My name is Niklas. I'm a German student and this summer/autumn I had the unique chance to participate in this project. My project is already over since the middle of October, but I write this post now because I had so many to do for my studies which already started then.
Now I'm back in Germany, but I have to say I really miss Taiwan. It's such a beautiful country and you can experience so many things you won't forget in your whole life. I will explain everything a bit more in detail.
So I came to Taiwan in the end of August. In Kaohsiung I met Wendy from AIESEC and Nia, an Indonesian student with whom I did my project.
Because our project didn't start until the 3rd September, there were four days to discover the city of Kaohsiung, the second largest city of Taiwan located in the southwest. So we saw many beautiful sites in Kaohsiung. Here are two pictures of temples around the Lotus Pond.
And then, they have these Night Markets. If you are from Germany like me and you don't have any of these, then you will be completely overwhelmed. You can try so many traditional Taiwanese food and we did. We also tried Bubble Milk Tea, which is kind of the national drink of Taiwan. And it's so delicious. From this day on, I drank this drink nearly every day.
And they also have fun games:
The next days we have been to several places, e.g. the British Consular Residence, a very nice Dojo, etc. You can see these pictures in Nia's post in the blog.
But now about my project:
So from 3rd September until 11rd October I had my project about cultural exchange and education in Pu men High School . And what did I do? Each day I taught the students something about German culture, sometimes I even had really lessons (e.g. Physics) and I also took part in the regular classes a bit as a student.
Because the school is both a Junior High School and a Senior High School there are classes from the 7th grade to the final one. Here are two pictures:
The school is buddhistic and because most of the students stay in the school during the week, I stayed too. So I spent many time in the classes and interacted with the students a lot. They are really nice and funny and it's very special for them to have foreign students there, especially if you are from Europe or the West at all.
And on the weekends I spent my time somewhere else, mostly in Kaohsiung because it was nearby. And because as a European you stand out very easily, I had to take pictures with unfamiliar people on the street and one time I even got into a Live TV show because they picked out a random person out of the crowd.
Fortunately, I had a student from the school with me, so he was able to able to translate from Chinese to English and vice versa..
And one weekend the whole school went to Fo Guang Shan. That's a huge temple area close to the school.
And there, the school orchestra was playing wonderful symphonic music.
Here is a funny fact about the school: They teach English as the first foreign language. That's clear. But as the second foreign language they offer Japanese and ...... German :)
So I also participated in the German classes and that's really funny as a native. The teacher was from the language university of Kaohsiung. He invited me for one weekend to his place at the university and I met students who study German.
And because some students of the school even learn French by themselves and one girl had a favour in Korean, I had to greet in the morning in many ways: hi, hallo, ni hao, zao an, salut, konichiwa, annyeong-haseyo.
On another weekend I also was in Tainan, the former capital of Taiwan. It's now kind of the cultural capital.
They have so many historical and cultural sites there. I only was there for one day, but I wish I could have two or three more days only for Tainan.
The Confucius Temple
The Chihkan Tower
The six weeks I spent in Taiwan had gone so fast, that I suddenly had to say Good-Bye to everyone. I went to every class and it took me so long. Here is one of the pictures with the principle and the vice principle:
But before I flow back to Germany, I had two more days in Taipei. And this city is HUGE. They have everything there. And two days are far too less for Taipei. I wish a had a week more only for Taipei.
Of course, I saw the "must-see", the Taipei-101:
And here are two other places in Taipei:
The National Theater Hall
The park next to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial
And on the 13th October I had to leave this amazing country. The people are so nice there and I only had the chance to see a few parts of this island. I wish I had more time when I was in Taiwan, but I definitely want to go back in the future. This summer/autumn gave me so many experiences and such a big impact I can't really describe in a single post. When you read this blog and see the pictures, you only have a slight impression of the entire beauty of Taiwan. So after my project I have to say: Wo ai Taiwan.
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Things I didn't mention: the hot weather (even in autumn), lots of motorcycles, hot springs, garbage collection plays Beethoven's "Fur Elise", cheap clothes, all the types of fruits, the tea, strange colours of contact lenses, the Moon Cake, the Moon Festival, etc.
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