CID DAILY REFLECTION
Day 1 - we gathered at the airport at 4.45 pm to take our flight to Kaohsiung, Taiwan. I was quite excited because I had already started chatting with my buddy from taiwan a week before the trip so I really wanted to know what it was like in taiwan. When we reached the airport, tired and longing to reach the hotel as soon as possible to rest, there were a lot of teachers from Sacred Hearts High School waiting for us at the airport to welcome. I really felt touched as even though it was near midnight, they were willing to sacrifice their sleep to welcome us warmly. They even gave us a bag of well known raisin bread to eat, though the bread was a bit too hard for my liking. After that, we reached our hotel - Ten Drums Village. I liked the room a lot as it was spacious and emitted a comforting vibe with the cozy bed and wooden furnishing.
Day 2 - firstly, we went to Meinong Hakka cultural museum. On the way there, I saw many plantations, which I do not really see in Singapore as in Singapore, what you mostly see are residential estates or skyscrapers. So throughout the bus ride we could get to admire the breathtaking scenery of nature. At the museum, I learnt the practices of the traditional Hakka people, such as the older generation giving sweets to the younger generation to encourage them to study hard, and them not burning paper or throwing paper away, keeping the paper in boxes instead. This highlighted how much the Hakkas respected words and felt education was important, hence we should treasure the fact that we have a good education now in Singapore.
After that we went to Meinong folk Village, where there was a huge variety of traditional Hakka items sold. It was an eye opener for me as I had never been to such places in Singapore before, neither were there any. We also had a traditional Hakka lunch there which was rather delicious and quite different from that of Singapore.
Next, we visited the Kaohsiung museum of history. At this museum, it displayed the tragic loss of lives during the massacre on 28 February by the Kuomintang. This trip to the museum made realise the fact that we should be grateful that none of such incidents happen in Singapore as not only are a lot of lives lost during massacre, the citizens are also effected emotionally.
We then visited the Kaohsiung Hakka cultural museum. I felt it was quite a good museum as not only were there the usual exhibits explaining about the culture and the people's practices, there were interactive stations that introduced more about Hakka Culture, for example, a cooking station where we learnt more about traditional Hakka dishes. Singapore should build more of these museums as the dialect culture in Singapore is dying out with the younger generations now interacting in English or chinese and no longer in dialects. With these museums built, the younger generation can learn more about the importance of dialect culture and treasure it more.
We also visited the Former British Consulate but I did not really enjoy it as it was very crowded and we only managed to tour a souvenir shop. Still, I enjoyed the sunset there which was very beautiful and breathtaking.
Lastly, we visited the long awaited Liuhe night market. It sold a wide variety of food items not seen in Singapore such as pig blood cake, but of course there was the usual bubble tea and more, hence I enjoyed the visit there a lot. However the traffic there was dangerous as vehicles could pass through the road anytime, resulting in accidents easily. Still, the visit was an eye opener and it was enjoyable.
Day 3 - after breakfast, we had a drum lesson in the Ten Drums Village. It was an eye opener to me as I had never beat a drum before. The teacher was very patient and explained to us the way we were supposed to beat the drum such that we could understand it easily. Hence I enjoyed this drum lesson quite a lot as I had never experienced it before.
After that, we watched a drum performance by the professional drummers in the village. It was engaging and a mix of martial arts and drumming, and I had also never watched this kind of performances before. There were even visual effects on the stage such as an adjustable platform and when the platform went down, water came out and the drummers executed their moves on water. I felt it required a lot of effort to learn the skill of drumming properly and even execute martial arts moves at the same time, so the effort put in by the performers was worth applauding.
After the performance, we left the hotel and proceeded to the Anping Fort and Old Street. The Old Street was not as big as I had expected but I still enjoyed it as it sold many different items. We also had oyster omelette and the famous coffin toast there. We also visited the Eternal Golden Castle, the Tainan Confucius temple and the Chihkan tower. Even though the weather was very warm, I enjoyed the visit there as there are few of such monuments in Singapore displaying the history of the country and I learnt the history of the monuments. The design of the monuments was also very medieval and had an old fashioned vibe which I feel the younger generation should appreciate.
Day 4: after 2 days of visiting museums, we finally went to Sacred Hearts High school, where I finally met my buddy. After a conversation with her, I found out that the education system there is less stressful than that in singapore for there is no homework given everyday and there is only one test per term. Also, when I attended the Japanese lesson, the teacher was very patient and extremely friendly to the students such that they could even joke around with her without getting scolded. In our school, there are no Japanese lessons and the atmosphere is much more stressful as teachers constantly give out worksheets and ask us to attempt them after explaining, but during the Japanese lesson, we were given notes and towards the end, students were allowed to teach the class a topic they were assigned on previously.
After an enjoyable time at the school, we went to a pineapple plantation where we not only got to see the vast pineapple plantation but also got to make 凤梨酥, a flaky pineapple pastry. This was an eye opener as I had never seen these kind of places in Singapore before hence it was rather unique.
We also went to 华山国小 and when we reached, we were greeted by many young children playing the violin. I was rather touched by their efforts for they had learnt how to play the violin only to welcome us to their school and they had no earlier musical background, hence it would be very hard to be able to play the violin within such a short period of time. Then, they had an art gallery where by the young children introduced to us the different paintings by different famous artists.
Day 5 - firstly, we went to a towel factory where we had a DIY towel sculpting session. This was also very unique as there are no towel factories in Singapore. There, the workers crafted the towel into cute shapes like cakes, flowers and more. The place was also adorned in towels of different colours, giving it a very cute atmosphere.
Next, we visited the 高雄布袋戏院. I felt that we should preserve the puppet culture more as now people are going to cinemas to watch movies instead of going to the traditional puppet cinema centre. At first I thought that the show would be boring but it was just as interesting as those in modern cinemas. And it had even more sincerity inside since there was a person controlling the puppet, showing the hard work put in by the puppeteer.
After that we went back to Sacred Hearts High School to attend lessons. But this time they were not academic lessons but a magic trick and balloon sculpting lesson. This made me realise how the school places the students' interests as the priority instead of academics.
Lastly, to end off this wonderful day, we watched a brilliant musical performance put up by the school. It was similar to the arts fest put up by our school and for me, this was my first time at a concert, which was a rather unique experience.
Day 6 - this was the last day I was going to interact with my buddy so I was rather sad. But when we reached Sacred Hearts High School, the sadness was taken away by the fun chemistry practical lesson and the home econs lesson. The chemistry lesson was fun but not very unique as we had already done it in our school before. But I really liked the home econs lesson as we could get to make a lot of pastries and snacks, for example windmill pastry. During this lesson, we could also get to interact and bond more with the taiwanese students who were extremely friendly and hospitable.
After that came the highlight of my trip - a trip out with our buddy. I went with my buddy and a few of my classmates and their buddies and their mothers. Firstly, we went to a chicken farm nearby. In Singapore, I had never been to a farm before so this was a new experience for me. The owner said there were around 24000 chickens there and he even used a metal rod to attach to the neck of one chicken and took it out for us to touch. I was scared it would peck me so I didn't touch it but my animal loving buddy stroked it.
After that, we went to a fruit farm which I had also not visited before in Singapore. It was smaller than I had thought it would be but I still had a wonderful time there looking at the different kinds of fruits. Lastly, we went to a shopping centre as the buddies' mothers had to purchase some groceries. Their shopping centre was extremely spacious and empty, probably because it was a weekday. But the supermarket was much bigger than that of Singapore's and there was a huge variety of items sold there.
A good day always has to come to an end. We ended off the day by taking a lot of pictures in front of the school statue with our buddies and I handed them a souvenir to thank them for their hard work put in to bring us around. This made me realise how precious friendship is and we should treasure those around us more.
Day 7 - At last, it was the last day of our trip and I was not looking forward to the trip coming to an end. After an extremely long bus ride to the 921 Earthquake Educational Park, we finally reached and there, we learnt more about earthquakes and how much damage it can cause and we also watched a 3D video on the earthquake and what consequences it could cause. I felt that we should cherish the fact that there are no natural disasters in Singapore as they can cause many lives to be lost and leave an indelible emotional scar on the hearts of the victim's family members.
After lunch, we reached the airport, not really ready to fly back to Singapore. But the fun memories made in taiwan would always remain etched in our minds.
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