Today was the last day of the Taiwan OELP. We had a short visit to the 921 Earthquake Educational Park and saw the devastation of an earthquake that happened to a school. Fortunately, the earthquake happened at night and no one was in the school at that time. I was thankful for the fact that Singapore has no natural disasters and that Singapore was a safe country.
After that, we finally reached the Taoyuan International Airport after a long ride on the bus. We bid farewell to 程导, our extremely hospitable Taiwanese tour guide and after that, we were off on the plane to Singapore. We arrived at Singapore at night and that concluded the very end of our Taiwan OELP.
-Matthew
Monday, 11 August 2014
OELP Daily Reflections Day 6
Today we had a Chinese lesson in Scared Hearts Hugh School and learnt more about a Chinese poem. Then, me and Clinton went out with our buddy, 品辰. We first went to a honey museum and tasted some honey. Our buddy's parents also bought for us some honey. After that, we went to a soy sauce factory and learnt more about the origin of soy sauce. We also got to try the various kinds of soy sauce and our buddy got us a bottle of soy sauce each. At the factory, there was also a small farm with many animals such as goats, chickens and rabbits. We even got to feed the goats and rabbits. Our buddy was very generous to us and showered us with many gifts as compared to the gifts we gave them. It has certainly a pleasure getting to know 品辰 and his family in Taiwan. Thank you, 品辰 and family! :)
-Matthew
-Matthew
OELP Daily Reflections Day 5
We first started the day by visiting "iicake" a towel factory. Over there, I learnt more about the production of the towels and how to choose a good towel. One interesting thing about this towel factory is the fact that these towel were even made into different items such as food, flowers and even toy animals! At the factory the guides taught us how to make our very own towel animal by using simple materials such as elastic bands and clips.
Secondly, we went to a puppet museum in Huwei. I learnt more about the tradition of puppets and how modern technology like special effects can enhance the viewing experience of simple puppets. Then, we were treated to a small puppet performance.
Lastly, we went back to Sacred Hearts High School and got to observe a few CCAs in the school: scouts, girl guides and military band. I feel that these CCAs, being uniformed groups, are not as strict as the uniformed groups in Singapore. The CCAs in Scared Hearts High School are much more focused on enjoyment and having fun, whereas the CCAs in Singapore are much more competitive and focused on skills and competition.
-Matthew
Sunday, 10 August 2014
OELP Daily Reflections Day 4
Today we were finally able to visit Sacred Hearts High School, our host school when we were in Taiwan. The school welcomed with an amazing performance consisting of wushu, band and even performances I have never seen before such as flags and batons. We also attended a 高一 history class, in Singapore's context, a secondary 4 history class. To my surprise, the teachers of the class did not really teach much, but the students presented their various reports they have researched on. The classrooms in Scared Hearts Hugh School was smaller than that of RV, but it was more comfortable with air-conditioning.
Subsequently, we visited a pineapple tart factory which was in the vicinity. We got to make our very own pineapple tarts (in Taiwan it's known as 凤梨菽) and also got to see the vast pineapple plantations. After that, we visited Huashan Elementary School, 华山国小. The school had a very small population of only about 40 students, but these small children were definitely impressive. When we arrived at the school, we were greeted by the students playing the violins. The students then led us in the school and they gave presentations of the artwork displayed. I was surprised by their presentation skills. The students were confident and very fluent in their presentation. I also felt ashamed of myself as these students were only about 9 years old and were much better than me in music and presentation skills. It was an eye-opener for me today.
-Matthew
Subsequently, we visited a pineapple tart factory which was in the vicinity. We got to make our very own pineapple tarts (in Taiwan it's known as 凤梨菽) and also got to see the vast pineapple plantations. After that, we visited Huashan Elementary School, 华山国小. The school had a very small population of only about 40 students, but these small children were definitely impressive. When we arrived at the school, we were greeted by the students playing the violins. The students then led us in the school and they gave presentations of the artwork displayed. I was surprised by their presentation skills. The students were confident and very fluent in their presentation. I also felt ashamed of myself as these students were only about 9 years old and were much better than me in music and presentation skills. It was an eye-opener for me today.
-Matthew
OELP Daily Reflections Day 3
We started Day 3 with visiting the Anping Fort and the Old Anping street. At the Anping Fort, I learnt more about the Japanese who colonised Taiwan and what the fort was used for. At the Anping Old Street, we got to try Anping's traditional mouth-watering delicacies such as fried oyster. The street itself however, was honestly a disappointment as it was very small with little shops. We also visited the Eternal Golden Castle, another defensive castle to defend from invasions. I saw the old cannons of different types used to defend the castle and old methods of building the castle. We visited the Confucius Temple as well, where students would write their wishes on cards and hang then at the entrance of the temple. I learnt more about the ancient forms of education and their ceremonies. Up next was the Chihkan Tower, another place regarding education and I realised that the Taiwanese people regard education with much importance because of the gods of education displayed.
Today was also the last day we stayed at Ten Drum Cultural Village. Earlier this morning, we had a lesson on how to play the drums. Later, the guide brought us around the village and talked about the historical value of the place, such as the fact that the village used to be a sugar refinery before the Japanese invasion. Subsequently, we were treated to a magnificent and epic drum performance. It was not a surprise that these group of professional drummers won a Grammy award. And that was the last time we saw Ten Drum Cultural Village.
Today was also the last day we stayed at Ten Drum Cultural Village. Earlier this morning, we had a lesson on how to play the drums. Later, the guide brought us around the village and talked about the historical value of the place, such as the fact that the village used to be a sugar refinery before the Japanese invasion. Subsequently, we were treated to a magnificent and epic drum performance. It was not a surprise that these group of professional drummers won a Grammy award. And that was the last time we saw Ten Drum Cultural Village.
OELP Daily Reflections Day 2
Day 2 started with visiting the many museums and I learnt more about the history of Taiwan and Taiwan's Hakka culture from the guides and even our own tour guide. Our tour guide also told us that Taiwan is the "Kingdom of Fruits" where farmers are more well-paid than most office workers! I also learned more about Taiwan's colonial rule from the tour guide such as the fact that Taiwan was one colonised by the Spanish and the Dutch. After the museums, we visited the signature of Taiwan, the night market. In my opinion, the night market we visited, the Liuhe night market, was not as impressive as I had expected. In my opinion, it was quite small and had a small variety of food. However, the food was delicious. It was good enough for us to feel the culture and delicacies of Taiwan. That was the end of Day 2.
-Matthew
-Matthew
OELP Daily Reflections Day 1
On the first day of our OELP, we gathered at Changi Airport for our flight to Taiwan. My fellow classmates and their families were buzzing in excitement. Soon, we were on the plane and off to Taiwan! After a tiring 6 hour flight, we reached Taiwan around midnight. We got to meet our friendly tour guide, 程导, who also gave us the very first piece of food we ate in Taiwan, Taiwan's world famous raisin bread. We were given a large chunk of a loaf of raisin bread each, and in my opinion, it tasted a little weird. I guess it was because we were not used to the tastes of Taiwan. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally reached our hotel, the Ten Drum Cultural Village. The room had a very "village" feeling, with the interior being made of mostly wood. After we settled into the room, me and my buddy, I-Shiuan, decided to watch a soccer match and we ended up sleeping at 4am in the end xD. I was certainly looking forward to the next day's events!
-Matthew
-Matthew
Thursday, 7 August 2014
Daily reflection
-Day 7- 30/5/14
Last day in Taiwan:(. Time really flies. In just a blink of the eye, seven days have passed. We definitely enjoyed ourselves there where we were treated very nicely. The Taiwanese are indeed very kind and hospitable and we will miss our buddies as well as the delicacies there. Memories and fun times together will always be remembered and we surely bonded alot as a class.
-Jiaen
Daily reflections
-Day 6- 29/5/14
I attended the Chinese and Home Econs lesson. The Chinese standard there is obviously higher than ours and something different between the Home Econs lesson between Taiwan and Singapore is that we will make our our food while the Taiwanese there split into different groups and after doing all the cooking they were assigned, they will share food in the end. Thus, there will be more food that is made as compares to our school but something bad about this is that they will only learn how to cook what they were assigned.
Next, our buddies brought us out and my buddy brought me to her uncle's farm. It is mainly a chicken farm but he also breed turtles so that he could earn more money. I am glad that I was brought to a place like this as I was able to understand more about the Taiwanese way of life. Also, farms are rare in Singapore and it would be quite difficult to visit one as you would not know how to get there. The Taiwanese are really hospitable and I feel that parents and children can communicate very well with each other. They have strong relationships and I feel that this is something we should learn from the Taiwanese.
-Jiaen
Daily reflections
-Day 5- 28/5/14
From the 蛋糕毛巾咖啡馆 where we made our DIY towels, I leant to choose a good towel according to their colour, smell, ability to absorb water, and the presence of tag. Also, we had a fun hands-on experience on shaping our towels. Before the trip, I did not know that one could actually shape towels into cute shapes to make it more attractive.
That day, we got a good glimpse of how,CCA was like in Taiwan. I feel that CCAs in our school are more hectic as we attend CCAs at least three hours, two days a week while the Taiwanese just had one hour of CCA in a week. However, they had more unique and choices of CCAs as compared to ours. They had CCAs like flag spinning and their band instruments are much more complicated than ours.
-Jiaen
Daily reflections
-Day 4- 27/5/14
Finally, we were able to visit Sacred Hearts High School and was warmly welcomed by the students. I noticed that the school is split into half, one part for boys and the other for girls and the school garden has free roaming animals that amazed me. I feel that Taiwanese have less stress when it comes to academics as their lesson was more of presentation skill learning as compared to topics-based lesson. Unlike our school, we focus more on exams based questions and have little skill-based lessons.However, it is no doubt that the Taiwanese are indeed very hospitable.
In Hua Shan Guo Xiao, we were warmly welcomed by the little kids there. I was impressed by the children's performance as they were able to play the violin well even though they were still young. In conclusion, I enjoyed the day as I was able to meet my buddy.
-Jiaen
Daily reflections
-Day 4- 27/5/14
Finally, we were able to visit Sacred Hearts High School and was warmly welcomed by the students. I noticed that the school is split into half, one part for boys and the other for girls and the school garden has free roaming animals that amazed me. I feel that Taiwanese have less stress when it comes to academics as their lesson was more of presentation skill learning as compared to topics-based lesson. Unlike our school, we focus more on exams based questions and have little skill-based lessons.However, it is no doubt that the Taiwanese are indeed very hospitable.
In Hua Shan Guo Xiao, we were warmly welcomed by the little kids there. I was impressed by the children's performance as they were able to play the violin well even though they were still young. In conclusion, I enjoyed the day as I was able to meet my buddy.
-Jiaen
Daily reflection
-Day 3- 26/5/14
At the ten drums hotel, we had a very enjoyable time as we attended a drum lesson. The guide made everything easier to learn by replacing the actions we were supposed to do with easy words like “跑步” whereby we are supposed to hit at a faster beat. From the smiles that was on our faces, it is clear that we had a great time. This makes me more appreciative of the cultures there and Singapore should learn to preserve its culture just like Taiwan.
Among the places that we all went,I like the Anping Old Street most. The lunch we had there are delicacies in Tainan like the oyster omelette and the coffin toast. We had a very special drink that is called 弹珠汽水. As the name suggest,there is a marble in the drink and I find it taste like normal sweet drinks.
-Jiaen
Daily reflections
-Day 2 - 25/5/14
We went to several museums and understood more about Hakka cultural and Taiwan's history. The first stop was Meinong Hakka Cultural Museum. We were introduced to the Hakka culture there in Taiwan and the significant craftsmanships are Oil Paper Umbrellas which are significant to the Hakkas. It symbolises fulfillment, harmony and having money descendants.
Next, we went to the Meinong Folk Village. We get hands on experience there, tasting the traditional pounded tea(擂茶) and seeing traditional toys. As we went to other museums we were able to understand more about the Taiwanese culture.
The highlight of the trip is the Liuhe Night Market. I can see from the unique delicacies that there is strong Japanese influence in the country. Japanese food like Dorayaki could be found there and the large variety of food is caused by the different cultures in Taiwan. Lastly, I learnt a very interesting fact that farmer earn two times at much as office workers.
Dorayaki : Japanese influence
Night market!!
-Jiaen
Daily reflections
Finally reached Taiwan! We were really excited for the trip and were warmly welcomed by the teachers of Scared Hearts High School when we reached the airport at Kaohsiung even though it was already midnight.
The wood furnished hotel is amazing. The bed was cozy and the room was quite big. Also, we had a chance to taste the most famous bread in Taiwan. It is very hard and it is quite tasteless. Most of us did not finish the bread as we were shocked by the taste and it is something that we could definitely not find in Singapore.
-Jiaen
Wednesday, 16 July 2014
Tainan Confucius Temple / 台南孔庙
We got to make a wish to the gods at the entrance like many other visitors did, we wrote our hopes and dreams on pieces of paper and then hang them on a board along with all the other wishes made by many other visitors, I think it is nice of them to provide a place for us to do so, it was interesting. However they did not have a guide there since the temple was not too big and there were many detailed information displays which we could read from, this allowed for more freedom as we walked around the temple, discovering things about it by ourself at our own speed. I really liked all the displays as they were all genuine and authentic from the old temple and I'm amazed by how well preserved they were. There's a large variety of things displayed, from pieces of the old temple to the musical instruments which were once used there, there are also many information next to them telling us about the different aspects of history of the temple. However, I think they should include more information regarding the intricate design of the temple and the deep meaning behind it because it is something I'm curious about and I feel that it would help us understand more about the temple's history.
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Chihkan Tower / 赤坎楼
The Chihkan Tower is special as it is a museum incorporated into a temple, not only do many people go there to pray for good luck, it also showcases historic information. However, the information displays were rather dull and dusty thus not very attention grabbing. The structure of the Chihkan Tower is authentic, preserved from the past, this makes the place more interesting but since no reconstruction were to be made, the place was very small like in the past, hence it was rather cram inside. The guide there did not really use the displays for his presentation thus there was not much visual aids, but we still got to see the interesting displays preserved from the past when we were given time to roam around the place. I think the surroundings around the Chihkan Tower was definitely more well kept than the inside, the outside was a beautiful garden with statues and it gave a much more refreshing and appealing feeling as compared to the inside which was somewhat dull.
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Eternal Golden Castle
This castle was built to defend Taiwan against the Japanese. The castle consisted of many large plains and many cannons of different variety. I learnt more about the history of Taiwan, especially during the Japanese invasion and the military tactics and weapons used at that point in time. The tour guide was informative and the weaponry was well preserved. The castle also had very pretty surroundings.
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Pineapple Tart Factory
The hands on pineapple tart making was interesting and enjoyable as we would not get a chance to experience it in Singapore. However, we feel that we would be able to learn and gain more if we have start from scratch and understand more about how they are made. Also, we got to see farming techniques but it would be better if we go into the farm instead of viewing it from the wall.
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921 Earthquake Educational Park / 921 地震教育园区
Not only do they have numerous photos and pictures, they also perfectly preserved some of the phenomena related to the earthquake, such as collapsed school structures and raised river beds. They were screening a 3D animated short clip presenting the happenings of the earthquake to help us truly understand the impact of the 921 earthquake in a victims point of view. The museum also had many attractive and fun hands-on displays like an earthquake simulator, however we feel the tour could have been made longer because we didn't get to try out the displays and only rushed through the place. I think if we had the time to slowly walk through the museum, it would have been a lot more educational; while we were there, we saw another class of students from a Taiwanese school in the museum as well, they had more time to appreciate the museum and I think they had gained a lot more insight to the earthquake. From this, I think this museum truly lived up to its name as being educational. Everything presented there was very appealing to the eye, with its neat and efficient organization of displays and planning of routes and its technological hands-on displays, it really grabbed our attention and created a pleasing environment where we can and would like to learn more about the catastrophic event.
☆☆☆☆
Tai Shinu Hotel / 太信大饭店
The rooms were rather musty and dull and hence it seemed old and dirty. Some rooms were also much smaller and narrower than others thus some people did not feel comfortable in their rooms. The hotel really should change out their furnitures in the room since their cupboards and bedside tables were not in best condition and some of their kettles were spoilt too. Also there seemed to problems with the electricity in many rooms as the lights and air conditioning would just turn off by themselves until the hotel staffs, who were somewhat efficient, came to fix it. They had more varieties of food for breakfast but it was the same lot everyday.
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Kaohsiung Hakka Cultural Museum
We learnt more in depth about the Hakka Culture as we were shown the different festivals there. The display was interesting, with a few hands activities on to attract more people, especially the children. However, the topic was dry and the guide could have made more use of the disply items to make the delivery better.
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Kaohsiung Museum of History
The guide gave a good presentation that was informative and interesting. He managed to get our attention and engage us by telling the history of the event in different perspective. He also input his personal feelings about the 228 ,an important historical event that happened in Taiwan. However, he focused too much on the 228 incident and didn't elaborate on other history matters. Overall, the tour was enriching and it made us more interested in the topic.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Meinong Folk Village
Rich culture and folk lifestyle could be experienced where many traditional Hakka items and food are sold. It was a great new experience for all of us as we got to taste the traditional Hakka 擂茶. We get to understand more about the Hakka culture after the visit as we were exposed to a great variety of Hakka items like the oil paper umbrella.
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十鼓文化村 Tendrum Culture Village-Clatou
The room was very cozy and comfortable. It was well taken care of and had a nice atmosphere, as if we were living in a village, with a wooden interior having wooden floors, wooden furniture... wooden everything! The breakfast in the hotel had a wide variety of food such as chicken nuggets, bread, noodles and Taiwan's specialty, milk tea! The hotel also had the basic amenities we needed and clean facilities. It was definitely a unique experience staying in a village-like hotel.
We also had a very interesting experience at the village. We learnt how to play the drums and learnt more about the history of the culture village. This culture village was built near an old railway near old factories. There was also a train carriage that the culture village preserved. It felt as if we were walking through the past, with old factories that were partially destroyed during the war when the Japanese invaded Taiwan. We also went to see the ten drums, with each drum symbolizing different things like good fortune, peace and much more. The tour guide was very informative, explaining to us the significance of every single object during the mini tour.
We also got to see an extremely exciting performance. It consisted of the playing of drums and other musical instruments, bringing drumming to a whole new level with the use of a cudgel. It was not surprising that this group of performers have won a Grammy award and got to perform at the Summer Olympics in Sydney. It was most certainly an exciting experience, all in one village!
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iicake
iicake sells cute and creative towel ornaments wrapped by hand. It is amazing how the ordinary towel, within 5 minutes, can turn into an animal, flower or even dumpling! This is especially popular among tourists as it serves as a special souvenir. iicake even organizes DIY towel wrapping session for enthusiastic customers like us. After a tough time, I finally managed to wrap my own towel dog! This really made me look up to the workers, who have to wrap about 2000 towel ornaments a day. The wrapping requires skills and most importantly, experience. I am really amazed at the workers' speed. I recommend tourists to visit iicake because of its good quality towels and interesting way of wrapping them. A box of three towel ornaments costs approximately NT$290 (S$12), which is a rather reasonable price. This peculiar store uses an innovative way of attracting tourists and it definitely got me!
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