chapter three, page twenty:

The pre-arranged outing to food industrial factories was cancelled for Jonathan today. Both a pity and yet a relieve. Pity that it was project work day but a relieve since he would not be bored to death.

The morning’s activity was then substituted with a self planned exploration trek. He headed up to probably the highest point of the Polytechnic University with four other friends. The walk was not as long as he expected, it probably took him fifteen minutes. The sight was amazing, but the site was not. Tons of bees buzzing around him and his friends, making them temporarily handicap since they were afraid that movement might agitate them. The sun was at the same time scorching hot, but he liked it still, he misses the hot humid sun in Singapore.






Some time was spent up there, watching the airplanes fly by, both taking off and landing. After which, he headed off for Lunch at a “hidden” food court three in the campus, one that was too far to go to on typical school days.


More exploration was done while on the way back to the dorm, and later spent some time writing letters. The rest of the day was settled by doing some project discussions and model in the night.

chapter three, page nineteen:

(Flashback) The consciousness of planes landing and taking off by the tracks just outside the studio window has been distracting Jonathan so much. Every plane that he sees takes off, he waves goodbye to them with good intention, and with envy.

Before school had ended, he looked out of the window once again to look at planes, but this time finding an interesting march procession. He enjoyed looking at the way they almost fall before their march.



Dinner was settled at a Korean Restaurant that was not too bad, except that he tried some weird dough-rice cake food that was hard, chewy and unpleasant to his tongue.

(Flashback) Having complained about the oily food so much, Jonathan slowly started to believe that the food was alright until he had dinner this night. Thankfully there was self-cooked instant soup to wash the oil and taste away.


School today was the same for Jonathan, having a weekly progress presentation for the school project. This time it seemed to have gone better.

Lunch was done at the same Korean Restaurant two days ago, after which he decided to get a glass bottle of Coca-Cola. Unfortunate for him, the shop owner wanted the glass bottle back, so he was left with not much of a choice but to finish it on the spot. Feeling sore, he unwillingly gave it back.



After lunch was done, he had to attend a design talk by the Dalian Polytechnic University professor in Chinese once again. Without a doubt, he had difficulty understanding the whole lecture on Design. At least he found the works displayed interesting. After the talk had ended, he was brought to an exhibition which he found pretty interesting.







As Jonathan is on an Immersion (Study) Program, it shall not be all play. He headed over to the China-version of ArtFriend to get materials for Model Making.

Exploratory work was done back at the dorm after the whole session had ended, and a “secret door” lead to a dark, spooky, almost ghostly, tunnel like vacant area. After which, dinner was settled outside the school with course mates for Steam Boat. He ate something that was terrible, mind disturbing when found out, and almost heartless, or completely, when thought of. He tried a piece of rabbit meat. Goodness. It was not that bad after all. He ate another slice.




As his usual “one banana in the morning and night” vitamin-fruits intake, he headed over to the fruits store in the school compound to get yet another bunch. Two other of his friends decided to share a mango, which was the smallest thing he had seen. He wonders why things are weirdly sized over in China, strawberries and mangos are so much smaller that what it is in Singapore, while their apples and chilli are oversized.

Before the day had ended for Jonathan, the local students were relaxing themselves by having a karaoke session, unfortunately it started to stir up a big commotion with everyone shouting at each other.

chapter three, page seventeen:

(Dream) As he slept almost peacefully, he began to dream. Dream dreams that were pitiful nightmares, dreams of home, dreams of himself over on another continent, on the other end happy.

He awoke in Dalian, China.

chapter three, page sixteen:

(Flashback)Having finished the shopping event on Saturday, Wu Yan brought the group of girls to her dorm while he waited outside in the cold blowing wind for them. The dorm was a shared area between four students. Something Jonathan had earlier imagined what the hostel he would be staying in would be like. Even the six elevation concrete finish was a perfect match to his imagination. More accurately, pictures hung on the wall.

(Flashback) The following day was spent doing work, walking around in the new sprung up heat, looking for snacks to munch on. Dinner was horrifying for Jonathan and everyone else cooking. The water had turned brownish, which he suspects, and highly believes it to be rust. Slowly the toilet bowl waters changed colors, tap waters and even the shower. Oh the horror.

Today, Jonathan woke up tired and sleepy after having only four hours of sleep. School was as usual for him, struggling with project and stuff. In the evening, dinner was settled with da-bao food from outside the school. Finally fried-rice that was no longer salty. Bad news for him was that he found it too bland and did not finish the food. Perhaps he was getting used to the local delights. Jonathan and his group of friends decided to have a break by playing drawing games after dinner. Naming commonly found objects and drawing them, which revealed a lot of interesting things.