Day 32 Lu Ye for Hot Balloon but The Weather Made Us Disappointed

Hmm, I have told you all that we are going to the Lu Ye for the hot balloon today but unfortunately the rain had made us go back before it started. Usually the hot balloon will start around 4.30pm until 7.30pm but because of raining, we thought that it will be cancelled straightly. However, when it was around 6pm and we were on the bus to back to the town, they started to light up the fire for the hot balloon but it was not yet prepared for flying up to the sky. It was so irritating and it had wasted everyone's time for waiting the hot balloon event to start. Oh no! Luckily I had bought something made in Taiwan from there and we did not go back with empty hands.


The people here like to fly their kites on the ground while waiting for the event to start. From July until 2nd of September will be the Hot Balloon Festival that is organized by the Taiwan government, that is why now is the season where a lot of tourists will come to this place to watch the hot balloon or have a short journey with it. It costs NT500 for around 7 minutes up to the sky and NT8000 for those who wants to go around for 1 hour or more.


Oh, I bet a lot of Malaysian never taste Shakya before! Now is the season of Shakya(one type of fruit) and a lot of products are made by using this fruit such as biscuits, ice cream and etc.


These are the pictures I took today.

I am getting older and older with blemish face.

One day ticket for the bus from Taitung city to Lu Ye.

Awesome view where you can see the blue sky and well-arranged farms.

Miss Karolina and me.

Miss Kasia and me

Miss Hana and me 

The view from the highest part of the ground where people are flying their kites, enjoy their picnics and etc.

A lovely doggie I met there. Taiwanese doggies never pee and shit around. They are well-trained by their owners.

Disappointed. Oh, my dear weather, why you do this to us ?! This was the view taken from the bus when the people there started to light up the fire for the hot balloons.

We were laughing all the night because of Typhoon. Since 6 of us never experienced it before, some of us got scared and started to worry about this. This is why we decided to grab food from Carrefour for preparation that when the Typhoon reaches, we probably cannot go out to get the food.

That is why the jokes begin.

" TypFOOD is coming, be CARREFOUR" 

Hahahaha! It was so funny that we can't stop laughing inside the room and even the people from other room can hear us.

So, we had gone to Carrefour before we go back to our hostel. I had bought a new luggage since my luggage spoiled when I reach Taitung weeks ago. It is huge compare to my old one. I hope it can last longer so that I do not have to spend money to buy my fourth luggage ='(

Day 29, 30, 31 Go Green Island? Nope, We were opposite!

Well, it was unexpected that we had to cancel our trip to Green Island today because it was raining in the morning. Kasia was disappointing about this but we managed to go to the music festival in Dulan. It was fun and the Pacific Ocean gave me a different feeling compared to the sea in Malaysia. You can see nothing but only blue ocean with huge waves and it is connected with the blue sky with only one line. Now is the season of the Typhoon and it will be more dangerous if go to the seaside. I bet you all do not know that we can't swim in the ocean here since the waves are huge and unstable. The forecast has shown that the Typhoon is nearer to Taiwan and the following weeks will be raining all the days and maybe this will be my first experience about the power of Typhoon. I think the strong wind will blow and we are not able to go out from the house.Hmm, I just left two weeks here, so please do not spoil my plans, my dear Typhoon ='(


Here are the pictures I took today and tomorrow we will go to hot balloon! I hope it will not rain tomorrow.

Beautiful Pacific Ocean.

The Music Festival we went today.

I love the sea and the mountain here. The combination is perfect!

The place where the music festival held at.

Kasia, the beautiful young woman from Poland.

Kasia and Hana from Czech Republic. 

Cute little fake crab on the wood.

Here I am with the serious sun tanned skin. Can you compare the before and after? I might be hot for the European and western people, but definitely not Asian.

The Spanish dance on the stage

Oh, I have to bleach myself!

I love this stone! Wish all the travelers have a joyful journey in Taiwan.

Beautiful arts at here. I love this kind of art. I love nature, I love wood.

We took taxi to this place and back to the bus station with taxi. I talked a lot with the driver and we (me and Ekuan) told them we are not Taiwanese. Maybe it is surprising for them because we seem like the local people.They feel amazed when we said we are able to understand and communicate in many different languages. This is why I am proud to be a Malaysian. The people in Taitung communicate more in Hokkien especially those older and elder people. Haha! I can understand well, but I can't really talk well because they have the different slang compared to Malaysian. I speak Penang Hokkien, so lagi tak boleh communicate =P Oh!I forget to tell you that this place is opposite to the Green Island, haha! We do not go there but we are able to see the island from the opposite. 

We will see what will happen tomorrow. Stay tuned babes <3

Day 27, 28 Get Familiar With The Kids in Book House

I think I did not mention about the name of the book house I work now. It is called "Jian Nong" in chinese and it is basically function as a family or a home for those children who are from the unhealthy families such as single parent, parents get drunk and family violence, the kids being abandoned by the parents and etc.


These kids are really pity and they need help. I am glad that there are people in Taiwan willing to spend their time and money to educate the kids so that they do not go to the wrong way. I am wondering if Malaysia has such people who can help our children in Malaysia. I think there are more these kind of children in Malaysia but unfortunately the helping hands are too little compared to Taiwan.


Today is the third day I work in this book house and I fairly know the function of this book house. My boss told me that every children in this book house have their own stories behind and they are trying to help them to fix the condition by giving some psychological supports and advises to the kids. I was trying hard to teach them English but they are basically do not know anything well in English. The children in Taiwan only learn English when they are in Grade 3. This is kinda hard for me to teach them a simple words since they can't even write simple alphabets. Consequently I have to find another way to teach them. My boss said that they like to use the listening as the first step to let the children learn English. Probably I will try the method tomorrow and see the results.


These are the pictures I took today because one of the kids has his birthday today and his father brought the cake and some soda drinks for us to celebrate together.

The birthday King with his big birthday cake. 10 years old big guy.

My Favorite boy. He is willing to listen and learn 

I think he is the most handsome boy here in the book house =P

He is lovely. He is sick, but we are teaching him to become a better one =)

My two little "sticky girls". They love to play with my long hair.

Cute little boy, always stay with his sister, asking her to go back home.

Awww, she is so CUTE! I just saw her today in the book house. A 2 years old girl.

Naughty boy that never wants to listen to me. Hardly to control. Haha!

The sister of the sick boy. They have the same sad story behind.

Clever boy ever. He can answer my questions fast. He wants to search my Facebook and I dare him to do so XD!

Birthday boy is shy to take picture, always try to cover his face. LOL

These kids are really innocent and lovely. I hope we can work together nicely in future =)
Love all. <3

Day 24, 25, 26 Book House in Taitung

Once again I feel so sorry because I do not update always as last time since I have nothing much to say in one day so that I decided to accumulate all the experiences and talk them at once.


Basically it is fun to stay in Taitung since here got no sunny day but raining days. Thanks to God my skin finally can rest and I have to think the ways to rescue my dark skin. I think this is the worst condition I have faced compared to last time. It is even worst than the time when I joined marching competition for St. John Ambulance for my high school curriculum activities. I have pimples and uneven skin tone and I feel I am in the UGLIEST condition in my life! OMG! I think I have to spend a lots to cure my face to original like before I come to Taiwan.


As you all can see, I am here in Taiwan for almost 1 month and 2 weeks later I will leave and back to Malaysia. I am glad that I chose to come here since I have experienced for so many things that I can't get in Malaysia. Honestly I feel that my English and Chinese are improved so fast since I can only communicate by using these languages and they have to be used in perfect sentences and grammar. The people here are really friendly and they are good in music, singing and dancing. I have done some recordings for their performances and maybe I can show you all when I am back to Malaysia.


Tomorrow I have to teach the children how to dance with the teacher here. Hope everything will be fine! Lastly I hope the children can learn English with me, Aza aza fighting =)

Day 20, 21, 22, 23 The Farewell and Hello Book House!

Sorry that I do not update for so many days since I was busying for the summer camp preparation. It was really amazing and awesome to work with those kids and the OC team. Seriously I had great time there even though it was quite tiring for all of us to bring the information to the kids. Taking care of kids is really a challenge for me since they are too active and always keep on running here and there or get bored easily. I had tried hard to get their attention during the English Class lessons but luckily they were controllable. Here are the photos about the camp but sorry that I can't take a lot of photos during the camp because the duties made me not available for the photo taking sessions.

Game time for the kids, they were having fun.

Three of the Sugar Cubes I received from the kids. They are amazing. Just have to tell you all, there is a lot of aboriginal and hybrid kids here. Many of them are from single families. That is why I feel so sorry for them and hope we had brought the best for them in this camp. Many kids and the OC members had cried during the last day of the camp but I was not. I will hardly cry in front of people unless some uncontrollable things happen. I bet my friends all know it well.

Beach time with the OC team and EPs =)

Well, seriously I was a little shocked when so many OC members told me that they had a pretty negative first impression for me. Maybe when they saw my picture on Facebook and expected too much or too little from me and Chris was disappointed because she felt she chose the wrong person for this program for the first few meetings because she felt I am the different person from the interview. However, they told me that because they did not know me well and I had impressed them during the camp. I really do thank you for all of you because giving me the chances to prove myself. I can never blame you all for being misunderstood about me. I just who I am. I never get to be friendly at the first meet. It will be weird for me. I am never a perfect person but I think this has caused me who I am. Maybe some of the people feel I am too cold or too ego to talk to but I think once you are inside my heart, you will know me better. When people start to appreciate me, I feel great about that and the hugs from everyone are really good. Thank you for preparing such a wonderful program for us and you all seem like my younger brothers and sisters. I hope all the best for your future and please go to achieve your dreams without any doubts. If I can, why you can't?

“ 假如有内涵，就不怕被誤會。”

I know what I am doing and I will stay calm for everything. I always do believe when there is the chance to be a follower, just stay quiet for sometimes to listen to people. We have to plan according to what the leader wants. I always agree that : "A leader must be a good listener and a good follower."

Kristina was the first one to leave us to Orchard Island, I hope everything is fine for her. She is a brave and clever girl. I think her personalities can bring her further from what she is having now. Good luck, Kristina.

From now, the journey begins when we reached the Book House. I will work alone at another book house which is far away from my hostel. It would be fun. Aboriginal people are friendly and passionate. I can't wait to explore more in Taitung.

I got more serious sun tanned. I hope I can recover fast when back to Malaysia. Penang trip is waiting for me, weee!

Day 18 and 19 All the way to Taitung

Oh yes, I have disappeared for two days without any updates. I am so sorry because I am busying preparing for the summer camp for the kids in one of the primary school in Taitung. This is a small yet very beautiful primary school which has the building structure of a castle. YES! I do not lie but it looks similar to little castle. The view is awesome even though the weather is hot. I got sun tanned again and become darker. We sleep at the computer room of this school and have to cross the road to take a shower. Here unlike Taipei, is more to rural area and most of them can speak Hokkien even the little kids. They are so adorable yet some of them are really naughty and uncontrollable.


Oh my! There are some kids who really stick to me and ask for hugging all the time. Hahaha! I saw a guy that is the ordinary "BAD kid" in a school. He reminds me of someone, the hero of "You are the Apple of My Eye". He gives me a feeling of bad but lonely guy. We described him as a child who does not know how to express himself, so he chooses to act cool and naughty. This makes me more curious and want to talk to him more.

The elder sister of a pair of twins. She is adorable and "sticky". Always ask for hand phone numbers, hugs, holding hands, take pictures and etc.

A very intelligent girl at Grade 3. She is so mature and listen to what we said. I like her very much.

Another girl I like. She is so taking care of her little brother. She told me that she got scolded by her parents because his brother broke something during at the school last time but she did not know about that. She reminds me about myself. She behaves herself very well and at the same time she cares about her naughty brother =)

This is my group's work during the competition of making a farm by using the Plasticine. Even though we did not win the competition but I am proud of this. My kids, please be more kind and listen to words, okay? Today was a little out of control. We hope we can do better tomorrow.

p/s : Tomorrow I will present about Malaysia! OMG! I am nervous but the kids reacts to be more active or passive based on the presentation. I hope I can do well and they feel excited about my presentation. 

Day 16 and 17 Get Bored with Internet

Hmm, yes that is what I am trying to say here. On Day 16, I was surfing internet at the host family house and read some books. After the reading, I fell asleep as usual. I get to sleep after my reading each and every time. Maybe my eyes are extremely exhausted. Again, I had to skip the dinner because when I woke up, it was already around 10pm.

It was around 10pm and I had online as usual. Suddenly my sister messaged me and asked me to open my Skype since my mother wanted to talk to me. Bad boy Skype, I do not know why it did not work. At last, I used Facebook chat to on the video call to chat with my mother. The funny part was she can see me through the webcam but I can't see her because my sister's computer is the older version which do not have webcam. She was worrying about me whether I am okay with the weather in Taiwan since it is hotter than the weather in Malaysia and my tight pocket (Taiwan has higher expenses than Malaysia). I miss the rain, the 28 degree Celsius environment in Malaysia. The big Sun had kissed my skin until I got serious sun tanned but it never asked my permission before do that. Ohhh~ Can I reject you? My beloved Sun? 


Today I was following Karolina and Kasia to The Base and again we met Chris and her OC team who were discussing about their plans for the summer camp. I had finished my preparation so I just online freely and doing nothing. Then I use my phone to on the Skype and I found OSS was online-ing. Thank GOD I called him for 1 and 30 minutes for talking nonsense. Haha, thank you for being so patient with me. Lastly I can talk normally (in Malaysian style - Rojak Language) =P

15 June we have to go to Tai Dong and it is around 4 to 5 hours trip from Taipei. I hope everything will be fine there. Thanks to Sandy again for solving my problem and let me stay at her house for one day before I go back to Malaysia. Secretly I had bought the card for her and the family. I will write everything sincerely and I will send something good from Malaysia when I back to Malaysia.

p/s : I saw the picture of other intern's hostel and it is fulled of her memories about Taiwan! I hope I can get that too! All the OC members, please write me something meaningful! I will remember you all forever =) I promise I will keep in touch with you guys.

Day 15 Ice Skating in Xiao Ju Dan + Meeting with OC team

Today was a super hot sunny day which Taipei is already exceed 37 degree Celsius. OMG, even in Malaysia, this is extraordinary. I heard that it maybe can up to 40 degree Celsius soon. O.O

Today we went out early to Cheng-Chi University to have meeting with the OC team. We presented our slides and videos to the OC team and make the improvement on it. The food in the university is great and it is cheaper compared to the food outside. I really miss this kind of food which consists of dishes and rice. I never wanted to skip the rice in a day. I <3 to eat RICE very much! After that, we had our practices for the square dances. From here I only know that in Taiwan, AIESEC square dances are not that popular than in Malaysia. I enjoy dances especially AIESEC dances. I had learnt some dances from Poland, they were awesome! Basically we have learnt the another version of Waka Waka which is much more easier than the Egypt version from Alah during the MyLDS (Malaysian Leadership Development Seminar) and another songs. I had been informed that we have to learn another two songs for the summer camp in Taitung soon.

Oh gosh! I had missed the chance to go to NatCon (National Conference) for the EB board this year in Malaysia. So sad. But it is okay, you all just have to teach me the new square dances! I heard about the Fantastic Baby from BigBang! OMG! I want to learn it right now =P

Next station was the XiaoJuDan in Taipei which is the Taiwan Sport Arena and many famous singers or artists had performed here. The ice skating was really awesome! I had fallen down for twice but it was ok. I can learn to stable myself pretty fast. Thanks to Karolina for the teaching. I think I will go to practice after I back to Malaysia. Anyone wants to go with me? Hehehe! Date me please!

This was the gloves I bought for the entrance to the ice skating court (maybe is not called "COURT, but I do not know what to call as). Yellow is always the brightest! I am in love with bright colours nowadays.

NT20 for this gloves + NT290 for the ticket. The gloves make me want to practice ice skating more! The kids are really good!

The friends and me. I did not take the photo with Jenny ='(

p/s : Going to Taitung soon. 4 days left in Taipei city. The train ticket is expensive O.O
       I will try my best to do the presentation. First time handle the presentation with kids. Hopefully they all     can be cooperative =)
       I can't survive without internet. What should I do at night during in Taitung? Reading should be the first and the last option.
      I feel my thighs are getting smaller, hooray! Hope it will not be back in shape when I reach Malaysia one month later.

Day 14 Going to the Ferris Wheel in Taipei

Erm, it was unpredictable that the Ferris Wheel is on the top of a shopping mall which is unlike the one in Singapore or in Malaysia. In local (Malaysia), we do have the chances to take the Ferris Wheel when there is the fun fare held but at here, it is something extraordinary so that people are excited to take it. The price of the ticket is cheaper compare to Singapore which is only NT120 for students. I think it is reasonable =)


The feeling is almost the same as the time I stand on the top of a building. Maybe in Taiwan there has no theme parks such as Genting Highlands or Sunway Lagoon for them to have fun. I would like to go higher and higher because it makes me feel nervous and excited at the same time. Taipei city is awesomely beautiful at night. I bet everyone wants to go up to see the view of this beautiful city.

If you take the metro, you have to stop at the station which is called JianNan on the brown line.

This is the carousel beside the Ferris Wheel on the top of the shopping mall. It reminds me of someone who likes it. I bet you know who I mention here. =)

This is the view of the city from the Ferris Wheel, nice, isn't ?

I have eaten a lot today. I think it is because I am leaving Taipei city soon so I just don't care much and eat a lot. If I can earn more money with better currency, I would like to stay in a city which is so convenient and safe like Taipei city but it is still making me miss Malaysia because I love my country and I do miss the people I care and the food there. 24 hours non-shop eating and cheap food <3

I heard that the tuition fee for the students here for one semester and only one subject is costing around NT10000 which is around RM1150! Oh god! I am wondering how the parents can survive if they do not earn a lot of money for their children education? However, Sandy's said they can earn NT100+ for an hour when they work at shops during summer time. This is a huge different compare to Malaysia. We can never get this kind of prices for those who are not graduated from university.

I have a wonderful evening with Sandy with delicious ice cream. It was tasty. I think this is the worth thing I did in Taipei which is testing the food that is not found in Malaysia. I would like to spend more time with Sandy since we are moving soon ='(

Tomorrow will be a busy day. 

Cheng-Chi University > Ice Skating > Dinner > Karaoke

Woot!

Day 12 and 13 All about Rest and Meeting + Tiring Walking

Alright, tell you all a secret, on day 12 which is meant yesterday I was sleeping almost whole day because of tiredness. Hahaha! I watched drama and read books for whole day. A bad consequence was I eat nothing for dinner and I starved for whole night until I eat lunch during the meeting time today in The Base. Oh no~ But it was ok, I was ready for that but I spent a lot of money today to buy things. Maybe as a bad signal for yesterday work.


Well, today we had our first meeting (finally) at The Base. The shop is awesome but we have to spend minimum NT100 to get internet service there. Well well, this is so called the business technique. I got it. The picture below shows the environment there and it is good. Okay, great BUT we had waited for more than an hour to get the meal we ordered. Regarding to this, I STRONGLY suggested it should be improved. If not, you (the shop) have to bare the consequences.

We had met a lots of new faces. Hope we can cooperate well together in the future. Put your hands up. I bet all the AIESECers or the new members (for those who are new like Christina and Karolina) will have the cultures understanding pretty fast. We can make it! My English and Chinese are just in the level of satisfaction. They never excellent but I am trying to improve them. If anything wrong please do not blame me ='( 

Then after the meeting, Karolina, Kasia and me were loitering around, buying stuffs and then doing nothing. However, Kasia said that she would like to go to the riverside to see the scenery and then we went. Firstly, we went to the LongShan Temple station and we walked to the river. It was really a LONG journey. Basically I was fatigue. Almost cannot walk back to the subway station (Opps, we lost somewhere because we did not recognize the roads here). Luckily a very good uncle helped me when he saw we need his help to back to the Taiwan Main Station by using the Taipei City Mall underground.. Phew...Thanks to God, we finally reached and went back safely.

Beautiful scenery from the riverbank. There were a lots of crabs which I found them a little creepy. Haha, maybe because I am "allergic" to those tiny animals. It was really a hot sunny day which was around 36 degree Celsius. This is the reason why we were burning (Kasia said her ass was burning, hahaha! Shhh, this is the secret between you and me =P)

Nice view during the sunset. I like when the people here cycle and bring their doggies to have a walk. Yay! I see people play basketball too =) Kasia loves to take photos as usual. I secretly give her a name : Photo queen who always ready for photo sessions =P

Hmm, finally I got my own converter! I will definitely keep it and maybe the Easy Card (some sort of Touch and Go in Malaysia and Sandy's called it as "Student's Debit Card" since it can purchase things from most of the convenient stalls) because it is only expired if we do not use it for two years. For those travelers, a kind reminder for you, please bring your own converter here and buy the Easy Card for MRT, any public transports in Taipei and discounts for shopping. I can guarantee you will never regret if you have a card with you. Always convenient to travel around Taipei City. To those my friends, maybe we can visit Taipei someday together =) I am looking forward for that. 

p/s : Stay tuned for tomorrow, we are going to Ferris Wheel in Taipei City. Wow!

        Wednesday ice skating with the OC team. =)