TYPHOON. Bring It On!

12.07 – 13.07.2013

Tomas and me finally arrived at the Farm House. It was around 5pm. We walked upstairs, and found out that the group got bigger! There were bunch of people playing UNO at our room, like typical new friends trying to get to know each other. We said hello and introduced ourselves. There were: Michael from Switzerland, Monika from Poland, Mabel from Hong Kong, Fenglie from Malaysia, Vilma from Finland, and a fellow Indonesian, Della! It was nice meeting all of them. But as we chatted, Zoe from AIESEC told us that there would be a TYPHOON coming in the night. We were strangers from typhoon, were kinda looking forward to it. Such amateurs :p

Monika, Mabel, Vilma, Della, Fenglie

Alex & Rin hadn’t arrived yet. We were starting to worry and the AIESEC guys were a bit upset. Finally they came at around 7, very late, and got some speech readied for them J. We heard they did nothing in Taipei, Zoo was closed, Gondola closed, missed the movie, it rained so hard, but they had meal in 101 food court (that’s why it’s the worst idea ever!)

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We spent the evening playing some games to get to know each other. The classic “never-have-I-ever” game! Meanwhile, the last member just came by the doorstep. Her name was Sjoerdsje from Holland. Nobody could pronounce her name right, so we just called her Syusyu. She came with scooter in heavy rain, soaking wet from top to bottom. Her arrival was the point where Typhoon got bigger (everyone still blamed her for this).

10pm. Wind was blowing hard. Michael and me were like, “c’mon man this is not typhoon, pffft! back home we call this raining hahahaha”.

1am. Our room window flew.

The moment we realized we were fuc*ed

The rooms were all wet; we had to move the mattress downstairs (huge one).

We slept all together at the living room, on the floor. In the morning villagers woke us up to evacuate!  It was raining really hard and the nearby dam just collapsed. We packed our valuables, and evacuate to a nearby community center.

Officials at the center

Refugees :p

We had to wait for around 5 hours there. But everyone was well prepared! There were lunch boxes provided for us at lunch, and some officials were always there to help us. Time flew, and the rain stopped. We were allowed to go back, and as we were walking home we realized the neighborhood was really messed up.

Fallen trees every where

Collapsed Dam

Even though it sounds bad, but it was awesome experience. We were actually relaxed during the process and even laugh at the typhoon (I know, foolish foreighners). Michael even had time to dry his sausages (Yes, literally Switz Sausages). It was great because it brought us closer together, even though it was just the first day but it was an exceptional one! Then we realized, it would be our job to clean the surroundings.

The sausage.

Follow my instagram for more pictures of my journey in Taiwan.

Note: Pictures taken with Tomas' Camera

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Pictures:

Soaking wet

Mess at the farm

Yoga doing the news report.

Group picture after typhoon! 

Flood in the room and it smelled like sh*t! :D

Jenn's room 

Floors all wet

Bonus. just Syusyu's & her sleeping net.

Preparation & Beginning: International Fun Farming 2013

July 5 - July 8, 2013

Zhudong at night. 7 July 2013

After I arrived on July 5th, we started the project 3 days later, Monday July 8th. Before that, I went to a short trip to Taipei! I was so excited to see the capital. I planned to go on Saturday evening and meet some Indonesian friends there. Unfortunately it was raining so hard. It was hard to get to nearest town and catch the bus. In the end, I & Mike decided to just go by scooter in the rain.

Stupid, unnecessary selfie on scooter.

We arrived safely at the bus station, and we were off for 2 hours drive to Taipei!

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Taipei MRT

The bus stopped at the main station and we went ahead to the neighboring MRT. That was my first time to take MRT, never even in Singapore. It was great! Fast, cheap, and convenient. Everything has a system and everyone obeys it, rare scene for typical Indonesian. Even though it is common in a lot of the modern cities of the world, this is my first time to experience it firsthand (not much of a traveler). I couldn't see many security guards to monitor the situation, but everyone obey the rules. Indonesians should do things like this :). Here are the examples:

Inside MRT. Eating and drinking are prohibited inside the MRT & station.

Taipei Main Station

The waiting line are on the sides of the door, creating space for people to exit the MRT first

People stand on the right side on the escalator. Left side is for those who need to rush and walk ahead.

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Meeting up with fellow Indonesians

I took the MRT to Jiantan and headed for the famous Shihlin Night Market. It was around 8pm. We were glad that we finally found each other! There were Vira, Tommy, Vania, and a Taiwanese friend named Lut! Lut is a nice guy and he speaks good english. We met at the entrance and headed inside to look for food. Everyone had a long day and was too tired, so we tried to find a place to sit. It was so crowded! We had no choice but to settle inside the KFC. I know. It's sad. Thousand miles away from home and still KFC.

Lut, Me, Vania, and Vira. Tommy went to the toilet lol.

We had a great time catching up with each other. And finally it's getting late and I need to find a hostel to stay. I asked Lut where can i find the hostel, and he said "just stay and my house".

I was surprised. I just met him for maybe an hour and he offered me his house to stay. It was so kind. That was my first time to experience Taiwanese hospitality, and I had more along the way! Taiwanese are so helpful, kind, and amazing. I'll tell you other stories in the upcoming posts.

After that we went to look around the market, and headed home at 11pm.

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Morning view of Lut's Apartment. Xindian, July 7 2013.

We stayed up late at Lut's apartment watching Iron Man 2. Next morning I woke up, and found that Lut's parents bought me breakfast. So kind of them. It was chicken hamburger, they knew I can't eat pork. It was so good, and felt thankful. 

In the afternoon, I said goodbye to the family and headed for Ximending Market.

Ximending, July 7 2013

I met my project partners, Katya (Russia), Hui Zhen (Singapore), and Yingying (Malaysia) at Ximen. We walked around the place until 3pm. It was a really great place to shop! But I realized that I need to save up, so window shopping is enough for me. 

We took the bus at 4 and headed back to the farm in Zhudong.

Katya & Popo. Dinner at Zhudong.

Jacky and Popo picked us up at Zhudong bus station. We had my first traditional chinese dinner in Taiwan. Of course, I couldn't eat anything. Everything was pork. It was okay, I grabbed a quick dinner beside the restaurant and headed back to the farm after that with scooter. It was Katya's first time in scooter! We took pictures of her wearing the Helmet.

Katya's first time on Scooter!

We arrived at the farm and sleep, because the day after is the 1st day of Farming Camp. Our first day of the project!
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1st Day of Farming Camp

It was finally the day! The kids started to arrive on 12pm. They are really small! Mostly 10-13 years old. I will tell you the story of the camp in the next post. But here are the photos of my team!

My kids! Vivian, Cindy, and Ale. 10-year-old kids!

Team Indonesia!

Follow my instagram for more pictures of my journey in Taiwan.

Note: Pictures taken with my phone camera, Google Nexus 4

Taiwan - Island of Formosa

Taoyuan Int'l Airport, 5 July 2013.

It's been 1 month and 2 days since I arrived in Taiwan. But I haven't written, blog, post photo, or publish a story. 

Yesterday, a Czech girl said to me that "The best things in life are supposed to be shared". And this has been the best summer of my life. That's how I decided to let the world know what I am doing here in this beautiful island, as a stranger, seeking for a life changing experience.

As I landed at Taoyuan Airport, I was really excited. I walked through the hallways with my heart beating. An AIESECer from Taiwan went to pick me up, we took a train to a town where I will spend most of my time here.

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Zhudong, Hsinchu County

Zhudong Train Station, 5 July 2013

I arrived in the town called Zhudong. It is a small town in the outskirt of Hsinchu. I took the High Speed Rail (THSR), which is amazingly fast. They said it can run at 300km/hour, so it was quite a good, short trip. The farmer picked me up at the station, and took me to the farm where I would work on my project.

Farm

Farm, Ranchau, 5 July 2013

The farm is beautiful. It is surrounded by green small hills. The water is crystal clear and air is so easy to breathe.

I call the farmer "Nongfu",  which means farmer in Chinese, pretty straightforward. Nongfu only plants organic plants in the farm. And it is said, that this place is best in Hsinchu to plant organic vegetables. Because it has the best water, no air pollution, and good soil.

The farm warmly greeted me with a beautiful sunset and an amazing rainbow that fell between the hills. It was beautiful. That's how i knew, that this would be the best summer of my life.

Follow my instagram for more pictures of my journey in Taiwan.

Note: Pictures taken with my phone camera, Google Nexus 4