Day 15 - Hello Yilan


After a hectic night preparing for our presentations and packing our luggage, we set out for our last class before our jam-packed weekend in Yilan! I woke up at a solid 7:30 AM this morning, on time and ready to go. The morning started off well as I was fully packed, and we headed to our daily "seven" run for breakfast before class. I've been saying hi to an 阿姨 (auntie) who works as a cleaning lady at Tsinghua's food court. Out of pure kindness, she has generously taken care of me throughout the week, gifting me lots of fruits and drinks. Today, she surprised Kevin and me with more drinks!

Jack and I eating 2/7 of the mangoes

After stopping by 7/11, we went straight to our Chinese class, where each student presented the contrast between online shopping versus brick-and-mortar stores in Chinese.

Chinese Class 3

Today, our class ended 30 minutes early to give us time to have lunch and bring our luggage to the bus before departing for Yilan. For lunch, most of the highest-level Chinese class students ate together at the cafeteria. I tried a corn and vegetable waffle today, and I loved it—success!


Waffle Place at the Cafeteria
After lunch, we dropped off our luggage at our future housing the week after Yilan and then headed to the train station.
Phillip (left) Erika (right) at the Hsinchu Train Station

The train ride took about 3 hours, during which most students (including myself) took a much-needed nap.

  Maria (right)
Upon arriving in Yilan, students split into groups and took different taxis. I ended up sharing a taxi with Maria, Annie, and Caitlyn. The taxi driver had Fujianese background and locally from Yilan as well. He gave us plenty of advice on what to eat and talked a lot about hiking with me.

We thought we'd reached our destination, but it turned out to be the wrong place. Unexpectedly, this little detour became an adventure. The taxi driver soon realized the mistake and drove us back to the right location. We finally made it to our destination, thankfully!

Once we settled into our AirBnB, we rested for a while before meeting Joelle Chevrier (Xue Qing).  While listening to her story the AirBnB owners cooked a delicious traditional Taiwanese homemade dinner for us, including fish, bittermelon, yellow stew, Taiwan wax apple, and more. Joelle had a fascinating life story; she mentioned working as a Ban X, half translator and half farmer. She shared her experiences of WOOFing (free labor on farms), studying Asian Studies, attending university in Taipei, and embracing her role as a mother alongside her wife. Joelle is also part of LandDike, a lesbian farming community, and was one of the first lesbian couples to get married in Taiwan.

Back of AirBnB

I'm excited for the cultural experiences Yilan has in store for us after today's unique stories and scenery I had never seen before!


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