Tainan Exchange Programme

Tuesday, 16/11/2004

Well, sleeping in a foreign bed was not much difference. It was only foreign. Get it? Never mind about it. We woke up at six. One thing that I just learnt was sandy did not bath in the morning because it was too cold. We had breakfast, which was a cup of cold milk and a rice dumpling stuffed with lots of vegetables and much other stuff I did not know. It was delicious though. Sandy’s dad drove us to school. Boy, he drove very fast, speeding 120km/hour, even though he did not brave any traffic lights. He did not even need to switch on the air condition, as it was already very cold.
On the way, sandy told me to get ready to get stared at as hardly any people in Tainan wear pure white unlike my uniform.
“Only, those in the navy wear pure white”, she told me.
“ My class went gaga over your school’s blazer as it is very nice,” she added. I nodded my head, engrossed in the scenery that zoomed past. When we finally reached her school, I did catch a lot of attention. Now, I did envy the guys from my school. The weather was cold and they were wearing pants but girls were wearing skirts. I thought my legs were not able to take it. I was relieved that sandy led me into the warm classroom. Many students were already there. Most of them had their breakfast in the classroom. Though I did not understand why, I felt the strong class spirit from within the classroom. We went to clean up the stuff room on the first storey. Though I tagged along, I did nothing to help. (Shame on me)
The school held a very grand ceremony to welcome all of us from Singapore. There were lion dance and the school gave us a cap with our names sewn on it. We went for lessons. First stop, science practical. I learnt a lot form electrical currents and static charge. The science teacher was interesting and really had creativity in her teaching. Everyone was really eager to listen to her and carry out experiments. There was one experiment that we used citric fruits to generate electricity but it did not work. Next, we used a special kind of charcoal to generate electricity. It did work!
Second stop, Chinese lessons. The teacher briefly went through the history of many honourable personals and then a hilarious Chinese play performed by the secondary one students was next. Everyone was laughing till they almost broke their chairs. I did not quite understand when the presenter tended to talk too fast or he was using their dialect.
Next, all of us from Singapore had computer lessons that involved drawing shapes like polygons and circles according the law of maths. I am sad to say that I hardly had interest in it but I managed to listen to the lecturer anyway. We had calligraphy lessons later on. The teacher taught us the history of calligraphy and the correct way to handle the brush. We laminated our works before we had lunch. I was told that students paid $25 monthly for their meals in school. (They do not have canteen like us).
Soon, it was naptime for our Tainan buddies. In the meantime, we were too hypo to sleep thus we went around taking pictures. Eve gathered all of us to practise our songs. Not before long, we were told to go for excursions. A special guide who talked English was attached to us. We went to visit the salt mountains. I was amazed and hardly believed that the whole mountain was made of salt but the whiff of saltiness confirmed my doubts. The peak of the taller mountain was very windy. Everyone had hair flying all over their head while trying to take pictures. Miss Wong had to take off her cap to prevent it from flying away. I help a couple of people to take their pictures. It was really refreshing up there though I did my very best to stay in the middle because I feared heights. We went to climb the shorter hill of salt without any stairs to guide us.
“ Be careful! Don’t cut yourselves as it can be very painful with the salt in contact with your wound,” the guide warned us. It was quite difficult as my feet kept sinking into the salt crystals. After much ploughing, I managed to reach the peak. It was equally breathtaking and I was perspiring by then. The teacher from Hoshun treated us salty ice cream, which was a new experience for me.
We went for spoonbill viewing after that. It was really spectacular to see so many magnificent birds clustered together to feed and groom themselves. We were taught a song dedicated to the birds, which too briefly described they behaviour. These birds were too found in Japan and China. I hardly understand what it meant but luckily the guide translated it to English. I only remembered the first sentence in their dialect.
“ La boi la boi, boi ah boi….”

Tainan Exchange Programme

Monday, 15/11/2004

I got up very late this morning, around eight thirty in the morning. I did a last minute check of the luggage, trying to think if I had forgotten to bring anything. However, I thought I have over packed. I was driven to the airport and found a couple of my friends were already there, loitering around the airport. Somehow, I felt nervous and excited. I feared the plane would crash (touch wood) and secondly, I feared that I acted awkwardly in front of my Tainan friends. My teachers arrived an hour later and we checked in our bags.
As I remembered from the previous flight to Japan, the ascending of the plane was breath taking and “pressurising”. It really refreshed my memory of flights. I was like pondering how was I going to spend those four hours in flight. My “flight mates”, Chen Yuan and Pauline gave me an answer- play STRESS with the poker cards we were given on the plane. We were played for like around two and a half hours? Then, there was lunch. One plate of chicken noodles, one cup of very, very sour orange juice, one serving of fruits and not forgetting finishing with a heavily creamed cake. I felt like sleeping but I was too jumpy to sleep. You know, mixed feelings just swelled in my stomach. The remaining hours I spent doing all kinds of things I could get hold of. Listening to radio which keep on repeating, changed channel to watch a movie “King Arthur”, exploring the lavatory (lots of jokes about it, very entertaining, man, I am sick) and staring mindlessly staring at the small head size window.
Time really flew before you came to realise it. We reached KaoShiong.
“Hey! Who turned off the lights? Why is it so dark outside?” I thought aloud. When my teacher told me that Tainan experiences shorted day which means they have dawn break earlier than us and have dusk earlier than us. Gee, honestly I felt stupid.
The welcoming ceremony was simply splendid. It was very warming. I was very happy to see my buddy. Everyone took a group photo but with around more than a dozen cameras to be used to take this group photo. Of course I experienced leg cramp. The principal was very active. An informal word to describe her is “ cute”. Everyone was like busy talking while heading towards the bus. The conversation got louder as we boarded the bus. Funny and interesting encounters ever since we met were exchanged. Sandy and her friends were like talking how cool was their female teacher and how funny was their male teacher. The subject soon shifted to my schoolteachers. I realised some of my buddies from Hoshun find some of my teachers very good-looking, like Mr Yeo and Mr Choy. Haha…I think so.
As I look out of the window, I found that the traffic condition was totally different from Singapore’s. In Singapore, the traffic that is moving forward is on the left hand side of the road while in Tainan, the traffic that is moving forward is on the right hand side of the road. Due to the difference of the traffic, the position of the driver is different too. The driver in Tainan is on the left hand side whereas Singapore’s driver is on the right hand side. Thus, the whole journey we were talking non-stop, laughing at lame jokes.
Soon, we reached Hoshun Junior high School. Sandy remarked that it looked like a Chinese temple. I did not think so as I thought that it looked nice. Sandy’s dad was already waiting for us. I unloaded my bag in to his car and sandy suggested that we go for dinner. I really welcomed this idea as my stomach was making quite a din. Chen Yuan and her buddy were there too. Tell you something; the food was really delicious and cheap! One whole plate of beef and two big servings of vegetables cost like eight Singapore dollars! (Hey! Those who did not go for this exchange programme, is time for you to regret now!)
Haha, after gorging ourselves, it was time to go home. I was nervous all of the sudden. Nevertheless, the outcome was still the same. I told myself, “Just act normal.” On the way back home, I hardly talked, as I was too tired. I realised that Sandy lived very far from school. Around the same distance as Kallang to Clementi? When we reached home, I greeted Sandy’s mum and began unpacking. I gave sandy her present from Singapore. Sandy’s mum showed me around the house. The house was four storey’s high. The first floor was the living room and the kitchen. The second floor was the studying room and where the washing machine was. The third storey was where Sandy's and her brother’s room. Lastly, Sandy's parents had their room on the peak of the house.
After I bathed, I was yawning continuously and sandy switched off the lights and we slept beside each other. Nightz! I will continue tomorrow.