread... soya milk... salted veg... milk... pineapple... hard boilded egg... etc... every morning is the same!!!!!!! and they are not really very appetizing lor... saltish and oily... gosh... den it's either practices or performances or a little shopping if time allows in the afternoon... den dinner is always at this Grand Hall of People place... catered buffet... haha... the food there... quite repetitive also... but not that bad.. onli tat the buns there are rock hard! haha... dinner at the grand hall of ppl must elaborate a little on my hotel... Nanfang(Southern) Hotel... haha... nice hotel.. although it's 3star... but the things svcs provided in the room is actually quite good... they have kettle... hair dryer... washing machine... bath tub... fridge... tv... and even CONDOMs!!! wahahaha... yes! u heard me right! haha... 10rmb for 1 condom... lol... and they even have massage services on level 2... haha... wat a nice hotel! wahahahahahahahahahahaha... condom anyone? and... my hotel is sandwiched between a contruction site and a train station... so much for fengshui... but the train station is soooo close... that u can just jump out the window of ur hotel room... and run away... was at my fren's room and we saw soooooo many dell computers! wahaha... so tempted to take one home... haha... lots of dell computers up for 'grabs' oh ya! ok... just to make sure... this only applies for xiamen as i have only been there... so it does not necessarily represent the whole of china... now... xiamen can easily be summarised into a few words... salty... oily... gross... ill-mannered... kiasu... dangerous... salty and oily goes together... bcos all the food there is SOAKED in oil and salt!!! i have no idea wat their average lifespan is in xiamen... but trust me.. i DON'T see any old folks walking ard the shopping centres or the bus terminus... gross is bcos the ppl there (mainly kids)... they PEE everywhere... anywhere... even right smack in the middle of the shopping center!!! in front of the escalator... ON THE MARBLE!!! from the pt when i saw tat... i nv looked at a puddle of "water" the same way... trust me... this other lady even spat right in front of the wal-mart cashier... OMG!!! wat can be worse la... seriously... ill-mannered... one of the best... the ppl there... they DON'T say sorry! they knock into u... then just walk away... it's actually not their fault... cos it's in their culture... but still... coming from singapore... these ppl are just ill-mannered... it came to a point that i myself even gave up apologising to ppl whenever i knock into them... i will feel bad if i accidentally hit a woman... but at the shopping center which is sooooo crowded... ppl just hit each other and walk off... no one cares... even if u hit their boobs... they wudden care... oh ya! the ppl there dun say "excuse me" too!!! they just use their hands and PUSH u away!!! haha... i saw that happening to Margaret! luckily the person pushing was a female... but it's just off la... seriously... mannerism = 0.... kiasu... who said singapore's kiasu??!!?? wait till u see the ppl there!!! was at walmart... and it was closing time... so they had onli abt 3 cashiers working... but the queues we getting longer... so they decided to activate another cashier... and so... the cashier shouted in mandarin.. "pay here and u dun have to queue"... immediately... hoards of ppl rushed there!!! and ended up... the queue at the new cashier was the longest... when i happened... the blue gang just stood there and luffed... haha... who said singaporeans are kiasu manz? wait till u go xiamen... haha.... dangerous... OMG!! u shud try crossing the roads there in xiamen! haha... zebra-crossing = redundant! haha... i dun even think it's a zebra-crossing... i think it's just to tell ppl it's a road crossing designated area... but the best thing is tat the cars will NOT stop and give way... this is how u cross... 1) step onto the road and walk... 2) hope that the cars won't knock u down... 3) good luck! wahahahahahahahaha... it's just tat simple... and scary!!! when we were on the way to the hotel... we were quite amazed as to how these ppl crossed the road and thought that they are NUTS... but when we had the opportunity to cross the road ourselves... we figured tat it's not really the pedestrains' fault... it's the motorists... they dun give way! that's the thing... so... we went on with our tarmac adventure... parting the sea of cars... crossing the road... but the luckiy thing was we were crossing with abt 15ppl... so it was tat bad... but the cars can seriously go up close to u before stopping... it's quite an experience... will nv see in singapore... haha... this is not too bad... wait till u cross outside my hotel... other than these pts... xiamen is actually quite similar to singapore... lots of skyscrapers... it's more urbanised than i thought it wud be... oh! and xiamen wastes lots on electricity! every building has NEON lights... scrolling words... running lights... flickering colors... u name it... they have it... even their road lamps are in shapes of flowers and has sooooooo many bulbs on it... haha... anyway... i enjoyed myself and i'm sure the choir did... missing the choir already... nevertheless... being one of the choirs representing singapore... i'm sure we did singapore proud... and i hope singapore will see a larger awareness in the choral scene in the future! 3 cheers for singapore!!! cheers to singing!!! practising outside the grand hall of people tc&gb!!!