Lol! So how are your peepers doing, ppl??? Fine? Glad to hear that since the last post was quite long... *readers groan* Okok, maybe it was not quite long but very long, ok? Lol! Ok, continuing on my updates...

The Learning Journey was cool. We got to visit all the places of worship like temples and churches. While in the bus, Uncle Richard told us about loads of Singapore history and pronounced Temasek as Ter-mer-sehk when most of us would pronounce it as Ter-mah-sehk. Notice the difference in the second syllable??? Lol! His accent was quite amusing. The first place on the list was the Chinese temple, which was really fun. Uncle Richard told us many stories and customs regarding the temple, like the few reasons why there is a raised platform at the entrance of the temple, the story of the Black General and the White General and also the emperor of china's "guards". It was quite fun as the tour guide, Uncle Richard, was very funny and dramatic as well. I like. Lol! Maybe I will find time to blog about those stories during the holidays. Oh ya, and we also learnt that the temple we went to which is the Thian Hock Keng Temple (is it???not too sure though...) is actually a synthetic temple which means like the main part of the temple, a Buddhist God is erected and for the secondary parts of the temple, Taoist Gods are erected. Pardon me if some of the information is wrong... Can't really remember... Hehe! But I hope most of it is correct... Lol!

Thereafter, we proceeded to the nearby food centre for our break which is WAY past our recess time at school. I know, I checked may watch. -_-" Me and Eunice bought a Sugar Cane Juice to share and a you tiao (fried dough stick) while some of our other classmates felt a tad hungrier and bought bowls of fishball noodles to share. Lol! One thing's for sure, we all enjoyed our time at the food centre...

Then, we travelled to the St Andrews' Cathedral. I liked it there but we had to speak really softly cuz' some people were there worshipping and praying. As a result, I couldn't hear Uncle Richard's information on the Christian religion... Oh well, at least I already know about all the information cuz' I'm a Christian too (like Uncle Richard!). Lol!

Anyway, thereafter, we went to another Chinese temple where we got to just walk one round and as we got in, I saw a lot of ppl just like shaking some bottles with sticks in it. You know, those kind when they wanna know their lives and future then they shake that bottle and the first stick to come out; they will take it to the counter to get a paper that will tell them their future. I couldn't really hear what Uncle Richard said as it was a bit noisy cuz' a lot of ppl were there. Then, we walked to the Hindu temple which was just a stone's throw away and learnt about how the Hindu temple and Chinese temple were quite similiar and also learnt about the few things that Hindus must do before they go inside the temple. First, they have to ring the bell to tell the Hindu Gods that they are coming in to pay their respects and pray. Then, they will buy a coconut that they will throw onto the ground which signifies that their ego has been broken and they are very humble. Then they have to wash themselves before going in to pray if I'm not mistaken. After praying, they have to ring the bell again to tell the Gods that they are leaving. Isn't it amazing how there's a reason full of culture behind each custom that a religion has??? Cool right?

Anyway, after that, we went to the Sikh temple which was fun too! We had to put on scarfs and handkerchiefs as it was their custom. Then, we put our shoes on a rack before going to the hall where the Sikhs pray every Sunday. There, Uncle Richard told us about Sikhism and that they had to wear the 5 "K"s with them always. First, is a cotton pants, a small knife for protection, a metal bracelet, long, uncut hair and I think the last one, is a piece of cloth on their heads which is a turban. They are called the 5 "K"s cuz' they all start with letter K in Sikh language (is it?). After the lesson, we walked round the altar while a Sikh who I think takes care of the temple handed each of us some "candy" and put it in our hands. I tasted a bit of it and it was nice. Something like flour, you know those kind of paste that you make before plopping it onto a tray and putting it in the oven??? I love those kind. Uncle Richard said that it was a blessing given to visitors, believers and non-believers alike, who leave the temple. Then, as we were going to the last destination, the mosque, we passed... St Margaret's Primary School!!!! Omg! I didn't know that St Margaret's was just beside the Sikh temple!!! I quickly alerted Rebecca and Sarah and we all gawked at the school. The wonderful school... Ahh... *gazes dreamily into thin air* *readers snap at LQR in impatience* Oh, erm... sorry ppl! Got a bit dreamy down there. Ok so back to the mosque. We were told about the different steps a Muslim had to do to purify himself before going into the mosque. The mosque that we went to was very old, as told by Uncle Richard, as it was given by the government to the Sultan years ago to build his palace and also a mosque to worship in. Do you know that the base of the onion-shaped thing (sorry, I don't know what it's called... If you do know, pls tell me! Hehe!) that is found on all mosques, on that mosque was actually made from bottle caps??? The reason is because when the mosque was still being built, donations were collected and people in the past sold oil in bottles and collected deposit so when the buyers return the bottles, the owners decided to donate some bottle caps to the mosque and ta da! The base was made of bottle caps! Quite unique, don't you think??? Too bad we weren't allowed to go in the mosque but I heard that the B class got to go in... Oh well! At least we could still see the area where the Muslims washed themselves before going into the mosque from where we stood... Overall, I loved the whole excursion!!! It was cool learning about the different religions! Lol! Oh well, I think your peepers need another looong rest... so tata peeps!