60 Days Adventures in Yingge

**Day 1

July 1st 2012 was the day of my departure to Taiwan. I was quite excited yet nervous because it was my first time to travel abroad alone. I had been acting bit paranoid or over-prepared for this project and it made my luggage weighted 20 kilos and my backpack was heavy like i put bricks inside :)) .
My Grandma and aunt came to stay my house a day before my departure and my aunt, mom and bro would take me to the airport the next day.

I woke up at 4 am to get ready. I made sure like everything has been already inside the luggage and tried to calm myself when i started to over-think about what may come in the future. I took my leave to the whole family and then my brother drove us to the airport from Bandung to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Banten. It usually takes about 3-4 hours, but it took us for 2,5 hours. The highroad wasn't as full as the usual.

At the time i was in time for check in, i waved my family goodbye. It was sad but i will meet them again in 2 months. then i went into the check in room for my flight and the immigration section. I was completely alone and didn't know what to do besides of buying books. The plane will be depart on 13.30, i was looking at my watch and it still has 30 minutes to go. I rushed myself to the gate/waiting room. I didn't want to miss the flight or anything that has been scheduled before. Thus wait for the call to get in the plane.

It was 5 hours and 25 minutes flight--quite long journey away from home. The weather was not good, the aircraft experienced turbulence while crossing the Philippines. To make my mind less afraid of things ahead, i watched lots of movies on plane even though they were not no so good, listened to some not-mainstream-music genre which was good and lighten up the mood, and play few game on the aircraft.

I arrived at the airport around 8.30The person who picked me up on the airport was Lynn and she texted me that she would come late. I take a stroll around the airport while waiting for her.

We met on the tourist information booth. She was very welcoming and showed me around the airport to buy some stuffs plus helping me carrying my so-called-heavy lugage. She told me that we would take a bus from the Taipei Taoyuan International Airport to the En Chu Kong Hospital and then took taxi to the trainee's house.

While waiting for the bus to come by, we took our pictures together :)

While we were on the road, we have chitchat about everything. She mentioned about Puji the Indonesian EP who took her gcdp program in the winter. We also talked about the local culture which excited me to see. When we arrived at the hospital,we took taxi straight to the trainee's house.

The trainee's house was on the fourth floor, and she helped me carrying one of the luggage upstairs. i was tired after carrying thru the floors. Cory was surprised that i came into the trainee's house. She was delighted to find someone who she could speak bahasa for a while. The first time i came into the trainee's house i sent my greetings to the people inside the house then went straight to the bedroom. My roommate was cory and Joeiy from Malaysia. we have a small chitchat before we went to sleep to remove the exhaustion of long journey.

** Day 2

I woke up at 6 in the morning and found catherine bid me good morning. She told me that my partner, Tereza and i will be picked up at 3pm in the university to the project's location.
Tereza and i took the luggage out of the building and went to the bus stop. We couldn't read the mandarin characters on the bus stop information. Tereza was only know the bus number. So yeah, i just 'go with the flow'. The time we arrived at the university, we met Huahua--the one who took us to the location of the project and giving us some infos about the work.

We went to the San-Ying Art Village. It was lied on a beautiful green landscape. Even though the weather was hot but the wind chilled. the yard was huge. We met Mr. Horace, the one who runs this art village and he gave a tour for us around. Thus, he took us to the rotary international club community centre in yingge. it was nice of him giving us tea. He introduced us to the people who work here. They are very warm and welcoming. :)

Thus, he took us to the hostfamily and we were greeted warmly. They invited us to dinner and took us around the districts. I was thankful to have them around. It was such a nice evening. :)

Here are some pics i took for this day :

Near the Trainee's house : Mi hun for lunch

Joiy and Cory

Story on the pottery : The Taiwanese traditional wedding


Made of Clay : The local elementary school's nameplate

Tereza, Me, Mrs. Mei (Pete's Mom), Pete, Mrs. Amy(Mr. Horace's wife) was taking this picture. Blurry because night vision on the camcorder was inactivated

** Day 3

Pete was taking us for breakfast at Laya's Burger--very close to the house. The menu at Laya's burger had so many varieties. I had my rice burger. the bun is substituted by oven-ed sticky rice--back home, i'd call it ketan bakar. with beef and lettuce inside. it taste different but delicious :) and i had soy milk for the drink.

Thus, we went to the Community centre which was close to the San-Ying art village. Back in the parking lot there was bridge made of wood and from the sides of the bridge you could see the sun rise at 5.30 am and the sun set at 6.30 pm. Then we went to the San-Ying Art Village, there were lots of DIY potteries. They have classes for the pottery class and i see it only from outside, it was like the children were kind of excited for this one.

Together with Mr. Horace and Huahua we visited the Yingge Ceramic Museum. We explored all of the sections of the place. It held detailed information about the birth of the pottery in Taiwan, the development thru years and the future. Huahua told us there was a play ground behind the museum and we didn't see it but we would love to see it someday :).

Next destination : Tai-Hwa Pottery--the internationally known pottery store along with Yvette and Eva.

This store has lots of beautiful/artistic/very detailed pottery. The man in charge of the store gave us a tour and explain everything about the pottery. From the first phase until the last phase. The artists have the special skill to beautify the pottery and must be careful in the process. I saw a picture of Margaret Thatcher holding the pottery inside the store and also The Pope--i don't know the name. These masterpieces worth over thousands Taiwanese dollars. Actually when i came inside i was being very careful not to break it unless i had to put all my savings for it. -___- .

Anyways back to the story, next destination : Bilung Temple--The oldest temple in Taiwan

The Bilung temple is located on the highlands. We were on upthere and we could see all of sides of the city. It was one of capturing moments. The temple doesn't belong to any gods, it's for pray and hope for luck. The temple has clay-made relief on the walls, and near the inside roof there were different gods small statue attached on the wall. The one who made this temple must be someone who were highly interested in aesthetics and had big attention into details. The atmosphere around and inside the temple were very solemn. I was a bit tongue tied but i thought i was fascinated by the beauty.