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
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