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.