The county of Taitung has a high population of Aboriginal people and some lack privileges as provided to some other students of the world. In our International Vision Outreach Program for Taitung Remote Areas Minority, we have come across many Aboriginal tribes that lack some of the privileges and access to education and cultures of this world. They did not have access to equipment and education as an average American would have. To help the Aboriginal tribes learn English and understand the world’s many cultures, we were sent there to help the children learn our daily language, English, and how to use “Google© Earth” to understand the Earth’s geography and the different countries and places in our world. In exchange, we learn their Aboriginal culture, languages, and rituals.
In our first day, we arrived at the Taitung airport which a bus picked us up and dropped all of us off at the privately owned Bed and Breakfast which Dr. Ryan Wang had grouped for all of the foreign members of the program. Later, all of the members of the programs went to the restaurant “Mibanai” which was to get us to warm up to the Aboriginal cuisine, because we might be eating foodstuffs similar to those we consume at the restaurant. The food was formulated to fit the taste buds of Taiwanese people. All the dishes were interesting and delicious, but not overwhelming. However, that was not the only reason to set up this meet up. All of the members and volunteers of this program have not Aboriginal food, but also to build a relationship with all the members of the program. Once everybody was introduced, the governor of the Taitung came to welcome us, because he was the one who funded our program. We thanked him for his support. After the meal at “Mibanai”, we were sent back to the Bed and Breakfast to retire.
The next day, we had our briefing for the program at NTTU that was laid before us. Dr. Ryan Wang, gave us objectives to teach the children of Lidao, Tein-Kuang, and Taimali, English and the American culture. We created name cards to help other members and the children we met an easier way to identify each other. We had lunch at NTTU and had some more Aboriginal food. A bus then came to transport all the members to the village of Lidao which was deep in the mountains. During the trip, we were given a tour by Ms. Mirian Hsu of NTTU of Taitung. We learned that Siddhartha fruit and Pineapples were a big crop of Taitung and Siddhartha Fruit was often exported to Japan, because of their sweet tooth.
We soon arrived at the village and we dropped our entire luggage at the Lidao Police Station Dormitory, and headed towards the Lidao Elementary School. There we cleaned up the classroom, kitchen, and the computer classroom. We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare dinner so the kitchen staff made some noodles for us. We then had a meeting in a classroom to prepare for the next day. We were given tips on how to help the children: Using simple English to communicate with the children. The volunteers separated into two groups. Mr. Huang played guitar for us, Jenny and Cindy played recorder, and we all told jokes and sang after all the discussion was done. After the meeting was over we went back to the dormitories to retire. However, before we went to sleep the, all the volunteers, had some recreational card playing. We all went to sleep after playing cards.
On the third day, we had breakfast and we headed down to the elementary school. It was raining, because of the Morakot typhoon. Everybody, including the Aboriginal children went to the classroom for an introduction and informational meeting. All the members of the program identified there self. We them told all the children to give there own introduction. We told them if they did well on there introduction, they would receive candy. They were all very excited when we told them that we were the people of America. Some of the children sang a song for there introduction. One in particular had a very mature voice and sang perfectly in tune. The children were then separated into two groups. I was in group one which first went to the computer classroom to teach the children about the world’s geography and landmarks through the use of the software Google© Earth. They were also given a worksheet by Mr. Huang. I helped one of the children to use it. Some of them had a hard time finding the location due to their lack of knowledge of the world. However, they all grasped the geography of this world at the end of the session.
We switched classrooms with the other group. The second group was in the other classroom to draw a flag and find a mascot for their American football team. Team 2 was called Duma for the Duma black bear, native to Taiwan. All the children of Team Duma drew on the flag their name and many bears. Mr. Gin Liang supervised our group on our flag. He helped us get paint, markers, and other art supplies. We decided to go as Bunan for the Bunan tribe, which was the native tribe for Lidao. They were all very excited to paint, but unfortunately there was chaos within the classroom. They got paint on the floor and other places. They were very rowdy and everyone tried to paint it with there own way. The end result was quite messy but it had the spirit of all the children.
There was still time left to teach some team appreciation, so we taught them, “2, 4, 6, 8. Who do we appreciate? Bunan, Bunan, Bunan!” They all shouted very loud and they had no problem learning this. It had rhyme and rhythm to make it very easy to learn. It would make sense if one were to interpret the Aboriginal people as very poetic and musical people. We then taught them how to sing “Mary had a little lamb.” This was just a little bit harder. They had problems memorizing the lyrics, because of the English. However, the melody itself was very simple to understand and it was quite universal. We also rewarded those that were brave enough to sing with candy.
We later made a giant map with our group assigned to us. It did not have to be accurate but it had to be artistic. With the new found knowledge from Google© Earth, the children now understand more about the world’s geography. My group’s children, Tou Shen and Hao Wei, they thought each continent had a shape of a animal, so they drew the continents with a similarity to the animals. We had colored and added more objects and animals into the map. Later, we showed off all of our maps.
Subsequently, we headed across into the covered basketball court to play American Football. Playing on the grass was less possible due to the rain for the typhoon. They first had no clue on how to play American football. They used the football we supplied as makeshift basketballs and they tried do some lay-ups. We eventually taught them how to throw and catch a ball. They were all very skilled at sports, some immediately threw a perfect spiral. We played catch for about an hour before Dr. Ryan Wang came to teach all the children how to play the game. He went over some exercise drills with the children.
All of us went to the barbeque later and we had some dinner there. It was a new experience, since it was raining and a barbeque. The aboriginal children were very happy and excited for the meal and they sang and chanted songs that they all knew and they were full of energy and spirit. There were some Aboriginal dishes that we never tried before like the Salt grilled fish. The food was very delicious and the atmosphere was of top quality.
We had to leave early the next day. However, we still had time to give one last lesson and good bye to the children. Georgina and Jessica taught them “Mary had a little lamb.” They invited children up to sing with them, so that they would be rewarded with candy. The children did not sing perfectly, but it was great for those who have little contact to English. Later, Thomas and Jonathan taught the children “If you’re happy and you know it”. They had a hard time, but they got it down. We took some photos and we went down the treacherous path of the mountain.
The rest of the day was for relaxation. We went to a rice factory for a tour and then we headed to the teacher and worker hotel. We had McDonald that night at Taitung. It was the nearest restaurant to our hotel. We retired at our hotel by playing some card game with the other volunteers. On the next day, we had nothing to do, because the Morakot Typhoon was too great and we could not contact the children at Taimali. We went to the Darwan church, however, and greeted the pasture’s wife. Later we went to a 5 star restroom at the museum of Prehistory. After that we went to the beaches to see some driftwood that may cost to an upward price of 1 million dollars. The arcade and shopping centers next to the Hostel provided us with entertainment. All the American volunteers had steak at a steakhouse that night.
The next day, we went to the Darwan Church. This time we went there to volunteer. We went to the second floor, to the stage, to allow the children to split up into groups. The children played “rock, paper, scissors” to make a very equal division of children among the group.
Our group, group 1, went down stairs first where the DOC is located. The computer course was approximate towards the subjects we taught in Lidao. All the volunteers grouped up with a couple of children to teach them how to use Google© Earth. The only thing that was a little bit different was that the children had religious beliefs. Mr. Huang’s course also included the skills of locating Biblical locations. It would be logical to think that our time at Lidao has taught us that teaching the children songs would be very smart. So revisions of the computer course were made to the computer course. We gave children the skills of finding songs on Youtube©, since we were going to teach them some songs later: Merry had a little lamb. The volunteers were also expected to help the children to find Bible worship songs: “In Jesus we are one family”. It wasn’t very hard to teach the children these skills. The children have already taken the DOC for granted and know some essential knowledge of the computer.
Once all the children were done searching for all the information, we switched places with Group 2, which had an art session earlier. We went upstairs and helped the children draw out some biblical stories. The catch was to label some items in English to help them develop some skills and knowledge in the English language. Drawing wasn’t hard, but to tell them what to draw was quite the challenge. The children were excited to draw and started to draw to their heart’s content. The most biblical thing they drew was crosses. They started drawing random animals and objects. I did not object. I just labeled the things they drew. Even I drew some things with them.
We had a second chance to draw right after we were done drawing out the first poster. This time anything was fine, as long as you are happy. All the volunteers and I drew many random things. It was quite chaotic and unruly. Nevertheless, we finished. The Volunteers gathered upstairs to have lunch. We all had some bento. All the children gathered upstairs after we finished lunch. Because of the location we were in, we all sang bible worship songs. It was quite fun and exhilarating.
Dr. Ryan Wang and the pasture had something big for the volunteers. We sat down and saw the Christian teenagers do a play/skit about “Jonah and the Big Fish.” They did it quite hilariously to keep the audience captivated. There was a catch for having such an entertainment for all of us: The Volunteers had to set up the very same play with the children. It was trivial to complain about it, so we did it.
All of us came up with the idea to split up and set’s up props with the children. I had the role of Jonah, so I didn’t need to have any props. I made a beard characteristic to Jonah to fit my role later. I later helped the others with the props: painting and coloring. We practiced a bit to prepare for tomorrow play. Later the children went home, and we had our delicious, gourmet bento.
The night was for comforting the Morakot typhoon flood victims. All the members of the program gathered at the church. A bus came and took us to the refuge center, located at a local elementary school. At the refuge center all the Christian victims, volunteers, and Church members gathered and prayed. We prayed for an hour.
All the volunteers went to Family Mart to acquire essential goods and food. We later walked back to the home stay and then we slept.
Breakfast was served at the home stay the next morning. Everybody went to the church immediately after breakfast. We hustled to the second floor practicing the play. Once we were completely finished practicing we had lunch. Dr. Ryan Wang wanted to show us the damage made by the Morakot Typhoon by taking us to the flood site. The flood wiped away an entire village and valley. It was very startling to see an entire village vanish because a flood. Next we headed up down the road. The road was completely cut off because of the flood. The road was destroyed by the flood and it was quite dangerous to stand on the road, we may never know when it might break off. The road was the only road that leads into a small village. The people in the village cannot leave because of the broken road.
Later that day we went back to the church to assemble and do our play with the children. We ate dinner. The rice we had with the dinner was the rice bought at the rice factory earlier in our trip. The children came up to the second floor and practicing was commenced for the last time and then our assembly started.
We first had some more bible worship songs to break ice between people. Then we gathered to start our play. It went smoothly as practiced. Then Cindy and Jenny with the pianist played a Christian song on there recorder. We then gathered around to teach the children Mary had a little lamb and if your happy and you know it. Then we sang some Bible worship songs in Chinese, as if they were trying to teach us Chinese. The assembly finished and we had a photo session. We went back to the home stay and then we slept. We left the next day after staying at NTTU to get our certifications and writing our report.
The program was very nice; everything was coordinated, even though the Morakot typhoon disrupted our original schedule and plan that took Dr. Ryan Wang a relatively long amount of time. The children of Lidao were very adventurous and social. They showed more inner childhood and innocence than most other city children. They were very kind and at the same time very chaotic.
The children of Taimali behave more like the average child of Taiwan. They have easy access to a bustling city such as Taitung and they already know some basic knowledge of this world. Nevertheless, they still are very active and smart. It is just different to teach children with less experience with society then to those with more experience.
The biggest problem with the program, I think, is that all the children knew how to use the computer, in one way or another. They already have computers there and it is not a new experience for the children. Using Google© Earth to teach children is a good idea. The thing is that our program’s description was to break the Digital Divide for the aboriginal children. Both places we went to had a computer classroom. A truly divided place would be a place where computer access is nearly impossible without great travel. I observed the children’s skills with the computer and I saw that they already know how to download games, access websites, and install programs.
Teaching the children of Lidao the geography of the world is a big accomplishment. Knowing the image of the world may just increase some one’s vision of the world. Enlightenment is great and they will be able to understand more about the world and how things work. However, the children of Taimali already knew some basic geography of the world, so teaching them how to find the different continents of the world wasn’t quite as necessary, but it was still good to help them review where each continent is located.
English should probably be the biggest focus of this program. All the children, from Taimali and Lidao know little English. English may be a big tool for communication and connecting to the future. Chinese is a good tool for future communication and is probably going to be dominant in the future, but currently many countries have English as there official language. One way we tried to communicate with them was to speak to them in English very slowly so that they would understand and eventually kick it up until we can find a balanced way to speak to them. This however is difficult and the children’s skill in English varies. Teaching them songs in English was smart. Unfortunately, I do not believe they know the meaning of the song at all. Teaching them our culture was a good starter for teaching them English. Teaching them our culture will enable them to understand the different applications of it and how they might use English in the future. It should be a focus, but teaching it to them straight would be forcing the children.
In the International Vision Outreach Program for Taitung Remote Areas Minority I experienced many different ways of life and even a new experience of a massive typhoon that occurred coincidently with our program. The children learned a lot about our culture, the world, and computers. Even though it was the first time the program was ever established with Americans, but it went really well and I hope we learn from this year will be applied and revised next year.
Aug 16, 2009
Aug 12, 2009
心得報告
Report 2009.8.5~8.12
所謂「助人為快樂之本」，付出自己的心力來幫助別人，是一件既能訓練自己又能造福大眾的事。而這一個禮拜下來，我與其他七位國際志工，在台東這個美麗的地方，也從事了這樣一種有意義的事。
第一段的行程是到台東山區的「利稻國小」，教他們如何使用電腦Google地球。活潑好動的布農族小朋友看見我們的到來，興奮的黏著我們問東問西。從運動時間的橄欖球，更進一步見識到他們是天生獵人的本領。晚上的烤肉雖然外面下著雨颳著風，但小朋友圍著炭火快樂的唱歌，就像一個大家庭一樣溫馨。我覺得雖然山上的資源有限，生活也不富裕，但他們那樂觀的心態很直得我們學習：無論是身在何處都不被擊垮，喜樂的度過每一天。在利稻山上的生活，也是另一種的清靜悠閒。
而讓這次行程更加難忘的「特別嘉賓」是出入台灣的常客──颱風。這次的颱風「莫拉克」在台灣所帶來的災害可說是多的不計其數，尤其是再台東更創下了近五十年來最嚴重的一次，不僅許多道路、鐵路被強大的河水硬生生的沖斷，連我們安排行程的太麻里鄉部分地區也難逃無情大水的威力，原本熱鬧的村落商街現在都成了雨水土石的大型河道。我們隨著所去的達旺教會，到災民庇護處關懷。進了災區，當我看到受災現場時，真的難以想像那曾經我去過時的面貌。看著海岸線堆積如山的漂流木及波濤洶湧的海浪，颱風及大自然的威力可是無法抵擋及預測的。
有認真的看過一本書，才會有深刻的印象；實地的勘察走過，才會了解真正情形；有親身的見識付出，才會有鮮明的經驗記憶。我覺得這次的國際志工服務很不錯，不但能有服務的機會、到各地協助，還可以見識到不一樣的文化生活，有全新的體驗，是一段很特別的時光。雖然因為颱風來襲而打亂了行程，但這就像是為活動加上了奇特的元素，讓行程組合成另一種風貌，使大家有不同的歷程，也慶幸自己平安無事。我也建議下次的活動行程能緊湊一點，和小朋友的合作也能增加〈這次可能是颱風的關係〉。以後有機會我也會再回到我們去過的利稻國小、達旺教會，也希望這個計畫能持續一年年辦下去，造福更多的人。
By Cindy
所謂「助人為快樂之本」，付出自己的心力來幫助別人，是一件既能訓練自己又能造福大眾的事。而這一個禮拜下來，我與其他七位國際志工，在台東這個美麗的地方，也從事了這樣一種有意義的事。
第一段的行程是到台東山區的「利稻國小」，教他們如何使用電腦Google地球。活潑好動的布農族小朋友看見我們的到來，興奮的黏著我們問東問西。從運動時間的橄欖球，更進一步見識到他們是天生獵人的本領。晚上的烤肉雖然外面下著雨颳著風，但小朋友圍著炭火快樂的唱歌，就像一個大家庭一樣溫馨。我覺得雖然山上的資源有限，生活也不富裕，但他們那樂觀的心態很直得我們學習：無論是身在何處都不被擊垮，喜樂的度過每一天。在利稻山上的生活，也是另一種的清靜悠閒。
而讓這次行程更加難忘的「特別嘉賓」是出入台灣的常客──颱風。這次的颱風「莫拉克」在台灣所帶來的災害可說是多的不計其數，尤其是再台東更創下了近五十年來最嚴重的一次，不僅許多道路、鐵路被強大的河水硬生生的沖斷，連我們安排行程的太麻里鄉部分地區也難逃無情大水的威力，原本熱鬧的村落商街現在都成了雨水土石的大型河道。我們隨著所去的達旺教會，到災民庇護處關懷。進了災區，當我看到受災現場時，真的難以想像那曾經我去過時的面貌。看著海岸線堆積如山的漂流木及波濤洶湧的海浪，颱風及大自然的威力可是無法抵擋及預測的。
有認真的看過一本書，才會有深刻的印象；實地的勘察走過，才會了解真正情形；有親身的見識付出，才會有鮮明的經驗記憶。我覺得這次的國際志工服務很不錯，不但能有服務的機會、到各地協助，還可以見識到不一樣的文化生活，有全新的體驗，是一段很特別的時光。雖然因為颱風來襲而打亂了行程，但這就像是為活動加上了奇特的元素，讓行程組合成另一種風貌，使大家有不同的歷程，也慶幸自己平安無事。我也建議下次的活動行程能緊湊一點，和小朋友的合作也能增加〈這次可能是颱風的關係〉。以後有機會我也會再回到我們去過的利稻國小、達旺教會，也希望這個計畫能持續一年年辦下去，造福更多的人。
By Cindy
Report
Report
Hi, this is Jonathan Lin, and I was a member of the International Vision Outreach Program for Taitung Remote areas minority. The program set up by the National Taitung University, gave each and every one of us an everlasting experience. The week was filled with fun, fulfilling, and unforgettable events. We created long lasting bonds with the children and volunteers. Even though this program was cut short by an unforeseen catastrophe, many of our goals were still met.
Our first days in Taitung consisted of a short tour of the city and its surrounding areas. On the second day, we went up to a city called Lidao where the Bunun tribe inhabited. On the first day up in Lidao, we worked on cleaning up the school’s classrooms and kitchen. The classrooms were very dirty, so we cleaned the tables, floor, chalkboard, and others. It seemed as though the rooms were inhabited for a long time. Schools up in remote areas need to be funded more because the learning conditions just aren’t as nice as compared to those in cities. I feel that funding plays a crucial part in how well the school will perform, but unfortunately money is hard to find during this economic hardship. With money, the school can afford to buy more updated class supplies and computers. Since the children up in Lidao don’t get much of a chance to leave the area, their view and knowledge of the outside world only can come from technologies such as televisions, computers, and outside visitors from elsewhere. During our stay in Lidao, I hoped we made our presence felt. The children really needed contact with others from the outside world. I had many conversations with the children about lifestyles in America. There was like a cultural exchange between the two of us. Comparisons and contrasts were made. The students seemed rather fascinated in certain areas of my life, such as my living conditions, school life, food, and etc… Another key point I would like to make is that the students were very fond of Taiwan celebrities in outside countries such as Wang Chien Ming. When we used the Google Earth program, when we asked the children to locate America, many of the students could locate America, more specifically the New York area. The students knew about the popular Taiwan baseball player, Wang Chien Ming, who plays for the New York Yankees. Other teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers also has Taiwan baseball stars such as Hong-Chih Kuo . Just the presence of Taiwanese stars will give children something to look up to. Taiwanese stars outside of Taiwan give motivations and aspirations for students.
Another point I noticed in the students of Lidao was that the students as a whole were more connected. Since most or all of them were from the Bunun tribe, they are like one huge family. They look after each other when one is in need and care for one of another. However, with that said, they still do get in some conflicts and fights. The children also seemed more excited and thrilled to learn compared to the students in DarWan church. On the other hand, since they were more enthusiastic, they were much harder to control. Even though the students were loud and sometimes obnoxious, they were fun to work with. They taught us a Bunun chant and we taught them some spirit songs too. I feel the spirit they put in really made us a happy group. Seeing the kids having fun and learning made me feel our presence was of some importance. Despite all the good that happened in Lidao, there could have been much improvement on our part. I feel that an earlier preparation would help the program run much more smoothly. For example, my friends attended other programs in Taiwan similar to this, and had a long tutorial and preparation time for the volunteers. However, the other programs were six weeks long. If our program was of that length, we probably would have made a much larger impact and built a longer lasting bond. The students at Lidao gave me a whole new perspective of minority areas. The children at Lidao were very binding. The group of students didn’t seem like they were from different families; it was as if they were from one giant family. For example, when the students were singing during the bbq, it was as though they were all brothers and sisters, each of them were playful with one another, and when we were playing football, when one gets hurt, a group of students come to his aid. They’re also very welcoming and friendly.
Our program at Lidao was cut short by the destruction of the typhoon. Even though it was short, I felt the children and volunteers had a great time together. When we went down the mountain during the morning of the 3rd day, it was a little terrifying experience. There were some falling rocks on the ground and also strong gusts of wind and rain. I remember on the first day we drove up to Lidao, the flowing river was crystal clear, but on the day we left, the river was very dirty and packed with debris. After getting down the mountain safely, we had lunch and said goodbyes to Elton’s parents and my mom. They were going back home. Next, we went to a rice factory, where we learned about the process of making rice. I never thought that rice took so long to process. It takes a well designed procedure to produce the rice we eat. After going to the factory, we were planning to visit Taimali; however the conditions in Taimali were so bad that we could not get there safely. So we stayed for a while at the rice factory and then went to our hotel. The next day, we went to Taimali to see its conditions. Fortunately, the church was safe. Even though the DarWan Church was ok, the destruction in its surrounding was catastrophic. I have never seen a natural disaster in my life before. I’ve only seen disasters on television. It was terrifying to see what a typhoon can do. Many houses were washed away, bridges collapsed, and trees blown and washed away. The disaster is inexplicable. After wards, we headed to look at the ocean. The oceans washed up a lot of the tree branches. We headed back to the hotel and rested.
On the following morning, we made our way to Taimali. When we got there the first thing I noticed was that they didn’t all seem like from an aboriginal tribe. Also the kids seemed better-behaved than those kids from Lidao. I feel that at Taimali, they were more willing to learn and I feel a little bit closer bond to them. All of the students seemed very welcoming to our coming. The students there were also more manageable, but I think it’s partly because the students weren’t as young as those in Lidao. We sang many Christian songs and also performed a play.
During our stay at Taimali, we did a homestay at one of the church member’s house. We all stayed on the second floor of the house. On our last night we went up to the rooftop and saw many stars, thanks to the clear skies. It was beautiful because when I’m the US, I rarely get a chance to view so many stars.
Lastly, the friendship we built will be everlasting. Everyone that I met, ranging from parents and staffs to all the volunteers, it was a great experience. I was glad to have spent this time with this group of people. Hopefully, in the future there will be time when we can meet and work together again.
Hi, this is Jonathan Lin, and I was a member of the International Vision Outreach Program for Taitung Remote areas minority. The program set up by the National Taitung University, gave each and every one of us an everlasting experience. The week was filled with fun, fulfilling, and unforgettable events. We created long lasting bonds with the children and volunteers. Even though this program was cut short by an unforeseen catastrophe, many of our goals were still met.
Our first days in Taitung consisted of a short tour of the city and its surrounding areas. On the second day, we went up to a city called Lidao where the Bunun tribe inhabited. On the first day up in Lidao, we worked on cleaning up the school’s classrooms and kitchen. The classrooms were very dirty, so we cleaned the tables, floor, chalkboard, and others. It seemed as though the rooms were inhabited for a long time. Schools up in remote areas need to be funded more because the learning conditions just aren’t as nice as compared to those in cities. I feel that funding plays a crucial part in how well the school will perform, but unfortunately money is hard to find during this economic hardship. With money, the school can afford to buy more updated class supplies and computers. Since the children up in Lidao don’t get much of a chance to leave the area, their view and knowledge of the outside world only can come from technologies such as televisions, computers, and outside visitors from elsewhere. During our stay in Lidao, I hoped we made our presence felt. The children really needed contact with others from the outside world. I had many conversations with the children about lifestyles in America. There was like a cultural exchange between the two of us. Comparisons and contrasts were made. The students seemed rather fascinated in certain areas of my life, such as my living conditions, school life, food, and etc… Another key point I would like to make is that the students were very fond of Taiwan celebrities in outside countries such as Wang Chien Ming. When we used the Google Earth program, when we asked the children to locate America, many of the students could locate America, more specifically the New York area. The students knew about the popular Taiwan baseball player, Wang Chien Ming, who plays for the New York Yankees. Other teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers also has Taiwan baseball stars such as Hong-Chih Kuo . Just the presence of Taiwanese stars will give children something to look up to. Taiwanese stars outside of Taiwan give motivations and aspirations for students.
Another point I noticed in the students of Lidao was that the students as a whole were more connected. Since most or all of them were from the Bunun tribe, they are like one huge family. They look after each other when one is in need and care for one of another. However, with that said, they still do get in some conflicts and fights. The children also seemed more excited and thrilled to learn compared to the students in DarWan church. On the other hand, since they were more enthusiastic, they were much harder to control. Even though the students were loud and sometimes obnoxious, they were fun to work with. They taught us a Bunun chant and we taught them some spirit songs too. I feel the spirit they put in really made us a happy group. Seeing the kids having fun and learning made me feel our presence was of some importance. Despite all the good that happened in Lidao, there could have been much improvement on our part. I feel that an earlier preparation would help the program run much more smoothly. For example, my friends attended other programs in Taiwan similar to this, and had a long tutorial and preparation time for the volunteers. However, the other programs were six weeks long. If our program was of that length, we probably would have made a much larger impact and built a longer lasting bond. The students at Lidao gave me a whole new perspective of minority areas. The children at Lidao were very binding. The group of students didn’t seem like they were from different families; it was as if they were from one giant family. For example, when the students were singing during the bbq, it was as though they were all brothers and sisters, each of them were playful with one another, and when we were playing football, when one gets hurt, a group of students come to his aid. They’re also very welcoming and friendly.
Our program at Lidao was cut short by the destruction of the typhoon. Even though it was short, I felt the children and volunteers had a great time together. When we went down the mountain during the morning of the 3rd day, it was a little terrifying experience. There were some falling rocks on the ground and also strong gusts of wind and rain. I remember on the first day we drove up to Lidao, the flowing river was crystal clear, but on the day we left, the river was very dirty and packed with debris. After getting down the mountain safely, we had lunch and said goodbyes to Elton’s parents and my mom. They were going back home. Next, we went to a rice factory, where we learned about the process of making rice. I never thought that rice took so long to process. It takes a well designed procedure to produce the rice we eat. After going to the factory, we were planning to visit Taimali; however the conditions in Taimali were so bad that we could not get there safely. So we stayed for a while at the rice factory and then went to our hotel. The next day, we went to Taimali to see its conditions. Fortunately, the church was safe. Even though the DarWan Church was ok, the destruction in its surrounding was catastrophic. I have never seen a natural disaster in my life before. I’ve only seen disasters on television. It was terrifying to see what a typhoon can do. Many houses were washed away, bridges collapsed, and trees blown and washed away. The disaster is inexplicable. After wards, we headed to look at the ocean. The oceans washed up a lot of the tree branches. We headed back to the hotel and rested.
On the following morning, we made our way to Taimali. When we got there the first thing I noticed was that they didn’t all seem like from an aboriginal tribe. Also the kids seemed better-behaved than those kids from Lidao. I feel that at Taimali, they were more willing to learn and I feel a little bit closer bond to them. All of the students seemed very welcoming to our coming. The students there were also more manageable, but I think it’s partly because the students weren’t as young as those in Lidao. We sang many Christian songs and also performed a play.
During our stay at Taimali, we did a homestay at one of the church member’s house. We all stayed on the second floor of the house. On our last night we went up to the rooftop and saw many stars, thanks to the clear skies. It was beautiful because when I’m the US, I rarely get a chance to view so many stars.
Lastly, the friendship we built will be everlasting. Everyone that I met, ranging from parents and staffs to all the volunteers, it was a great experience. I was glad to have spent this time with this group of people. Hopefully, in the future there will be time when we can meet and work together again.
International Vision Outreach Program for Taitung Remote Areas Minority Report
Hello my name is Thomas Chen. I am currently 19 years old. I am going to be a third year student at the University of California Riverside. My major is Business Administration. My parents both come from Taiwan but I am an American. I was born in the United States and I live in Southern California.
During the International Vision Outreach Program for Taitung Remote Areas Minority I had many new experiences. I got to meet new people and experience cultures that I never knew about. Also I experienced some new strange things like the Typhoon Morakot and the power of nature. I have been to Taiwan many times but I have never gone to Taitung before this program. Taitung is so much different than other parts of Taiwan that I always visit like Taipei, Taichung and Lugang. In Taitung I went to two different places, Lidao and Taimali. Lidao is a Bunun settlement that is in the mountains. Bunun is the name of one of the Taiwan aboriginal tribes. Taimali is a town that is very close to the Pacific Ocean in Taitung County, Taiwan.
In Lidao we went to the local elementary school there. We taught the students there how to play football, taught them how to use Google Earth and taught them English terms and songs. Since they are in the mountain they are very isolated, there is no supermarket, mall or night market down the street like other parts of Taiwan. The kids in Lidao where very interested in the volunteers, they wanted to know our names, stuff about us and they asked us a lot of questions. Lidao was one of my favorite places because I got to experience something very different, something that I probably would never experience if I did not come here. The kids at Lidao where a very special group. They were different then other kids, they loved to sing and they were very wild and loud yet they were also very nice. When we gave them gifts and candy they would say thank you. Because they live in the mountains they is no where else to go everyone gets along with each other, they are like a big family. The day we left the kids sang goodbye songs and the gave us hugs and said bye. The Bunun language was very strange but their chants and songs are very unique. One kid there called Ken was an amazing singer. Because of the typhoon we had to leave early so instead of staying three days there we only stayed there for two days. We had to leave because the road going to the mountain would of have been blocked. Luckily we did because if we had not we would have been stuck there because the road got destroyed after we left and the village there had no electricity.
In Tamali, the typhoon destroyed a lot of places I saw one part in Taimali that was completely destroyed. The highway road there was ripped apart and the dam there was gone, the whole place was filled with drift wood. The beaches and the coastlines in Taitung were filled with massive piles of drift wood. In Tamali we went to help the kids at a church there. We also taught the kids there about Google Earth, taught them English songs and terms. We also performed a play about Jonah with the kids. The kids at the church were more normal, they did not seem as interested as the Lidao kids that we came from America. The older kids there were very good at playing the drums, piano, guitar and were also good singers. Because they live closer to the city and they were not isolated in the mountains like the Lidao kids, they were more the like the kids today.
The kids also said goodbye and they each shook our hands.
Overall I think this experience was a very positive one. I got to meet new people like Elton, Joey, Howard, Hannah, Cindy and Jenny. I also got to meet the kids of Lidao and Taimali. It was a new experience for me since I have never taught a group of kids. It was very strange in Lidao where all the kids called you “Teacher”. I got to experience some new cultures that most people probably do not even know about. I got to eat the local food here and learn about the people. I think my favorite part of the program was the kids, they were the ones that make this program special. I especially liked the Lidao kids because it was very different. They were so much different than other kids. The world has continued to keep on advancing and places like Lidao are rare, but the more advance we get the more separated we get. Also I think this is a good program for people to meet new people, a place to find new friends. Some things I think we need to do to improve is that the people in the program have to visit the kids again and see if they still remember us and the things that we taught them. Some bad things about this experience is that it was very tiring, the kids make you very tired they take all your energy. I also had a very hard time sleeping, during the whole trip I did not have one good sleep. Overall I think Dr. Ryan Wang and his staff did a very good job organizing the program. Dr. Ryan also handled the typhoon really well, he got us out of Lidao before the road got damaged and handle the situation really well. I think the program is really good for Taiwan and American high school and college students or even anyone. It gives them an opportunity to experience something different, something that they normally would not do and be able to experience. It gives them a opportunity to share their culture with the minority people and to learn about the minority people and their culture. Thank you Dr. Ryan for this opportunity to come to Taitung. It was a wonderful experience and I hope I can come back again. This is a wonderful program and it would be a wonderful experience for anyone.
Hello my name is Thomas Chen. I am currently 19 years old. I am going to be a third year student at the University of California Riverside. My major is Business Administration. My parents both come from Taiwan but I am an American. I was born in the United States and I live in Southern California.
During the International Vision Outreach Program for Taitung Remote Areas Minority I had many new experiences. I got to meet new people and experience cultures that I never knew about. Also I experienced some new strange things like the Typhoon Morakot and the power of nature. I have been to Taiwan many times but I have never gone to Taitung before this program. Taitung is so much different than other parts of Taiwan that I always visit like Taipei, Taichung and Lugang. In Taitung I went to two different places, Lidao and Taimali. Lidao is a Bunun settlement that is in the mountains. Bunun is the name of one of the Taiwan aboriginal tribes. Taimali is a town that is very close to the Pacific Ocean in Taitung County, Taiwan.
In Lidao we went to the local elementary school there. We taught the students there how to play football, taught them how to use Google Earth and taught them English terms and songs. Since they are in the mountain they are very isolated, there is no supermarket, mall or night market down the street like other parts of Taiwan. The kids in Lidao where very interested in the volunteers, they wanted to know our names, stuff about us and they asked us a lot of questions. Lidao was one of my favorite places because I got to experience something very different, something that I probably would never experience if I did not come here. The kids at Lidao where a very special group. They were different then other kids, they loved to sing and they were very wild and loud yet they were also very nice. When we gave them gifts and candy they would say thank you. Because they live in the mountains they is no where else to go everyone gets along with each other, they are like a big family. The day we left the kids sang goodbye songs and the gave us hugs and said bye. The Bunun language was very strange but their chants and songs are very unique. One kid there called Ken was an amazing singer. Because of the typhoon we had to leave early so instead of staying three days there we only stayed there for two days. We had to leave because the road going to the mountain would of have been blocked. Luckily we did because if we had not we would have been stuck there because the road got destroyed after we left and the village there had no electricity.
In Tamali, the typhoon destroyed a lot of places I saw one part in Taimali that was completely destroyed. The highway road there was ripped apart and the dam there was gone, the whole place was filled with drift wood. The beaches and the coastlines in Taitung were filled with massive piles of drift wood. In Tamali we went to help the kids at a church there. We also taught the kids there about Google Earth, taught them English songs and terms. We also performed a play about Jonah with the kids. The kids at the church were more normal, they did not seem as interested as the Lidao kids that we came from America. The older kids there were very good at playing the drums, piano, guitar and were also good singers. Because they live closer to the city and they were not isolated in the mountains like the Lidao kids, they were more the like the kids today.
The kids also said goodbye and they each shook our hands.
Overall I think this experience was a very positive one. I got to meet new people like Elton, Joey, Howard, Hannah, Cindy and Jenny. I also got to meet the kids of Lidao and Taimali. It was a new experience for me since I have never taught a group of kids. It was very strange in Lidao where all the kids called you “Teacher”. I got to experience some new cultures that most people probably do not even know about. I got to eat the local food here and learn about the people. I think my favorite part of the program was the kids, they were the ones that make this program special. I especially liked the Lidao kids because it was very different. They were so much different than other kids. The world has continued to keep on advancing and places like Lidao are rare, but the more advance we get the more separated we get. Also I think this is a good program for people to meet new people, a place to find new friends. Some things I think we need to do to improve is that the people in the program have to visit the kids again and see if they still remember us and the things that we taught them. Some bad things about this experience is that it was very tiring, the kids make you very tired they take all your energy. I also had a very hard time sleeping, during the whole trip I did not have one good sleep. Overall I think Dr. Ryan Wang and his staff did a very good job organizing the program. Dr. Ryan also handled the typhoon really well, he got us out of Lidao before the road got damaged and handle the situation really well. I think the program is really good for Taiwan and American high school and college students or even anyone. It gives them an opportunity to experience something different, something that they normally would not do and be able to experience. It gives them a opportunity to share their culture with the minority people and to learn about the minority people and their culture. Thank you Dr. Ryan for this opportunity to come to Taitung. It was a wonderful experience and I hope I can come back again. This is a wonderful program and it would be a wonderful experience for anyone.
Report
Jessica Lin
International Vision Outreach Program for Taitung Remote Areas Minority
During this program I learned a lot about the outside world that most people usually don’t get to experience. It gave me a chance to understand the world a little better and see the digital dividend problem. We taught the youth more about the world and how the internet can take you anywhere with the help of Google Earth. This program gave me unforgettable memories and experiences.
For the past seven days it has been a blast. It was something I experienced for the first time. On the first day, we went from
From this experience I met new friends, learned new things, and enjoyed every second of it. My most unforgettable memory would have to be the day we stayed at Lidao Elementary because it was a very different environment compared to the one I am usually in and the kids were fun to be with. The BBQ at Lidao was a very unique experience because it was raining and the kids were singing tribe songs that sounded very beautiful. I really liked how we went to the elementary school with all the people that had to evacuate, because some of the people said some very touching stories that made me cry.
For this program, I really hope they have it next year because it is a great opportunity for people from other countries to understand the divide problem in
A Special Experience
Report
很高興能參加這次機會中心的國際志工服務計畫,和幾位遠從美國加州來的學生們一起到偏遠地區幫助那些小朋友,教導他們一些簡單的英文,英文歌曲使用Google Earth還有畫世界地圖……進而拓展國際觀及視野
第一站~利稻~山中的小村落,那邊的布農族小朋友可說是非常活潑好動,和他們玩在一起有一種家人的感覺,而且,他們也都是歌唱高手呢!宏亮的歌聲更為我們大家烤肉增添了熱鬧的氣氛,雖然在下著雨的颱風夜前夕,但我們心中吃著熱呼呼的烤肉和大家聚在一起,更加溫暖了
一個突如其來的颱風使得我們要提早下山,台東的風雨可真不小呀!中颱~莫拉克~帶來了強風和大量的降雨,為台灣水庫解決了缺水之問題但也造成南台灣重大的水災,許多地方交通受阻,有些人更失去了他們的家園......除了物資上支援他們,心靈上的安慰更是不可或缺,我們去災民岸置區和他們一起唱歌,為他們禱告,更祈禱他們早日重建家園 在台東遇到颱風真是個特別的經歷,讓我們更能珍惜自己所擁有的切,並且學會感恩,知足
最後三天我們到太麻里的達旺教會,那裏是排灣族,我們教小朋友使用電腦.唱歌,更和小朋友們一起排演話劇~約拿和大魚~並做了故事中所需要的道具和布景,大家在遊戲中學習並認真參與,在第二天晚上呈現出我們的成果,在歡樂中為我們的教會活動畫下美好的句點
這八天國際志工的活動即將告一個段落,但我收穫不少~認識並去體驗山上偏遠地區的不同生活,這一切和都市生活完全不太一樣, 旅途中~窗外彷彿由一幅幅壯麗開闊的山水畫所鋪陳出來的,一望無際的海洋倚著灣延陡峭的山壁向外延伸,看著看著,心情跟著開闊起來……途中的感想
所謂<助人為快樂之本>我們付出的越多,得到的也越多,藉由這次的國際志工服務活動,我更了解到只要我們主動去關懷那些需要幫助的人,或許只是一些微不足道的小小行動,但那一切所帶給他們的,可能會成為最即時的幫助,把我們所學的知識和一些能力,去教給更多的人,一起分享,更交流彼此的心情故事,也是不錯的體驗呢!
對我來說~另一個挑戰就是學習能和從美國來的國際志工講話,學英文,說真的~我好羨慕好羨慕他們可以把英文說得那麼流利,或許是我該更大方的練習說,但在和他們玩遊戲的過程中,我也練習學著聽到底在講些甚麼~~
我想,在這次的志工活動中,我學習了很多事,從不同角度去想事情, 並和這些哥哥姊姊們一起練習帶小朋友活動.表演~認識了很多朋友,沒錯,只要哪裡有愛.哪裡有溫暖.我們都是一家人,要互相幫助~在此感謝參與活動的所有同仁,謝謝你們讓活動順利進行,大家都很平安~Thanks~
希望大家都能留下美好回憶~Nice to meet everybody!!!
很高興能參加這次機會中心的國際志工服務計畫,和幾位遠從美國加州來的學生們一起到偏遠地區幫助那些小朋友,教導他們一些簡單的英文,英文歌曲使用Google Earth還有畫世界地圖……進而拓展國際觀及視野
第一站~利稻~山中的小村落,那邊的布農族小朋友可說是非常活潑好動,和他們玩在一起有一種家人的感覺,而且,他們也都是歌唱高手呢!宏亮的歌聲更為我們大家烤肉增添了熱鬧的氣氛,雖然在下著雨的颱風夜前夕,但我們心中吃著熱呼呼的烤肉和大家聚在一起,更加溫暖了
一個突如其來的颱風使得我們要提早下山,台東的風雨可真不小呀!中颱~莫拉克~帶來了強風和大量的降雨,為台灣水庫解決了缺水之問題但也造成南台灣重大的水災,許多地方交通受阻,有些人更失去了他們的家園......除了物資上支援他們,心靈上的安慰更是不可或缺,我們去災民岸置區和他們一起唱歌,為他們禱告,更祈禱他們早日重建家園 在台東遇到颱風真是個特別的經歷,讓我們更能珍惜自己所擁有的切,並且學會感恩,知足
最後三天我們到太麻里的達旺教會,那裏是排灣族,我們教小朋友使用電腦.唱歌,更和小朋友們一起排演話劇~約拿和大魚~並做了故事中所需要的道具和布景,大家在遊戲中學習並認真參與,在第二天晚上呈現出我們的成果,在歡樂中為我們的教會活動畫下美好的句點
這八天國際志工的活動即將告一個段落,但我收穫不少~認識並去體驗山上偏遠地區的不同生活,這一切和都市生活完全不太一樣, 旅途中~窗外彷彿由一幅幅壯麗開闊的山水畫所鋪陳出來的,一望無際的海洋倚著灣延陡峭的山壁向外延伸,看著看著,心情跟著開闊起來……途中的感想
所謂<助人為快樂之本>我們付出的越多,得到的也越多,藉由這次的國際志工服務活動,我更了解到只要我們主動去關懷那些需要幫助的人,或許只是一些微不足道的小小行動,但那一切所帶給他們的,可能會成為最即時的幫助,把我們所學的知識和一些能力,去教給更多的人,一起分享,更交流彼此的心情故事,也是不錯的體驗呢!
對我來說~另一個挑戰就是學習能和從美國來的國際志工講話,學英文,說真的~我好羨慕好羨慕他們可以把英文說得那麼流利,或許是我該更大方的練習說,但在和他們玩遊戲的過程中,我也練習學著聽到底在講些甚麼~~
我想,在這次的志工活動中,我學習了很多事,從不同角度去想事情, 並和這些哥哥姊姊們一起練習帶小朋友活動.表演~認識了很多朋友,沒錯,只要哪裡有愛.哪裡有溫暖.我們都是一家人,要互相幫助~在此感謝參與活動的所有同仁,謝謝你們讓活動順利進行,大家都很平安~Thanks~
希望大家都能留下美好回憶~Nice to meet everybody!!!
REPORT :D!
Georgina Chen
International Volunteer for Taitung remote areas
This was an amazing, once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget. From the outgoing kids at Lidao Elementary School to the worship session for the typhoon victims, I gained a lot of knowledge and experience that is necessary when going off into the real world. It all began one weekend during a sleepover at Jessica's house that her mom introduced us to the program. After some discussion, I decided to join the program without any hesitation. Throughout the entire summer while I traveled around other areas of Taiwan and China, I waited for the week to arrive. August 5, all my family members knew that was the day I would be going to Taitung for a week of international volunteer.
It all began with a forty minute flight to the city of Taitung. As we all met in the airport for the first time, everyone was shy, since for some of us it was the first time meeting the others. We then took a bus to the restaurant where we all introduced ourselves and began our journey to all becoming friends. After dinner, we went to our ming su home where a friendly host gave us a warm welcome at the door. As soon as we opened the door to our room, a lizard crawled up the wall and the room was infested with mosquitoes. For the five minutes that I was outside, I got stung five times. I will never get used to mosquito bites for they are itchy and scar my legs; however, despite all the mosquitoes, the room was beautiful and was followed by an amazing breakfast the next morning.
The following day we created name tags and was introduced to our blog, which I think is very useful in keeping track of our daily activities. We soon got on the bus to Lidao which was followed by a terrible headache from the curvy mountain roads. At Lidao, we were introduced to a dirty computer and classroom of which we all put in our efforts to clean. I think this portion of the volunteer program was really memorable in that we all worked as a team and accomplished a goal together. The next morning, we finally met the children we would be interacting with. Not only were they outgoing and loud, but they were also disobedient at times; however, we all soon became friends and taught each other something new. They taught us their tribal chant while we introduced our American culture to them such as football and singing songs. Their singing was beautiful and sent chills throughout my body. Interacting with them was really unforgettable and my fortune to have been able to work with them.
That night was one of the most memorable experiences from this program. We barbecued with the children while they sang in harmony as the rain pattered in the background and the wind howled in the distance. I discovered that they all eat a lot but do not waste food and are amazing at barbecuing. Although we were all covered in smoke and the rain made our clothes wet, it was very joyful and exciting experience that we shared with the children. Unfortunately the typhoon came so we had to cut our plans short and leave Lidao in order to avoid any road blockages. After only one day of interacting with them, I felt sad to leave them- the kids all stood in the rain to wave bye to us which was really touching. If given a chance I would definitely want to visit them again and be able to stay longer. On the way down the mountain, we encountered various scary scenes- there were rocks piled on the street and streams of water pouring out of the mountains.
After returning to Taitung area, we were notified that the road had been broken soon after we left. Our plans shifted from the planned curriculum due to the typhoon so we ended up staying at a hotel that night. The next day was also ruined by the typhoon- all we were able to do was visit the church at Tamali to make sure everything was okay to proceed on with the events. We stopped twice on the way back to the hotel to look at the drifting wood on the beach. I had never seen such a sight! There were piles of wood everywhere laying on the sand. Although our plans were ruined by the typhoon, I feel as though the typhoon was a really big part of this volunteer experience. It helped us to create a real life situation in which we were on our own as kids and showed the power of mother nature. It made us experience the disaster first hand rather than on the news- since we were able to visit the disaster site up close.
The next day, we were finally able to work with the children at the church. As a group, we all sang, played games, and drew. We worked on a creating a play and making props for the stage performance. At night, we were invited to go to the elementary school in which all the typhoon victims were residing. Seeing all the mattresses in one classroom and all the victims made me realize how fortunate I am to have a family and a home to go to. We stood in the back as the priest of the church sang and prayed to lift the spirits of the victims. It was a very spiritual and uplifting experience that touched me in seeing that they wanted more than anything for their family to be safe- their house was not in the least important as opposed to their family being with them.
The next day, we returned to the church in the morning and continued to play games and sing with the children. We worked on our play as an entire group and ate boxed lunches together. After lunch, we were able to visit the disaster site first hand. It was something I have never seen- not only were the roads torn and broken, but the entire area was covered in mud and wood. It was ten times more scary than seeing it on the news. We then returned to the church where we performed our play and said a farewell to the kids at night. The priest awarded us with a gift with the colors of their tribe on a key chain. Before we left, everyone wanted to take pictures with one another and we had an enjoyable time shaking hands, giving hugs, and saying our goodbyes. Even just after two days of interaction we all seem to have become to close to a couple of the children at the church. I think they are all special in their own way and are noble for working with the victims by singing to them, organizing clothes, and much more.
I will NEVER forget this experience! Not only did I have a lot of fun and made new friends, but I also learned a lot and experienced my first typhoon and the effects of mother nature. Although shy at first when we first met each other in the airport, all of us soon became friends including Dr. Ryan Wang's children, Hannah and Howard. We all met in each other's room at night to play cards and hang out. All the children we met in Lidao Elementary School and in Taimali church have also become our friends and will never be forgotten. I will also remember the peanut mochi and the crunchy, sweet yams- they were delicious! All our memories have been set in stone for we have taken many pictures to keep the memory alive. Some improvements that I think would benefit the program would be to make it longer- I feel as though it would be even more memorable to be able to interact with one set of children for at least a week.
Thank you Dr. Wang for this opportunity to become an international volunteer. It was my first time traveling by myself and helped me gained experience that can be used in the real world. If given the opportunity, I would definitely want to come back again and work with the children. Thank you for everything- for taking your time to service the Taitung area, for driving us around in your car, for taking us to eat delicious foods, and for inviting us to come to Taitung! I am forever grateful for this opportunity and I hope that we will keep in contact and I hope I can come back to Taitung and service the remote area children.
Aug 10, 2009
Second day in the Luxurious hotel
Today was our second day in our hotel . We woke at 7 and went to eat McDonald's. After McDonald's, we went to Tai Mali to check it out. Apparently, it is still partly under water. After Tai Mali, we went to Zi Ben and ate some fish. When the fish was devoured, we went to the 6 star restroom of The Museum of Pre-Time. After using the very nice restroom, we headed to the beach to look at it. The beach was covered with drift wood, with some that apparently are worth a lot. After leaving the beach, we went to a delicious mochi shop. We each got two pieces of mochi, which tasted great. After that, we came back to te hotel, ate some steak, played cards, and truth and dare. We had a splendid time today (especially with the truth and dare)!
The Final day in Li Dao Elementary School
The Final day in Li Dao Elementary School.
Due to Morak Typhoon, we have to shorten our stay and courses in the Li Dao Elementary.
Aug 9, 2009
8/9/09 Preparation
It was early morning on the ninth of August, and we did not have anything planned yet. For breakfast, we had Mcdonald's. We had English Muffins and hash browns for breakfast. After breakfast, we met on ground floor at 9am. When everyone arrived on the ground floor, Dr. Ryan Wang gave us the schedule for the day. Our plan was to go to Tamali and see the conditions there. The conditions in Tamali were very bad, many roads were closed because of the disaster caused by the floods. However, luckily, the DarWan Church was up the hill, so the flood did not damage it too much. If conditions are still held, then the plan will continue as scheduled. After confirming the conditions were ok, we left Tamali and went to eat lunch. We had bbq fish, steamed fish, and fish soup for lunch. Yum.
After lunch, we tried to go to the museum of prehistory, however it was closed because of the typhoon. Even though it was closed, we went to the nice bathroom located at the typhoons. It was one clean bathroom.
Next, Joey suggested we go to the beach and surf. When we got to the beach, the beach was filled with wood chips and branches. The violent waves washed the debris from Tamali to the seashore of Taitung.
We went back to the same hotel as yesterday, the rest of the day was free. We had steak for dinner and that was our night.
88
After lunch, we tried to go to the museum of prehistory, however it was closed because of the typhoon. Even though it was closed, we went to the nice bathroom located at the typhoons. It was one clean bathroom.
Next, Joey suggested we go to the beach and surf. When we got to the beach, the beach was filled with wood chips and branches. The violent waves washed the debris from Tamali to the seashore of Taitung.
We went back to the same hotel as yesterday, the rest of the day was free. We had steak for dinner and that was our night.
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8/8 Last day in Lidao
Our last day in Lidao elementary school was cut short because of typhoon conditions. Despite the violent winds and heavy rainfall, we kept teaching until the bus reached Lidao. For breakfast, it was egg with radish cake and milk tea. After breakfast, we quickly went to school to begin our lesson. Dr. Ryan Wang, Elton and Joey led the first course. They taught them some family relationship terms such as grandfather, grandmother, mother, brother, sister, etc... The kids also helped with pairing the English terms with Bunun terms. Afterwards, Georgina and Jessica, taught them a simple song, Mary had a Little Lamb. The kids mostly knew the tune. They got the first line pretty fast, however the second line was a little tougher. The words were more complex and had a little tough time pronouncing. They gave Chocolate kisses to those that went on stage to sing. The kids loved the chocolates from America. It was a good incentive for the students. Next, Thomas and I went to teach them If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. They had a more difficult time grasping the song. The song was a little more difficult, they couldn't pronunce some of the words and pronunciation. They get the beet really quick, but when it comes to reading it and pronuncing, difficulty arrises.
Next, sadly, was time to say goodbye. It was a short, but binding bond we built together in those couple days. The kids seemed disappointed that we were leaving. Everyone was missing Georgina. I miss Jerry and Wu Shu..who didn't even come the last day, so I couldn't say goodbye to him.
Next was off the mountain. The cars came around 10:30. We quickly loaded our luggage and prepared to drive down. As we drove down, we saw lots of rocks and tree branches that slid down from the mountain. We made it down the mountain safetly, and went straight to lunch, which was a famous traditional lunch meal. It's the most famous lunch box meal in Taitung.
After lunch, Elton's parents and my mom left and went back home via train. Originally they were planning to go tomorrow, but they decided to leave asap before the typhoon gets any worse. It was the right choice because the typhoon hit hard later in the day.
Next off we went to a rice factory. The owner of the rice factory gave us a quick tour of the factory, I never thought rice took so long to cultivate. The process takes a long long time. After the tour, we went to make wind chimes because of typhoon delays. We were planning to go to Tamali and set up, but weather prevent us from doing so.
A couple hours later, we decided to go drop off the supplies at the Taitung University. After doing so, we went to our hotel and ate Mcdonald's for dinner.
Night was over.
Good night.
Jerry, one of the children.
Next, sadly, was time to say goodbye. It was a short, but binding bond we built together in those couple days. The kids seemed disappointed that we were leaving. Everyone was missing Georgina. I miss Jerry and Wu Shu..who didn't even come the last day, so I couldn't say goodbye to him.
Next was off the mountain. The cars came around 10:30. We quickly loaded our luggage and prepared to drive down. As we drove down, we saw lots of rocks and tree branches that slid down from the mountain. We made it down the mountain safetly, and went straight to lunch, which was a famous traditional lunch meal. It's the most famous lunch box meal in Taitung.
After lunch, Elton's parents and my mom left and went back home via train. Originally they were planning to go tomorrow, but they decided to leave asap before the typhoon gets any worse. It was the right choice because the typhoon hit hard later in the day.
Next off we went to a rice factory. The owner of the rice factory gave us a quick tour of the factory, I never thought rice took so long to cultivate. The process takes a long long time. After the tour, we went to make wind chimes because of typhoon delays. We were planning to go to Tamali and set up, but weather prevent us from doing so.
A couple hours later, we decided to go drop off the supplies at the Taitung University. After doing so, we went to our hotel and ate Mcdonald's for dinner.
Night was over.
Good night.
Jerry, one of the children.
Aug 8, 2009
We went to Li Dao......
This two day ,We went to Li Dao Elementary School to taught the kids(Bunum) how to use "Google Earth",made our team flag,and learn English by singing simple English song.接下來用中文好了......第一次和這些國際志工們一起來到利稻(從台東往南橫路上的地方),那些布農族的小孩們都十分大方熱情,而且很會唱歌呢!昨天8/7晚上大家一起烤肉,在颱風天的夜裡真是一個特別的經驗呀~小孩們吃飽後就開始唱歌,一首接一首唱,感覺大家都不怎麼累的樣子~但是那種感覺還含溫馨的,大夥而圍在火爐旁......很好聽!!A Nice Day...8/8今天早上我們教完幾首歌就下山了,因為怕風雨太大切斷路無法回去,幸好大家都很安全~真是個難忘的利稻之旅呀!>_<
DAILY POST 8.8.09-8.9.09
HELLO EVERYONE :)
today there was a typhoon!! the wind is really strong and the rain keeps pouring down... all my clothes are damp. so this morning started out with luo buo gao for breakfast. then we went to go meet with the children where we taught them some english words and two songs, mary had a little lamb and if youre happy and you know it. the children also taught us their bunan chant which is a greeting that means you are great. afterwards we had to leave the mountains because it would be dangerous if we left any later. good thing we left on time because we were later notified that there had been an avalanch. on the way down the mountain there were streams of water coming down the mountains and piles of rocks everywhere! so scary :O! afterwards, we took an one and a half drive down to a wheat factory where we listened to a lecture that wasnt so interesting and then went to a rice factory that was very empty. we werent able to leave the rice museum due to typhoon conditions so we ended up making windchimes using acrylic paint. we were then able to leave and drop off our luggages at the hotel and eat dinner at mcdonalds :D! no asian food for a day. at night we played some card games (jessica/elton are cheaters!) and we went to sleep to wake up to a wonderful breakfast provided by mcdonalds...hashbrowns, egg mcmuffin, and hot coco. we then went to tamali to visit the church we will be volunteering at and to make sure that everything was okay for the upcoming events. fortunately everything is fine there so we will be able to continue our volunteer work. then we went to go eat lunch where the cook caught four fish, beat them to death, skinned them alive, and cut them open in front of us. DELICIOUS! after i was almost done with the rice, i found a worm related bug in my rice and lost my appetite after that. on our way back home we stopped by areas to see the ocean and we saw piles of driftwood on the shore. ive never seen so much wood before!!! and according to the news the typhoon seemed to be getting pretty bad in some areas.. theres flooding and a hotel even got knocked over! apparently my family watches the same news and the news makes it seem especially scary so they kept calling to make sure we were okay and not in the region where the typhoon was getting bad. we also stopped by a mochi store and everyone picked two, i picked two peanut ones which were AMAZING!!! then we returned to our hotel and we all met in the lobby at 4 to go to starbucks
today there was a typhoon!! the wind is really strong and the rain keeps pouring down... all my clothes are damp. so this morning started out with luo buo gao for breakfast. then we went to go meet with the children where we taught them some english words and two songs, mary had a little lamb and if youre happy and you know it. the children also taught us their bunan chant which is a greeting that means you are great. afterwards we had to leave the mountains because it would be dangerous if we left any later. good thing we left on time because we were later notified that there had been an avalanch. on the way down the mountain there were streams of water coming down the mountains and piles of rocks everywhere! so scary :O! afterwards, we took an one and a half drive down to a wheat factory where we listened to a lecture that wasnt so interesting and then went to a rice factory that was very empty. we werent able to leave the rice museum due to typhoon conditions so we ended up making windchimes using acrylic paint. we were then able to leave and drop off our luggages at the hotel and eat dinner at mcdonalds :D! no asian food for a day. at night we played some card games (jessica/elton are cheaters!) and we went to sleep to wake up to a wonderful breakfast provided by mcdonalds...hashbrowns, egg mcmuffin, and hot coco. we then went to tamali to visit the church we will be volunteering at and to make sure that everything was okay for the upcoming events. fortunately everything is fine there so we will be able to continue our volunteer work. then we went to go eat lunch where the cook caught four fish, beat them to death, skinned them alive, and cut them open in front of us. DELICIOUS! after i was almost done with the rice, i found a worm related bug in my rice and lost my appetite after that. on our way back home we stopped by areas to see the ocean and we saw piles of driftwood on the shore. ive never seen so much wood before!!! and according to the news the typhoon seemed to be getting pretty bad in some areas.. theres flooding and a hotel even got knocked over! apparently my family watches the same news and the news makes it seem especially scary so they kept calling to make sure we were okay and not in the region where the typhoon was getting bad. we also stopped by a mochi store and everyone picked two, i picked two peanut ones which were AMAZING!!! then we returned to our hotel and we all met in the lobby at 4 to go to starbucks
leaving Li dao
Today for breakfast we had milk tea and lobo gao with an egg. At 8 o'clock we met the students in the classroom. We split into the groups from yesterday with one volunteer and each with a couple of students. Today we taught the kids English worlds like Mother, Father, Grandmother, Grandfather, brother, sister and etc. We also taught the how to sing two songs, "Mary had a little lamb" and "If you're happy and you know it". Because of the typhoon we had to leave today instead of saying a couple of more days so we had to say our goodbyes and we handed out candy and small figures that Jessica and Jonathan brought. We drove down the mountain in the rain and went to eat rice in a wood box. We then went to a rice museum and saw how rice is processed. Since the typhoon was huge we had to say at the rice place for about an hour. They had these small animal figures for 100 NT you could paint so Jonathan, Jessica, Georgina and me bought them to paint. I painted a cow, Jessica also painted a cow, Georgina painted a pig, and Jonathan painted a tomato guy. We went to McDonald's to eat, i had a Big Mac. We then went to the supermarket, arcade and department store next to McDonald's and bought stuff. Because of the typhoon our schedule is all thrown off so today we are living in Taitung Hostel for Teachers Public Workers.
Final Day at Li Dao
Today was our last and final day at Li Dao. We taught the kids how to sing 2 songs, Mary had a Little Lamb and If Your'e Happy and you Know It (I think that that's the name of the song). They learned Mary had a Little Lamb pretty fast, but only learned half of the other song. After teaching them the songs, we left and came down the mountain. When we reached the bottom of the mountain, we went to the Rice Museum, and went to the hotel. We had splendid meal at McDonald's, and came back to our luxurious hotel. This was our day.
Aug 7, 2009
8/7 in Lidao Elementary School
Second day in Lidao Elementary School!
Morning call on the 2nd day was 7:00 AM. For breakfast we had egg and shredded pork sandwich and an ovaltine drink.
At 9:00 o'clock, all the volunteers and students gathered together inside the classroom for our first meeting! At first Dr. Ryan Wang introduced us all to the students and then we individually went up to the class room and did a short self-introduction. After we each introduced ourselves, all 20 students gave a short speech about themselves. Some of the students were very creative in their speech. A few of the students even sang and danced!
Then at 10:00 o'clock the students were split into two groups of 10 students each. One group of students first worked with teacher Mr. Huang with Google Earth. The second group worked with Gin, who was in charge of the art section.
First Mr. Huang explained the concept of Google Earth to the students. After explaining, he passed out a questionnaire for the students to answer, so we can analyze what the students knew about the world before using Google Earth. The volunteers, Jenny, Elton, Thomas and I (Jonathan) provided help to the students.
After the questionnaire, we started working with the students with google earth .The students were very enthusiastic about using Google Earth. We each showed the students different parts of the world, such as USA, Rome, Australia, Japan, and even their hometown of Lidao! Something Irecognized was the students knew a lot of Taiwan's Baseball player, Wang Chien Ming, who plays for the New York Yankees. I find that it's important for Taiwan people to make a significant impact outside of Taiwan, so that students will have a better knowledge about the outside world.
After looking at Google Earth, we next worked on our team flag! Our team was called the Bunun's. The students wanted to be called #1!! They were very excited in making the flag. We used paint and markers in designing the flag. After finishing the flag, we started to teach them an easy english cheer. Elton suggested the idea that we sing: 2,4,6,8, Who Do We Appreaciate!! Bunun, (clap, clap) Bunun (clap, clap), Bunun Bunun Bunun (clap clap clap). The students got the hang of the song very quickly. Next thing we know, they were cheering very excitedly.
The children seemed like they understood the English we were trying to teach them. Some of the students understood more english than others, but that may be due to the fact the students were of different grade levels.
Afterwards, it was time for LUNCH! However before eating, Dr. Ryan Wang broke the class into groups. Each volunteer was in charge of 2 or 3 students. Our job was to each lunch and interact with them. Lunch was a traditional school meal. It consisted of rice, sour vegetables, a pork cutlet, and egg cooked with vegetables.
After lunch, our next activity was for each group to draw their own interpretations of the world. We, the volunteers, were not suppose to help the students draw. We could only give them some advice and tips for the drawings. In my small group, the children drew the 7 continents and drew some cute animals to represent different countries.
Later, the children were taken to the basketball courts and we taught the students how to play some American Football. At first, the students didn't know much about American Football because the kids were trying to shoot the footballs into the basketball hoop. Even though footballs weren't meant to be used as basketballs.. they made many baskets. After teaching them how to throw the ball, the children were starting to throw the football correctly. After getting a feel of American Football, Dr. Ryan Wang came and taught the kids, mostly boys, how to play some American Football and Rugby.
After playing some American Football and Rugby, next off was DINNER! Dinner was a BBQ Dinner! There were lots and lots of food. Just to name off some...there were corn, pork, tempura, vegetables, soup, fish, and much much more! Thanks to everyone that helped make the BBQ possible! The children were thrilled to have BBQ for dinner. They sang and yelled, and even helped cook some of the food.
The night capped off after dinner clean up. That's all for now.
Helping passing out Mung Bean Soup
Students learning about the world
Cindy's and Joey's group world map
The Duma and Bunun Flags!
Georgina teaching the children rubber band designs
Thomas teaching the students about Google Earth
Elton with his mom teaching Google Earth
Jenny teaching Google Earth
The class looking on
Dr. Ryan Wang and student introductions
Morning call on the 2nd day was 7:00 AM. For breakfast we had egg and shredded pork sandwich and an ovaltine drink.
At 9:00 o'clock, all the volunteers and students gathered together inside the classroom for our first meeting! At first Dr. Ryan Wang introduced us all to the students and then we individually went up to the class room and did a short self-introduction. After we each introduced ourselves, all 20 students gave a short speech about themselves. Some of the students were very creative in their speech. A few of the students even sang and danced!
Then at 10:00 o'clock the students were split into two groups of 10 students each. One group of students first worked with teacher Mr. Huang with Google Earth. The second group worked with Gin, who was in charge of the art section.
First Mr. Huang explained the concept of Google Earth to the students. After explaining, he passed out a questionnaire for the students to answer, so we can analyze what the students knew about the world before using Google Earth. The volunteers, Jenny, Elton, Thomas and I (Jonathan) provided help to the students.
After the questionnaire, we started working with the students with google earth .The students were very enthusiastic about using Google Earth. We each showed the students different parts of the world, such as USA, Rome, Australia, Japan, and even their hometown of Lidao! Something Irecognized was the students knew a lot of Taiwan's Baseball player, Wang Chien Ming, who plays for the New York Yankees. I find that it's important for Taiwan people to make a significant impact outside of Taiwan, so that students will have a better knowledge about the outside world.
After looking at Google Earth, we next worked on our team flag! Our team was called the Bunun's. The students wanted to be called #1!! They were very excited in making the flag. We used paint and markers in designing the flag. After finishing the flag, we started to teach them an easy english cheer. Elton suggested the idea that we sing: 2,4,6,8, Who Do We Appreaciate!! Bunun, (clap, clap) Bunun (clap, clap), Bunun Bunun Bunun (clap clap clap). The students got the hang of the song very quickly. Next thing we know, they were cheering very excitedly.
The children seemed like they understood the English we were trying to teach them. Some of the students understood more english than others, but that may be due to the fact the students were of different grade levels.
Afterwards, it was time for LUNCH! However before eating, Dr. Ryan Wang broke the class into groups. Each volunteer was in charge of 2 or 3 students. Our job was to each lunch and interact with them. Lunch was a traditional school meal. It consisted of rice, sour vegetables, a pork cutlet, and egg cooked with vegetables.
After lunch, our next activity was for each group to draw their own interpretations of the world. We, the volunteers, were not suppose to help the students draw. We could only give them some advice and tips for the drawings. In my small group, the children drew the 7 continents and drew some cute animals to represent different countries.
Later, the children were taken to the basketball courts and we taught the students how to play some American Football. At first, the students didn't know much about American Football because the kids were trying to shoot the footballs into the basketball hoop. Even though footballs weren't meant to be used as basketballs.. they made many baskets. After teaching them how to throw the ball, the children were starting to throw the football correctly. After getting a feel of American Football, Dr. Ryan Wang came and taught the kids, mostly boys, how to play some American Football and Rugby.
After playing some American Football and Rugby, next off was DINNER! Dinner was a BBQ Dinner! There were lots and lots of food. Just to name off some...there were corn, pork, tempura, vegetables, soup, fish, and much much more! Thanks to everyone that helped make the BBQ possible! The children were thrilled to have BBQ for dinner. They sang and yelled, and even helped cook some of the food.
The night capped off after dinner clean up. That's all for now.
Helping passing out Mung Bean Soup
Students learning about the world
Cindy's and Joey's group world map
The Duma and Bunun Flags!
Georgina teaching the children rubber band designs
Thomas teaching the students about Google Earth
Elton with his mom teaching Google Earth
Jenny teaching Google Earth
The class looking on
Dr. Ryan Wang and student introductions
Section Photo: World Map of your own
Georgina and Jessica lead thir group to finish their world map and also learn English of Five continents, some countries and some big cities in the world.
The presentation make by the students.
LiDao Elementary School International Volunteer: Day one
All students from LiDao Elementary School, International Volunteer and working staffs from Taitung DOC of National Taitung University.
It is a happy start.
meeting the elementary students
Today we met the children of Li dao elementary school. We introduced ourselves to them and the introduced themselves to us. We split into two groups, my group is with Jonathan, Elton, Jenny and Howard. The kids learned about Google Earth and I showed them where i lived and where my school was. They learned about the different places and looked for cities like LA, Rome and where they lived. We also made team flags and our team name is Bunan, the name of their tribe. We then separated into small groups each volunteer had a couple of students and we had lunch together. After lunch our small groups created world maps of how they thought the world should be. After we taught them how to play football. A lot of the boys were very fast learners and they we very good at throwing and catching the football. At night we had a BBQ feast. We had pork, chicken, veggies, fish, tofu and corn. The BBQ was very delicious.
DAILY POST 8-7-09
today is the first day we met the children and we taught them how to use google earth and made our team flag. we are the bear ("duma") team. the kids are very energetic and seem to have had a good time seeing their school on the computer. lunch was pretty good and the children are all very talkative and have lots of questions to ask.
Lidao Elementary Workshop Summary
Today we helped children use Google Earth. It was quite interesting seeing them get excited when they found the right continent or country. I had fun helping them find the countries and show them parts of the world that they have never seen before. I hope that they will continue to learn more about the world and possibly use Google Earth to learn about the different cultures, landmarks, and geography of the world.
Later we tried to build our team flag. We decided to have our mascot as Lidao village's tribe, Bunan. The other group's mascot was Duma, which was the native mountain black bear in Taiwan. We had the word "Bunan" labeled across the banner that we were going to make. The banner turned out quite messy, but nevertheless full of creativity and the spirit of the children.
We had free time left, so we decided to teach them a cheer for our Football Game that is going to take place later. We taught them, "2, 4, 6, 8, Who do we appreciate? Bunan, Bunan, Bunan Bunan Bunan." We filled the room with energy and taught them English at the same time.
Before lunch we tried to teach them "Mary Had a Little Lamb." They haven't completely grasped the song, but they are getting close.
All the volunteers were assigined to take care 3 children. There names were Chu Wei, Tuo Shen, Hao Wei. We had lunch together with the children. We had a short break and then we were gathered together again. I was assigned to take care of the 3 children to draw what they believe to be the world map. In the end only two children, Tuo Shen and Hao Wei, continued to participate within my group. We were given a giant canvas to sketch the World Map. Now that they had given the knowledge of the world geography from Google Earth, we started to draw the Earth.
The kids looked at the sample and they thought the Americas looked like a giant bird, so Hao Wei drew the America like a giant bird. Tuo Shen thought Eurasia looked like an Elephant so he drew an elephant shaped landmass into the canvas. They then drew each continent and shaped it into place. I then guided them into labeling each continent with English and Chinese. It wasn't very simple for them, but they tried hard and got it right. We then labeled countries that were given to us and then we labeled the cities. We showed it off to each other group then we headed down onto the Basketball court, to play Football. We couldn't use the grass due to the giant Typhoon.
They were extremely excited when we took out the first Football. They grabbed it and started it shooting it into Basket as if it were a basketball. We then taught them to throw it and we started to play catch. They were all very enthusiastic and we played catch for an hour. Then Dr. Ryan came down and went over all the rules and throwing techniques. He ran some Football exercise drills. They all had fun playing Football.
At night we had a barbeque with the children of Lidao. They all chanted out songs while waiting the meat to be cooked. It was really fun watching them sing and chant. The food was really good. The most special thing about the meal was the salt-coated fish which was cooked over the grill. The skin was too salty to be edible, but nevertheless the inside meat had great texture and flavor. I guess this was the cooking style of the Bunan tribe. The typhoon was really big and the rain poured. It was very comfortable to eat the delicious food and sit by the warm fire. As Georgina said, "It was like a bonfire in the rain!" We retired later after the meal.
The next day, breakfast was served. We were going to stay a lot longer, but because of the immense rain pour from the Typhoon we had to go down the mountain village of Lidao later in the morning.
However, we stayed long enough to give the children one last lesson. I first went up with Joey to the board to write out the different members of the family in English. I called up random children to write up the words in the language of Bunan. Then Georgina and Jessica taught them "Mary had a Little Lamb". They had a hard time with the last line, "Who's fleece was white as snow", but they successfully learned the song. Jonathan and Thomas went up to the board next to teach the children to teach them the childhood song, "If your happy and you know it." They all knew the melody, but we taught them the English lyrics.
Sadly, it was time for us to depart and we had to say goodbye to our knew found Aboriginal friends, the Bunan Children of Lidao Elementary.
-Elton Chen
Written under the supervision of Jonathan Lin, Jessica Lin, Jenny Hsiao, Thomas Chen, Joey Lee, and Georgina Chen.
Posted August Eighth, Two-Thousand, Nine Anno Domini. GMT +8, 22:37.
8/6 First Day up to Bunun Tribe
After a restful day in Taitung, on the second day we were about to begin our work for the Lidao Elementary School.
We started off our day eating at the coffee and tea shop in our ming zhu. Breakfast consisted of a meat bun salad and a freshly brewed soy milk. After breakfast, we went to the National Taitung University to make our name tags and discuss the course material. After lunch, we drove up to Lidao.
The trip up to Lidao Elementary school consisted of many windy and curvey roads. Despite that, the scenery was beautiful. The crystal clear and crisp river seemed as if they came from a fairy tale. The prevalent lush green trees and bushes up in the mountains show the natural beauty the Bunun Tribe encounters.
After arriving to Lidao Elementary School, we quickly moved all our personal belongings to the police station dormitory, where we are staying for the 3 days. The rooms were divided by gender. Boys and girls were separated, some rooms consisted of 3 people, while others like mine had 6 people in a room!!
After settling down we walked to Lidao Elementary School, which was right next to the police station. We divided up the volunteers and parents to three groups. The parents were in charge of the kitchen, another group was in charge of one of the classroom, and the last group of volunteers cleaned up the computer table. Before the classrooms and kitchen were a mess, but after a couple hours of hard work, it was spotless. After cleaning we ate noodles for dinner. It was yum yum. There were two large pots of noodles.
After dinner, our first group meeting was held. The meeting was about how we were going to divide our group and plans for the next day next day. The first group consisted of Elton, Jenny, Thomas and me (Jonathan). The second group consisted of Joey, Cindy, Georgina, and Jessica.
The night finished with some card games.
Pictures:
Elton and Joey working on name tags
Playing with the seesaw
Judo at Lidao Elementary
Outside of National Taitung University
Dinner
Cleaning the Computer Room
Breakfast!
We started off our day eating at the coffee and tea shop in our ming zhu. Breakfast consisted of a meat bun salad and a freshly brewed soy milk. After breakfast, we went to the National Taitung University to make our name tags and discuss the course material. After lunch, we drove up to Lidao.
The trip up to Lidao Elementary school consisted of many windy and curvey roads. Despite that, the scenery was beautiful. The crystal clear and crisp river seemed as if they came from a fairy tale. The prevalent lush green trees and bushes up in the mountains show the natural beauty the Bunun Tribe encounters.
After arriving to Lidao Elementary School, we quickly moved all our personal belongings to the police station dormitory, where we are staying for the 3 days. The rooms were divided by gender. Boys and girls were separated, some rooms consisted of 3 people, while others like mine had 6 people in a room!!
After settling down we walked to Lidao Elementary School, which was right next to the police station. We divided up the volunteers and parents to three groups. The parents were in charge of the kitchen, another group was in charge of one of the classroom, and the last group of volunteers cleaned up the computer table. Before the classrooms and kitchen were a mess, but after a couple hours of hard work, it was spotless. After cleaning we ate noodles for dinner. It was yum yum. There were two large pots of noodles.
After dinner, our first group meeting was held. The meeting was about how we were going to divide our group and plans for the next day next day. The first group consisted of Elton, Jenny, Thomas and me (Jonathan). The second group consisted of Joey, Cindy, Georgina, and Jessica.
The night finished with some card games.
Pictures:
Elton and Joey working on name tags
Playing with the seesaw
Judo at Lidao Elementary
Outside of National Taitung University
Dinner
Cleaning the Computer Room
Breakfast!
Aug 6, 2009
Name Tags
Today, we designed these name tags which we will be using throughout the week. They are very cute!!! =)
Introduction: Joey Lee
Hello everybody! My name is Joey, and I live in Diamond Bar, California. I'm 15, and I'm attending Diamond Bar High School right now. I enjoy reading, running, and playing Xbox. I am currently trying to finish all the mini quests in Fallout 3. I hope I can help the aboriginal children of Taitung by teaching them some English and some computer techniques.
Jessica Lin
Hello! My name is Jessica Lin and I am currently fifteen years old. I attend Ayala High School and is gong to be a sophomore next year. I enjoy painting, listening to music, watching movies, and taking pictures. This is a great opportunity for me to go out of the country and help people in need. These memories will last forever.
Gin Liang
Hello~ Everyone~ this is Gin, My chinese name is Ching-Chien, Liang(梁靜謙). and I'm 33 years old. will be attending NCKU research program, My major is emotional design. It would be a great experience and I look forward to this great opportunity~
Wellcome to TAIWAN~~
Wellcome to TAIWAN~~
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