Tuesday, March 20, 2012

OITP @ Harbin (1st two weeks) ...

Our start of a long journey to Harbin ... (At Changi Airport)Said Goodbye to Singapore! All feeling excited and smiles everywhere. (But actually very sleepy and just want to sleep or waiting for food)
Arrived at Shanghai in the morning and searched for a place to eat breakfast. Still Sleepy~
When we arrived at Harbin Airport, we had to change. Took out our jackets, change shoes, put on earmuffs, fit in out gloves, wear our long johns etc…

Out the airport arrival area, we met up with a bus driver who drove us to our hostel. A woman named Mili get us settled down in our rooms and brought us out to buy all the necessary stuff that we need. First thought: Stock up on FOOD.
There we other stuff that we needed to get also like kettle (shared but Samantha bought a small one for herself), bed sheets, pillow, blanket, mineral water, food…food…and more cheap food. (snacks). We keep buying Instant Milk Tea in a cup here. It’s very nice and there is a packet of Nata De Coco for you to out inside (is you want). Mili brought us to eat at a Halal stall for dinner and she treated us. (The Halal Stall… So far we only found this Halal Stall.)

The first week was (as expected), very cold and most of us have to spam lots and lots of Moisturizer! This is our Classroom of 5 Singapore Polytechnic Students and one teacher! Our Work here is mostly “Studying” and "Revising” Java, Javascript, HTML etc. We are like doing a second IMD Project with more functions and features.

It wasn’t snowing when we first arrived but then it started snowing later on. Which is very cool! Everything covered in snow. All white. And very cold. Our NO 1 Enemy in a cold temperature: WIND.






















Snow is Falling. The driver who drives us to the Company (HighComm) told us that this is the largest Snowfall in Harbin and we a very lucky to experience it. Yay!!!.

During the first week, our Ricky and Sharon brought us out to eat Mutton Steam Boat.

Yummy Yummy Steamboat!



We just love taking pictures of all the snow and snow-covered stuff. HOWEVER! Snow isn’t really all that nice and innocent. Once the temperature rises, it gets dirty.

















All muddy and wet and our shoes (only for some of us) will be very wet inside. Samantha, Diana and Kiki (Lin Xi) had to dry their socks and shoes in the classroom. Cold Cold feet~ Lucky for Zhi Jie and Pei Ying, the shoes they bought are just plain awesome. It protected their feet. Some of us already have frostnip on our feet and hands. OUCH!. Someone (I shall not name who) fell down the slippery stairs and needs a massage. The big disadvantage of living in a cold, wet and slippery climate!

On the first weekend, a small woman named Sharon brought us out to the city area which is a bit like our “Orchard/Bugis” for shopping. The buildings here are very “Russian” looking because of their history where Harbin was once invaded by the Russians.
Kiki is eating strawberries which are covered in some kind of molten-looking sugary sweet which is left in cold and became very crunchy. There are also other fruits to choose from. Oiishi~ Sweet, Crunchy, tasty and Cheap! Only 5RMB which is only SGD1. Sharon also brought us to a lake which is already frozen but there were quite a few
activities going on there.
WE also visited an old church. (or more like a museum to us)


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