OELP Trip Advisor

Check out: http://2k14oelp.tumblr.com for respective photos 
Day 1 

Kaohsiung International Airport

This international airport is comparable to the one in Singapore as it is clean and spacious ☺️ The airport is also easy for navigation and has smaller but basic restrooms. 

Taking a class picture together upon arriving at the airport, meeting teachers from Sacred Hearts as well ^^

Ten Drum Village 

The ten drum village was the better hotel of the two. It has really good wifi and the room features a unique traditional design with Chinese characters printed in some parts of the room. The room has a very spacious bathroom, clean wooden floors and many basic toiletries for us to use, and all in all felt cozy and comfortable :) It also serves a very scrumptious breakfast with many dishes to choose from.

     Entrance of the hotel

    The comfy beds > <

Day 2

Meinong Hakka Culture Museum 

Starting off the day with a museum >< We had already been to a 茶阳大埔会馆in year 1, thus some of the information was already mentioned before. However, this museum showcases of more on the lifestyle of the Hakka people and their music . They also used modern technology so that we could interact more, which made the experience more engaging and interesting.

Meinong Folk Village 

The first lunch we had in Taiwan at Meinong Folk Village was the best as there were many delicious dishes served. One of the few places where we were served dessert as well :)) However, the place was a bit small. They sell many pretty souvenirs, such as keychains, etc. 

    擂茶～～^_^

Eating lunch with our groups and the teachers at Meinong Folk Village

KaoHsiung Hakka cultural museum 

 This museum talk emphasizes more about the oil paper umbrella and their lifestyle in the past. Like how the Hakka woman in the past had to continuously work for the familly, working from the wee hours in the morning till late at night. We got to learn more about the different types of competitions and festivals the Hakka people have as well. There are also videos showing how to cook Hakka food, and included several interactive games, which was a fun experience. However, it was very tiring for us as it was the second Hakka museum we had visited for the day. 

Kaohsiung Museum of history

We were given explanations and lessons about the 228 tragedy that took place in Tainan which left a great impact on the history of the nation. There were riots and many casualties. The place also featured many images and facts about this tragedy. 

Grand staircase near the entrance of the museum 

Former British Consulate 

The architecture of the British consulate is very similar to that of buildings in Britain. It has many little gift shops and snack stops outside. The British consulate also featured beautiful greenery and a breathtaking sunset. It also holds certain Great Britain culture as they feature many things that the British had used. However reallyyyy hot... Even the shops inside were not air-conditioned.

    Amazing sea view~

LiuHe night market 

This place was the main highlight of the day. The night market was very spacious and mainly targeted at tourists. The food sold there were cheap and delicious. However, some of the stall owners do take advantage of the fact that we are students and did not charge the prices properly or accused us of not paying for the food when we actually did so. 😥 Overall, it was still an interesting experience and some of us even tried the smelly tofu. There were also small station games set up there, such as balloon-shooting, where prices, mainly soft toys, could be won. It was a great way to introduce us to the different types of food in Taiwan. 

Crowded night market street

Day 3

Anping fort 

 There are display of weapons from both the westerns and Ming dynasty which was quite cool . There is air conditioning in the display room which was helpful during the hot weather. One could also go up the tower and view the AMAZING scenery of the city. We also learnt how the fried oyster came about, from the hero Zheng Cheng Gong.

    CANNONSSS

Climbing up the tower~

    

    The city view from the tower~ 

     ( ^ω^ )

    Weapon displays inside (^-^)/

    

Anping old street

 Honestly, not a lot of things to buy here. Things sold here were almost the same as what we had already seen before in MeiNong Folk Village. The food served was nice, as we got to taste the many types of Taiwan's delicious 小吃s, for our lunch. However, the quantity was quite small. Each of us having only about 1 serving of each dish AND THAT'S IT. The coffin toast being the only thing that was worth trying! 

Anping Old Street- where we got to shop around for about 20 minutes... 

YUMMY COFFIN TOAST~

Eternal Golden CASTLE

The castle, built in 1874 by the famous Qing official Shen Baozhen in order to safeguard the coast and to defend the island against the Japanese invasions, was another tourist attraction we visited. We did not learnt much there as there were little stuff there, only the cannon displays, the trees and other greenery. There wasn't much stuff we did there, and we were out from that place in no time. Though at least the place was not that hot, due to trees shading us. However, the place had a nice atmosphere to it, with the nice scenery of the greenery there, good for relaxing the mind :)

     At the entrance of the Eternal Golden Castle

 

 

Chihkan tower

 We learnt the history of the Chin Kan Tower and some that people will pray there to god before their examinations for good grades . This shows us part of the culture in Taiwan .The building is huge but the staircase should be wider and less slope-ish. The thing that  attracts us the most was that it shows the type of ship models.

     The ship models 

 

      Woman preparing her offerings ready to pray...

    

     People's wishes~ ^^

Confucius temple

 The place was nothing exciting, much like the Eternal Golden Castle :( We placed our wishes on some board with our names written on it. And that was pretty much the only interesting thing there was to the place. We were given some free time to walk around, however most of us just sat down and chit-chatted among ourselves, disinterested. It would have been better if there were guides there to tell us more about the place, and the displays there. The scary thing is, there are a lot of  memorial tablets in some of the rooms. 

Day 4

Our first day attending Sacred Hearts High School! It was a fun experience and the Taiwanese people were really hospitable >< Giving us a very grand welcome ceremony. After briefly getting to meet our buddies for the first time and the five student helpers that accompanied us throughout the 3 days in Sacred Hearts,we were split into different groups that went to different classrooms for different classes. There was English,Geography, Chemistry etc. We then had lunch at their school and we found out that the students there took initiatives to clean up, for example managing that waste buckets and the leftover food. This really showed how the Taiwanese students were mature enough and were all educated morally. We then proceeded onto the pineapple factory.

Pineapple Tart Factory/Plantation

Over here, we made pineapple tarts! Where we were given the filling and dough, and formed them into pineapple tarts. The room was spacious and cozy, definitely much much better than standing out under the HOT sun outside, listening to the guide talk for the several museums we  visited. The dough was really oily and greasy >< but all in all it was a fun little D.I.Y activity which we’re certain everyone enjoyed as it was a first time any of us had handmade pineapple tarts. The guide was also really friendly, which made the experience all the more enjoyable J Even posing for us, holding the tray of pineapples she had baked earlier, so that we could take a picture of her. We were then brought to the pineapple plantation nearby, where she gave us more background information about the pineapple tarts of Taiwan.

Although it would have been more fun if we had more to do, like baking the pineapple tarts ourselves. As all we did was roll the dough and stuff the filling in L too bad time was a constraint…

We then visited the elementary school, “华山国小”, after which we went back to the factory to collect our now baked and ready pineapple tarts, which most of us gobbled down on that day itself during our break time at the hotel. DELICIOUSSS~

                                         Busy washing our hands before our D.I.Y activity...

                                         

                                           Our friendly guide ^^

Oily, greasy hands~~

    YUMMY PINEAPPLE TARTS READY TO BE COOKED:)

     

                                         

Day 5

Towel factory

One of the more interesting places we visited in this trip we feel :) 

It is great for people that has little knowledge of towels and has a little DIY station whereby you can make your own cute towel figures. The place is perfect for children not because of the DIY feature but also, the overall layout of the factory is very colorful whereby almost every inch of the factory has a piece of colorful towel or towel figurine placed for sale or decoration. They sold towels made into cakes, flowers, cars, etc. Overall, it is a family friendly place and is also a place to learn about the towels like the manufacturing process and how to find a good quality towel. Also, the explainers of this factory is very friendly.

                                         

                                            A worker folding the towels~ 

Puppet museum/布袋戏馆 

As much as I think how the Chinese culture should be receiving more recognition, the puppet museum is not really a good place for you to visit. Firstly, even though the explainer was kind and patient, the bad weather and the Mosquitos bugging us did not made us feel comfortable, the fact that we needed to stay outdoors listening under a tree did not help. Upon entering the museum, we anticipated for some air-condition. To my horror, the insides of the museum was even more humid then the outdoors. The museum indeed had a Air-conditioner, however it was NOT switched on. Probably saving money or just thinking that we were not worthy for them to switch the air conditioner for. Although the ice-cream in the end did cool us down, I still think that the fact that we have to listen to boring introductions of Chinese puppets in a humid compact room to be excruciatingly painful. Also, the weather became cooler when there was a sudden downpour about an hour after our visit to the puppet museum outside the story museum.

THESE ARE THE FIVE STUDENT HELPERS!!!^^^

                                        WATCHING THE PUPPET SHOW~

                                         Standing in the rain while we listened to the guide talk

Sacred Hearts School Performance 
5 stars

Personally I feel that Scared hearts emphasizes on the esthetic development in their students which I feel that River Valley lags or should I say the Singapore in general. The 2h long performance was indeed spectacular, not only was it embodied with the students' effort that was clearly shown on stage, I also feel that the performance really showcases the students' passion towards music. Also, the performance was held in a huge grand auditorium that was not owned by the school, which makes the overall performance a lot better than just any other school performance.

Day 6

Fun Activities in Scared Hearts!-5 out of 5 stars
The day started early in the morning as usual when we arrived in Scared Hearts, anticipating the list of activities organised for us. We had a Magic class where we were taught on how to do simple magic tricks and balloon making class comes afterwards where we were each given balloons by the instructor. In no time, we all had our own pretty balloons. The next activity was one of our favorites, Food and Consumer Education!!! We all got to cook! We entered the kitchen and started frying, peeling, cracking, beating, decorating with our paired Taiwanese group partners. To be honest, even though the kitchen might not be as clean as compared to our kitchen, I would definitely prefer the Taiwan's better as they were given more freedom and own working space. After this, it was time to say goodbye to Sacred Hearts. It was a good 3 days well spent in the school, meeting our buddies, helpers, and enjoying the activities planned by the school, as long as the Taiwanese culture. We also did not forget the 5 student helpers that accompanied us through our days in Scared hearts, therefore we made a last minute enlarge card for them, along with the hearts shaped balloons that we made.

                                               

Going out with buddy and buddy's parents- 5 stars out of 5 .( This is a paired buddy activity, thus everyone's experience was different) 

My buddy was very friendly throughout the whole trip which they planned. I also had a Cappuccino at my buddy's house. The place was quiet and air-conditioned, adding that to the taste of the coffee made the environment a perfect place. Next, my buddy and his parents also brought me to a Soya Sauce factory. The factory has a lot of facts and history of the Soya Sauce and its delivery methods during the early age. I also got to taste the soya sauce afterwards. Lastly, I had my dinner on a mountain, as much as how the food was tasty and delicious, it has a lot of insects and the place is quite humid. Our buddy then sent us back to the hotel at 8 and it was time for us to say our goodbyes. Even thought we might not meet each other, maybe for the rest of our lives, we still managed to get their emails and social media address to continue our friendship. This is definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

Day 7

912 Earthquake educational Park 

This educational park was a very interesting place to visit. It features many remains left from the 912 earthquake and has a gallery that educates the public on how an earthquake can be detected and the disastrous impacts of the earthquake. 

We got to tour around the site, and got a close up view of the many collapsed buildings and infrastructure. We really got to see the extent of damage of how an actual earthquake could cause. 

We even got to watch a 3-D show after the site-touring, about the experiencing of an earthquake, which was a really cool experience. Recommended for families to go to :) for parents who might want to educate their children and expose them to how an earthquake would be like,etc. Maybe even instilling in them a sense of gratitude and appreciation for their fortunateness.

Taoyuan Airport  

This airport is bigger than the one in Kaohsiung and also features the basic needs of a decent airport with nice facilities and good customer service. This is also the last day of our trip to Taiwan. 

                                      

OELP REFLECTION

Day 1, I reached Taiwan after a long journey in the bus. The time now is 12.00 my whole class looks sleepy. Everybody is excited for this trip as this is the first time we go out as a class. When I get out of the airport I sighed as the weather is same as Singapore hot and humid in the summer. Afterwards we went to our place that we all like- the hotel.

Day 2, the excitement of the trip is starting as this is the first time we go out as a class. Getting straight into it the first destinations is Meinong Folk village. At the Meinong Folk village I drank the擂茶 it taste different from what is the in Singapore. As in Singapore the 擂茶 is not so thick and a little bit salty but in the Meinong Folk village the tea is different from what we have in Singapore. This led me to think: Why would this be different. Then I realized that different countries have different food and cultures. Next up I went to the Kaohsiung Hakka culture museum; I learned migration of the Hakka. The Hakka have 5 great migrations. As I was a Hakka I did not know how my ancestors are migrating. This led me to understand what my ancestors are doing. I also felt relief that my ancestors escaped from the Japanese during World War 2. So from this learnt the culture of my ancestors so from this learnt the culture of my ancestors. From this I learnt that the Hakka’s where friendly. I went to the Kaohsiung Museum of history after the visit to the places of Hakka. First we went by the love river as it was beside the Kaohsiung museum of history. First our tour guide explained about the love river. The love river was named as there were two people in love and they decide to jump down into the pool as there were complications. The Kaohsiung Museum of history is built as they wanted to keep the Kaohsiung history and it is an important place. After the Kaohsiung museum of history we went to the place that we longed waited for, the night market. For the night market we were excited as it is the first day and we get to shop in it. I hang out with my cliché and started to tasted and buy the food. The food there was delicious, from smelly tofu to big sausage and small sausage we did not get to taste this kind of cultural food in Singapore. We all went back to the hotel with my stomach boated as I ate too much food.

Day 3, we went to the eternal golden castle. From there, something caught my eye. I saw a 10 inch thick cannon .That cannon is a true beauty, it has its historical values as that place was built by the Qing government which was like a century ago. They build bring cannon and small cannons to protect themselves. Next at the old street we had our lunch, it was delicious we had a taste on the guan CAI ban. From there I bought some soveniours for my parents. It was cheap and beautiful. The most interesting thing is that I ate the tasty soup which made me droop. Next we went to the Chikkan tower,the middle tower makes me sweat as when we go up, the wood is shaking and the staircase is 45 dergrees.But when we got on topof the tower, the beautiful view of the surronding cause me to cover my shock.It was definately a fun experience going on top of one of the historical sitesThe Tainan Confucius temple makes me bored.When we got there,we just basically write down our wishes and we wait there untill the next journey started.The one thing i remembered about that place is I wrote down a wish to I prove my result.lastly we went to the anping fort and old street.It is just a fort that the dutch built to collect resource from the moutain and to not get raided as the structure has roof that fit into the mountains.The word that I will use to describe this day is brick as every day we will see bricks as it are historical. 

Day4,Today I met my buddy in sacred hearts school.My buddy is a musician and he plays the violin from primary one.He is a friendly guy and talks with me we got to know each other in one day.I thought that it was good to have friends overseas.Thus this made me happy as I finally achieve my  aim to have a friend oversea, this will led me to knowing more things about the country in a different perspective.Sacred heart school is a bigger than River Valley High school,there is two swimming pool in the school and a few basketball courts.Afterwards I got the chanced to go to the school's geography class.During the geography class everybody was basically just sleeping and waiting for the movie screening to finish.The teacher is not too strict as she just woke them up and asked them to washed their faces.Afterwards,we went to a primary school,I felt ashamed as all of them knew how to play the violin.It is a art school so all their drawing and music is nice.For that day I can represent using white color as it is the sacred heart and river valley high school uniform.

Day 5, second day in school.Today the school help us plan program so we went tot the towel factory.At the towel factory I learnt about the different types of towels and how to distinguish between the good quality towels and the bad quality towel.After all the teaching we went to we went to design a towel,it is a beautiful looking dog like towel.From this I had learnt something about my daily nessacceries.Then we went to make our own pineapple tart, after making it we get to bring it back,I tasted it it is super tasty as it is the one I made.Back in sacred hearts,I learned magic cards and balloons .The magic show was interesting as it is unexplainable .For the making of balloons I was sacred that I will break the balloons as they have a loud explosion sound which will sacare me.Lastly we went to the Cca the uniform group is not so strict compared to our  unform group.As they only had one hour  and we had three hours.

Day 6,today is the day that interest me the most.Finally I can go out with my buddy.First we went to the soya sauce  factory  , it interest me as I get to know how soya sauce was made.I got to taste the soya sauce from there.Next, I got to taste the one and only store that sells soya sauce ice cream.Afterwards we got to drink coffee at Yang Hui's buddy house.As our buddy was friends we got to go out together.They gave us cappuccino to drink and relaxing in their house.This made me started to talk to my buddy.Lastly, we went to eat dinner , it was a fun day I felt happy as I got  a new friend and he is cool.I was sad when it was time to leave him ,I could not stop my emotions but to cry it out,I hope I had chance to go back to Tainan to see him.

Day 7, after a long bus ride to the 921 with is in Tainan . I felt  happy for the children because luckily it was night time and nobody is at the school as nobody was killed .the earthquake caused the earth to be uprooted it cause a splits .It was luckly that the earthquake happened at night.I felt blessed that Singapore did not have disasters like Taiwan.So after that my class went on the plane and officially said bye to Taiwan.It was a fun journey and I would like to thank the school for hosting such a exciting and insightful activity.

Pang Wei siong 

OELP Picture collage

Post OELP week reflection

Though I did not go to Taiwan for the OELP week, but I still enjoyed my time in school together with the year 1s for their bicultural week. The things that I have learnt in that week is probably one of the most interesting things that I have experienced. During that week, I was the only one from my class that didn't go for the trip and therefore resulting in me having to open up to others and make new friends from other Year 2 classes and the Year 1 group that I have been assigned to. 

Initially, The idea of joining the Year 1s for the bicultural week and being stuck in Singapore did not appeal to me as I felt that it would be boring and there would be social awkwardness between the other Year 2s or Year 1s and I. But on the first day, I realized that this 'unfortunate' event of being stuck in Singapore turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Coincidentally, a primary school friend of mine did not go for the OELP trip as well, and we both took this opportunity as a 'small reunion'. 

The first two days of the bicultural week is mainly on Chinese art. On the first day, all the Year 2s stayed together as a group in classroom 5N to have our "Chinese Paper Cutting" activity. We were split into groups of our choice and we get to choose one own paper cutting design. My group chooses the design of a panda, we were tasked to cut out the design and followed by pasting it on another piece of coloured paper. This activity mainly taught me how to appreciate the Chinese art as Chinese Paper Cutting (剪纸) is the first type of papercutting design, since paper was invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty in China. The art form later spread to other parts of the world with different regions adopting their own cultural styles, the cut outs are also used to decorate doors and windows. This activity is also useful in cultivating patience as cutting out the paper bit by bit required a lot patience.

The second day, the activities that were planned for us mainly includes Chinese calligraphy and painting paper folding fans. The calligraphic tradition of East Asia originated and developed from China. There is a general standardization of the various styles of calligraphy in this tradition. Chinese calligraphy and ink and wash painting are closely related, since they are accomplished using similar tools and techniques. The ink brush, ink, paper, and inkstone are essential implements of Chinese calligraphy. They are known together as the Four Treasures of the Study, but for the calligraphy that I did, inkstone is not needed as the ink is already made beforehand and packaged into bottles for convenience. What we did for Chinese calligraphy was mainly learning the techniques of holding a brush, writing out the words, I even found out that the posture that we sit is important when doing Chinese calligraphy. 

Fan drawing refers to inscribing calligraphies and drawing pictures on fans of various materials and shapes. The objects drawn on fans are mainly landscape, insects, birds, character sketches and other contents used in traditional Chinese paintings. What are commonly inscribed on fans include famous poems, wonderful lines, allegoric sentences or large-scale works. What we did was painting on those paper fans rather than craving on ivory or bamboo fans. Craving pictures or words into the bamboo is definitely a tough but if given a chance, I would love to give it a try.

The subsequent three days of the week was reserved for mostly games and activity. 2 year 2s were assigned to a year 1 class and to join them in the games and activity that was planned out by our school's very own bicultural camp members. They were mostly seniors in year 3 and 4 and were in charged in facilitating us, they're very friendly and definitely know how to break all awkwardness. During that three days, there was also a movie screening. The movie takes place in the countrysides of China, it tells of how a young girl tries desperately to earn money for her own education. Through this movie, I came to realize how lucky we are to be able to study in school and yet most of us are taking it for granted. It also allowed us to appreciate the high stand of living that we have today compared to the less developed parts of other countries, due to the family poverty, the girl in the movie was forced to drop out of school unless she manage to earn her own school fees.

Even though i stayed in school for the OELP week, but I do not regret my decision. But if I was given another opportunity to go overseas with my class, I would definitely seize it as the things that one can learn from overseas is first-hand experiences which is definitely different from learning online or through a movie. 

Yang Zhi

Reflection by Audrey (How to start a movement)

After watching the video, I personally learnt that the followers are just as important as the leader. The leader would not be able to sustain his or her position without a group of supporters who shares the same beliefs and goals. It is also vital for the leader to take initiatives and be pro active. Without taking the first step or voicing out the first idea that hits you, it's hard to actually spark something amazing. And as leaders, I am sure that's what they were meant to do. They are there to give a start for something amazing and inspirational.

Audrey 

Reflection (How to start a movement)

The leader is always the one that is recognized, the one that is praised and the one that receives all the recognition. People often neglects the followers, people do not remember their names or their efforts. But have we ever asked ourselves: Is the Leader really the most important person? It is undebatable that a leader is undoubtedly important, but what about the  followers? After watching the video, I realized a very important point, one that I have always overlooked. Followers are what make a leader. I'm my opinion, a follower is just as important as a leader. The first follower makes the first difference, he/she encourages others to follow suit, to join the the person that is leading them. This makes the leader. A leader is not a leader without any followers. Therefore, I agree with the video and feel that the leader might actually not be as important as what most thinks, because, the first follower is the one who starts the event, the movement or the organization, the one that makes the leader by prompting others to follow his/her movements, to join the soon-to-be leader. 

Yang Zhi