After breakfast, our class went to Wulai Elementary School. The school was in the hills and we had to travel up the road in a zigzag manner in order to get up to the school. When we arrived at their school, we saw children and teenagers whose ages are ranged from 7-19. We were welcomed by a group of 19 year old girls from Wulai Elementary School (not boys because they were out of school for a competition). We sat in the sharing room and we were assigned buddies, 2 students to 1 buddy. However, since we sat in tables of 6 (2 buddies and 4 RVHS students), we were group according to the table arrangement. My table had Ming Han, Shi Rong, Yi De and me. Their school uniform was yellow but it did not look like a uniform, but a PE attire. It was quite plain and dirty, which made some of us think that they came from poor family backgrounds.
Firstly, we attended the lesson of the language of 泰雅族 (Atayal), which was one of the tribes in Taiwan and their language was their 母语. We learnt some numbers and animal names in their language, such as numbers from 1-6 and animals such as the flying bat, boar and monkey. Also, we learnt how to say 'how are you?', which was 'lokah su-ga' in their language, and the reply was 'lokah saku', which meant 'I'm fine' in English. We had many opportunities to interact with our buddies because we kept on forgetting their translations and had to ask our buddies, which gave us the opportunity to interact and talk to them. We were also given the task to find pictures of animals around the school in groups (table group), and then we were supposed to say how many of which kind of animals we found their pictures of, in the language of Atayal people.
The second class was Art lesson, whereby we had papers given to us with insects imprinted on them. I got the 'bee' on my paper and we had to decorate it and also, write some words for our buddies. I drew a sunflower around the bee and coloured it, while I wrote that to my buddy that it was a rare opportunity for me to go to Wulai to experience their education and I hope that I can learn new things and also hope to be friends.
We then had lunch, which was beef noodle. Since some of us could not eat beef, including me, we ate vegetarian food instead. After that, we had our PE lesson, which was playing basketball. It rained shortly after we started to learn how to dribble the ball and we had to stop the lesson. However, we saw their skillful students who shot and dribbled the ball with extreme speed and also, they were VERY ACCURATE with their shooting.
After the PE lesson, we bade farewell to the students and teachers of Wulai Elementary School and exchanged gifts. We then headed to the Atayal Museum to learn about the culture of the Atayals.
From there, I learnt that there are now 16 tribal groups in Taiwan, increased by 2 from 14 in 2013. These people live in houses of 100-200m, made of wood or bamboo.
A watchtower is also built at the entrance of each Atayal village, and male guards were posted to keep watch in the tower at night, always alert for any attack. Also, I can see that the competition between each tribe can be great, as they have watchtowers to keep a lookout for enemies and also, there might be a lack of food and space in the forests, so they must compete with other tribes in the forest. Moreover, men in the tribal groups have to learn how to set up traps to hunt for animals and also, know how to shoot an arrow using a bow to kill animals. I did not know that men in a tribal group must have quite a few skills, just to get married. Without these skills, no woman would want to marry them. Knowing these, I would not want to be one of those people, who have to survive such harsh conditions to live, even just to marry someone. This made me learn how to appreciate my life in Singapore, where I have food and lodging provided for me everyday.
We then went to Raohe Night Market. We separated into small groups and walked along the street in Raohe Night Market, whereby there were shops all lined up on both sides of the street. We were given NT300 (S$12+) for our dinner, which was for us to eat our dinner by ourselves at Raohe Night Market. There were SO MUCH FOOD and many varieties of food at there. However, because I had a sore throat and kept on coughing, I had to refrain from eating some types of food, such as fried food. I could only eat ham, corn and potato... :(
Since we had to assemble at 8pm and the time then was 7pm, my group, Ming Han, Shirong and Wen Hao decided to find our tour guide. We found him and he brought us to the nearby Macdonald's to eat. I could only eat the fish burger and could not eat the French fries, and while looking at the others busy gobbling them up, I started to feel a little 'jealous'... (haha)
We then went back to the hotel, where we did our reflections. I took my temperature at night and it was 37.3 degree celcius... One of the teachers, Mr Chng, advised me to sleep early and I did not finish up the reflections, so I left it for me to complete in Singapore...
Reflections:
After visiting the Atayal Museum, I learnt about the way of life of the tribal people. Men had to learn how to shoot and kill an animal with a bow, and also leant how to set up traps to trap them. Without these skills, they would die due to lack of food and moreover, they would not get to marry any woman because a woman in the same tribe would want to have a skilful husband who can hunt and provide for her.
I learnt to appreciate my life in Singapore, with plenty of food and clothing for me, and a warm and cosy home, unlike the forest. Even though there is so much stress in Singapore, whereby we have to study, I feel that it is a rare opportunity to study, in the point of view of those people living in the forests. Studying can help to improve ourselves, in character and knowledge. I learnt how to appreciate the chance to study, the abundance of food and clothing provided for me and also, the comfortable conditions I am living in today. Compared to the tribal members living in the forests, my life is far from poor. No matter how stressed am I, or how small my bedroom is, I will learn to cherish them...
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