Taiwan touch my Heart with AIESEC NSYSU

Greeting from Indonesia! My name is Mustika Amalia Wardaty. You can call me Tika. I was an EP (Exchange Participant) of AIESEC UGM Indonesia. Last summer 2013 I joined Dream Beyond Language – Love of Life Project in AIESEC NSYSU Taiwan. The first time when I heard about Taiwan, it’s small country but Taiwan is rich in culture. And the people are very kind and they can accept my presence with full of love.

First time I arrived in Taiwan, I had the opportunity to visit the Taipei 101 building which becomes the icon of this country. After staying one night in Taipei I went to Kaohsiung city to met with LC of AIESEC NSYSU and they drove me to school where I will teaching English for six weeks.

During in Taiwan I lived with a Host Family. Here I regarded as own child, this family was very friendly and nice. I can felt the difference in my life with a sense of mutual respect and learning to appreciate other cultures. Taiwan, especially in I had a lot of experience which I never got before. I found new family!

This project is assist teaching English in Niaosung Elementary School. Beside teaching languages, I also introduced Indonesian culture, it is about traditional dance, traditional song, traditional games, special cuisine, handicraft, etc.

At this school I got to celebrate three national event in Taiwan’s calendar. Such as: The Moon Festival, Teacher’s Day, and Independence Day of Taiwan. In the celebration of the moon festival, I had the opportunity to interact directly with students and shared about this event. There are three things always marked to celebrate by people. Which were eating moon cake, the fruit of pomelo and barbeques with family, relatives, friends or the people around us.

Then on September 28, 2013 is Teacher’s Day. On this occasion I had performance the traditional dance from West Java in front of all. The third event is the Taiwan independence day dated October 10, 2013. They are celebrate with singing the national anthem and telling story by some students in English class. Everyone in the school is celebrating it with such enthusiastic and happy.

In celebration of the moon festival on the weekend I attended the party with World DanceSport Championship’s athletes from many countries in around the world.

I also celebrated the moon festival with friends from LC AIESEC NSYSU and EPs at Sizihwan beach.

The day off my school, I went to hang out with my host family and tried one of Taiwan’s food. It’s called “Stinky Tofu”. This food is smell bad but the taste is very yummy!

In the last week of the project, I discovered the city of Kaohsiung. I was visit Fo Guang Shan Temple with Falk (Germany), Alejandro (Colombia), Sarah and Alvin (Indonesia).

For the first time in my life watching Baseball at Chengcing Lake Field with my host family. LIVE!

I also visited Dragon and Tiger Pagodas and Kaohsiung World Games Stadium, the place where the world games 2009 has been held.

In every meeting there must be separation, after 6 weeks I taught students at Niaosung Elementary School it’s time to farewell party. I invited them to roll dance with me. I don’t like to say goodbye, but I prefer to say see you again in another time. I love all my stories in this country because Taiwan touched my heart. Thanks to AIESEC for this unforgettable moment.

Taiwanese experience

好吃, 好喝(Delicious and tasty); Those were the words I said the most when staying in Taiwan. And really I tasted different kind of dishes and drinks which are characteristic of Taiwan. Food is very important for Taiwanese, so they like to much that of going out with friends to taste delicious dishes. I tried many things but the more weird for me was the 鸭血 and the 猪血 (its a kind of rennet made of blood) and of course the 臭豆腐 (stinky tofu) which is really stinky, so I could not understand why they like it. Anyway there are several kind of tasty plates, interesting snacks with Chinese characters or meat inside, refreshing drinks as the famous 珍珠奶茶 ( a kind of milk tea) and many other things like the hot pot or the night market with its games were Taiwanese have fun. My first impression was that it is a clean and comfortable country although in the beginning I felt that everybody seemed a little indifferent. After that I found that people is serious about their business but happy and trusty. They help you a lot and they are very kind. They love their land and feel proud of it. Taiwanese people are very kind with foreigners and they think well about the other countries.

The Taiwanese culture is interesting so as I could see is like a mixture of east and west world. Here you can feel the Chinese culture, admire a lot of traditional and historical temples with the authentic Chinese architecture ancient style, with dragons and emperors stories. You can also experience the traditional Chinese calligraphy and taste the Chinese tea or eat Chinese food with chopsticks. In the other hand, You will find modern infrastructures and business centers as well as the high speed train line or the 101 tower in Taipei. The organisation in mobility, respectful people and development in technology. Being here has been for me not only to know about the Taiwanese and Chinese culture, but also to know about other cultures. So even more due to the internship with Aiesec because we could meet Young people from all over the world and have trips and party with them.

In my internship I could share a lot with a guy from Indonesia so I discovered new things about Asia and especially about his country. We stayed at 普門中學 in Kaohsiung and shared with the students the culture of our countries. We made presentations about our traditions and foods. Share with them in English, learnt with them some Chinese and also thought them about our mother languages. We lived in the school and went some weekends to students houses to experience the family culture. The teachers were very kind and we were invited many times to go out for dinner or lunch. I learnt that our cultures are very different. Our
countries have different perspectives. Our cities are differently organised and differently administered. Our people think different and do different things. But even though all that kind of things, we feel the same, we pursuit the same, we are the same. Everywhere. We are a big family.

Amazing life in Taiwan.

Hi, i’m alvin..

I come from aiesec indonesia for internship in taiwan. I love children, so i take this project about teaching children. My project name is “Dream beyond language”.

I join aiesec GCDP Program about youth generation who want make change a better future. And my voluntary work begin from 10 sept until 22 october 2013. My project location is in dashu kaohsiung, Taiwan.

This is my school, Pu men Junior High school. It’s located in dakeng, dashu kaohsiung. It was take 1 hour from kaohsiung main station to pu men because the school is located in mountain. The first day i came to this school, i got help from aiesecers in taiwan to show me the way to the school. The amount student in this school is bigger than my country. They have 1000 student for junior and senior high school.

I stay in boys dormitory with teacher and students, by the way  the dormitory is inside the school. Although its far from town there are a mart inside the school, so everything you need is just go to that mart. For the food, the school give breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

 I lived with other EP in my school. He came from colombia. His name is alejandro. 

When i arrived in school, the principal and others ep were already waiting for me. We chat about our schedule in here. After that, the principal call some student to accompany us to see the school and take my bagage to our room.

When the night comes, i and alejandro take the dinner with the students. I think i enjoy that moment. We chat about our country and they seem to passion to hear us. After that, some student have study again in classroom. When i hear that, i surprised. Because they still study in night. I think taiwanese are so diligent. Everyday they schedule is like that. But when Friday come, student will go to their house until Sunday. When the first Friday, student was invited us to their house.

This is one of my student home and his family. They are so kind. Most of people in taiwanese is kind. They brought me to many places like night market, banana port, ai he (love river), etc.

Night market in taiwan is so famous. You can try every unique taiwanese food in here.  After Sunday, the student come to school again to study.

One day, aiesecers in taiwan make an event. There are many event in here, but this event is very special for taiwanese. It call “moon cakes festival”. They always barbeque in this event with family, friends. Aiesecers in taiwan call all ep in taiwan to attending this event together. I even meet some other exchange student from different country to study in taiwan.

After that event, i have several number of this ep and we took vacation together when there are some vacation in school with different places.

But not only the ep, sometimes i and alejandro was invited by teacher in my school for dinner

I enjoy it in taiwan, many place you can visit here.  I enjoy it too because i learn chinese language in here from teacher and student in here.

During my visit, i also have the chance to join the concert of music of the student in my school. I love it. They make the concert in fo guang san. Although they many student, but they really have fun together and very close to each other.

I learn many things in pu men too like japanese, mix drinking, cooking. They learn everything. And i love it!

It is very sad when I have to leave the school at the end of my GCDP program. But they have left a very wonderful memory and given me lots of gifts during my stay there. This is precious experience and I will not forget about this. Thank you aiesec for give me that chance. J

Newfound family in Tianliao

During my stay in Taiwan, I have experienced a very wonderful journey. I met lots of friendly people which care a lot about me. I also can improve my skills in speaking Chinese and see many places around Taiwan.

My name is Henry. I came from Indonesia, but I am pursuing my bachelor degree in National University of Singapore. After joining the AIESEC GCDP Program, I get a project in Chongde Elementary School, Tianliao District, Kaohsiung City. My voluntary work there starts from 19 May to 27 June 2013. To be honest, it is a rural area and not many people living there. The amount of students in this school is only 108 students, a very small school if compared to other schools in Kaohsiung area. Even if it is very small, the school is very comfortable and has a very beautiful building.

During my trip there, I stay in a dormitory for teachers located across the school. It is very convenient because only need about 30 seconds to reach the school. As for the food, I eat my breakfast with some of the students in the principal's office while chatting and teaching them a bit about English. For the lunch, I eat together with the teachers during the lunchtime break. Finally, I eat my dinner for the first three weeks at one of the teachers' home and the next two weeks with the family of parents' association chief. Dinner is a very wonderful time because we can get to know each other better and chat about lots of things. Sometimes, the dinner can finish at 8 PM because I enjoy chatting with the people there.

Maybe I am the only volunteer in the school, but because of that, I can be closer to all the people in Chongde. They are very friendly and kind to me. In Chongde, almost all the residents know each other and it seems that the whole neighborhood is one family. I am very lucky to be a part of them. Furthermore, Chongde is surrounded by hills. The scenery is very beautiful all around Chongde and the principal also lend me her bike so I can travel around. It is very nice and healthy to travel around by bike.

At night, the school opens its computer room so that people around there can use the computer every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I love to go there because I can see the children playing internet games and join them in the fun. On Thursday, a nearby city called Alien opens its night market and I can visit the market to buy some food and stuffs.

Moreover, every weekend, the school take me to visit other places in Taiwan. Every week I go with different teacher and he/she will take me to visit famous places around Taiwan. Sometimes, the students also joined the trip and I can hangout together with them. Here is a few photos when I am having a trip with them.

In Chongde, there must be some thing new every week. That is why I enjoyed my time in Chongde very much. They have lots of activity for their students, from cultural activity to educational activity. They also teach me how to write Chinese words using the Chinese brush. It is very meaningful and I also enjoy it very much. 

During my visit, I also have the chance to join the graduation ceremony of the sixth grade students. A few days before their graduation, they held a camp in the school to have fun together and recall their memories during their study in Chongde. They are very close to each other because they have only one class with the same classmate for six years.

 

I also have the chance to visit NSYSU on weekend. It is a very large university and located between a mountain called Gushan and the sea. There is one beach in the school and it is very beautiful.

It is very sad when I have to leave the school at the end of my GCDP program. But they have left a very wonderful memory and given me lots of gifts during my stay there. This is a very precious experience and I will not forget about this.