Tripje naar WuLai

The farm project is een project in Wulai waarbij 2 buitenlandse studenten meehelpen op een boerderij. Ze hadden een dag georganiseerd zodat ook anderen kennis konden maken met het leven op de boerderij. We waren dus bij de eersten om ons in te schrijven voor deze trip en keken er enorm naar uit. Op het schema stond o.a. het volgende: kennis maken met het leven op de boerderij, een aboriginal barbecue, een bezoekje aan de 'old streets' van Wulai,...

We namen de MRT en daarna de bus tot een bushalte dicht bij de boerderij. In een auto werden we tot bij de boerderij gebracht. Onze chauffeur bleek veel te weten over de stammen in Taiwan en het was een heel interessante rit. Eenmaal aangekomen werden we aan het werk gezet. We moesten bamboe stokken in stukken zagen om daar bamboerijst in te maken. Door de rijst te stomen in bamboe, krijgt het een bepaalde smaak. Daarna gingen we deze stukken bamboe wassen en werden ze gevuld met rijst. Later zouden we de rijst eten bij onze barbecue.

Toen de rijst klaar was om te stomen, kregen we een korte rondleiding, waarbij we een beetje informatie kregen over de indeling van de boerderij. We werden rondgeleid door één van de buitenlandse studenten waardoor de informatie heel beperkt was, aangezien hij er zelf nog maar enkele weken is. Na de rondleiding, eindelijk de langverwachte barbecue want we hadden honger en dorst. Helaas was deze barbecue helemaal niet wat we verwacht hadden. Er was 1 soort vlees, wat in kleine stukjes gesneden was en meer dan de helft van het vlees bestond uit vet. Dan waren er nog wat verschillende soorten groenten en de bamboerijst. Helaas waren er niet genoeg stoelen voor iedereen om te zitten, dus sommigen moesten op de grond zitten of moesten staand eten.

Na de barbecue was de opdracht om onkruid uit te trekken. Wat bij ons bijna als een straf gezien zou worden maar hier was het blijkbaar goed om het leven op de boerderij te leren kennen. Na een uur van zware arbeid in de blakende zon, kregen we 5 minuten pauze.Na deze pauze kregen we 2 presentaties, eentje over Tsjechië en de andere over Maleisië. Dit was het einde van de dag en we werden terug aan de bushalte afgezet.

Conclusie van vandaag is dat onze verwachtingen veel te hoog waren want we hebben niks geleerd over het leven op een boerderij, we hebben niks geleerd over de lokale stammen, we hebben met de groep geen bezoekje gebracht aan de 'old streets' en we waren redelijk wat geld kwijt voor deze uitstap.

Our trip to WuLai

In Wulai there is also a project from AIESEC NTU, the LC we are part of. AIESEC together with the farm project organized a one day trip so we could get to know each other and how it is to live and work on a Taiwanese farm. We were sooo enthousiastic about this that we were one of the firsts to sign up for this event! Especially with a schedule like: Getting to know the farm life, having an aboriginal BBQ, visiting the old street of WuLai,...

So yesterday morning the day had finally come and we took the MRT to Xindian station to meet all the others. Afterwards we got on a bus for about one hour until we were at the foot of the WuLai mountains. We were taken up to the farm by car in several small groups and our driver seemed to know a great deal about the area. Her English was extremely good and she told us about all the aboriginal tribes in Taiwan, how they live, what's happening to them,... It was extremely interesting, I just wish the trip in the car could have lasted a little longer. As soon as we arrived we were taken to the farm and put to work. We were asked to cut some very long bamboo trunks into smaller pieces. Afterwards we washed them and put rice and water in them to steam, this way it gets a special flavor. This rice would be served at lunch so we were curious to find out how it would taste!

While the rice was being prepared we received a tour by one of the exchange participants of the project. We were devided into teams. Strangely enough they put all the foreigners together in one group which seems odd to me since the purpose of the visit is to also get to know each other better. Since most of us already knew each other... Honza (the intern of the project) explained to us what he does all day, how the farm is structured and what they plant. He tried is absolute best to explain things to us but since he has only been there for a fow weeks, his knowledge of the place, organic farming, taiwanese methods,... isn't really extensive. After the tour we were hungry and thirsty and we couldn't wait to get some of that BBQ! To our disappointment, the BBQ wasn't really what we expected it to be. There was one kind of meat (wild boar), cut into small and it seem to exist mostly out of fat. We had some other vegies together with it and our bamboo rice. It wasn't too bad but it also didn't hit the spot either... When I read it would be an aboriginal BBQ, I expected aboriginals to be there so they could explain to us how they caught this animal, how they normally eat, what their habits are,... Sadly this was not the case.

After lunch there was an event to experience the farm. It was a big deal to even divide the teams. There would be three groups with two working on the land and one resting a little and doing the dishes in the shade. Of course, it was an extemely hot day so most of us prefered to stay in that last group. As an LCP it shocked me that the current Executive Boards of the Local Committe screamed out that they would do the dishes. As an LCP (it's me Ellen writing this English part) I couldn't contain myself and said: "Leading by example, right?" This seemed to surprise them and one of them said: "I want to give you the opportunity to experience the farm life!" My answer: "I want to give you the opportunity to lead by example." After some nervous laughter, the leaderof the event tried for a second time to split up the groups. Because I did want to lead by example, I did as he asked without complaining.

This is how I ended up weeding a patch of land with this small tool in my hand. Feeling extremely hot I worked for about 30 minutes. When it's 39°C, 30 minutes takes a long time!!! The strangest thing for me was that everything was being explained in Chinese so most of my team mates (and myself) could not understand what was being said. It almost seemed like talking and explaining things in English was an inconvenience and that it was strange for us to expect this. Since there were about 8 foreigners out of the +/- 40 people present and this being an open AIESEC event, it kind of surprised me. When I asked why they don't really try to speak in English I found out it's because they're just not used to doing it and it makes some of them uncomfortable. As many AIESECers will know:

After this small break we did some small games and then we enjoyed some presentations of the two AIESEC interns. It was interesting to learn some new things about the Czech Republic and Malaysia. This was the end of the day and afterwards we were driven down to the mountain. As was suggested in the introduction, we expected a bunch of us would go to the WuLai old street together to have dinner... Strangely enough almost everyone went home so we ended up just walking around with the five interns of our project. We had some dinner and went home.

I am an AIESECer and I'm proud of it. I also know that being a part of AIESEC is a time for you to gain experience, to learn new things but also to make mistakes. I wish I could say this event was good. I wish I could say that all the hard work the team put into this lead to a wonderful result. I wish I could say I learned something about the aboriginals in Taiwan and organic farming. I wish... It saddens me to say that I did not enjoy the activity and I think a fair amount of mistakes were made along the way. I just hope that my criticism is received well because it's given in all honesty and no ill will is intended. But what I hope above all is that everyone involved in organizing the event learned something from this so better results can be reached in the future.