AIESEC TAIWAN // The Last Week

Hello, Hello! 

It's officially been a week since I have been back in Canada and I finally got to buckle down and edit.

Here, I present to you the last vlog of my whole AIESEC experience. 

Highlights of My Last Week:

1. Going to Jiufen

(check out that view!)

                                                        

On my AIESEC exchange bucket list, going to Jiufen was one of the listed items. I really wanted to see "The Real-Life Spirited Away" after reading this article. However, I never really expected to be able to go there since it is sooo far north from where I was located. I was lucky because my last host family actually brought me up there. He bought one High Speed Rail ticket for himself and one for me.  That train is SUPER FASSSST as it took us 1.5hrs to get to Hsinchu. We rode the High Speed Rail to Hsinchu and then his sister and husband drove us pass Taipei and then to Jiufen, which took another 2/3hrs. If one doesn't use the HSR and just drove to Taipei then that would take about 6hrs. 

Now do you see why I feel so lucky that someone was actually willing to take me?

Even though it was a 1 day trip, I thought that it was still worth the whole day. The view was amazing, the food was yummy, and the air OMG (beats the south in a heartbeat). 

2. The Last Week's Host Family

(this is Amy)

 They made my last week's stay so comfortable, so welcoming and so fun that they really made it hard for me to want to leave. It was nice to go through the last week with someone that I can have english conversations with, enjoy some restaurant-quality meals that my host family cooked, and meeting the rest of their family... I got to learn some more about the world through her grandpa (who travels A LOT). 

2.5 Check out this Milk Tea Latte

Amy brought me to a cafe near her home to see that! I honestly haven't seen anything like that before so that was cool. 

3. Eating McDonald's Fried Chicken / Mango Shaved Ice for the LAST TIME

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

4. Saying Goodbye 

There was an assembly that I got to say my final goodbye  speech and then was showered with lots of love, cards and gifts. I really didn't expect the gifts, nor me crying but I did. &pretty much didn't stop  ever since after that assembly LOL It really is the people that you're going to miss when you have to leave a place. It isn't the food or the scenery because those can always be some-what replicated. The specific people that I met ( from teachers, students, parents, to their relatives and pets) can't be. 

which leads into...

If you are ever considering to go on an AIESEC exchange I would say do it! IF you have the time, the money and up for it, just do it! Or just take that extra courage to say why not? and go for it because you definitely will not regret it! 

Ps. I'm sorry that it took so long for the last vlog, as a bonus HERE is a vlog on my first cottage experience :) 

Thank you for reading,

Becca 

AIESEC TAIWAN // The Sixth Week

Hola!

This week really gone by super fast (in an awesome way).

All I remember is that I ate a lot more than usual and bit more than I can chew (literally and figuratively). I really wanted it to be a memorable last week not only for me but also for the students soooo I asked the principal if I can do a little dance with the students. Originally by little dance, I meant doing the harlem shake.. but from his understanding of the word little dance he thought it was more like a choreographed dance routine for the school. 

So for the first time ever, stepping waaayy out of my comfort zone as I tried to CHOREOGRAPH a super mini dance (oh I know I'm no dancer so let me walk you through my logic).

1. Harlem Shake - seems fun, editing would be fun too

2. Make Up Dance - it's a thing in Taiwan (so I must include this - inspired by this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km8sLL1uNFs )
3. Gotta do something with the hands 

4. Gotta do something with the fingers 

5. "We're All in This Together" - HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL MOVE YES 

6. Rush Hour shoulder slides - totes yes why not

7. Dumbledore disappearance clap - to finish it off

however, then the teacher recommended that it should be repeated because it went by too fast so

REPEAT 

BUT now instead of the Dumbledore clap (if you don't get the reference CHECK HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkBIqwyn0VI)

 my inner Red Agent Ice Breaker says why not attempt 

..the Nae Nae??!? (it was a part of a chant that we had)

and so instead of Huah - Huah - HUAAHH.. replace it with Ba- Ba - Ba Gua 

(because that's the name of the school) 

yupp and then thankfully by having a teacher that can actually dance and that is super supportive of my idea, helped me demonstrate it tremendously. In the end, I had a lot of fun (more than expected) and so did the kids; hopefully coming from all the giggling and laughing throughout the whole time. 

(yupp let me teach you how to nae nae)

(the whole school - minus the grade 2s)

(rush hour shoulder slides yes)

Sooo basically Highlights of the Week include:

1. Dancing with the whole school

2. Eating Mango Shaved Ice for the first time and millionth time 

3. 

 Meeting my doppelgänger here in Taiwan. DO you think we look alike? LOL

4. Speaking at the Grade 6 Graduation & then having dinner after

5. Naming 4 people in Taiwan: Peng's Niece + (2) Nephew & Ting Ting 

6. Eating a lot of yummy food

7. Finally trying KFC's chicken (as a fried chicken connoisseur I needed to know)

(interesting fact 1: in Taiwan they have a packet of salt & pepper already together / fact 2: in Taiwan the packet says pepper & salt)  

& now with 3 more days before I leave, I really regret not choosing to stay longer... but I mean all things must end eventually right? Don't worry though, one thing that isn't ending yet is my vlogs ;)  my official last one will be up next week!

Thanks for reading,

until next time,

Becca

AIESEC TAIWAN // The Fifth Week

Helllo, Hello.

bad news first: this past week I slacked.

the motivation to vlog was low, and the footage that I took wasn't to my liking... 

so this vlog is currently a slow work in progress, sorry.

This week was a bluuuur it started so slow and then ZOOooM now it is Monday and I have no vlog edited and still don't know how to feel about the week. 

Highlight #1: The principal was super excited for me to visit a farm in Damorlee last week because it was owned by a Canadian. So, I started my week from going on a school trip to visit the country side of Taiwan last Sunday and then got sick.  It was the constant change of temperature from being in the burning hot weather to super cold air conditioned bus. It also rained that day so that didn't help. Since I got sick and really wasn't having it that day, that trip is debatable  to be labeled as "fun". The farm is also suppose to be special in the fact that the owners built the buildings themselves by making/ using newspaper cement. They mix newspaper into the cement and lastly put a water bottle in the middle for support.. when it dries after 2 weeks the brick is SUPER light. Don't worry altogether as a building it's sturdy. This whole time, I was thinking that it isn't that special like why newspaper cement? Arn't they just basically using cement still and just adding newspaper inside? But, now that I actually have to reflect back about the week ... it actually is pretty cool because the difference is maybe they don't have to use as much cement + it was a super light brick! 

Besides being sick physically, I also got a little home sick too. This week's host family didn't have wifi, and so maybe it was knowing that I definitely couldn't contact my parents that made me miss / want to call them even more. Thus, I spent basically half the week at a very low / sad drifting mood  

( yup my words for yah ) just waiting for it to be over. On the plus side of the week: I got to go exploring streets and department stores by myself, found something that may be better than fried chicken - this fried fish pancake thing and . . . Highlight #2: EP Gathering weekend. All the other participants on exchange and I were dropped off at a subway station Saturday morning and we all went to Taitung for the weekend. This weekend was mainly loooong subway rides (2.5 hr), bus rides (30 mins - 2 hour ones), walking distances (30 mins or so), and biking distances (city length kms)... which was AWESOME in the sense that I finally got some exercise. We hit up Teihua Village, The Garage (old sugar refinery factor), Jimmy Village and Sansiantai Island. Basically they were all amusing landmarks .... for about 5 mins (enough for me to take pictures) and then the "wow" factor was gone. The best part of the whole weekend was definitely just the aspect of hanging out with other EPS, and chatting about each others experiences. I found it interesting to hear what others trip was like so far. For an example, I found out that one of the EP is at an elementary school with an indoor swimming pool, a room with the arcade basketball machine, a rock climbing wall and has AC. #canibeyou? 

(basically had my own Tour de Taitung)

(8 EPs and the rest are the AIESEC execs at Jimmy Village)

(Sansiantai Island)

what I learned this week:

* Friday was the second time that I've ever seen a lizard within 30cm away from me. Right before going to bed, I saw one crawling on the wall and then eventually making its way behind a bookshelf. My natural instinct was to whip off my slipper and squish it SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST Y'ALL but my brain kicked in seconds later with the reality of a) I'm not wearing slippers, b) it isn't a mosquito so would that method even work? and c) I don't even have the nerve to squish it. period. so I called the host family's son immediately over. Explained to him about the lizard, used a lot of hand gestures to demonstrate a lizard and how it ran behind a bookcase, asked him if you normally hit it with a shoe? and then finally asked him what would one usually do in these situations because I am definately not use to it... he then takes a min to process what I was trying to say and then breaks the silence with telling me that you just leave it because it helps eat the mosquitos in the house. I also learned that they sometimes make this weird noise at night, I have yet to find out why but the mom says its like they're singing a song. You could have guessed that I did not sleep well that night knowing that I had a roommate.. I was paranoid about getting bitten by not only mosquitos but by that lizard (despite the mom saying that it wouldn't ever bite people) and at one point I was awoken by it's "singing". 

* Grade 4 is not for me. short and simple lesson of the week haha

good news last: you're done reading <3
+ 918038123 hours later HERE IS THE VLOG:

so Thank YOU for reading!

Until next time,

Becca