Day 45 Recount Day 2 (21 June 2011) Tuesday

Slept till 10am!! Target destination --> Nan He Elementary School. The teachers were all stand by to wait for me as I didn’t go to the school yesterday. Feel so sorry for them.

Then meet up the teacher, Jinfang that took leave that day. Today’s her little daughter’s birthday. Too bad I can’t join their party. I headed to NCTU that day. It was a long journey from GuanXi to NCTU. It’s definitely a pleasure to talk to Joyce and Mindi. We shared our stories. Hmm… Then headed back to my cousin sister’s house. A truly long travelling day today.

Day 44 Recount Day 1 (20 June 2011) Monday

Ming Foong’s leaving today. From her eyes, I can see she has no regrets for the internship. We shared a lot of things at the night. It’s my pleasure to know her. I flashed back the first time when I first saw her. So much to tell but I can’t write it here. =D

Then I headed to the trainee house to have sleep, the whole morning was sleeping as it was so hot to travel around. =.= So, I cancelled my initial plan to go to the school to visit the teachers and my lovely children.

I then travel to my cousin sister’s house by train. It didn’t take me so long, only 40 minutes. I love train. No traffic jam.

A truly fantastic day that I met up with my future EP from Taiwan, who will be going to Malaysia for exchange in this coming September. It was so fun to meet your EP before they go to your country. Trust me It is truly a good experience.

Day 43 Baoshan ShuiKu(Dam), BeiPu(MaBuShanLin) Sunday 19 June 2011

I took an early bus to ZhuBei, Hsinchu whereby the teacher lives. There, I meet Medha, Huikey and Thao for the trip. We reached there almost the same time. It was 9:30am. We met up with the teacher, she is the kindergarten teacher that always mentioned by Huikey and Medha. She was with her 4 year old child, Ping Rui. He was so fun to play with and did a lot of crazy jumping with us at the downstairs of the apartment. What should I say if I could meet up with such a cute boy to play with? It was then his younger brother, 2 and a half years old came. He was with his grandpa and father. He likes ball very much. There was another teacher with her husband, and they have 2 sons too! One is 5 and another one is 7 years old. The younger one has 2 dimples! He was always shy to talk to me. XD And the elder brother was so cute that he understand us in English but he didn’t dare to speak out.

We went to BaoShan Dam. It was truly a hot day. We walked and sweated, as well as photo-taking. We went to two lakes, BiHu and BaoHu. The 3 cute boys kept being the tour guides to introduce us the sceneries.

After that, we went to ZhuDong to have another meal of Hakka food. It was crowded and half self-serviced but we managed to insert some English vocabs to the little boy’s brain. XD The main point is he was willing to learn! =D

Then, we went to make our own tea. It was added together by several different materials and to make it into powder, also called 擂茶 in Mandarin. Several times of water added into the bowl, then finally it was ready to be served. Great experience though, if couples could come for it.

We went to MaBuShanLin afterwards. Over there, I can have a sense of peace. I cycled, and all the troubles are off my mind. We played with the kids, chatted with the parents and took pictures.

These two days trips are ended by rainy moments. However, I really appreciate the time we spend with the locals. Even though I didn’t go to the famous tourist attractions like Jiufen, I had spent the time meaningfully with the two families.

Again, I travel to the bus station to take bus to the place where my cousin sister stays, it’s in ZhungLi. It took me around 50 minutes. I was with my first life time bouquet of flowers, I can see that everyone walking pass me throwing me an envious look. It would be a truly great experience to be at a busy road side with a bouquet of sunflowers on hand.

Then, traveling to th etraniee house to meet up Ming Foong at 11:30pm. It is a contented day as I travel a lot. I wouldn’t regret to go meet up with Ming Foong as it is her last night in Taiwan as I may make my cousin sister worries about my secure. By the way, real thanks to Joyce and Che Kai who plan for me the transportation to the trainee house in the late of midnight.

Day 42 Lavender cottage in JianShi尖石 Saturday 18 June 2011

This weekend is first weekend that we spend in GuanXi. We came back from the trainee house at around 8am. Luckily there was sister in the convent to open the door for us. We reached the convent and had our private time to do our own stuffs. I made myself slept even though it’s so bright outside there. It was 10:30am, the whole family of the teacher from Huikey and Medha’s elementary school came to pick us up. I wasn’t sure how long it took but I know we went to Nei Wan. That’s the place we went for a walk along the street. The street was full of all kinds of Taiwanese food and souvenirs. We went into a souvenir shop. I bought a lot of key chains there. They are all cute dolls which represent the Chinese traditional gods.

After that we went to have our lunch. It was 7 dishes plus a soup. They successfully made us full!

It was all Hakka dishes.

Next station: The final destination of the day à Lavender cottage

This is one of the main reasons I came to Taiwan. I wanted to experience the scenery that I can only see via the drama. It was totally an unforgettable one as it is well furnished and even though we couldn’t have a look at the lavender but we took a look at the “summer lavender”.

We had a tour guide called Popcorn. She was very cute; she brought us around the garden and introduce us the attraction points of the garden. We went to souvenir shop (where you can have your most desired cute DIY souvenirs and postcards), wishing tree, Tree Dancing Platform and café. We had our tea break there together with the teacher’s 3 daughters.

We went back after the wonderful tea break together with the 3 beautiful daughters. Then, we went for a dinner around the area in GuanXi township. We went into a 刀削麵shop. This is the shop that we used to pass by, finally we have the chance to eat there now.

Bought a skinny umbrella in the supermarket. XD

After dinner, time to pack my luggage to move to cousin sister’s house, it was 8pm. I took the luggage on my own. Huhu… How challenging is that?! I wonder would I do it in Malaysia so naturally, walking on the street with 2 luggages.

This is the day I moved to my cousin sister’s house. Together with her husband, it’s the first time I meet him. He had never been to Malaysia before. He is friendly; I don’t feel awkward to be with them, although I thought it would be before I came to Taiwan.

Day 41 (Day 28 in the school) End of Internship Friday 17 June 2011

Today is a rather lucky day that I had been through. I got a lottery from the bird. Don’t ask me the name of the bird, I wouldn’t know the name as I was actually waiting for the bus to go the school. It is also the second time that I cycle to the school. This plan is great as the bicycle wouldn’t stocked at the restaurant any more. Finished the first task before I leave. =)

By the way, today is a big day, which is the grade 6 graduation ceremony and mine too. I had already got a prize early in the morning. =.=

In the morning, I wouldn’t have any classes as it would be the graduation ceremony. It is kind of satisfaction that I gain throughout the internship and I could finally feel that when I was sitting there to listen and to capture their photos in delivering the graduation speech. From the day started teaching them the pronunciations and meanings of each word, until today’s performance; I have no doubt that Taiwanese students can make it perfectly if they wish to.

By the way, I was given an opportunity to give a speech on that day during the closing ceremony. The local community there threw me surprised glances as I am able to speak Mandarin. I greeted them with Hakka greeting and finished the speech with the Malay “thank you” à Terima kasih. I received the first bouquet of sunflowers in my first life time and 3 cute eco-cups as present. This is something touches me that they gave me the same treat as the other teachers had. The home teachers, no doubt they did a greater job than me!

Lunch: Got to interact with the parents. The dishes are typical Hakka dishes.

1310 – 1350 Grade 4 (with Judy)

Judy and I let them think about the question, “What is your dream?” It was inspired by Che Kai, the team leader of the project, Bridging the Gap. Here I define it as “Dream Project”. The story sounds like this, there are Grade 6 students in a school from Taoyuan county wrote letters to celebrities like Bill Gates and J.K. Rowling. It was surprised that the students got replied letters from the celebrities. This project is passed to Teacher Judy to follow up, and there is no due date for the project. How cool was it?! =D

1400 – 1440 Grade 3 Rainforest Introduction (Rafflesia and orang utan) & January – December

It is a cute class which is also one of my favourite class, they wrote and gave me so many presents and letters. How cute they are. The most important thing is they are willing to learn to learn new things. Most of them start writing the vocabularies once I write it on the blackboard. Great attitude, right?

1450 – 1525 Grade 5 Rainforest introduction (Rafflesia and orang utan), Feedback form and Dream Project ON GOING.

This is the class that I like the most. One of the celebrity that they wish to wrote to is Obama, the president of USA. All the best, Grade 5!

0700 Depart to the trainee house for the farewell party! It was fun that Ming Foong didn’t know that four of us will be attending the party and it was purposely done to give her a surprise~! We showed her the video we made last night too. It is a success that we managed to give her a surprise before she leaves!

Day 40 (Day 27 in the school) Thursday 16 June 2011

è ShuiBianTou, Brandon picked me up.

In the morning: facebooking + sharing with the teachers.

It is a rather free day too since I have only one class to handle.

1120 – 1155 Grade 1 English (Alone) 4 sentences that could be used frequently in the class.

Teacher, I have finished my homework.

Can I eat?

Can I draw?

Can I read story book?

Can you do me a favor?

The Home teacher told me the feedback, the students are able to voice out to the teacher when they wanted to go to the toilet. It’s a great improvement for me as they really could do it well when I asked them to revise the sentences.

In the afternoon, the mixed feeling made my emo-afternoon. The students kept giving me present.

Joyce and Mike went to the school to get the feedbacks from the Director Chung. She gave me a good evaluation but I think it shall be done by asking the students. It would be more direct and reliable.

Joyce and Mike then came to the place where we live, the convent to visit us and to settle the allowance issue with convent. It was definitely a fun night as we did 2 videos, truly crazy videos. One was for the CTLC and another one was for Ming Foong.

Today is also the night where we have the Internet access, the first time ever Internet access in the convent. Thanks to Mike, Joyce and the sister. The sister didn’t look too protective towards us as I met with her the first time. Thereby she agreed to let us have the trial access of the Internet. We got so excited to utilize the Internet even though it was just 2 hours.

Day 39 (Day 26 in the school) Wednesday 15 June 2011

-->ShuiBianTou, picked up by Director Chung.

0750 – 0835 Rehearsal of the graduation ceremony

0930 – 1010 Grade 2 English class – Learning Passport 2^nd time (with Judy)

They were so keen to get the Judy’s and my verifications. My cute students! =)

1030 – 1110 Grade 3 (with Judy) Workbook session

1120 – 1155 Grade 6 (with Judy) Feedback, A->Z vocabs for each alphabets

0200 – 0300 Project learning with the teachers, hosted by a professor from the University of Education in Hsinchu. A great experience as we did a great job in a mini game which shows the privity amongst the teachers.

Brandon sent me back to the convent.

Four of us had dinner with the sisters in the convent. They were simple dishes but it was fulfilling. Here, I can sense how the sisters live their lives. There are no extra amusements, entertainments and noises. This is the place that I could live a healthy life style. We shared some cultures in our own countries with the sisters.