I Found Myself in Taiwan

By far, this was the craziest summer I've ever experienced in life. I spent around 7 weeks volunteering in Taiwan, under the name of AIESEC in NCU (National Central University). When I first arrived in Taiwan, I wasn't sure whether it was a good choice to do volunteer work in a completely foreign country, in terms of everything. I couldn't speak the language at all and I didn't have any single clue how the country works. And I need to live like a local. Crazy combo right there.

First day in Taiwan, was picked up by Cyan and Audrey
(it was awkward, just look at our poses..)

Audrey's masterpiece

Above are some of the photos I keep from day one. On the left you can see Audrey, my EP buddy, whom I had burdened so much because I didn't know what was going on most of the time (haha) but she always got my back, yay! Oh and as well as Cyan, the guy you see beside Audrey. He initiated the photo if I'm not mistaken, and yep, you guess it right. It was awkward because we really didn't know each other at first! It's funny every time I look back at that photo.

In Taiwan, I lived in a host family house in an area quite far from NCU, it was a different district but the people were lovely. It was a good living environment as well. My host parents were the best kind of people, a couple with two sons but both sons aren't staying in the house anymore so it's just the three of us. They took me to places near the house, like the stadium, the lake, as well as the night market! Of course, it's not Taiwan without night markets, right?

First pic with my host parents

The first day of work started with the IPS or so-called Incoming Preparation Seminar. It was held in the campus and it was also the first time ever meeting with my colleagues and you can say I was pretty nervous. Because first impression matters, duh! There were 7 EPs including myself (Exchange Participant) or you can say those who are in the same boat with me, lol. One was from my country, Indonesia, a guy from Bandung (Hi, Marsa!). Two were from Thailand, named P'Kao and P'Jand (that's how everyone call them), one from Malaysia (Shan!), and the other two are from Canada (Hannah, Taiwanese-Canadian to be exact, and Natalie, she's from Hong Kong but moved to Canada). Having friends originated from different countries are not a new thing for me, but it's always interesting to hear stories about their cultures and so on. The program was about making camps for Elementary School, Junior High School, and Senior High School, for which was intended to increase their knowledge about global issues, SDGs, as well as improving their English.

First photo with everyone on IPS day! 

We spent several weeks working on each event. In between preparations, we had fun while trying to know each other and we got really close because of that. The working hours felt short (at least for me) because I was enjoying it. Each camp, we had local volunteers helping us and we did some ice-breaking sessions outside the campus to get to know them better. We also went outside after work when we end early, but that case didn't happen often.. because we had many things to prepare.

Our first outing after work, we went to SOGO near the campus

Our first hotpot, marked the beginning of
our many hotpot dinners together (lol)

Almost forgot, we also went on our first trip together! We went to Taipei in between the chaos of preparing (don't ask me how). Sadly not everyone could join though. But here are some proofs of the one-day trip.

Inside the lift in Taipei 101 (..we didn't go up)

We tried the booming bubble milk tea shop
 in its origin country (obviously not sponsored by them)

Again, not ad. (but must admit it was good!)

We took photobooth pics in the station, still vague on why we
thought it was a good idea to fit 8 people inside the booth...

This was another drink shop in Ximenting area

Okay, back to work. The first one was elementary school camp, held in NCU. What can I say, I love kids, so it was truly a blessing to be working with them! Although their energy was on a different level compared to everyone in the team, hence we were pretty exhausted by the end of each day, but it was crazy fun! We spent a lot of sessions playing games to improve their English, teamwork, as well as their confidence. And I really appreciate how the kids were willing to speak in English with all of us. Thank you, kiddos. You guys were the best!

This is Queena, also from my group.
She's quite but she's really brave!

This is one of the kids in my group, Nelson!
He really likes to dance thus he's always hungry.

With Vicky, one of the local volunteers
who worked with us~
(she also became my teammate in senior high conference)

  

A photo of us in our casual hotpot hangout after the camp
(by the time this photo was taken, I already lost count
on how many hotpots we had eaten)

The elementary school camp was then followed by the senior high school conference, which was also held in NCU. The vibe was totally different with the elementary, because the sessions that we prepared were also in another level. This time around, we spent time discussing about international issues, cultures, as well as critical thinking and problem solving, so this one was pretty exhausting (not only for me but for the delegates as well) because we need to use our brain most of the time (lol). Nevertheless, it was fun too! Probably because the age gap between the team and the delegates aren't that big, that's why we had fun in the same way.

We just can't say no to a picture despite
the chaotic situation behind this (lol)

The reason why I'm holding a mic in this one was because
this was taken in one of the sessions that I took part in!
(Judging from P'Kao's expression, I believe this was a
session where we need to use our brain..)

      

A photo that I don't even remember taking haha                                                 'Sugar Cube' letters of mine

(with P'Kao and Shan)

Aaand, another photo of us in our favourite hotpot restaurant.

Now after those two big events, we went on a trip! This time it's the official EP tour. Yes! Bring it on. The place that we visited was Fulong. Our main goal was biking, WHICH... I forgot how to. Don't get me wrong, okay, I learned it before. But guess I still couldn't do it properly. Anyway, moving on, we rented bikes and we rode it along the coastline which was sooo pretty! And totally hot!! Our main goal was to reach the beach as our final destination. So we biked from the shop through the road also the famous tunnel which was so fascinating for me, because when you got inside a tunnel it's usually damp and hot, but this one was literally cool, you can even feel the breeze!! It was so cool I kept gasping throughout the way (lol). We also stopped for quite a couple of times because it was so far, not to mention that everyone couldn't be patient because again, it was too hot to be true. But when we finally reached the final stop, which was the beach, we realised one thing. The beach was behind the bike rental shop all along. We were fooled. We spent around 2 to 3 hours biking for 20 kilometres to reach the beach when actually, we can just walk from the shop. But if we had known the beach was that close, we wouldn't have experienced the biking sensation so yeah, it was worth it too.

       

Us in front of the tunnel before we bike inside

Us being tourists, taking photos in every spot we stopped in

And finally us on the beach after 20 km of biking for it

After the exhausting and super fun trip to Fulong, we went back to Taoyuan. This time we got ready for the last camp, the Junior High School camp. For this one, it was held in Qingpu Junior High School, a different district from NCU. In this camp, we pretty much got used to our work already, so I didn't feel that hectic comparing to the first two, although I did most of my sessions in this camp. For junior high school, we focused more on letting the delegates know about the issues happening in their country, Taiwan, as well as making them familiar with foreigners and reducing inequalities with one another. Oops- I forgot to mention for the other two camps that in each camp we held a Global Village session. In this session, us, the EPs, we were responsible for our own countries and we need to introduce our country and our cultures to the delegates. For the Global Village in this camp, me and Marsa worked alongside each other (actually like we always do for the Global Village session on each camp) to explain more about Indonesia. We started the session with a video from the opening of the Asian Games 2018 which we were very fond of. Then we continue the session with explaining how Indonesia is, based on the infographic that we made beforehand.

It was my turn to explain one of the pointers that we made

Obviously, I was still talking when this photo was taken.
And I have no idea what Marsa was doing.

And this was the infographic that I was talking about.
We really cherished it to the point that none of us two brought it back to Indonesia.
I believe it's now kept by one of our friends in Taiwan.

With Julian, Marsa, and Natalie, in between the sessions that we held outdoors

We were demonstrating on how to do a game in this one,
but this looks like we were the kids so it's a cute photo!

Me and Mickey with our kids

Me and Marsa worn the national flag of our country, Indonesia,
while taking photo with our local volunteer friends!

With my beloved EP friends! (we fit the term siblings more, actually)

With the final day of the Junior High School Camp, it marked the end of our work. Including my volunteer duties. So what's left was spending the remaining days before I leave the beautiful country of Taiwan. So we decided to go to Taipei, again. But this time we stayed for the night. We went to a night market which I clearly forgot what the name was.. but it wasn't that crowded when we stride along its alleys. At night, I decided to spend my time in our lodging while the others went out to hangout, but it was still fun anyway.

After Taipei, we went straight (on the next day) to our second EP tour, which was Yilan! I didn't know that this county was that far at first, but I feel like it was really far from Taoyuan. Before we reach Yilan, we stopped by at Wai'ao beach, which was really pretty! Here are some photos that I took.

After we spent several hours playing on the beach and taking photos each chance we got, we finally head to Yilan. Before going to our lodging, we stopped at a night market which was so crowded! But it was fun as well. Here's a proof. 

We should've taken it with everyone else
but they were already at the front

We actually ate quite a lot of food, but I like this one best!
It's a Yakult smoothie (hehe)

After Yilan, we finally held our farewell party. Such a pity not everyone could come, but I still enjoyed it so it's okay. We reminisced our moments together since the first day we arrived in Taiwan up to the farewell party day. Time flew by so fast, it didn't feel like 7 weeks have gone by.

If you think that's the end of my report, you're wrong! Because after the party, we decided to go on our last trip together which was Taichung! I've heard so many good things about Taichung so I was pretty excited for it. Unfortunately, it was past Marsa's day of leaving and Natalie had friends coming over, so there were only 5 EPs who had gone to the trip. But it was still fun although we were missing a few of our members. So then, Taichung it is! First stop was the famous Rainbow Village. I've seen it through so many accounts of travellers from Indonesia, and it was even cuter in real life. 

We were so glad to meet the
Father of the Rainbow Village in person!

 

After cooling ourselves down from the heat outside, we continue the trip to a really cute side of Taichung. I saw an unique building which has the game snakes and ladders on the side of it. Like this:

See?

But that wasn't the main point we went there. We were going to buy ice cream. Apparently, the ice cream parlour was a famous one, even P'Jand already went there before. So then we got there. And we bought ice cream. Mine was like this: 

And it was delicious. I finally understood why the queue was long.

The day after, we went to an amusement park! It was the Lihpao Land Discovery World. I've never really a fan of scary rides, but it would be a loss if I don't ride one while in Taiwan right? So guess what I did. Yes. I took the challenge! I didn't remember when was the first time I went on a rollercoaster in my life, so I decided to get on one while I was there. And it was.. amazing! The rollercoaster was crazy though, it had like a whole new track attached to it and we were facing down on 90 degrees sharp... you'll understand when you see how it looks like. 

Source: google search

CRAZY RIGHT?????!!!!!

But we did it anyway. I did it anyway!!! I was so out of my mind at that time but I'm glad I took the challenge! Sometimes you just need to do it, you know (said someone who were scared at first..). And apparently, this rollercoaster is listed as the world's scariest rollercoaster. If I knew before riding it, I wouldn't even dare to go near...

And sadly, this really marks the end of my journey in Taiwan.

The 7 weeks I spent there were beyond my expectations, and it was one chance that I'm really glad of taking. I learned so many things through my journey, gained a myriad of new experiences, bunch of friends, people that I can call family, as well as life lessons. Despite the shortcomings from myself or the people that have been with me through the journey, I really enjoyed my time in Taiwan. It wasn't smooth, but I'm glad I could finish it. I'm glad the team could finish it. I don't think I can ever forget about it. Taiwan will stay as a country which has a special place in my heart, as well as the people inside it. Thank you so much for the hospitality, Taiwan! It was a really good one. I'll try my best to implement what I had learned to my surroundings as well as my country. It is safe to say that I'm glad I chose Taiwan, and I'm glad I built my courage upon taking the journey.

If I could turn back the time, I don't want to change any bit of it, but I do want to spend more time with the strangers who have become a part of my life right now through this journey. You guys will forever be the friends that I cherish. Thank you so much, AIESEC!

❤️