INTERCULTURAL READINESS SELF ASSESSMENT


Open-mindedness
Current self estimate: 70
Upon completion of Wuhan, China: 90

I hope to be more open-minded in the future. It will prevent me from being feeling disturbed by what other people are doing in both Singapore or Wuhan. I will try to understand and accept what other people are doing.

Respect for other beliefs
Current self estimate: 80
Upon completion of Wuhan, China: 100

I feel that we must not discriminate other people's beliefs. And I hope to improve more on this skill.

Trust in other people
Current self estimate: 70
Upon completion of Wuhan, China: 90

I tend to not trust strangers in China more than in Singapore. I will tend to be more alert while talking to strangers in China. On the other hand, I trust all my friends from both Singapore and Wuhan. Trust is one of the most important key in doing everything.

Tolerance for discomfort
Current self estimate: 80
Upon completion of Wuhan, China: 90

I always tolerate most of the discomfort I encountered, until I find someone to share about the discomfort. I can do more useful things if I tolerate instead of complaining about it.

Tolerance for ambiguity
Current self estimate: 60
Upon completion of Wuhan, China: 90

I feel doubtful on things that I am not very sure of or familiar with. I must learn to be more firm and do what I think is right. However, I must know what I am doing and not overdo it.

Patience
Current self estimate: 80
Upon completion of Wuhan, China: 95

I am quite a very patient person. I always wait and wait for the right moment to come before I do something. I feel that patience will always lead to success. I must not be hasty and act rashly.

Sense of personal control
Current self estimate: 70
Upon completion of Wuhan, China: 80

Being independent in Wuhan, China, I must learn to control myself in everything that I do.

Interpersonal skills
Current self estimate: 60
Upon completion of Wuhan, China: 80

Interpersonal skill is important to each individual. We must all learn to interact with one another and give everyone a good impression of yourself.

Willingness to take initiative
Current self estimate: 60
Upon completion of Wuhan, China: 80

I do not take initiative very oftenly. This is something I must work on. Opportunites do not always come, and therefore we must all have the initiative to create it.

Willingness to take risks
Current self estimate: 60
Upon completion of Wuhan, China: 90

I often hestimate much before making a risky decision. Being successful often requires one to take risks. Therefore, coming to Wuhan, China, is a good opportunity for me to improve on this skill.

Sense of humour
Current self estimate: 70
Upon completion of Wuhan, China: 80

Sense of humour may also be an important to key in building the bonds between one another. This brings fun and brings one another closer. However, I feel that sense of humour is not a skill that we can improve a lot, it comes naturally.

Curiosity about other cultures
Current self estimate: 90
Upon completion of Wuhan, China: 95

I feel very curious about other cultures such as the cultures in China. I have always wanted to learn about cultures in China and therefore I came to Wuhan. When you have the curiosity, it will motivates you to learn more.

Comfort level with strangers
Current self estimate: 60
Upon completion of Wuhan, China: 80

I often feel uneasy when I am with a stranger especially in Wuhan. Therefore, I must learn to feel easy about it.

ASSESSMENT ONE

1. From this Overseas Immersion Programme to Wuhan China, I hope to learn about everything about Wuhan China. Example, the historical stories of China, cultures, the lifestyles of the people in China, and how Wuhan is formed. I wanted to learn them to gain more general knowledge of what is happening in China and what happened in the past. They are useful first-hand knowledge which I can share with my family and friends.

I know that Wuhan is the capital of Hubei Province and it is one of the biggest city in China. It consists of Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang. Furthermore, I also know some popular tourist attractions such as the Yellow Crane Tower and the famous Wudang Mountain.

On the other hand, there are many things that I do not know about Wuhan, such as how it is formed and what made it so popular.

I am personally interested in China like their historical stories and different places. So I feel that my interest will greatly motivate me to learn during this trip.

I will share my learnings with my family and friends, and will encourage them to visit China if the trip is fruitful which I am quite sure of.

2. I will focus more on Art and Culture which I am interested on. I hope to explore the different places such as the Yellow Crane Tower, Wudang Mountain and museums. They are popular places which seemed to be a must-go venue. And I am sure that I can gain lots of knowledge from visiting these places.

Other than Art and Culture, I shall of course not neglect other important points like the social relationships of Wuhan or the student life of the Wuhan University of Science Technology. It is important to know how the people in China earn a living.

3. 1) How is Wuhan formed?

- The reasons on how and why Wuhan is formed.

- What happened before and after it is formed.

- Is Wuhan a good place compared to Singapore?

2) What are the famous historical events of Wuhan?

- Warring states

- Historical places

- Historical characters

3) What are the different cultures in Wuhan?

- What and how they do for different cultures

- What are the difference between the cultures in Wuhan and Singapore?

4) What are the different places in Wuhan?

- What are the famous tourist attractions?

- What are the similarities or differences between Singapore and Wuhan?

- What cultural activities carried out in different places?

5) What are some of the famous food in Wuhan?

- Which are the famous places where they sell nice food?

- What are the difference between Wuhan and Singapore food?

4. 1) Tolerance of discomfort

- Tolerance is one of the most important key that every person should have. We must all learn to tolerate and give in, to make this place a better place for everybody to live in. Since the behavior of the people in China may be different from Singapore, I may feel uncomfortable, so I must learn to tolerate and understand. This skill may not only apply to when you are in a unfamiliar country. Even in Singapore, we must also learn to tolerate discomfort of other people.

2) Willingness to take risks

- I wish to improve in my willingness to take risks because I feel that the society now requires people to take more risks in order to succeed. Since China is not as safe as Singapore, we need to be more extra careful and therefore sometimes we may have to make some risks to do something. Once I am used to take risks, I will be more used to making risking decisions when working in the society. Each decision has its own risks and it your choice to choose whether you want to take it or not. There will be no gain if there is no expectation.

3) Curiosity about other cultures

- One has to have the curiosity to have the motivation to learn more. Therefore I hope I can have more curiosity to learn more about other cultures, understand and gain more general knowledge. With the curiosity, I will be more interested in other cultures and will thus, learn more.

5. There are many ways in which we can learn. We can learn about their culture by interacting with the local students or go to museums to find information. First-hand knowledge is always the best form of knowledge. By going on tours to other places, other than getting knowledge, we can get the experience.

We can also interact with the local students to find out more about Wuhan China histories, culture and their living lifestyle.

Day 22

So, it's the first day of week 4. It is getting closer and closer to home sweet home (:

There is not much activities today other than having APPG lessons. I have already finished my Lab and Tutorial 5, so went to helped some people who have problems with their programs.

Day 23

Today morning's weather is good, with the sun shining above us, unlike previous days when there it is drizzling.

Anyway, since Mr.Ma was not feeling very well, we had IS lessons in the morning. Mr.Ma, hope you are feeling okay!
APPG lessons continued in the afternoon. We took the time to do the revision theory test given by mr.Ma.

After school, the sky started to get darker and darker. We anticipated a rain or even a storm coming. So, we quickly went to have a quick dinner.
However, we were not quick enough, it started drizzling just after we stepped out ofthe canteen. We then walked quickly until there were lightning and minor thunder. We then saw the army of students around us began shouting and running.



Just when I thought that the weather today is good, it rained.

There will be lots of work to do tonight, which includes Journal, Photo Essay, APPG proposal, APPG revision for tomorrow's test, and laundry.
It's been long since I had a good rest, work just keep piling up even though I am trying to clear them. Well, I better start now.