NUS Student Exchange :: Taiwan

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Life in NTU!

Student Exchange has ended...SAD!
I LOVE SEP! (Who doesn't?)
I still remember the initial worries and fears...
of leaving Singapore to an unfamiliar land!
But now come to think of them
They are unfounded lah!
Cos SEP is fun~ Taiwan is fun~!

And I am back in Singapore since 29 June 2009.
But I will still continue to blog about SEP retrospectively
So the first thing I will blog about is Life in NTU!!
OK and the first and foremost concern!!
1. WHERE TO CUT YOUR HAIR!?

And I shall recommend O-Chi Hair Salon!
And I recommend you find Ricky!

Why?? Cos it is:

1. Just opp. NTU (公館 mrt exit 2)
2. Cheap (cut+wash = NT400 approx)
3. Ricky is damn good & meticulous
4. Ricky won 3rd prize in some competition
5. CK, Jiamin and Me are REGULAR patrons!

CK and Jiamin are the couple that appears regularly on my photos? Still dunno who they are, I have a pic of them here (haha):

On her last day in Taiwan Jiamin even went to cut her long hair SHORT! Hahaha machiam like makeover liddat!

And this is how my hair looks like now:

OK lah, WE are not 帅哥 or 美女 to begin with (拉你们一起下水) so don't be too critical on our pitiful hairstyle lah. LOL

2. SHUTTLE BUS IN NTU??

There IS shuttle bus in NTU but like one hour once? Yah so dun bother to take it (we never took before. Actually we should have tried once to experience it hor) cos EVERYONE cycles!!

If your department is very far, like for me I have courses at College of Management, which is at the opposite corner of the whole school from the dorm, it is good to get a bike. There are second- hand bike sales organized by NTU held at shui-yuen campus. Look out for it. And you have to go about 2 hours early to queue so that you can get to choose a good one! (Aiyoh but mine the type punctured one month before my SEP ends, so last mth was horrible cos I have to walk hell-long distance to lecture, and it is summer!!)Need not buy a new bike cos it gets stolen easily haha.

3. Where is IYC Guo Qing dorm??

It is at the back-door of NTU. Many of the international students live there. And surprisingly, my NUS counterpart department is there as well. Yes, a department inside a dorm, on the same level somemore. So I only walked less than 100 steps to reach it LOL.

you will be shocked to see the rooms and toilets lah (Jiamin and CK reached taiwan earlier than me and they were urging me to change rooms to Prince/BOT!). But after a while, you will get used to it. Well, it is the cheapest dorm!

4. Eating places in NTU!

OK I have to admit I didn't take many pictures of NTU. So sad. Please don't procrastinate like me. Take photos of NTU earlier! And if u wanna start a blog, start it before u depart for SEP!!

小木屋. This nice little house sells nice, fragrant warfers (鬆餅)! It is along 舟山路 to 公館 exit 2.

Eateries! NTU doesn't have canteens in the same manner as NUS (i.e. each faculty does not have its own canteen). Below are 2 places where you can eat -

小福 (taken from 小福 looking towards the streets)

小小福

The famous thing sold here is the 姊妹花雞排!

Other eating places in NTU are located at dorms, 大一女舍, 女九宿舍 and of course right at B1 of 國青. There are plenty of places (and v nice food) to eat right opposite 國青 dorm and of course at the front gate where 公館 night market is (I love 青蛙撞奶!!!!). You can also cycle (or take mrt) to 師大 night market to eat. You can even cycle further to 永康街 where the Ding Tai Fung Main outlet is! And there is a v nice shop selling 挫冰!

Many of the eateries are so-called 吃到飽. Meaning eat-all-you-can lah. And the rice and drinks are free-flow. So good rite... Singapore rarely got such good deals!

Will post more pic of nice foods!

In the mean-time I have included more links on the right side-bar!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

XiTou (溪头) Trip!

Date: 2 May 2009, 7.30am to 3 May 2009, 7.30pm

NTU to XiTou: 3 hours by coach

NTUISIS organized a 2 day 溪头 trip and me, carmen, yishu signed up! Initially CK and jiamin signed up too but they planned a trip to thailand so due to budget reasons they backed out (tsk).

Anyway, I forgot what does NTUISIS stands for. OOps. But it's a volunteer group for international students. And this trip I heard has been heavily subsidized! We paid NT1200 only for a 2 day trip (meals + lodging at International Youth Centre's nice rooms!)

The scenary at XiTou isnt as magnificent as Alishan (Alishan's view is majestic wor, see my Facebook pics), but it's a nice place for a slight getaway from the city and do some trekking (day 2).

We didn't know that XiTou is so near Taichung, cos we saw souvenirs of Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) and 九族文化村 there! They are just nearby and we haven been to those places! So far the only place we've been to in Taichung is Alishan.

Wine brewery~

Look at the words on the packaging, it says Real Prawn Crackers. It tastes nice on the spot but the ones we bought back werent that nice... y ah?

Stone carvings for sale!

No, Im not for sale....

This is a FIREFLY! First time see it in my life. At night of day 1, we went into this very dark forest with no street lamps at all and fireflies are everywhere in the bushes! But it's hard to capture their glow with the camera, so this is an upfront pic of it. Do you know fireflies are meat-eaters?!

Jolin in da hse!

Us at the International Youth visitor centre waiting for trekking

Yishu and Carmen caught accidentally in pic when I tried to take pic of the tall tall trees

The prof told us that this is called 七叶一枝花! Cool name!

Take photo of course must take with the BIG SHOT - SHUAI!

Our only photo with group leader Amy! But I like her chinese name Ying Ying better haha

Elegant bamboo house - Home of Guan Yin Bodhisattva

3000 years old divine tree!

Ten people maximum on the bamboo bridge

Going back to NTU~

More photos in my Facebook!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Community Services

Mid-term exams are finally done! I had 1 last week (Food & Health), 2 mid-terms yesterday (Multivariate Analysis & Dynamic Decision Methods), and the last one (Supply Chain Management) today! 3 mid-terms in 2 days... that was hectic, and I had to postpone writing a blog entry on my first community service to another home last week! (aiyoh I have been procrastinating)

NTUSCPD & Wan Fang Development Centre

OK, actually I joined a society (known as 社团) known as NTUSCPD (NTU Service Club for People with Disabilities 身心障碍服务社), and they are involved in regular community work at Wan Fang development centre (万芳发展中心). The centre is actually a place for kids aged 6 and below, with cerebral palsy (an impairment of the brain) or disabilities. There the kids undergo special education, treatment and day-care service.

Members of the society would choose a weekday where they are free and go down to the centre during 1030 to 1230, to help out with the lunch time feeding (喂食) of the kids with disabilities. I joined the society in late Feb after attending their welcome session but did not participate in the community work as I was down with flu/cough in March, and I do not want to pass my viruses to the kids~

First-time experiences at Wan Fang centre
Alright so last week Tues I finally went down! And this week too! I initially thought that the feeding job would be quite simple (like what most of us might think: scoop one rice and put into the mouth), but it turned out to be otherwise. I made many blunders along the way which somehow made me felt that I am giving the staff there more trouble, and I was quite sad =(

Firstly, the teachers there asked me to use a scissors and cut the food up into small bits without mixing them up (i.e. dun do it like putting all the food into a grinder). I attempted twice but the teacher said it wasn't fine enough, and by the third time, I got tired and forgot the instruction not to mix the ingredients up! So the food now appears mashed which you know, affects even our appetitie~

Secondly, everyone one of us were tasked to look after one or two kids who could not eat properly on their own (e.g. those who are easily distracted). As it was my first attempt at doing it, I was so focused at making the kids eat (e.g. making sure the kid is eating all the time, doesn't eat food that drops on the table) until the teacher told me that I could simply let them try eating with their own hands while I just monitor by the side and tell them instructions (e.g. hold the side of the bowl) when necessary! Oops I was too kaypoh lah. Yup, so I heeded the teacher's advice and let the kid try eating himself. But this gave me a bit of time to get distracted and gaze around the place and you know what, the next moment the bowl was on the floor, half the food spilled! Argh! =( By then, I was a bit lost. And the teacher had to help me clean up the mess!

So, feeding wasn't that easy afterall~ And The fine and delicate things to learn. I don't want to be additional chore to them!

Second-time experiences at Wan Fang centre
Yup, so this week I went down too! After performing badly last week, this week was much better~ No more bowls on the floor. This week I also had more interaction with the kids cos last week the water supply was cut off suddenly, and so there was no chance to try helping them brush their teeth after their meal. Again, this is something that looks simple but many things to learn... like the strength needed, and how to brush when their teeth are so small?!

This week I also noticed a kid which made me feel sad. He had a device installed at the throat part (somehow like an opening for breathing) and he couldn't speak. He was playing with the tatto on my arm (the temporary one we got at Kenting) and was trying to speak to me! But I couldn't understand~ He was also coughing and phlegm was discharged from that device. It was heart-wrenching seeing him coughing, and all I could do was just wipe the phlegm away and informing his teacher, hoping the teacher could help ease his discomfort.

Hope that he recovers very soon!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

3rd Month in Taiwan!

As I am writing this entry, I have just recovered not long from a serious spate of flu, cough and gastroenteritis (haizz), and had visited the campus clinic thrice, unwillingly skipped lessons 2 times and had a bad time falling asleep at night =( My march had been horrible!

Haha this entry (and this blog) came a bit late also. Procrastination! But nevertheless it is up now! But again, we have already visited many places in Taiwan... almost all that we wanted to go? Is there still anything to blog later on? =p Haha I hope so...

And yes, we have visited many really nice places that we hoped we dun need to return to Taipei again! The most recent one being Kenting 墾丁!

Kenting is located at the Southern part of Taiwan. While Taipei is currently still having cold weather (abt 16 deg, everyone wearing thick clothings), Kenting is sunny and warm!

Kenting main street

Lotsa people!

The moment we step out of the coach we went to try water activities. Banana boat, snorkelling etc! It was horrible and thrilling! I wore diving suit for the v first time in my life haha but I dun hav the photo of us wearing the diving suit with me at the moment!

Our vv nice bedroom with balcony overlooking Kenting main street~!

Taking bo liao pictures in our room!

The night scene of Kenting main street! Still as crowded with music sounding down the street

A huge model in bikini suit haha

We got ourselves tattoos (of course not permanent ones)!

We had seafood for dinner! But it was a bit exp =( We ordered crabs too and wanted them to cook with chilli (singapore type u know) but they dun know how to do it!

Puffer fish smoking~

We went to a Hawaiian feel restaurant that plays loud but nice music and with nice food!

Beach was cramped with people!

That's the kind of water sports we were playing!

Other friends from IYC dorm also went to Kenting!

We saw Soler at the beach!

Another main thing about our trip to Kenting is the rock concert that is held yearly at Spring. We went to the 春浪 concert where there are celebrities performing.. like 五月天，伍佰，苏打绿，梁静茹，卢广仲，董事长乐团. There are other concerts gg on like the 春天呐喊 but we din go that one cos it's not celebrities performing haha