OELP Day 6 reflection- Lim Yan Tong

Time have really pass by so quickly for these 6 days. Today is technically the last day of our OELP trip, because we are taking a flight early in the morning tomorrow :(  At least, I got back some of my voice and was able to speak (more like squeaking actually hahaha) 

The first place we went to was the Confucius temple. I was rather excited to go to the temple because I wanted to see the Confucius statue and HOPEFULLY to be able to get a better grade after praying to him. After an explanation of the building structure given by the tour guide, we were led to a theater to watch a 4D movie. (wow even a temple has such advanced technology) The 4D movie was exciting and interesting as we got to experience the jerking of the chair and the spraying of water and mist throughout the movie. Through the movie, we learnt more about the history of this Confucius temple and also the six arts of confucianism. I thought that it watching the 4D movie was a good idea to let us learn more about Confucius. However due to time constraint, we were unable to see the Confucius statue before we leave. To say I was only disappointed is the understatement of the century! 

The second place we went to was the gold museum. At the gold museum, we learnt about the history of Jin Gua Shi. Jin Gua Shi was once a prosperous place with many gold mining activities. However when all the gold were mined out, the place became dead. *insert pic of quotes* The place became a little more lively after the gold museum and the resorts were built as tourists would visit the place more.

The last place we visited was Jiufen Old Street which was near Jin Gua Shi. Jiufen was quite crowded and was bustling with activities as compared to Jin Gua Shi. There were many shops that sell street snacks and also souvenir shop. I managed to spend all my money that was left over there. Some of my classmates even bought prank toys from a shop and tried pranking each other! 

OELP Day 5 reflection- Lim Yan Tong

So I woke up this morning and I felt a burning sensation in my throat. TO MY HORROR I HAVE LOST MY VOICE COMPLETELY and I could not even hum a tune yay this is wonderful *note the sarcasm* this is the moment when I am so glad for the invention of mobile phone! Its the only way for me to communicate :'(

Anyway, the first stop for today is at Wulai Aboriginal Elementary School. When we got there the students performed their ethnic drums to us. Then we were taught some simple Atayal phrases. The teachers there were really welcoming to us and even cracked some jokes to lighten up our serious atmosphere. Most of us opened up to them quickly and participated actively in the activity. We had fun in the art lesson where we could draw anything we wanted and let our creative juices flow. Then we had to weave some strings into the art piece. 

After lunch it was time for PE lesson. As I was still sick, I had to sit at the side and watch my classmates participate in the basketball competition between our class and the students in Wulai. I thought that my classmates would surely win because our competitors were children of age 9-15 and we were more than half a head taller taller and older than most of them. Much to my expectation, the children were able to shoot the basketball into the net accurately while some of my classmates could not even dribble a ball properly. Wow we should really not judge a book by its cover.  Also, halfway through the game, it started drizzling. The first instinct of my classmates and I were to run into a shelter to shield ourselves from the rain. However, the students in Wu Lai continued the game as if nothing had happened! I could see the sportsmanship in them which was to not give up. Perhaps, we Singaporeans are too pampered by our parents. We need to put ourselves through the mill to be stronger! Faster than I thought, it was time to leave already. We went to the nearby Wu Lai old street and visited a museum there which was similar to Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines.

The last stop was at Raohe night market where we were given our own time to walk around and have our dinner over there. I did not have much appetite as I was sick and there were alot of food that I was allowed to eat as they will worsen my condition. I noticed that the streets of Raohe night market were relatively clean although there wasnt any rubbish bin there. Puzzled to where I should dispose my rubbish, I hand my rubbish over to a stall owner and asked if I could throw my rubbish into their bins. Later on then I heard from our tour guide that we should hold on to our own rubbish and dispose them when we get home. The environmental policy is definitely a success in Taiwan! Singaporeans should learn from them as well.

All in all, I feel that it is not a good day today. I was unable to speak the whole day and had the experience of being mute. I guess today is the day that I have been the most quiet in my entire life. Unfortunately, I was also unable to interact with the Wu Lai students much today as I had no voice to speak. But at least I got to experience what the lesson of the aboriginal students. Although both Wu Lai and Jian Guo are schools of Taiwan, there is a significant difference between them. Singapore's educational system is much more similar to Wu Lai Elementary School. 

OELP Day 4 reflection- Lim Yan Tong

Alighting from the bus, we were led to the conference room by the teachers in Jian Guo High School. After which, we were broken up into groups and went to different classes. Then, buddies from different classes went into the conference room, each of them holding a card with our names. My buddy's name is Xie Sheng Rong.

The first lesson we had was Chinese lesson known as 国语 in Taiwan. I had a "cultural shock" at the start of the lesson. The teacher walked into the class and started his lesson immediately, without the students greeting him. On top of that, a students who was a few minutes late strolled into the class without acknowledging the teacher and was still playing with the basketball in his hands. The teacher did not reprimand the student and seemed nonchalant about it. During the Chinese lesson, I was quite lost and my buddy managed to explain it to me patiently. I realized that the Chinese they learn in Taiwan is the 文史 we learn in Singapore which is about 中国上下五千年, with characters like 鲁迅. Halfway through the lesson, I saw a student sleeping soundly at the back of the class. However, the teacher continued his lesson nevertheless and did not wake the student up. Then, I thought of the 'freedom policy' that my buddy told me yesterday- Students are able to do anything they want as long as they get good grades. Having so much freedom seem to be too good to be true. However I think that too much freedom is not good for the student. I certainly do not want to be in an environment where students can sleep in class and arrive late for lesson. I find these actions distracting and will affect other students too as they will make the environment not a conducive place to study. On top of that, I did not like the teacher's nonchalance. I feel that the teachers should care more about the students and keep the discipline in class. Also, the way the teacher teach was to talk and talk without stopping to check the student's understanding. At that moment, I felt appreciative of the teachers in Singapore because they care for their students.

Afterwards, I had the chance to be in the English, a CCE-like and Japanese class too. I have learnt alot in these two days of immersion and get to have first-hand experience to what Taiwan educational system is like. 

After Jian Guo High School, we went to Martyr Shrine. When we reached there it was time for the change of guard and we got to watch it again (for the third time) To be honest, I was quite bored of it already. Due to the fact that we were late, we were unable to get into the shrine. I felt that we have wasted our time to travel there :( But at least we got to take some photos outside the shrine.

After dinner, we went to Eslite bookstore. I was excited to go there initially as I wanted to buy some books back to Singapore. As expected there was a wide genre of books ranging from Teenage fiction to TCM books to books about fortune telling. However much to my dismay, 95% of the books are in Chinese and I couldnt really find English books. Also, the Chinese books are in traditional Chinese and I couldnt read them very well. So I left the bookstore empty handed and feeling disappointed. 

BUT yay Kudos to me for not spending even a single cents today 👏 sigh about 2 more days to the end of this OELP trip *cries* Having quite a high fever today, so I Mrs Tan gave me the permission to skip reflection and rehearsals. Hope I would be better tmr!

OELP Day 3 reflection- Lim Yan Tong

This morning I woke up with a sight fever fever at 27.7 degree :(( sighpie I am the first one to be sick.  

It was truly a good learning experience for me at Jian Guo High School. Upon reaching Jian Guo High School, a group of students lined up infront of the school gate and waved to us enthusiastically. Despite their friendliness, I was feeling nervous too. We were then assigned a buddy and were brought to watch different performances such as band performance, beatboxing, juggling, magic etc. 

It was said that there are more than 80 different CCAs in Jian Guo High School and if none of the clubs and societies interests you, you can set up your own club. The school would then support and fund them. This is similar to the IDP in our school which our students could initiate our CCA. However, we have a tighter budget in River Valley High School so it is harder to set up our own CCA. The performance that left the deepest impression on me was the juggling put up by the "circus club". Although some of the jugglers did not manage to catch the ball they threw after a few tries, they did not give up and continued to pick the ball up and continue juggling until they were successful in doing so. The facilitators cheered and clapped for their schoolmates as a sign of support. This was a familiar sight that could be seen in our school too- We cheer to spur our friends up when they are not doing very well. It was the same kind of spirit that was shown in Jian Guo High School. I learnt from the students in Jian Guo High School not to give up even when we are faced with setbacks. Perseverance was exercised during the juggling performance and I could see that giving up was definitely not an option for them too. I learnt not to be afraid to make mistake and to stand up from when we fall FALL DOWN SEVEN TIMES STAND UP EIGHT!

After that, my buddy gave me a tour around the school. Their school was really big and there were many facilities too such as the swimming pool. I feel envious of what they have but *sigh* lets just be content with what we have in Singapore because there are limited land mass in Singapore. Last but not least, we were taught how to do some magic tricks by the magic club. The seniors taught us two magic tricks with the use of rubber bands. It was a little hard to understand but the seniors explained to us repeatedly with patience until we were able to do it. It was a whole lot of fun as the seniors showed us some others magic tricks! 

Before we left the school, the seniors offered to treat us their local "ice kachang" from a shop beside their school. As Jian Guo High School focuses on freedom, they were allowed to go outside their school to buy food during their break time. The "ice kachang" tastes different from the one in Singapore, with alot more ingredients. It definitely helped to quench our thirst in this humid weather. BAGUS! :D Thank you Jian Guo High School for the treat! 

Afterwards, we went to Chiang Kai Shek and Dr Sun Yat Sen's memorial hall. In both Chiang Kai Shek and Sun Yat Sen memorial hall, there is a changing of guard every hour. The change of guard is quite interesting but there was too many people so we had to peep through heads. I felt so impressed of the guards because they had to stand upright for an hour without moving. (I cant even sit still for 10min!) They must have trained hard to be this discipline. Also, I realized that the commands spoke by the guards was in Chinese because their first language in Taiwan is Chinese while Singapore's commands are in Malay. I though it was pretty cool to hear military commands in Chinese although I couldnt really make out the words. Chiang Kai Shek and Sun Yat Sen are the leaders we learnt in history class. Being able to visit these memorial hall personally, allowed me to to understand more about  the history and the family background of Chiang Kai Shek and Sun Yat Sen by looking and thinking outside of textbook context.

Selfie with the guard @ Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

Changing of guard @ Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall

Lastly, we went to Xi Men Ding in the evening. There was not much to learn there and all we did was shopping, shopping and shopping! (HEHEHE) 

Overall, I feel that it is a fruitful day today and I really look forward to the second day of school immersion at Jian Guo High School :D

OELP Day 2 reflection- Lim Yan Tong

Its the second day of the OELP trip. Today, I woke up with a sore throat and a little bit of runny nose due to the lack of sleep (5 HOURS OF SLEEP ONLY! :( ) and also because I did not drink enough water on the first day.

After breakfast, we went straight to the National Palace Museum. Although we reached before the museum opened, there was already a long queue outside the museum and we had to wait again. We were not allowed to bring our bags in due to security problems so I only took my phone, iPad and wallet. Inside the museum, I saw one of the most popular pieces of jade carvings in the museum is the "Jadeite Cabbage". It's a piece of jadeite carved into the shape of a cabbage head, and with a large and a small grasshopper camouflaged in the leaves. Much to my dismay, the Cabbage jadeite was not as big I think it would be. It was smaller than my palm size. On top of that, the colour of the cabbage was quite disappointing. At one of the exhibition, my classmate thought that no one was looking went to take photo although it was prohibited. However, he was caught by the guard and was forced to delete the photo. I feel that he should have the integrity to the right thing even when no one is looking.

couple shirt yay -at national palace museum-

After which, we went to the Sung Ye museum of Formosan Aborigine by foot. Following that, we went to Shih Fen Old street. When we get there, it was raining quite heavily and the tour guide told us that this was called the 西北雨 in Taiwan. We were very disappointed because our main purpose of going there was to put sky lantern. We was unable to do so if the rain continues. Fortunately the rain stopped a few minutes later. I saw that some other tourists started letting off their sky lantern. It was an amazing sight to see the different coloured sky lanterns flying up into the sky. 

It was finally our turn to write our wishes on our sky lantern. We chose a sky lantern with a different colour in each side because we thought that it looks nicer- Blue, Pink, White, Red. They signifies 事业运，幸福快乐，前途光明 and 健康平安 respectively. We took turns to write down our wishes on the sky lantern with a brush and ink. We tried to write all our wishes down in Chinese but it did not turn out very successful so we mixed some English in and also wrote in Hangul too. (OOPS 😁). Lastly, we went to the railway track to let off our sky lantern. With a count of 123, we let our sky lantern off. I felt warm-hearted as I watch our sky lantern float off into the endless sky with our hopes and wishes. It was a definitely a fresh experience for me! 

oelp day 6 - Ruo Qing

it was day six, our second last day in Taipei ((technically it was the last day though)). it was really regretful that I was unable to visit two destinations on this day ((together with qianwei, daven, xinyi)), as we opted to stay on the bus/outside jinguashi so that our conditions do not get worse.

although I could have made it to visit jinguashi, but it was raining and so mrs tan advices me to stay under the shelter so that I could enjoy the next location, which was jiufen.

yay because I eventually managed to go to jiufen ((because the medicine managed to control my temperature)), where I walked around with my friends and we managed to buy some local products and souvenirs there, while enjoying a scenic view !!

well the guys actually went to a prank shop and bought prank toys, using them to scare/trick the others. obviously, we didn't actually fall for their tricks because it was weird that they are being nice by offering us potato chips. 😒

although i did not learn much from jiufen, and couldn't learn new things from the places I missed, I still enjoyed the day as we walked around jiufen, a really lively old street in Taipei. it was interesting to me how jiufen was so enriched with the Taiwanese culture, and the atmosphere there was bright, where everyone was going around with smiles in their faces. jiufen old street, as the name suggests, goes back a long way and it is amazing that it is preserved till today. to me, this shows the effort the Taiwanese put into preserving their unique culture and history. also, jiufen is now known as a must-visit location in Taipei, and this helps with Taiwan's economy. in Singapore, we do not have such old streets, we do not have places where it is so rich in the unique singapore culture. this isn't only due to the fact that Singapore is a younger nation compared to many others, but also because Singaporeans generally do not take that much interest in the history of the nation. although we learn social studies from primary school, my experience tells me that no one actually pays attention in class and the words of the teacher and/or from the textbook will be forgotten in the next instance. as i reflect back on how I took social studies as a 'slack' lesson which I never really bothered to study for ((the tests are open book anyway)), I feel ashamed. sure 'i was young at that time' could be a reasonable excuse, but it isn't a valid reason. I feel that we should care more about history and culture of our nation, because eventually without the past, Singapore wouldn't be who she is today. and in order to not repeat our mistakes, we have to learn from the past and make improvements. these improvements can come in the form of making better decisions, establishing better policies to deal with problems, etc. that said, some schools nowadays do make the effort to focus on the history of the nation by making social studies an interesting topic - where students can be reporters and ask their elders for their account of what happened during the ww2. and i think that more schools should do this, although students wouldn't appreciate it then, but they surely will in the future, and this would definitely help in improving the Singapore education system - by producing elites equipped with the knowledge, and are able to think out of their comfort zone ((rather than just stick to textbook knowledge and memorised formulas)) who will hopefully make the 'right decisions' for the better of mankind.

on a totally different note, the trip is coming to an end soon, and I am really regretful that I feel sick, but I still enjoyed this trip a lot, as I managed to learn many things and make new friends. also, it was a great opportunity to bond with the class. 

((reusing photo from day 2 because this is my favourite class photo and the most glam one top hahaha))

this trip was a meaningful one, and I am sure that I will miss it a lot. from this trip, I am not only bringing away knowledge of Taipei, but also the precious memories created in these 7 days - how we stayed up late each night to rehearse, how we looked after the people who were sick, and how we sat through lessons in jianguo and wulai. these memories will all be etched in my heart and I will treasure all of these, forever.

live goes on, and we can't do anything else but enjoy this current moment

oelp day 5 - Ruo Qing

we headed off to wulai elementary and junior high school right after breakfast, as we had to travel quite a distance since the school was up in the hills.

I was still sick *cries* and thus couldn't take any pictures so pardon my pictures from google images hehe. but I felt well enough to join the class in lessons. as we reached the entrance of the school, we were welcomed by a group of primary 9 ((who were a year older than us)) girls and a few boys.

what left me a deep impression in wulai wasn't the students, but the teachers. from the very moment we stepped into their hall, a teacher was welcoming us warmly. as he introduced the school and teachers present, he cracked lame jokes to make us feel comfortable. the teacher there, to me, they were out of the ordinary. I have never felt so comfortable around strangers ((especially adults)) whom I've just met on the day itself, but wulai's teachers didn't fail to make me feel at home. they cracked jokes to help us adjust, they called upon us to answer questions so that we would not feel left out, they made sure we understood the lessons. what i liked the most about them was how they were all so different - being from different tribes, and yet so similar - there they were, all communicating in the same language and trying to teach us.

Their lessons were also an experience I can't forget. The teacher still managed to have all our attention on her, which is probably not an easy thing because this class was about two times of a normal class there. Their lessons were hands-on, practical, not just pen and paper and powerpoint-slides. The students there learn from what they see, what they hear, and what they experience. They are left alone to experience using their senses because the teachers trust that they can learn with minimal guidance.

An example is during the Art lesson, we were supposed to weave a “diamond” on the paper using strings. The teachers didn't teach us how to do it and we were told to do it on our own, but they also instructed our buddies to help us. The students, as well as us, were left to try it out on our own, all of us doing it our own way. We might have failed a few times before we finally managed to find our own way of completing the assigned task, but this way of learning allows us to learn from our own mistakes, without anyone being there to guide us back onto the right route - when we fall, we stand up on our own. This method of teaching makes us rack our own brains to think, of a solution, instead of the usual routine of just following instructions of the teacher. Learning by thinking can help us learn more, especially with the chance to explore, thus the information and knowledge will really stay. The teachers provide the students a chance to be able to challenge themselves with higher level thinking, although being present to eventually guide us all – they showed us how to weave the ‘diamond’ after some time.

this was the artwork by my buddy which she gave to me as we exchanged our artwork as presents.

I like the way students are taught there. Rather than limiting us from learning by exploring on our own, just to ensure that our academic results will be good, why not try it in a different way ? Granting us some freedom - by allowing us to learn not only off the textbook but in our own individually preferred way, by letting us make mistakes and learn from our own failures, by giving us the chance to explore more and dig deeper, will help improve Singapore's academics: because with less, or no, limitations, we can go so much further and do so much more - our creativity doesn't get ‘buried deep’ without being put to use, our ability doesn't get overlooked, our brains are put to good use without getting ‘rusty’ eventually, and the knowledge and information we learn actually stays with us forever.

It was quite regretful that I couldn't join the pe lesson because I was sick, but I realised how well the students were in basketball and the fact that they just continued playing despite the sudden rain while we were just waiting for the teacher to stop the game showed me how we are pretty pampered after all. while the students there thought nothing of the rain and continued like it was an everyday thing to be playing under the rain, we had the stereotype that since it is raining, we have to take shelter. we might not know it before, but even our mind sets are already set to thinking in a rigid way, where we follow rules and what we think is right is only because it is what we always do. through this experience, I saw how we were pampered as we always have an umbrella over us when it rains, and we always have a roof over our heads - which we are already accustomed to and have been taking for granted for these past years.

after bidding goodbyes to the wulai students, we headed to the atayal museum where we had a guided tour through the three story high building. we learnt about the way of life of the atayals (泰雅族)  - their clothes, their way of communicating, how the guys had to hunt from a young age, etc.

from there, we also learnt that there are now 16 tribal groups in Taiwan. These people live in houses made of wood or bamboo. the guys there has to know how to hunt, set up traps while the women has to know how to sew, etc. this made me thankful and appreciative of my life in Singapore, once again. in Singapore, we have everything we need and our lifestyles are more modernised than theirs. though we do have more stress than them, but I will still choose to have stress over needing to live in the forest. because in the forest, we might just die from hunger if we do not successfully hint for preys, while when it comes to coping with stress, we only have to know how to deal with it and live with it. we have an abundance of delicious food and pretty clothing for us in Singapore, which I have learnt to not take for granted anymore. so let's not complain about the stress we need to deal with daily - because eventually stress doesn't kill us, but it makes us stronger.

as we were all pretty tired from the lessons in wulai, the guide was really thoughtful as to let us have a small break here and there, allowing us to sit down and listen to her.

after the museum, we went to shop at the aboriginal street where some of us bought really cheap local food, which was tasty. because my friends and I were tired and sick, we went back to the museum and sat down while waiting for everyone to gather.

then we had dinner at Raohe street night market !! 😊

we were split into groups and explored the night market on our own. as I was sick, it was really regretful that I couldn't get to eat some delicacies which I really wanted to try !! :( however, the trip to the night market was still amazing, as the lively atmosphere and bright smiles on people's faces definitely brightened up my day ((maybe night)) ! the delicious food definitely made my mood way better too, as I temporarily cast away the day's fatigue to enjoy the moments in raohe.

this visit though, it remained me of pasar malams in Singapore. how the night markets in Taipei are prospering yet Singapore's pasar malam are not as lively, not as crowded, not even half as prosperous. I realised it was probably because of the variety of food found in night markets, which has food suitable for everyone. by everyone, I do mean everyone. the variety of food is so huge that even while I was sick, I was able to find food which I could eat and was able to make me feel full. whereas in Singapore's pasar malams, the food choice there is much more limited, and mostly fried food are sold, thus there are people who will avoid going to pasar malams. Also, the food is cheap there, and served very quickly,just like fast food. thus, people is Taipei would prefer night market delicacies to fast food while in Singapore, the food is not really cheap although it is affordable, thus people would prefer to just eat fast food, especially since fast food restaurants can be found all over the island easily.

all in all, I really enjoyed this day although I had to go to the doctors because my temperature reached 39 degrees celcius at night. it was a fun-filled day, where I met new friends, learnt many new things, and tried new food.

oelp day 4 - Ruo Qing

it was the fourth day in Taipei and we went to jianguo early in the morning !! hehe we were brought to the conference room first, where we waited for our buddies of the day. we were assigned to three classes in groups of nines and a teacher followed each class. soon, we met up with our buddies before heading to the class in pairs. my buddy introduced himself and we proceeded to his class, which was class 127.

this first class we had was chinese, which is really different from our chinese lessons in Singapore. they studied a literature text and I was really lucky that as soon as my buddy knew I couldn't understand the lesson and traditional chinese well, he went through everything on the textbook with me at a slower pace. because of this, he couldn't listen to the teacher but what amazed me was that he still knew where to make notes and what the teacher was talking about. I was really surprised at his friendliness and was really glad that he was welcoming as his friendliness helped me step out of my comfort zone really quickly. from him, I learnt to be kind to others because when we are kind to others, they will appreciate it and also be nice to us.

'treat others the way you want to be treated'

also, as I noticed students not paying attention in class, I asked my buddy about it and he told me that the school gave the students a lot of freedom, whereby strict rules and punishments were not imposed on them - students could come to school with just either the school top or bottoms on, students could sleep in class or come late to class without getting scolded. I actually doubted if the students will still have top results if they do not listen in class, however my buddy said that the guy who used his laptop in class daily is actually the top in his class, and the fourth in the nation during the nationwide exam. I was surprised at this, however I realised that this freedom given was not exactly a bad thing. This would make the students more comfortable in school, because they have that bit of freedom that will actually make them feel at home. And having to spend also of the whole day (just apart from their sleeping time) in school, this would play a big role in making Jianguo the students’ second home. According to my buddy, this actually makes students enjoy going to school more, because they do not have strict rules that restrict them - possibly from being themselves.  in singapore, we are always used to being bounded by strict rules, however not being bounded by limit might actually bring us even further.i think Singapore's education system produces elites who gives model answers because since young, we have been educated solely through textbook knowledge. the school's decisions of giving the students freedom actually teaches the students how to be responsible and manage their time properly. being responsible is a life skill, and it is one which all of us will need to survive in this society. from this freedom granted to them, students will learn to manage themselves better and make the right decisions for themselves. judging from the title of the 'top high school for guys in Taipei' which jianguo still holds, this plan worked well for them. However not all schools can afford to be 'less strict', because Jianguo students, being top 1% of their cohort, gives the school the "assurance” that they are able to excel both academically and aesthetically, thus explaining the 'slacker' rules. Jianguo students do not take things for granted, because it was hard for them to get into this top school in the first place, thus they are able have the self discipline which is needed in order for them to strive for excellence despite the freedom the school grants them. i think, it probably won't work in rvhs too.

as I bid farewell to my buddy, I was really happy I made a new friend and promised to keep in touch with him ((but no I actually didn't😅)) !! 

after that, we went to martyrs shrine where we ((once again)) witnessed the change of guards, which I was already bored of. we didn't get the chance to learn something new but it was pretty cool to be able to see the soldiers close up this time.

we also had a good rest there, as we already missed the opening hours thus were unable to visit the inside of the shrine.

we then had dinner which was the typical dinner we have had for the past few days in Taipei.

after dinner, we went to eslite bookstore.

I was really excited at first as I really love chinese books !! but I ended up being quite disappointed with eslite. although it was a really big bookstore and there were books of different languages and different genres, but I couldn't find a book I was interested in. however, I really enjoyed myself at the music section - listening to music while waiting for time to pass as there was nothing else to do.

side note: I actually went to eslite when I was really really young and my mum said that I listened to music the whole time there too !! I didn't exactly change afterall hehehe 🙆

I fell sick that day and didn't have to go for night reflection and rehearsals, but I was still excited to be visiting wulai elementary and junior school the next day :D

OELP day 7 — Qian Wei

We woke up at 4.30am today. I felt a wave of sadness wash over me as i realised we would be leaving Taipei soon, and our OELP trip would be ending. 

I really have benefitted from this trip. Not only have i learnt about the Taiwanese culture, i have learnt to step out of my comfort zone, learnt to be independent and many other things. However, to me, the best part of the trip was the bonding between our class. 

Our class was not exactly what someone would call bonded before the trip, but we faced so many things together during the trip. When we needed help at night, we could just call friends from nearby hotel rooms over. Just like when i was feeling afraid of being alone when Ruo Qing went to the doctor, Laetitia and Tegan just accompanied me in my room. During mealtimes, we would also help each other finish up food, and make each other laugh in between mouthfuls of food. Seven people were sick during the trip, and i was one of the seven. I was touched as many of my classmates took care of me, and cheered me up when i wasn't feeling well. I was constantly reminded to drink more water and to check my temperature by my friends. Once, Ming Han and Ruo Qing even helped me to sponge my forehead as i was having a fever. My friends constantly had to run to the 7-11 near our hotel after a long day spent outdoors to purchase boxes of Kool Fever. Eating cup noodles at night and chionging our reflections until around 2am is also a fond memory. Besides, the nights spent practising for our performances would never be forgotten. The area where we practised was at times way too cold or way too hot as the aircon was not working. We might've all been tired, but we stood by each other and supported each other through the nights. The hotel room doorbell always frightened us, as it was the sound of birds chirping, and we would constantly scare each other by pressing on others' doorbells haha. There were also hotel telephone prank calls that we exchanged, and laughter that we shared.

I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to go on this trip, as it made me see my classmates' true nice personalities (haha this is mushy but yeah). :') besides, it was nice making new friends from a different place on the map,  trying out food from another country and learning about another country's culture. OELP would always be a memory engraved in my heart, which i will never forget. 

OELP day 6— Qian Wei

Today is our sixth (well you could consider it as the last) day in Taiwan. I had not recovered, and was unable to visit the Confucius Temple and Jinguashi. However, i took some photos of the view from Jinguashi, and here's one of them. 

It was really nice, being so high up and near to the clouds :) and yes the sky was so clear and white!!

As i did not go into the above-mentioned two places, the highlight of my day was visiting Jiufen. The street wasn't very long, and in the end many of us just hung out at the 7-11 near the street LOLOL. Many of the shopowners asked us if we were going on a graduation trip, and we always laughed and said no. Probably they have a tradition to go overseas as a class together in Taiwan? Hehe. Snacks like mochi, pudding, pineapple tarts and others were sold there, and i bought some. ^_^ some of the boys bought prank toys and tried to trick us, but luckily we did not fall for their tricks hehehe. It was nice walking around in Jiufen, as there are few (almost none) old streets in Singapore. This could be due to our limited land area, as most of our land is occupied by tall and modern buildings, and besides, we also have to catch up with the world's fast pace. Maybe if we used some land to preserve history, our country would be viewed as a more interesting place to visit, and not a 100% city. Besides, i believe preserving history could lead to economic growth as tourists would visit Singapore to learn about our culture and history! It would be interesting for us Singapore students to learn more about our own nation as well~

THE UTANS GO TO JIUFENNNNN!! :D

Earlier in the day, we went to ChiaTe pastry shop, and many of us bought a lot of baked goods from there! The shop was crowded and business was good :) there are few pastry shops in Singapore, but no lack of them in Taiwan. It is probably because Singapore is so fast-developing that we have left our traditions behind, and moved on to new ways of life. In my opinion, we should try more to promote old traditions in Singapore, and preserve some history. Afterall, what would a nation be without history? One should not forget their roots. 

Although i didn't manage to go to many places today, i tried to make the best out of our last full day in Taipei!

OELP day 5 — Qian Wei

It's our fifth day in Taipei today, and the highlight of my day was visiting Wulai Aboriginal School and at the school, we interacted with a group of students, all whom were very friendly and nice. Their school was built along a hill, and i felt uncomfortable and dizzy during the bus journey as i was ill that day. However, seeing the students' happy faces with bright smiles, i cheered up, as i had a feeling that i would have fun at the school :) the students were all in matching yellow shirts and long pants, while we were clad in our half-uniform. We were first given a brief introduction on their school, and then we proceeded to interact with our buddies. Jin Hui and Yan Tong were at the same table as me, and i sat opposite of my buddy while they sat next to their buddies. 

At first, it was quite awkward, but then we started talking more, as i was curious about their culture and asked her about it. Afterwards, we were presented with a drum performance by some of the Wulai students, and in return, we did our dance and skit performance, which we had spent many previous nights during the trip rehearsing. 

Then, we went back to our seats and awhile later, we attended a lesson and learnt some of their tribal language. It was extremely interesting!! :D we were also given a task to find cards of animals that the tribes in Taiwan usually hunt. The cards were hidden around the school compound. We were able to bond with our buddies better through that activity, as it required teamwork. Halfway through that lesson, Jin Hui and i saw a huge bug flying around us, and we were very afraid. Our buddies saw the bug, and they simply just waved it away without a bit of fear. I guess we're too pampered? Probably we should be more exposed to the nature more haha. 

We were treated to beef noodles on that day, and it was really very delicious! We had to wash our utensils today at a common area, where we saw little kids about 5 years old doing the same. In Singapore, i doubt children so young would wash the dishes after they finish themselves. Compared to the people there, we have much easier lives as parents might hire domestic helpers to take care of us, and we would not have to do much work on our own. During lunchtime, i let my buddy play games on my iPad and Besides, we also made cards with paper, strings and coloured markers for our buddies! It was a really interesting project to work on :)

Lastly, we took part in a PE lesson (ok i didn't take part because i was sick LOL). 

Then, we said our goodbyes and i gave my buddy the souvenir that i prepared! 

We visitied the Atayal Museum afterwards, and learnt more about the Atayal tribe and their culture. We got to see miniature versions of houses that they lived in and also their traditional costumes, headwear and many more. That time, all of us were really tired because of lack of sufficient sleep for quite long, and we seemed restless. I felt bad for the museum guide, as she tried to speed up with her introductions and elaborations on exhibitions in the museum. :(

Afterwards, we went to Raohe Night Market. 

To be honest, it was quite a disppointment to me, as i expected a larger variety of food and souvenirs to be sold there. We had dinner there, but i didn't really eat much. The waffles and pancakes were really good though! n_n 

The night market was crowded, and business was good! However, fewer people are visiting pasar malams in Singapore these days. Also, after finishing my food, i did not know where to throw the bags/wrappers away as there were totally NO RUBBISH BINS!! It turns out that the Taiwanese actually keep their rubbish in their bags until they find a bin, and hence the area is so clean despite the lack of rubbish bins. 

At night, Ruo Qing was brought to a doctor and i was alone in the hotel room haha because she was my roommate! I got a little lonely and afraid but thank goodness Laetitia and Tegan from the room opposite ours kept me company!! (Thankyou~) luckily, Ruo Qing came back quite quickly with medicine :) i hope that all our classmates who're ill would get well soon as i had a fever earlier as well >< hopefully tomorrow would be a better day where we could have more fun today, as a class, as 2H ☻♡

OELP day 4 — Qian Wei

Today is our fourth day in Taipei and our second and last day at Jianguo High School! We had a different assigned buddy today and our class was split up, such that we were put in three different classes. My buddy and i were pretty awkward and we didn't talk much, and often we struck up a conversation which died down quickly... His name is Yih Jie. :) we attended two hours of mathematics lessons *cries* with a ten minute break in between. Yih Jie asked me if we'd learnt about cosine, sine and tangent in our Mathematics lessons and i told him we did, and he said that they would only learn it next year, and while we're 14, they're 16 or 17. This shows the difference in our education system!! 

After the math lesson, we had lunch. The lunch was really yummy omg it was a lunchbox with a large cup of milk tea with pearls for each person :D while we ate, some of the students played around with a laptop in class, while the rest went to eat or just did nothing LOL. The students were very nice, and they cleared their tables so that we (2H people) can eat together hehe :D they helped to push the tables together so that we could have a "long dining table" for us to gather around a table together~ We all struggled with eating the huge chicken drumstick as we wanted to seem polite in front of the Jianguo students LOL.

Afterwards, we were split up into classes to learn different languages. Yih Jie was in the German class, so i tagged along with him. I've never learnt German before, so it was an enriching experience! Like Singapore, Taiwan offers third-language classes as well.

Then, we attended a music lesson in the school's music room. We were taught a Japanese song and to my surprise, the Jianguo students participated actively in the lesson and sang loudly when asked to sing together, unlike us, who just mouthed along the words.

However, i noticed something different between our school (and probably every school in SG) and Jianguo High School. I saw what the student ambassador meant by "freedom" when he inteoduced the school to us yesterday. Students slept in class, ate in class, and could walk in and out of class whenever they want to. They could be late and no one would care, and doing all these seemed normal to the students there. But when we saw them carrying out those actions, we were surprised and wondered how come the teachers didn't take action to reprimand them like we would have been if we did that in Singapore. Sometimes i wish that Singapore students would have more freedom, as we're usually almost always spending our time on schoolwork and studying, that we rarely have time to ourselves or to spend with family and friends. :(

After the music lesson, we said goodbye and exchanged souvenirs with our buddies!

Then, we headed back on the bus to Matyr's Shrine. We reached in time to catch another change of guards ceremony.

We went for dinner after that, and our last stop for the day was Eslite Bookstore. 

There was a huge range of books there, but most of them were in Chinese, and there wasn't a specific directory to tell us exactly what type of books could be found there, so it was hard to search for what we wanted. Everything that wasn't cheap, and in the end, i left the store with only two packets of strawberry marshmallows LOLOL. In my opinion, Popular in Singapore is more organised and although it might have a smaller variety of items available there, i feel it is better and nicer to walk in as it is smaller and would not give the feeling of an overwhelming large space which one could get lost in.

Overall, it was a frutiful day and i'm looking forward to going to Wulai Aboriginal School tomorrow as i feel that learning about tribes would be interesting and fun, as unlike us, they might not be so modernised and i would like to learn about their way of life. :)

OELP day 3 — Qian Wei

Today was the third day of our trip to Taiwan!! We visited Jianguo Municipal High School, and i was quite nervous before that as the students there were much older than us, and i was worried i would not be able to understand their lessons, which are mainly conducted in Mandarin. However, it turned out that there wasn't much to be worried about as the students there were very friendly and we did not attend classes today!

When our bus pulled into the gates of the school, we saw a huge group of students standing at the foyer and welcoming us. :D we were brought to a conference room after that, and students introduced their school to us. I remember something from their presentation really clearly, and that was the word "freedom". The word was flashed onto the screen, and the students told us that their school emphasized a lot on giving students freedom. At that point of time, i felt a little jealous. They could do anything they wanted to do in school, and are not restricted by many rules unlike in Singapore. Besides, Jianguo High is the top school in Taipei. How do students not pay as much attention in class yet still achieve good academic results? My guess is that they had good time management skills and probably studied to catch up on the lessons that they had not paid much attention to outside curriculum time~

We were given a tour around the school by our assigned buddies, and my buddy and i set off with Ruo Qing, Yu Qi, and their buddy.

Along the tour, we asked our buddies if there were fruit trees in their school (so we could complete our CID group mission LOL) but unfortunately they said there were none :( their school library was two storeys high, like RV's. 

We were also brought to view a perfomance by various instrumental sections of their school's band. We were also taught some simple magic tricks by a student, and it was pretty fun ^_^ 

In return, we did our dance perfomance for them. We prepared for the performance weeks before the trip, and often used our free time to practise. On the first and second night, we practised at the breakfast area in the hotel as well. Though we were all so tired, we still managed to complete a few run-throughs each night and from the rehearsals, i felt that our class bonded a lot :D 

Besides the perfomances, we were also treated to shaved ice, the Taiwanese version of ice kachang! We were each given a plastic bag with a huge chunk of shaved ice in it, as well as a bowl with the syrup and other toppings in it. We started by using our spoons to scrape off small blocks of shaved ice and putting it into the bowl, and then we ate the sweet shaved ice. It was pretty nice as i love cold desserts and besides, it was rather cooling as the weather at that time was quite warm. :) 

Afterwards, we went for lunch where we had dimsum!! The food was pretty good and we met a bunch of students from singapore there at the resturant haha! It was a good change from the usual rice we had. :)

Then, we headed to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. We made it just in time to watch the changing of guards ceremony! Afterwards, we went to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall and saw another changing of guards ceremony. We were told that the guards were there to protect the leaders from evil. The guard changing was really complicated, and the guards were not able to move for an hour before changing shifts. However, it wasn't really interesting as there was an information overload because we had to learn about both Chiang Kai-Shek and Sun Yat Sen in a day. It would've been better if we visited the memorial halls on two different days~

We then went for dinner, and Ximending at the end of the day. Ximending was a pretty good place to shop haha :D it is definitely one of the best places on our itinery! It was like Bugis Street in singapore, with stalls selling affordable clothes and accessories etc at affordable prices! Many teenagers patronised the stalls there. However, Ximending wasn't sheltered unless we walked along the corridors of shops, and parts of the shopping district are linked by roads, unlike singapore, which Bugis Street has mutiple storeys. This is probably because singapore has a smaller land area as compared to Taiwan, resulting in multi-storey buildings to save land for other developments such as housing estates.

Overall, today was a pretty good day (and we spent the night rehearsing for our dance and skit performance again haha). I feel that it's good to interlink our history lessons and CID together, and we learn about China's/Taiwan's history all in one go :) and today's trip to the memorial halls have definitely given me more exposure to China's/Taiwan's history, and we learnt more about Taiwan's education system from our immersion programme with Jianguo as well :D

OELP day 2 — Qian Wei

SECOND DAY!!!!! Today had been a veryveryvery tiring day for my classmates and i as most of us stayed up till midnight the previous night to finish our reflections hahah :b also, we had to walk a lot today. We went to two museums and Shifen. The first half of the day as especially tiring as we went to two museums in a row and also, we had to travel on foot from the first museum to the second. The entire class left our bags on bus and hence none of us had water for quite a while. We were really thirsty and exhausted hehehe.

The National Palace Museum was the first museum we went to, and it had many artifacts up on display, including famous carvings like the "Jadeite Cabbage" and "Meat-shaped Stone". To be honest, i expected those carvings to be bigger hehe. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photographs of those realistic carvings *sighs*. At the museum, we saw tons of carvings on different materials such as jade and ceramic. Also, we saw many Chinese calligraphy paintings. From this visit, i learnt that to make something perfect, you need to be patient. For example, we did calligraphy lessons in school during RV literature as well, but none of our paintings were as nice as those displayed in the museum. Honestly, i did not have much patience for painting well during those lessons. I believe if i had more patience, i would be able to produce better art hehe!! :)

Afterwards, we walked to the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines. This was when most of us started getting reallyyyyyyy tired and thirsty :/ we started complaining about how our legs ached, but however, when we stepped into the museum, most of us stopped complaining as there were places for us to sit and a souvenir shop to take our minds off our aching legs HEHEHEHE. I bought some keychains from there as they were really adorable :D and one was only for 50 Taiwan dollars hurhur ;) we waited for our museum guide for pretty long haha so we had quite a long time to shop :D to me, this museum was really interesting as i like to learn about other people's cultures!! However, i did not enjoy it much as i was TIRED and THIRSTY HAHAHA. We learnt about the different cultures of tribes in Taiwan, and we were able to see their costumes, headwear, weapons and many others. However, the part of the museum tour that left a greatest impression on me was the part where we were told about the tribal headwear. Many of the tribes include the tusks of wild boars and eagle feathers in both male and female headwear. This was to show their bravery, as it implies that they have the courage to kill animals that would attack humans, including wild boars and eagles. This left a deep impression on me as it shows that in tribes, a person would be judged according to his/her bravery. However, in our lives, people now judge each other based on each other's physical appearance. This reveals a difference in how the tribal people and modern people behave. 

Later, we went on for lunch and the food was pretty good! In my opinion it was much better than yesterday's dinner ^_^

Lastly, we moved on to Shifen, where we released sky lanterns and bought tons of items, including keychains and food :)

 i tried some of Taiwan's most famous food; sausages and milk tea hehe. 

 

However, the milk tea tasted a little sour haha and i couldn't finish it :/ while queuing for the sausage, i saw an adorableeeeee dog that belongs to the owner!!!!! Here's a picture of it ;D

In conclusion, i feel that today was a much better day than yesterday despite our tiredness!! Looking forward to tomorrow where we'll be going to Jianguo High School (for the very first time) :D and also Ximending ^_^ 

OELP day 1 — Qian Wei

Today is our first day in Taipei, Taiwan :D we had lots of fun today, and we went to Taipei 101. On the plane, i sat with my roommate, Ruo Qing!! We enjoyed ourselves on the flight.

After we arrived in Taipei, we headed straight for the Taipei 101. 

Upon reaching there, visitors were each given something like a phone, which would introduce us to different parts of the building simply by just clicking a number on the phone which represented the section where we are at. In my opinion, this initiative is quite a good one but however, i feel that it could be more interactive by having a bigger screen and showing more photographs of Taipei 101/Taipei rather than just staring at an unmoving image on a tiny screen and listening to facts.

Afterwards, we went for dinner. Tonight, my groupmates and i ate with the teachers who brought us here. Before we started eating, one of our teachers requested for an individual spoon for our bowls of soup. Thus, i decided to approach a waitress to get the spoons. Before i could say anything, the waitress smiled to me and asked, "请问我可以为你做什么吗?" ( "may i ask, what can i do for you?" ). I was taken aback as she was really friendly and nice, and when i told her i needed soup spoons she immediately took just enough for the people on the table for me. Also, when my friend from another table wanted to ask for more Chinese tea, she was unsure of how to as the staff of the restaurant were all huddled amongst three tables and eating dinner together. Upon seeing my friend's uncertain face, the same waitress approached my friend and asked her what it was that she needed, amd again, with a smile. Although she was halfway through her dinner, she volunteered to help my friend out. This waitress made me feel that people saying Taiwanese are very friendly and courteous is very true. The food was pretty good as well.

After dinner, our tour guide led us to a 7-11 store, where my classmates and i bought many tidbits and cup noodles! :) what i thought would cost around S$8 in Singapore only costed me around S$6 in Taiwan only :D i hope tomorrow would be more fun and i am especially looking forward to going to Shifen!!!!