Chinese speakers needed

I was scrambling through 4 e v e r love group on Facebook and happened to find a long lost article I wrote a year ago.
Ironically, the article was published in Chinese for a local Taiwanese newspaper, much contrary to its original version (English). Even MORE ironically, I can't seem to understand any of it.
Anyway, it's translated t0 Chinese by my mom

To make matters even worse, I have seemingly lost the original document :'(

Click on the article above to get you to the article page.

Memorable journey - Overseas Chinese youth to participate in Taiwan to observe the group felt
Fourth team: Chen Keisha

At the Taoyuan International Airport, we are the fourth team counselors are college friends hugged, we cried, three weeks time off so fast, blink of an eye, to observe the group's journey coming to an end. Like yesterday, to arrive at the Taoyuan International Airport today to say goodbye.

Bear, bear three weeks in daily life counselor, enthusiasm could not bear to Taiwan, could not bear to college friends. While the short get together, we must separate. I heard the sound of treasure goodbye. The deep friendship and I will remember in their hearts, will never fade!

Aircraft arrived at Soekarno - Hatta Airport, college friends once again embrace, we are devotion.

Here I would like to thank you stay in Indonesia, but Taiwan Alumni Association President Chen Wen aunt, she was busy, made a special trip to the airport to pick us before you leave hungry she was afraid of our journey, came to give each of us a bread, She is like a good aunt, each of us carefully Dingning Zhao, this situation, we will never forget, but the text Thank you Auntie.

In Taiwan, three weeks, I learned a lot in school, not something I learned tai chi, how paper fan, do Hakka cuisine (HAKA TRADITIONAL TEA), doing MOCI cake.

To observe the group's itinerary is very rich, we visited the Tokai University, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, National Palace Museum, the famous scenic spot - Sun Moon Lake, and let me know Taiwan's history, colorful culture of Taiwan, Taiwan is also aware of the traditional Chinese arts and culture center. We visited a temple of Taiwan's traditional architectural style, folk culture and art, like paper-cut art is one of them.

In my Chinese regiment is the worst, in fact, not difficult to learn Chinese, Chinese grammar is not troublesome, unlike the English in the past tense, present tense, or future-style grammar. See college friends are talking about fluent Chinese, I said to myself, came back, I have to work harder to learn Chinese. Come on! Keisha.

In Taiwan, you can also see Aboriginal culture, Aboriginal dance, most of them live in the mountains, and now retains complete indigenous culture. We traveled almost the whole of Taiwan, from Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, college friends almost every day in the luggage heavier. Although I am not a shopaholic, but Taiwan's something cheap, 101 Mall, Shihlin Night Market, where nostalgia are college friends.

Last night in Taipei, we can not sleep, because busy to pack up, get up early to the airport, ready to present to the counselors. Think tomorrow we should separate the thought knocked the door tomorrow, no counselor, gently wake us, I kept thinking, I was the emergence of waves of frustration and melancholy.

Thank you new fourth team of counselors small, Hippo, PIZ-ZA sister, thank you three weeks meticulous care of us, I think I give you the most trouble of the members, I do not eat pork because, every time counselors are always busy trying to help me find no pork lunch, really sorry.

Want another chance, I will then Taiwan, and we meet again, next month I will fly across the Atlantic to begin my college life, but a friendship, which I will always forever in mind - the fourth team counselors and college friends, Terrific Oh! Original: Keisha

Translation: Yi-Chu Note: This is a never accept the influence of Chinese culture and has a little girl of Chinese descent, went to the United States finished the secondary school curriculum to graduate before the privilege of participating in the "Overseas Chinese Youth Study Tour of Taiwan." three weeks of Chinese cultural atmosphere full of life and collective activities, she deeply appreciate the great Chinese culture and friendship is precious, determined in the future to learn Chinese to catch up, between the lines with smooth and lively character.

The original is in English, translated by her mother, Yi-Chu.

Excuse the lame translation. I was too lazy to fix the translation cos if I did that, the result wouldn't be much better than the original. Don't worry, I've asked my mom to send me the original document which I hope could replace the current scrawny translation. You can totally tell they're ripped out of from Google translate.

Thanks to the translated article too, I finally figured out that my Chinese name turns out to be somewhat Keisha, or something that sounds like it ;) and my mom's too - Yi-Chu. What a way to trace back my Chinese heritage.

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Anyway, moving on to the next news:

S.O.S

www.headsure.com

Uh oh, bad news coming bitchess!
Apparently my pocket camera data cable has been swapped with my dad's blackberry's data cable back in Indonesia. It answers my curiosity why - one day - I sudden found TWO Blackberry's data cables in my cable box, and none of my camera's.

By any means, I won't be able to give you updates featuring latest pictures I took from my camera. Sad, right?
I need to find a time to go to a nearest Best buy to purchase it so you guys just need to wait for that day to come.

Some goodies from Taiwan Guan Mo Tuan

Yesterday, as you might have noticed, I posted an entry about reunions that came after Taiwan events. It seems like I've posted too many text-heavy stories that this blog kinda lacks of pictures. Well then, this time, I promise I'm just going to post bunch of pictures with captions, more like a gallery-like post. Taiwan Guan Mo Tuan program, which was held exactly last year, left me and my friends with several items we brought home that wouldn't make us forget our moments spent in Taiwan.

These pictures are courtesy of Sonya, who's kindly given me a permission to post these pictures taken from her camera to my blog. Thank you so much Sonya!

Hope you enjoy it, readers!

Note: some pictures might have been posted before, just so you know.
Also, since most of our members put a lot of interest on cute stuff and accessories, there are some stuff bearing excessive cuteness below. You have been warned ;)

Holy crap, there's a lot!!

Item: Uniform Backpack
Place: Tamsui Street
Description: The picture above is a backpack belongs to Sonya. Mine's color is hot pink. All girls in Group 4 bought the same style of backpacks in the same shop at the same place, only in different colors. The idea of buying the backpack was first initiated with only a handful of girls, who apparently were in needs of backpacks (since their luggage seemed to have overloaded). We all promised to use the backpacks on our departure day to Jakarta.


Item: Doraemon bread
Place: Taipei Hero House
Description: This bread is included in our breakfast' package provided in Taipei Hero House! It's actually a plain bread, but it's terrifyingly delicious! :p


Item: Sushi sets for lunch
Place: Taipei 101
Description: On the first free Sunday we had, we all strolled to Taipei 101. It was raining heavily and we were kinda lost in a secluded area in Taipei 101 building (some sort of a basement of a building interconnected to the main Taipei 101 building). Since it was lunch time and there were no food courts seen nearby, we bumped into this sushi restaurant and had some!


Item: A glass of orange juice and a glass of...fried rice for breakfast
Place: Bus taking off from Taichung hotel
Description: People make mistakes, unexceptionally being late. It seems that the members of group 4 have developed high tolerance towards each other, that even we voluntarily shoved some orange juice and fried rice to these plastic glasses, spared them to those who woke up late (the later you woke up, the less food there would be). Pretty efficient, right?


Item: Rows of unique-packaged looking candies
Place: A candy shop at Taichung downtown
Description: Just some snacks and candies we happened to see in a cute-themed candy shop at Taichung downtown


Item: Group 4 Official Flag
Place: Taichung Hotel
Description: This flag was made on our first day in Taichung. Each group was expected to come up with a concept about the flag and spill it out on a large piece of cloth. The group flag had to be made as creative and unique as we could. Our group's artist - Marcella - immediately took her time to draw our fu dao yuans (group advisors): and Xiao Xin and Xi Bao. Xiao Xin was depicted as Shinchan (probably due to bearing striking resemblance) slipping on a piece of banana peel, with Xi Bao crying out to warn him.


Item: Fujifilm Choco Polaroid
Place: Camera District, Taipei
Description: Some people from our group, like Jeje and Janet duizhang, bought these lovely polaroid cameras!


Item: Cellphone pockets
Place: Xi Men Ding night market, Taipei
Description: All members of Group 4 were very tempted to buy these for souvenirs for friends at home, which we eventually did! (after a series of bargaining)


Item: Sophie Chocolate
Place: A candy shop at Taichung downtown
Description: THIS IS NOT A PAD. I thought it was a pad that happened to be misplaced in a candy shop, but then it was a yummy chocolate! LOL at that awkward moment when grabbing a piece of chocolate out of a pad package.


Item: Candy Sticks
Place: A candy shop at Taichung downtown
Description: I didn't consume this one, but it's pretty popular among our group members as these sticks were passed around for everyone to eat.


Item: OK Chocolate
Place: A candy shop at Taichung downtown
Description: THIS IS NOT A BANDAGE. Same case as the "pad" chocolate. Inside this package is not real bandages, but instead bandage-shaped milk chocolate!


Item: Geta (Japanese Wooden Sandals)
Place: Lu Gang Street, Kaohsiung
Description: Sonya and her sister, Janet duizhang, bought these lovely Geta! I wish I could've bought them too.


Item: Ice shaving
Place: Modern Toilet, Taipei
Description: We shared this ice shaving for night snack before returning to the hotel. If you spot a small ice cream at the corner of this toilet-shaped plate, it's shaped like a poop. What a "gross" delicacy, isn't it?


Item: Breakfast package
Place: Taipei Hero House
Description: Aside of the typical Doraemon bread you saw earlier, included in the breakfast package for each of us were another set of Doraemon bread, onigiri, and apple juice box


Item: Ay-chung Flour Noodle
Place: Xi Men Ding night market, Taipei
Description: Lao Shi recommended this so-called noodle for us to taste whilst in Taiwan. So that night, not just group 4 but bunch of other groups lined up in Ay-chung Flour Noodle stall. It was soooo packed with visitors aiming to try this legendary noodle that's passed through generations! I'm telling you it tastes so good!


Item: Fried Quail's Egg
Place: Lu Gang Street, Kaohsiung
Description: Sonya and her sister, Janet duizhang, bought these lovely Geta! I wish I could've bought them too.



Item: Caramel Pudding
Place: 7 Eleven
Description: Stumbled upon this pudding when we first arrived in Taipei! We were so hungry that night and went to 7 Eleven only to find these yummy puddings! Apparently this type of pudding is so famous in Taipei, so it's worth the promotion.


Item: Fujifilm White Polaroid
Place: Camera District, Taipei
Description: Some other people in our group, like Jane, Felicia, and Tasya, were drawn to buying this cute polaroid in a reasonable price!


Item: Colored Gel Pens
Place: Muji Department Store
Description: Sonya and Monika bought these pens at Muji Stationery Store


Item: Marshmallows
Place: Muji Department Store
Description: Sonya and some people in our group bought these marshmallows for Snack


Item: Eslite Paper Bag
Place: Eslite Bookstore in Chung Yo Mall, Taichung
Description: Eslite is the bookstore we visited in Chung Yo Mall, Taichung. It was friggin enormous and it consisted of two stories! Some ended up buying books that were written in Chinese (I didn't though), but still, the place was worth to remember.


Item: Muji Department Store Paper Bag
Place: Muji Department Store
Description: On our first free Sunday, we went to Muji Department Store at Camera District, Taipei. Muji sounds like a very renowned department store in the area that we even looked for it before we saw it. It turns out the items sold there were quite promising (please refers to the marshmallows and colorful gen pens above)


Item: Coffee candies
Place: Forgot ^^", but I guess we got these from a coffee factory on the way to Tainan
Description: I forgot where we got these. Taiwan is pretty known for producing its distinct sweets and snacks. So it it's not from the coffee factory we stopped by on the way to Tainan, we must have got these candies from a retailer store or simply...somewhere in Taiwan.


Item: Temporary Name Tag
Place: Hanging on my chest
Description: We were given out these temporary photo-less name tag with our ID number and group number written below. The name tag was only valid for the first three days before it was replaced with a new one, with a picture of me. Too bad I didn't get to take a picture of the new name tag. Aside of the group and ID number displayed on the name tag, you can see that there's my Chinese name there.

Photos are credit to: Sonya

A series of reunions

Just last night, I was surprised by my cousin, Monika's, Skype request. We talked a cousin-to-cousin talk yesterday. As a note to you guys, she's like my own sister and now she already left to pursue her dancing education and career in Singapore.



I really miss her so much. I'm quite saddened with the fact that I won't be able to meet her once I get back to Jakarta for vacay, unless my parents allow me to go to Singapore and pay her a visit.

Just tonight, I got another Skype call but this time, it's from Jeje and Didi!

It was short but it's nice to see them although we could only meet through computer screens. Hopefully one day Monika, Jeje, Didi, and I could meet up at a conversation call!
That'd be awesome!

Speaking of skyping with Monika, Jeje, and Didi, I'd like to mention a bit that they are participants of Taiwan Guan Mo Tuan, a study tour program to Taiwan where Monika and I were lucky to meet Jeje, Didi, and the rest of the gang in Group 4 (the group we were assigned in)!

...and guess what? It's been a year since Taiwan trip! Time flies so fast, and in another month, my first year in the US will be completed and I'll soon enter the second one.
Anyway, let's focus on the Taiwan trip first. The Taiwan Guan Mo Tuan program that I joined last year, kicked off on June 21 till July 11, 2010. So, two days before this entry was posted, officially marked the first anniversary since the day the tour ended.

The whole program itself was very much impressive! If you're wondering what I've been through in details, please refer to this. You'll most likely find everything related to the trip!
The aftermath events following the end of the program include of course, reunions. Reunion is a true fact that our bond created within the group has definitely strengthened. Even at the end of the program, we still felt like not splitting up. It was a tearful moment but anyway, we promised to reunite.

The first reunion was held approx. 3 days after we all arrived in Jakarta, which is around July 13/14 (today last year) in Pancious, Mal Kelapa Gading. The idea of the reunion had been initiated since we were exiting the arrival hall in Soekarno-Hatta International airport. Before we parted, we promised we'd have a reunion while we were still having a few days off left before school started (not for me though, I still had a month left before leaving to the US).

That reunion is probably the most joyous one, since it was attended by some members of Group 4 who come from Makassar. A chance of meeting them in the future is definitely very rare :(

During the briefing of Taiwan Guan Mo Tuan, held before the program kicked off, the organizer lady expected all the participants to make friends, stay in contact, and have a reunion after the program ended. She even mentioned and exaggerated. "Last year's group even had their first reunion just a week after the program ended!"

Well, ma'am, you should know that this year (last year)'s group had their first reunion 3 DAYS just after the program ended! See how close we really are?

Second reunion was held at the same time of Celine's birthday in Bandar Jakarta, Ancol. Remember Celine? She's the girl who we succeeded to surprise on the night of her birthday in Tainan.





Another reunion was quite short, and it was also to celebrate Karin's birthday. It was thrown in Chicken Story, Mal Kelapa Gading. It wouldn't have been originally short, if Monika and I hadn't got lost in that enormous mall and spent nearly an hour to look for the venue of the reunion.

The latest reunion only consisted of four people including me: Audrey, Didi, and Jeje. We had a simple dinner in Sushi Tei and that was when I came back from the US for Year End break. It was so nice to know that they actually dedicated this reunion for me. Aww...

I'm going back to Indonesia on August 6, 2011, in case you wonder. My Group 4 friends have been expecting for another reunion, but I'm afraid it won't be the same. Since some of them are going abroad for college, it will surely affect the amount of the attendees (Monika and Jeje are off to Singapore, Sonya is off to Michigan, US, Karin goes to Taiwan, and Audrey is off to Surabaya).

No matter where we would be,
Group 4 sticks until the end!

Trip to Taiwan - Part 14 (LAST PART!)

Still on the same night....
It was indeed a long night that we hardly slept. Let me tell you later how long we got to sleep. Even some people told me that in the last night, we wouldn't be able to sleep due to repacking stuff and just got busy. If it really happened, then it would be my first time not sleeping all night long. I was thinking to write it down in my record book or something.
So as I told you before, we spent the rest of the night gathering in the hallway, sharing our impressions and stories we'd been through so far and we also ticked the checklist of places and accomodations, where they were good or not.

After the gathering ended, we didn't go straight to bed and sleep but instead we repacked our things, we positioned them inside the luggages so that they would fit it. The airline regulation required all luggages to be under 20kg and those whose luggages' weight were over the target were in state of panic. Some of my friends who were heavy shoppers experienced that, apparently, and they had to get someone (boys particularly, who didn't shop much) to stuff their things in the boys' luggages.
As you can see below, this is the condition of our room just as we were repacking things.

It was already 1 o'clock in the morning and yet we were still wide awake.
The hallways were crowded with people dragging their luggages all around to the living room where the scale was. Anyway, another activity that occured at that moment was that, we - particularly my group - gathered in our leader's room to start making souvenirs for our fu dao yuans. The souvenirs would be in form of three booklets (we have three fu dao yuans) and each of them would be filled with impressions of us towards our fu dao yuans. So practically, we wrote on this glossy black paper using a golden and silver marker impression of us about our fu dao yuans, could be in Chinese or English.

But since I couldn't write in Chinese, I decided to write in English.

We were done with everything at like 2 o'clock.
I finally got to return to my room and my roommates were taking late shower early in the morning. We spent about an hour watching a recorded football match (England vs Germany) while some of my roommates were still busy stuffing their things into the luggages. Some even succeeded finding someone else to share luggages with.

At 3 o'clock, we wrapped things up. My luggage was locked already and so was my cabin bag. I stuffed my shoulderbag into the luggage and decided to wear - as promised - my new hot pink backpack. There was plenty of space in the backpack so it was really worth it.

Honestly I didn't feel sleepy at all, but not until one of my friends decided to sleep. Her action was eventually followed by others. Even though we might not be able to sleep for like six hours, but instead an hour, because the morning call would be at 4 am.

Twenty first day: July 11, 2010 (Taipei - Jakarta)
Finally, got to change the date.
It was a nice, short sleep, almost like a nap and I suddenly woke up at like...4.30 am!!! *panic* Half an hour before the morning call!! I hurriedly took a shower, washed my hair, and got dressed. The last day was really a mess. But I managed to get ready in time. We had a quick breakfast with, again, Doraemon bread, Onigiri, and a juice box.

I barely remembered what happened next because I think I was still half asleep, even when I was loading my luggage and cabin bag to the bus. But at least I remembered the chill air of Taipei that blasted once we got out of the hotel.
The sun had just risen at that moment and the streets looked awfully quieter than yesterday.

Anyway after loading our things to the bus, we got in and thus the bus moved, leaving Taipei Hero House. Xiao Xin gave a short intro on the bus which I didn't exactly know what he was saying, but since we slept early in the morning and only slept for like an hour, we took a quick nap on the bus. I was woken up when the bus already made its way to the airport, passing freeway. And that's when Mia started to cry after we gave her the souvenir we made last night.

We got off the bus and took our things, then headed straight to the departure hall where the leader, Janet, took care of all passports and stuffs. The fu dao yuans also took us inside, so it wasn't a goodbye yet. I took some pictures with the fu dao yuans while waiting for Janet handling everything.

Here's me with Xiao Xin.



With Pizza. Isn't she such a sweetie?



With Mia or Xi Bao :)



Taking a pose with the fu dao yuans of my group



Then we took a group picture together. This one has better quality. Thanks to Jeje's camera.

But later it came to the moment of farewell when we were about to enter the immigration, where non-passengers weren't allowed to go inside.
It's time when we had to bid our fu dao yuans farewell. Things got a little bit blurry as all of us cried and hugged our fu dao yuans. It was a tearful moment indeed, and that's when you felt the bond you've made with them had gotten stronger for three weeks. I cried too, which is embarrassing because that was at the airport. I remembered hugging Xiao Xin, Xi Bao, and Pizza, and Audrey telling them "Pu yao qu." or "Don't cry".

Okay, let us not expand this topic as everyone hated being discussed about them crying.
I don't though, but well...after hugging and bidding them farewell, telling them not to forget about us and that we would tag all the pictures in Facebook, we finally stepped into the immigration counter.

Again, it was another embarrassing moment. When it came to my turn, I stepped forward, handing the officer my documents, still with swollen eyes. I remembered the officer looked at me meaningfully but I decided to return the eye contact so I just kept looking at other directions. I was sure his face was like saying. "Just cried?"

We headed straight to the gate as it was already boarding. So we didn't spend much time at the gate as we lined up towards the entrance of the plane. Later, the plane took off. So long Taiwan, see you again in the future, see you again tomorrow (particularly for me) as I'm going to transit for a couple of moments there before continuing my flight to San Francisco.
We were excited to go back to our country, and sad at the same time to leave the country which had indulged us for three weeks long.

On board, I only watched The Last Song and I didn't really watch other movies since I kept falling asleep and woke up to find the story was already somewhere else. So I decided to switch the movies.

As we landed, we quickly took our luggages which was a very quick procedure and headed out to meet our loved ones who picked us up. I spotted my mom and dad and they sort of complimented that I was wearing all stuffs they hadn't seen before (new backpack, new shirt, new white cardigan, new shoes).
But we weren't to go home first as there would be a group photoshoot near Hoka Hoka Bento for a local Chinese/Taiwanese newspaper (what?)

After that, we bid each other good bye and quickly arranged a reunion at the same week.
Wow, that's fast. We were just about to part but then we quickly arranged to meet again at a reunion.

Monika headed home with me and mom already brought me lunch which was a local dish, rawon (spicy beef soup). So after three weeks not eating Indonesian cuisine, I was quickly greeted with one shortly after my arrival.
There was a bit of a problem though. Monika sort of lost her luggage lock, but once we arrived at her house, my dad solved it quickly and then I headed back home.

Phiew, I went straight to my bedroom and crashed on the bed. After all, I only slept for an hour. I didn't even get to attend the dinner my family arranged with my friend's family.
But I managed to wake up at 1.30am to watch the final World Cup match between Spain and Germany.

---------------------------------------
Phiew (again) after writing parts of Trip to Taiwan, I finally finished everything today! Just a day before my other trip kicked off. Hope you enjoyed it.
I'll be returning to Taiwan tomorrow even for a short time (just a transit) but this won't be the same anymore. Awww...I'm going to miss everyone.

Anyway, tomorrow is also Xibao's birthday!
Group 4 is already arranging a surprise.
Thanks for reading. Now I can get back to real life writing and babbling just about everything in this blog.

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