IVAN CHIOK

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Week 3, Day 15+16+17

“Right feet forward, left feet forward, right feet forward….” Constantly reminding myself that I must continue and carry on walking even though my legs were about to give way any second. The walk was like a never ending walk, as it slowly opened up many little streets and short cuts along the journey. Discovering has become more and more fun as I started to learn more about the things happening around Dalian. Today’s blog topic is related to the topic “Youth”. Who are the youth? Where can I find the youth? How can I understand the youth?... Having so many questions hanging in my mind, I wanted to truly understand the Code Youth. Not because it was part of the assignment but a challenge personally to unlock the code for youth in Dalian. The trip wasn’t planed as we (Rui Hon & I) wanted to be free from time line and easy on the direction. We started our journey from Olympic Square as we unconsciously ended our journey at Victory Plaza (another big shopping area which we visited before).

Continuing… It was a plot of land just behind a railway station at Victory Plaza when we discovered the roaring night life in Dalian for the very first time. We were first invited to the beat of the dancing crowd as we started to immerse our self with the locals into the night. There were also other activities such as badminton, roller-skating, cycling, chap-teh, martial arts, top spinning, street gaming stalls and even ground art drawings. The night was young and I can hear the heart beat of everyone around the square. Old and young. An initial glance using my eyes see many separated groups of people appear as individual groups of clicks. However, when my eyes started to focus a little, I was amazed. Those little groups was some sort like a fishing net where fishes started to trapped themselves into it as it start to get bigger and bigger. The sociable characteristic of the youth in the square started to approach us as we entered into a game of chap-teh. The only word I can say was “fun” and we was so comfortably playing that we almost forgotten about our time as we needed to leave even though the party had just started. The time spent with the youth in Dalian was the first bucket in which we had kicked off in understanding the context of youth in Dalian. As long as one is still active in their lifestyle, he or she will always be considered as part of the youth. The spirit we had in the square was indescribably incredible as there was no “you and me”. Instead, “we” was the kind of feeling I received. The word stranger did not exist in the people’s dictionary at all. Spending also 2 hours at the square, I started to develop a spirit of commitment to the surrounding and people around me. I was like part of them. One of them. As one big family.


Dalian Immersion Program Chiok Jun Hua Ivan Singapore Polytechnic Diploma in Experience and Product Design navipro@hotmail.com April 2009 May 2009	Wednesday, May 6, 2009 Week 3, Day 15+16+17 “Right feet forward, left feet forward, right feet forward….” Constantly reminding myself that I must continue and carry on walking even though my legs were about to give way any second. The walk was like a never ending walk, as it slowly opened up many little streets and short cuts along the journey. Discovering has become more and more fun as I started to learn more about the things happening around Dalian. Today’s blog topic is related to the topic “Youth”. Who are the youth? Where can I find the youth? How can I understand the youth?... Having so many questions hanging in my mind, I wanted to truly understand the Code Youth. Not because it was part of the assignment but a challenge personally to unlock the code for youth in Dalian. The trip wasn’t planed as we (Rui Hon & I) wanted to be free from time line and easy on the direction. We started our journey from Olympic Square as we unconsciously ended our journey at Victory Plaza (another big shopping area which we visited before). Continuing… It was a plot of land just behind a railway station at Victory Plaza when we discovered the roaring night life in Dalian for the very first time. We were first invited to the beat of the dancing crowd as we started to immerse our self with the locals into the night. There were also other activities such as badminton, roller-skating, cycling, chap-teh, martial arts, top spinning, street gaming stalls and even ground art drawings. The night was young and I can hear the heart beat of everyone around the square. Old and young. An initial glance using my eyes see many separated groups of people appear as individual groups of clicks. However, when my eyes started to focus a little, I was amazed. Those little groups was some sort like a fishing net where fishes started to trapped themselves into it as it start to get bigger and bigger. The sociable characteristic of the youth in the square started to approach us as we entered into a game of chap-teh. The only word I can say was “fun” and we was so comfortably playing that we almost forgotten about our time as we needed to leave even though the party had just started. The time spent with the youth in Dalian was the first bucket in which we had kicked off in understanding the context of youth in Dalian. As long as one is still active in their lifestyle, he or she will always be considered as part of the youth. The spirit we had in the square was indescribably incredible as there was no “you and me”. Instead, “we” was the kind of feeling I received. The word stranger did not exist in the people’s dictionary at all. Spending also 2 hours at the square, I started to develop a spirit of commitment to the surrounding and people around me. I was like part of them. One of them. As one big family. 12:00 AM ·