Day 4 - Fazhi Goodbye

Day 4 - Fazhi Goodbye

大家好！This is William and Jordan reporting for Day 4 of our Taiwan trip! To start our day off, we woke up to a beautiful breakfast prepared by A Mi Lun’s chefs! Our breakfast consisted of bread with assortments of different spreads, along with Taiwanese cabbage, pork, rice, and many other staples.

After we finished our breakfast, we split up into 3 vans and headed to the Zhuoshui River near our hotel. The van ride down to the river was super fun as we went off-road through the river and over rocks. As we arrived at the river, many of us decided to get in for a quick dip. We safely waded in the beautiful river while overlooking the mountains. Many students also decided to make rock fixtures. We also visited a part of the river that was directly beneath a massive aqueduct that connected the two sides of the mountain.

 

After our fun adventure to the Zhuoshui River, we had an archery contest. Jack did the best out of all of us with a score of 36/50! As our archery competition ended, we hopped back in the vans and headed to a lively outdoor market to grab some refreshments. At the market, we tried many traditional Taiwanese snacks, including sausages, tofu, and delicious passion fruit drinks.

To top off our food exploration, we headed back to the Airbnb for lunch, where we were greeted with tons of food. Our eclectic lunch included food items such as chicken, rice, salad, vegetables, and many other things I don't even know the names of! At the end of our lunch, we were taught how to make mochi using a massive wooden pestle. The pestle was almost 3 feet long, and we used it to repeatedly pound the rice to form mochi. After trying our newly made mochi, we indulged in some karaoke. All of us were holding hands and singing our favorite songs. It was a true moment of connection and joy.

After lunch, our group went to visit the Fazhi students one last time. It was a very rocky bus ride, but it was extremely worth it, as we had built connections with these students all year and were so excited to see them again! After months of staying in contact, we had met them in person for the first time yesterday, and sadly, it was already time to say goodbye. When we arrived, they had planned a scavenger hunt for us that was extremely engaging and fun. We organized ourselves into groups of four and rotated around stations that taught us more about Bunun culture. 

One group consisted of William, Kieran, Jordan, and Ayende. We first learned about languages and how to say body parts in Bunun. Some of the pronunciations were difficult at first, but as we continued to practice, we were able to say them fluently. Afterwards, we visited the field where we learned about the Bunun calendar. There were many other interesting booths that we visited, such as learning about Bunun food and even how to throw a baseball. Our highlight was definitely dancing in traditional Bunun outfits, where we danced with the children and learned hand movements.

Afterwards, they graciously awarded each group certificates based on how successful we were at the individual scavenger hunt stations. They gifted us bags of candy and snacks, and we prepared to say our final goodbyes. We took pictures with the children, gave them hugs, and lastly made friendship bracelets to remember them by. As we parted, we gave them each our gifts, which consisted of a PolyGlobal notebook and pens, candy that we had brought from home, and a note inside the notebook. It was bittersweet, and we were able to share contact information in hopes of seeing them again soon.

       

Afterwards, we hopped on a bus and visited the night market, where we stocked up on delicious Taiwanese foods such as chicken, dumplings, and sweet potatoes. There, we visited a thrift store that had a huge selection of clothing. It was an amazing cultural experience that we all greatly enjoyed. We were so tired after the night market that we went straight back to the hotel and then to bed. I (Jordan) felt very sad to say goodbye to my Fazhi partner, with whom we had built so many memories throughout the year. I loved him so much and enjoyed every conversation we had together. We even cried a little bit because of how emotional the goodbye felt at the time.

谢谢你们！

-孔威利 和 甘荣江