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From Landon
October 10, 2010 Dear David,
Recently I have begun my classes and have been endeavouring to adjust
myself to academic environment of NTU. And
also I have collected a few pictures most of which are inside NTU campus.
I am really happy you gave me a page in your website. This time maybe some
of those picutures are nice and can be put in that page.
graduate hall in dusk & GH board
& view from 8 floor:
I moved to Graduate Hall after the YOG.
This hall is acutally more like remote because there are no shops, only
one small canteen. All aroud it are some bus stations and the rest are
acutally the green lands, small hills and a forest on the other side. So
you can imagine how quiet it is. Acutually we could not adapt here until
half a month's adjusting. I took this picuture in dusk. Maybe it can
further show the quietness of GH. The second picture is the board in front
of GH. And the third one is a view from my room window. Those are
undergraduate halls, all are not tall, with red roofs.
northern gate:
As GH is almost the northern most part of
NTU, so it is near the northern gate. The other day I walked several
minutes to take a photo of this gate. In Singapore most posters have more
than one languages. Maybe this is because Singapore has may foreigners.
Now I know the four languages in this picuture, first line is English,
second line is Malay, it is so like English. Third line is Traditional
Chinese. Fourth one is Hindi (I'm not quite sure.) Once an Indian guy told
me there are up to 23 official languages in India. It is not like in
China, despite many dialects, but the language is unified. The 23
languages in India are different languages. This is amazing to me!
northern protection area:
This place is also near GH. The other day I walked in
the northern direction but encountered this slogan which stopped me.
Acutally there are many other such slogan as danger areas. It is said
there are really wild animals in those areas. And I am suprised this small
city country can keep many wild areas which are still natural. The purpose
may be to protect the environment and the climate will be more comfortable
for local citizens.
eastern gate:
This is another gate of NTU in the east. I am not sure
is it can be called as gate. It is impossible to find out a tall gate in
universities of Singapore. And this is different from Chinese university.
Like Jiangnan University, the gate is so big and tall. Maybe this is
because of different styles of culture.
yunnan garden & yunnan garden 2:
yunnan garden is in the northern most part
of NTU. I feel the scenery is beautiful but a little hot when in the
garden under sunshine. The four Chinese characters "自强不息" inspires
students of NTU even by generations.
nanyang arch & on the arch
& momument:
I saw a picture of this nanyang arch two
years ago on the internet when I was studying in Jiangnan University. Now
I can take photo of that scenic point myself. The other photo is a
momument of the university construction. Those are all in Yunnan garden.
It is said NTU was derived and developed from Yunnan garden.
eastern coast
& NUS:
These two pictures were taken when I went
out. Since Singapore is small, it is convenient to travel from western of
Singapore to eastern coast by MRT. Compared with Sentosa, I think eastern
is not as beautiful as Sentosa. But eastern very is very long and
spacious. It is very good for strolling along the coast. The other was
taken when I went to National University of Singapore. I went there for
visiting my high school classmate who is right now studying in NUS. This
is in front of Law School Library.
I think there are many parts of NTU or Singapore I have not taken pictures
yet. Because the study pressure is high, I don't often go out. And maybe
next time I will take some photos of my class. The lecture rooms, the
professors. we have professors from Singapore, China and India. This
means, we get either Singlish, Chiglish or inglish everyday. Actually I
still think Singlish is most difficult to understand. Though I don't like
Singlish because it is not so standard English. But in this country and
this language environment, I have no other choice but adjusting. It is
like a Chinese saying: 入乡随俗
(rù xiāng suí sú = enter countryside follow customs =
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. - 大大卫 ). So,
still, I have to practice listening.
How about your Chinese learning. Since there are so many Chinese student
around, you can learn a lot of Chinese every day. And I hope you can learn
and improve at the most speed ^_^
And another language question I want to ask you: in the picture "GH
board", I call it as board. But I always feel it's like wrong. Are there
any other way that I can discribe it more properly.
| My response to
this question: Dear
Landon:
Thanks for the pictures.
You wrote...
> And another language question I want to ask you: in the picture "GH
board", I call it as board. But I always feel it's like wrong. Are
there any other way that I can discribe it
more properly.
Yes, we would call that the GH sign. Or the GH plaque, though to
make this clear we might make it the G H identification plague. Sign
is probably the best word. Usually we reserve the word "board" for
things like blackboards 黑板, white boards, floor boards (though we
don't speak of floor boards when we speak of a finished floor. It
then becomes flooring as in "The house has oak flooring in every
room." even though flooring is made of individual boards) , or the
raw materials that will go into a building - the boards - as in "He
cut the board too short." It's interesting. A car has a floorboard,
even though they are no longer made of wood like they were in the
first cars. As in the phrase: "The car is in good shape except the
floorboards have rusted out."
Thanks again for the pictures and the update.
All the best
David |
So I will stop here. And I will write to
you again as things develop to me or I get new photos of NTU and
Singapore.
Best Regards!
Landon
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From Landon on August 28, 2010
Dear David,
I am very happy that you recommended Facebook to me. I will register in
facebook website, and I am sure this will let me learn a lot of new things
afterwards.
As for the letter, I feel it will be my great pleasure if you post it on
your website. And I am visiting my campus and scenic spots outside campus
lately. I have collected many photos. I would like to send them to you and
will be happy to share those photos with all the reads of your website.
Attached is a file of all the photos I would like to sent to you. I also
would like to make some descriptions of those pictures. If you choose some
of them that you think good, and put them on your website, I will be very
happy.
Descriptions of pictures:
buses for YOG: The first Youth Olympic
Games was held in Singapore during 14 Aug.~26 Aug. And Some athletes and
spectators were living in graduate halls of our campus during that time.
So I could often see those buses.
canteen 2: There are many canteens inside
campus. I feel the environment is really good. And there are many kinds of
food from Southeast Asia. But anyway I still want to eat Chinese food
most.
ISC: International student center. There will be many activities for
international students in Sep. And I would like to join then.
lecture theatre: Tan Chin Tuan Lecture Theatre. I think it is like the
NO.1 & NO.2 teaching buildings in Jiangnan University.
library: This is one of libraries of NTU specially for engineering
students. I have to say the facilities there are really great. There are
some big touch screens in the 3rd level. Students can browse STRAITS TIMES
in front of the screen. I tried for one time. It is actually more like a
real newspaper rather than just a webpage. On the 5th floor is the quiet
zone. It is for self study and also there are many books to refer to.
nanyang auditorium: A beautiful building. I haven't entered there and have
no much idea of this building. But I think it serve the purpose as 文浩馆
does in Jiangnan University.
undergraduate halls & outside my room: I am temporarily living in
undergraduate hall and will move to graduate hall in 29 Aug. The style of
undergraduate halls of residence are all with red roof. As this campus is
built on a mountain and the builders retained the landform, so all halls
are in different height levels. And there is always uphill roads and
downhill roads inside campus.
student services center: There are graduate studies office, finacial
office and many other offices in SSC.
students walk: I don't know what it is called. I named it as "student
walk" because it is specially designed for foot passengers. It separates
us from cars on the road, prevents rains and protects us from exposure
under the strong sunshine. And what makes me most appreciate it is that it
actually stretches to almost every point of campus. I can walk to Student
Sevices Center directly from my room by this student walk.
triple E: school of Electrical & Electronic Engineering. This is the
school my programme (control & automation) belonged to. Maybe I will go
there to do some experiments in the future.
Imbiah Lookout: I went to Sentosa yesterday, a world famous tourism area.
And this picture was taken on the top mountain of Imbiah, a part of
Sentosa area.
southern most of Asia: I was excited when I
got to an small island and saw "the southern most point of continental
Asia".
I haven't begun my classes until 31 Aug. So
I don't have any picutures about what the lectures are like. I am looking
forward to the classes, though English lectures will be a littile
difficult for me during the initial stage.
Yeah, I have been to your website lately, and read the story how you met
in China, and how you graudally became lovers. I have to say the articles
are much more beautiful and attrcting than those essay I read before. You
tell us how Ruth gradually changed your mind because of her perfectness.
Ruth tells us how you met with each other for the first time--A
coincidence, but more like what the God has arranged for you. This makes
me think of a Chinese words: 缘分 (yuánfèn* n. ①predestined affinity
②〈Budd.〉 destiny ed.). I am really moved by your love story. And best
wishes for both Ruth and you!
I've been here for about half a month already. And I am sure there will be
a lot of new things to learn. I would like to write to you when I
encounter new and interesting things in the future.
Agian best wishes for both Ruth and you!
Landon |