Interesting Taiwan

Today's post will be very different. I will showcase some of the very unique and interesting things frequently encountered in Taiwan...



7-11 outlets are found almost everywhere in Taiwan.. Some as close as within 100M from each other.. And there are also convenience stores from other companies everywhere.. The convenience stores here are like mini supermarkets, with some even featuring ATM Machines.

There is always a huge variety of drinks available!!!



I love the take-away ready to eat meals... Very convenient and cheap too.

A very popular biscuit amongst the Taiwanese people..

This is what they call 铁蛋, which translates to "Iron Egg" in English.

In the centre of the picture is stinky tofu,臭豆腐. While the smell is quite strong, it actually tastes quite good! But not everyone likes it.......

Most of the drinks and snacks here are packaged in a very cute way.

Recycling is practised everywhere in Taiwan, this is quite surprising indeed!

Look at the different colours and designs of helmets. There are even pink helmets with "Hello Kitty" stickers!!! In Singapore, the motorcycle helmets are not as colourful and interesting...

One thing you will notice about Taiwan is the huge number of motorcycles and scooters on the roads... However, they also cause most of the noise pollution and traffic congestion..

A motorbike parking area, frequently seen in Taiwan. They have more bikes than cars here.

The keyboards here are different!! Look at the individual keys.. Designed to type both traditional chinese words and English words easily.. But it looks so complicated...

The handphone keypads are also different from ours in Singapore..

This is my favourite toy in Taiwan!!! A rechargeable electric fly swatter that electrocutes mosquitoes and flies that you hit. Very satisfying and fun to use.!

The 区间火车 (local regional trains) are slow and have very long waiting times... The distance between station stops are also very far apart.. Also, the train stations for these are very noisy! I dont like taking these trains...

But it is a different story for the Taipei Metro, 台北捷运. Fast and efficient, I like to ride in these trains. They feel alot like Singapore's MRT network. :)

Going somewhere? Learn traditional chinese as alot of the train stations have no proper maps and not everything is translated to English.. Also, dont forget to bring extra coins to pay for buses that do not accept the cash card for payment. Not every public bus is equipped to use the "Easy Card".

学习篇

学习是永无止境
在霞云国小的小朋友们都有机会尝试与学习新的东西
从音乐到体育
舞蹈到手工
这也体现出这里所给予学生的教育不但只是专著在课业上
重要的是在毕业过后能学到一技之长
能往自己的兴趣发展

说不定还能栽培出精英

代表学校参加比赛

学习过程虽然辛苦

但能看得出学生们的用心与努力

Hsia yun offers a holistic education for the students.

Apart from the usual academic education that a typical school will receive, the school spent time in focusing on the non-academic aspects of the education.Ranging from music to sports, dance to arts,this provides a good platform for learning and development of a new skill.

This is a good opportunity to groom future talents in all aspects and they might be representing the schools for future competition. The learning process may be tiring , but I can see the effort that the kids have put in.

Learning the Tambourine

Drum session 1,2,3

working your fingers on the piano

Arts masterpiece!

break dance - break it down

playing with the clay

a game of chess

painting

eyeing the table tennis ball

baking class

finding the right rythem

a game of baseball

focusing,studying,reading

playing the french horn

aiming the hoop

martial arts kids

连我都在学习新的东西

学习的过程往往都会感到精疲力尽

休息一下吧！

（他或许是在打瞌睡。。。哈哈）

期待篇

Today（今天） Hongyuan and I are going to do a country presentation on Singapore (新加坡) to the grade 3, 5 and 6 students (学生）. This presentation will come in useful so as to allow the students to know （了解） more about Singapore and correct any misconceptions they might have about our country. The preparation （准备） we have done is sufficient and it's all up to what we have to say in front of them. Afterall, back in Singapore, our main language （语言）mode for presentation is English （英语） and we are not comfortable presenting in Chinese. Still, it is something we will have to learn （学习）along the way and hope that the students can understand （明白）.

加油谢老师!
加油黄老师!

风景篇

来到霞云村已有一段时间。
这里的原驻民生活过得很简单。
没有城市里的喧哗
也没有城市里人山人海，车水马龙的情景

大家居住的周围都是高山与溪水
一天过一天
一日复一日
生活无拘无束
只求三餐温饱，孩子有求学的机会，就已足够。

生活在城市里的我来到这里的确是另一种体验
刚开始会有一点不习惯 但是日子久了，这里的收获和所见所闻还真的不少。
单单是周围风景就足以让我叹为观止。
新加坡常用的sua-gu （指什么都没见过的人）
来到这里
这句话用在我的身上简直是适合不过。
这些美丽的风景在城市里，的确少见。

It has been a while since I have come to Hsia Yun Village. Over here, the main cluster of people are the 泰雅族( Tai-ya-zu), one of the aborigine tribes in Taiwan. Their forefathers started rooted in the country, unlike the taiwanese living in the city whom their early generations actually come down from china and started their families in Taiwan.

The surroundings differ greatly from the city and people live with simple expectations. Personally, life over here is a different kind of experience for me. Initially , it might get a bit difficult to adapt to the new living environment and culture. As the days go by, living here presents another side of the picture, that I hardly see in the city

A different environment...

Balanced Education is the way to go in Hsiayun
Elementary. In this photo, the kids learn to play baseball. (Which we never ever learnt in primary
school in Singapore!).

霞雲國小在課程上非常均衡地發展。照片中的學生，正在玩棒球(這是我們在新加坡念小學時從不曾學過的!)

Lessons also include baking cookies for incoming
visitors! Here, 陳老師 leads students in a baking class.

課程還包括親手製作餅乾歡迎訪客。照片中，陳老師正帶領學生在上烹飪課。






The entire exterior of the school building is covered with beautiful bamboo slats.

整座校舍外觀幾乎都以竹片作為裝飾。

In the picture here, you can see one of the noticeboards decorated beautifully with paint and bamboo. (Done by teachers and students).

這張照片中漂亮的佈告欄，是用竹片和油漆做的。

The bamboo is obtained locally from the surrounding bamboo forests.

這些竹子都是由當地竹林所取得。

(thinking back, we never ever did decorate

notice boards in Singapore with bamboo...)

(回想起來，還真沒見過我們新加坡的哪個公佈欄是用竹子裝飾的...)

Close up view of the bamboo slats. The slats are carefully split from bamboo stems using a knife to chip down along the grain.
近看這些竹條。它們是用鐮刀，沿著纖維的紋理，小心翼翼地從竹竿上劈下來。

The dining hall for students is filled with posters on a healthy balanced diet...

學生餐廳的牆上，滿是標示營養均衡的海報。

Meals cooked in the school kitchen are balanced, and also have less oil and salt added.

學校午餐廚房供應的肉類，不但少油、少鹽，而且種類也相當均衡。

I find it very interesting that all 60 students gather together for breakfast and lunch everyday, all eating the same food from the schoo kitchen.

令我覺得有趣的是，全校60位學生，每天都聚在一起，同吃學校準備的早餐和午餐...

In Singapore, we will have about 600-800 students having lunch at the school canteen at a time, and each student buys his/her own meal... What a difference!
在新加坡，大約有600-800位學生同時在學校的小吃部吃午餐。他們自行選購自己想要吃的餐點...這真的「差很大」!

First Impressions of Hsiayun Elementary

Hi all and I am pleased to post my very first blog post here! Over here, I will regularly post photos and thoughts about my experiences here in Hsiayun Elementary, Fusing, Taoyuan County.

I hope these 2 months spent here (AIESEC Development TraineeShip) will be enriching and a refreshing break from city life in Singapore.:)　

A typical view of Hsiayun Elementary during the day time. It is quite beautiful with the mountains in the background.

The beautiful view of the surrounding mountains, taken outside our 宿舍.

安老师 teaching the kids english using picture cards during assembly.

Since the school has only about 60 students, this is surprisingly effective. In Singapore, with 1000+ students in an elementary school, we cant use this method!

Some of the flowers called "大波斯菊" outside the school's general office. Very pretty indeed!!!

The kids here frequently line up outside the office in a very military fashion. In Singapore, we call this "Fall-In"..

Based on what I have observed over the last 2 weeks, the children here are well-disciplined and polite. :)

The "house" which we share with 黄老师. He has been very helpful and nice to us! Thanks for the help!