Hey hey! I'm home after one month living abroad in Taiwan. It was such a lifetime experience :")
How? So I participated in "Language Study Program for Expatriate Youth" held by OCAC. If you are interested, you can look it up on the Internet for more information.
During my stay there, I noticed a lot of differences between the two countries - Taiwan and Indonesia. Some of their biggest are:
- They classify their trashes, which is good, right?
- They queue for almost everything, plus they don't cut queues
- It's safe to walk at night
- Transportation, like MRT and buses, is very convenient
- But..but...they don't usually provide tissues and water inside the toilet, which is inconvenient for us Indonesians who always need to "cebok", yeah..
After all, living in Taiwan was almost like living in Singapore, except everything is much cheaper is Taiwan!
Arrival
We spend the first two weeks living in NTNU (National Taiwan Normal University) dorm, and the next two weeks in Tamkang University dorm in Tamsui.
When we first arrived at the airport, we were fetched by the committee holding the program. They were Tamkang University students who volunteered to oversee us. Since they are only 2-7 years older than us, we call them 哥哥 (older brother) or 姐姐 (older sister).
Hi from my roommates!
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| From left to right: Sophie, me, Sandra, Ellen |
We were divided into classes based on our proficiency in Chinese Mandarin.
The next morning, we did the placement test. From A1, A2,...to C3, Ellen, Sophie, and I got the highest class.
C3 !
For 華語課程, we were given endless exercises, tests, home works.
While for 文化課程, we were taught to make 香包, paint mask, do paper cutting, and choir.
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| 香包 |
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| Paper-cutting |
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| Calligraphy |
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| 象棋 |
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| Candid haha. We took the game seriously lol |
Rules, rules, rules...
There were sooooo many rules!
Each of us was given 15pts initially. So, if you break a rule, your points will be deducted. And if your points are very low, you may not graduate or even join the graduation trip.
Your points can be deducted in so many ways: breakfast lunch dinner sign in sign out bed check, oh anytime you could think of.
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| The famous instant beef noodle |
Sign outs
At weekdays, we were given free time from 1-2 pm and 7-9 pm. So mostly, we only went out to buy bubble tea or snacks.
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| Bubble Tea! |
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| Pudding Milk |
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| Ovaltine Pudding!! I love it :") |
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| Hi, Sandra |
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| Our teacher would occasionally buy us food to boost our mood in class :D |
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| U ice cream |
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| 阿给 |
While at weekends, we have more time to go to farther places.
We went to quite few places:
師大夜市 - for 86, cute stationaries, clothes shop
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| 冰火菠蘿 is unbelievably scrumptious |
北投熱谷 Bei Tou Themal Valley
Taipei 101 - 鼎泰豐 Din Tai Fung
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| Matcha Ice Cream Latte |
西門町 Xi Men Ding - for 50% (clothing), cord holders, and food hunting!
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| 芒果冰 |
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| Oysters meesua |
象山 Xiang Shan - mountain climbing
Super great exhibition!
李安泰 House Garden
寧夏夜市 Ning Xia Ye Shi
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| German Pork Knuckle |
Wu Jie Township
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| Twiniee |
Two days one night with le sister
Daan 炭火燒肉 BBQ beef/pork: 5-6 slices beef + rice, salad, soup, ice tea, kimchi for cheap price. Super recommended!
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Tutti frutti: self-pick yogurt + toppings
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| Slurpp |
牛肉麵 Beef Noodle - The place has unique design and all the workers have tattoos. That day, the beef was weird, it was green and slimy at some parts. And the free juice had many black particles at the bottom.
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| Beef Noodle |
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| Unique design |
KFC - as people often say KFC in Mainland China is more delicious. The pie was really good though!
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Sushi take out
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| 7/11 cereal |
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| Pork + beef stew + noodle soup |
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貓空 Maokong Gondola with crystal cabin.
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| Crystal = transparent cabin |
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| Wonderful view from above. The Taipei 101 building became very small too. |
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| The journey from Taipei Zoo to Maokong took about 25 minutes. |
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| Arrived at the top of Maokong |
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| Yay |
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| Tea house at Maokong. |
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| Sunset at Maokong. |
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| On the way back to Taipei Zoo. |
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| :) |
Graduation Performance
The next day was the last day of classes. Yes, finally. Each class was obliged to prepare for graduation performance. Our class chose dancing and singing. Dance moves were taken from Big Bang's Good Boy and SNSD's I Got A Boy. After that, we sang 朋友 (Friends) together with the boys too. It went quite well.
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| Peace yo, Vincent |
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| Smart-ass Derrick! He'd learnt Traditional Chinese writing |
That night, we had fine dinner with our counselor at a Chinese Restaurant.
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| Cheers! |
3 Days 2 Night Graduation Trip
We went to 苗栗 Miao Li by bus.
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| From left to right: Sophie, Tricia, me, Eric, Vincent |
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| Hey, Sophie |
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| Cake Making |
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| Hakka Heritage Building |
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| Mini Piano |
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| Music Notes |
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| C3 |
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| Beautiful Glass Temple |
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| Good luck throwing a coin into the bowls! |
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| 安平古堡 |
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| Hello, Ellen |
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| Swoosh |
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| Hey hi to camera |
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| Oyster Omelette 煎蠔餅 |
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| Played stamps-hunting |
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| Another temple another waterfall |
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| Pork Noodle |
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| Deven the Peacock |
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| :) |
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| Lunch: Black Pepper Pork with Rice + Miso Soup |
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| From left to right: Sophie, me, Ellen, Erick, Sandra, there should be Deven, Andrew, Kelsen, Alex. |
North District, Shinhih District
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| Yummy |
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| Beautiful resort we stayed at |
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| The garden |
Farewell Party
Oh yes some lame dramas did happen. We had to queue to take a bath. We had to do our own laundry. We had tiring days. But all of them isn't comparable to the joy we'd shared. From different places, we came to be so close with each other.
As the farewell party took place at Tamkang Food Court, where videos of us are played, where each counselor gave a speech, the room was filled with heavy atmosphere. All of us burst into tears as we hugged each other goodbye, and I thought: A party shouldn't be this heartbreaking :(
That night, we didn't sleep at all. We were busy with all the crying, hugging, packing, returning bed sheets, filling in notes in friends' yearbooks, and playing cards for the last time with the Polisi Maling Group.
After resting for a few minutes, we were ready to go to the airport. The moment can be perfectly described by 「一路順風」song :((
On the bus, I cried all the way to the airport while eating my breakfast.
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| Medan Squat |
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| C3 Family |
Thank you counselors for your kind guidance and support, and thank you everyone for such a wonderful one month! I have learned so much from so many of you. I cherish all the friendships and the valuable experiences that I have gained. It's been such a great experience...
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| SCLPI 2015 |
"There, on the farewell beach,
were those I love, in tears."
我們珍重再見!
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