Daily Reflections 30 May 2014 Friday

It's time to go back... BUT FIRST LET ME TAKE A video.

It's our final day at Taiwan! All of us can't bear to part with this lovely country. Despite it being the last day, we still had one more last place to visit -- the 921 Earthquake museum. After that, we headed to Taoyuan airport where we did our last secret mission. The Matt Harding dance video. It wasn't as fantastic as what we thought it would be as many people stared at us as though we were lunatics at the airport. Although embarrassed, we persevered till the end and thickskinly danced so as to complete the final mission. In conclusion, this trip to Tainan has indeed been a memorable one as we were exposed to a whole new culture, environment and type of people. As hosts, Taiwanese deserve A plus plus! They are incredibly generous and treat us with sincerity. During a meal, they would order a lot more than what we can eat so that they wouldn't 'lose face'. According to the tour guide, Taiwanese will not only make sure that you are full, they would make sure that you are bloated! (不只吃到饱，而且还要还要吃到撑!!) During outings, Taiwanese will foot the bill for almost everything possible. That made us really uncomfortable as they were treating us far too well!😓 They took our visit very seriously and did everything they could to make us feel at home. Our buddies even had to undergo interviews just to become our buddies. I love Taiwan very much because of their free and carefree lifestyle, picturesque sceneries, as well as their generous and sincere people. It had been a wonderful trip!

921 Earthquake destruction

The embarrassing moment

We had fun. Sure we did :)

Special thanks goes out to the principal of Sacred Hearts High School and the 5 student leaders who were so hospitable and always tried to meet our needs during our stay :)

Our final class photo 

HOME SWEET HOME~ Goodbye Taiwan! We will miss you tons!

Joy Tan (17)

 

 

Daily Reflections 29 May 2014 Thursday

Slight rain.

It's the second last day in Taiwan! A gamut of emotions are overwhelming me. For the past few days, I had great fun conversing with the Taiwanese and also gained a lot of experience as well as knowledge from the various activities planned for us. I especially loved attending lessons in Sacred Hearts High School. They were a wonderful host, making sure that we were enjoying ourselves at all times. Today we attended, Chinese, Chemistry and Home Economics lessons. The Chinese learnt in Taiwan is far much better than the one learnt in Singapore. They are learning profound poems by scholars and poets in the past while we are still reading stories. In terms of Mother Tongue, I think we have a lot of room for improvement. Afterwards, we went out with our buddies and their family. My buddy brought me to Taichung, where I managed to board the train for the very first time. It had definitely been a pleasant experience as trains are not found in Singapore anymore. I'm really delighted that I had the chance to take the train. My buddy's father also bought a huge box of Sunny Pies for us. Those were famous local delicacies and were delicious! I loved it so much because I'm a big fan of pastries! The past few days had been a wonderful journey and now that the trip is coming to an end, I can feel a bittersweet tinge in my heart. How I wish that we can relive the previous days and be this happy for the rest of our lives. I LOVE TAIWAN!♡

A picture of my lovely buddy and I 

With my favourite two big sisters who took care of us throughout our stay at Sacred Hearts High School.

The pastries that we made during the Home Econs lesson.

The Chemistry class

Our chemistry group! ^^

The train station

My cute buddy and I!

These flowers give out the most aromatic scent ever! My buddy's father bought them at the train station from an elderly granny who was trying to make a living by selling these flowers. 

We eventually had to bid farewell to our buddies... I almost cried :(

Joy Tan (17)

Daily Reflections 28 May 2014 Wednesday

Slight rain.

The visit to iicake was an eye opener. The ordinary towel, after bring wrapped by the professional workers, is transformed to a cute, eye catching and portable ornament. We even had a DIY session, where we wrapped our towels by hand, and see it turn into an adorable dog. That was an interesting experience as most of us had never done something like that before.

Next, we went to the puppet theatre museum where we were spexposed to a whole new traditional culture of Taiwan in the olden days. In the past, there were no televisions or computers and people had to resort to hands-on methods for entertainment. Hence, puppet shows were popular. On the other hand, puppet shows are quite rare in modern Singapore as most of us are more interested in the screen that lights up in front of us. This kind of traditional skills and arts is on the verge of extinction now. I hope we can preserve this tradition and pass it down to the younger generation, so that they understand that the world isn't just about technology.

Finally, we headed to Sacred Hearts High School for a balloon making as well as a magic session. We had a whale of a time there learning new skills and interacting with the Taiwanese students.

 

Items displayed at iicake

A worker wrapping the towels into dumplings

DIY towel making session!

And my final product!

The puppeteer at the museum

During the balloon making session

Joy Tan (17)

Daily Reflections 24 May 2014 Saturday

Arrival at Kaoshiung airport! All of us are so eager and excited as the new chapter of our lives is about to unfold!! We look forward to our stay in Tainan :) We are really touched by the teachers and staffs of Sacred Hearts High School who waited at the airport till so late that night just to welcome us!

Joy Tan (17)

Daily Reflections 27 May 2014 Tuesday

Sunny.

Visit to Sacred Hearts High School was fun and enriching! 6 of us attended the English class, where we were greeted with a 'press conference'. We sat in a row in front of the class and they hurled questions at us. They were humorous and friendly, cracking us up from time to time. Though we enjoyed the lesson a lot, we have to admit that the teaching style there is overly slack and in the current society, this learning attitude will not do. The students there are more innocent and simple-minded therefore always happy. They do not have the competitive mindset that most Singaporeans have. This can be a virtue but also a disadvantage. They would enjoy life but cannot improve. On the other hand, we who are constantly seeking improvement will be more successful. However, there would definitely be a day when we feel tired. Tired of competing, tired of working hard, tired of life. Our lifestyle is rather stressful and not everybody can take the pressure. We can't possibly toil to our death.

I prefer the mindset of Taiwanese and I hope that I would be able to migrate there during my retirement so that I can enjoy the remaining days of my life peacefully, without any stress. This gives me a motivation to work hard now when I can so that I would be able to lead a carefree life when I'm old.

My cute buddy and I ^^

Pineapple tart factory

The game I played when I attended the English class.

Pineapple tarts that we made by ourselves! We can be your masterchef~~

The pineapple field

The choir of kindergarten students welcoming us with their soothing violin piece.

A picture with the cutest little girl of the day! She's the artist of that artwork! I was really amazed!

Dinner with my buddy 

And her father! They look so alike.

The English class that we attended. Feat. Yang hui blocking me

Nice and friendly students of Sacred Hearts High a School. One of them learns wushu too!

The most memorable and valuable gift that a fellow Taiwanese student who learns wushu gave me.

Our prize from the English class... IS THIS SOLD IN SINGAPORE?! PLEASE SAY YES!!

Joy Tan (17)

Daily Reflections 26 May 2014 Monday

Sunny.

In Taiwan, studying is not necessarily to only route to success. If you can specialize in an area, you can still go very far, and even be more successful than a graduate! Sadly, this does not apply to Singapore... If you aren't doing well in your studies, you will immediately get casted to a lousier class and will have to face discriminating stares all the time. This really lead me to be in a dilemma. Why can't we just adopt the simple mindset of Taiwanese and treat every individual equally?

Everyone has their own unique quality and ought to be given a second chance. We should not despise someone based on our own selfish perspective.

After visiting Anping, I also learnt that Tainan used to be ruled be Holland. Their ulterior motive was to make use of Tainan's resources such as 樟树 to gain profits. This brings me to a whole new level of understanding of Tainan, more in depth, more relatable. The most respected person in Taiwan is 郑成功 because he was the one who freed his country from Holland's rule. There are statues of him around the country, and people really look up to him. We also went to the Confucius Temple, where most of us just wandered and fooled around because we were given the courtesy of 'freedom'. It was delightful day of touring and I really anticipate for the next day, when we would go to Sacred Hearts High School!!

 

Picture with one of the drummers after we watched the performance put up by the Tendrum village teehee

Statue of 郑成功

Unique soda that contains a marble at the bottom. It actually used to be sold in Singapore but later diminished from the market as it wasn't popular. I wonder why...

Typical monkeys at the Confucius temple hohoho

We are so holyyyy

The long awaited dinner!!!!~

Xiaolongbao! 

Our new hotel that we transferred to.... And I got the smallest room. Not pleased at all.

Joy Tan (17)

Daily Reflections 25 May 2014 Sunday

Sunny.

Life in Taiwan is relaxing and carefree, unlike the hectic lifestyle we have in Singapore. In Taiwan, the average farmer earns up twice as much as a citizen working in an office! This has this led me to have a new aspiration : To be a farmer.

I also learnt a lot about the history of Taiwan. It had actually been ruled under Japan for 51 years! That was a incredibly long period and thus explains the slight mixture of Japanese culture in Taiwan.

The museums we visited made me understand the uniqueness of the Hakka culture. There're special costumes, flowers and festivals. They also have different accents from various parts of the country. This is really amusing how one single dialect can have so many different ways of speaking.

Kaoshiung is a beautiful place with breathtaking scenaries and foods, not to mention it's exciting history leading to its success today. 因祸得福。

 

The 'wardrobe' that coincidentally has one character of my Chinese name hehe

Our delightful breakfast :)

The picturesque scenery in Taiwan that made us feel so calm and relaxed.

Trying Lei Cha for the very first time! It tasted.... Very very very very very powdery.......

Group picture of our 'meals family'

A group picture with Aunty Janice, the tour guide and the bus driver. 

Joy Tan (17)