Special: Airport pick up

This is my first time to airport pick up with foreigners. This make me feel expect, exciting, and …nervous.

When we arrival airport, it already 7 p.m... The first incoming are Dr. Jih, and six students. The same, this is my first to say hello and shake hand with foreigner, and I seem a little embarrassed. Anyway, I had the experience, and I will do that better next time.

Two groups of students would arrival later, so we went to 4th floor and took rest. All I can do was listening and smile, because their speaking is too fast for me. That’s too bad, right?!

About 9 p.m., we met other students, and then went back to CYCU. Do you think my mission over? No~~! Because I have to take the two ladies to dorm and tell them what they need to notice. Although it was still a challenge for me, I thought this was easier to face two people than group of people.

Summer + Water = FUN

Woooow! That was really crazy. Bonnie and me didn't very know how to arrive Fulong. However, I brought a Taipei map and Bonnie drove her car, and than.....let's go~!

Bonnie has good driving skills, so we only spent about 2 hrs to there, including we got lost two times. When we arrived there, we didn't spent lots of time finding them. Although I can't swim, we still had lots of fun there.

This is my first time to Fulong, and it is a beautiful beach. It need to pay 70 NT dollars to enter the beach, but it's worth.

On the way back to Chungli, something hit our car and was curshed on freeway. We are safe, but that was really horrible experience for us. 

Toastmaster part II

Nice to meet the Toastmaster's members, again. Toastmaster is a English club where provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every individual member gas the opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skill.

I knew this club before, and thanks to Bonnie, one of the Toastmaster member, invited us to join this meeting. I found there are a lot of people with strong English ability, like James and Kevin. Hope I could like them one day.

Unexpected episode:

That really made me surprised. I met my senior high school English teacher there. We have not seen for ten years. What a coincidence!

group picture for Toastmaster part I

King Car & San Ho Paper & Carton Co.

Today we had two field trips, both of them are in Chungli, about 15-20 drive time to there.

First, the time of departure is about 9:30 a.m, and then we moved to King Car, a factory of the renown ”King Car Root Beer", main products are Mr. Brown coffee and various healthy and functional beverages now. When we were there, we had a brief video first.

In the video, I know besides Chung Li plant, King Car group still have Ping Chen plant, Yuan Shan plant, King Car Whisky Distillery, Yuan Shan research institute, and King Car logistics Co., LTD.

Then we visited product line about 40 mins. This is my first time to see the product line, and I think those machines are magic. No matter packing, stack, or storage warehouse are automated. The guide told me they produce 40,000 box (24 cans in a box ) beverages every work day. That are really amazing.

I have been to King Car Whisky Distillery in April. Although Chung Li plant is not large and beautiful than King Car Whisky Distillery, but I like these people who are really friendly and hospitable. 

After lunch, we went to Shan Ho Paper & Carton Co., which is an old industry made Corrugated fiberboard. As King Car, we had brief presentation first and then visited the production line.

In the visit, I found San Ho is not just produce corrugated box that I thought before. The company also makes packing for a lot of products. Besides, the guide also told us there are three kinds of corrugated board: A, B, and C class, and A class is made by large corrugators. We found there are lots of bundles of paper rolls. The guide told us San Ho is second factory, so they don't manufacture pulp. Their raw materials are kraft paper.

Perhaps San Ho is a traditional industry, the plants are dark and stuffy. I deeply feel working here is very toilsome.

Anyway, I like the field trips today. Both of them are friendly and nice. Besides, we got lots of drinks and cookie. Maybe this is one of the benefits to visit food industry. haha :)

FTV

We had one field trip in this afternoon- Formosa TV (FTV), a television station  began broadcasting on June 11, 1997. FTV was not only the forth wireless TV station after TTV, CTV, and CTS, but also the first private TV station in the history of Taiwan.

This was my first time to visit TV station, so I was excited and can't wait to go. We arrived there early, so we took rest in their meeting room, where we can Taipei 101. We took lots of picture there, and some of us even started role playing.

About 2 p.m., we had a video, and then Peter shared something about his working experience, useful suggestions and so on to us. Maybe because Peter touched some political issues, the atmosphere became a little heavy.

Finally, we waited the moment to visit studios. The first one is for traffic report. The room is not big as I think, but the facilities are very complete. It really surprised me.

The second one is for English news report. Jinny Chang, one of anchor for Formosa News, introduced lots about the studio and their work environment to us. For example, when they reported, behind them is a plain blue screen. What we saw on the TV is additional added.

Happy time always flies very fast, so we all reluctantly when we wanted to leave. By the way, before we left FTV, we met Trong Chai, the CEO of FTV, and  took picture with him. Happy ending!

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-brainers Will Rule the Future

I really like the book that Paulina introduced today. Then I started to search this book and found chinese translation named: "未來在等待的人才". The book posits that the future of global business belongs to the right-brainers.

First the book outlines four major ages:

• 
  
  Agricultural Age (farmers)- 18th century
• 
  
  Industrial Age (factory workers)- 19th century
• 
  
  Information Age (knowledge workers)- 20th century
• 
  
  Conceptual Age (creators and empathizers)- 21st century

The fourth stage is where Pink focuses and how businesses can be successful. Then Pink also outlines six essential senses:

• 
  
  function→Design
• 
  
  argument→Story
• 
  
  focus→Symphony
• 
  
  logic→Empathy
• 
  
  seriousness→Play
• 
  
  accumulation→Meaning

The best of the six senses is STORY.

After Paulina presented, I recalled a left and right brain test  (test info from: http://blog.yam.com/cheng263/article/16200593 ). Looking the picture on that web, the girl turn clockwise or counter-clockwise?

If you see the girl turn clockwise, you use right brain. If you see the girl turn counter-clockwise, you use left brain.

I showed the test to both of Taiwan and foreign students. Most of the foreigner can see clockwise and counter-clockwise, and most of Taiwan's students "only" or "often" see clockwise. It's really interesting, right?

One Day Tour in Taipei

We went to Taipei again!

Our first stop is National Palace Museum in the morning. Because of Saturday, there are lots of people, including visitors from countries. I thought there was a small global village, too. We saw many antiquities, like Jadeite Cabbage, Meat-Shaped, Qingming Festival, and so on. It is worth to spent 100 NT dollars and followed the history.

Taipei 101

After National Palace Museum, we moved to Taipei 101 to eat our dinner. I found foreign students became so excited when they met with Taipei 101. Oh~ the pride of Taiwan.

It need to spent 400 NT dollars to reach the top floor, and I thought that was too expensive for Taiwan's students. Although it was a little bit pity that can't go with them, our purse is also important, so most of us selected to go window shopping.

Our last stop was National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a famous monument erected in memory of Chiang Kai-shek who was former President of the Republic of China. Due to time is tight, we only had about 20 mins to stay and take some pictures.

Because of these foreign students, today's tour became meaningful and had lots of fun.

Hsinchu Science Park

Today we went to Hsinchu Science Park (HSP), a place about one hour driven time form CYCU to there. When we were there, we had presentation and short film about HSP first. In the presentation, I know there are six parks: Hsinchu, Jhunan, Tonglo, Longtan, Yilan, and Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park, and the first four parks already have over 400 hi-tech companies with more than 120,000 employees and sales revenues excedding US$27 billion.

In environment, the Industrial Technology Research Insitute (ITRI), National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), and National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) are all surround the park and provide help to HSP companies which faced the technical bottlenecks.

In industry, the HSP contains six industries categories: Integrated circuits, Computers and peripherals, Telecommunications, Optoelectronics, Precision machinery, and Biotechnology.

Then Mrs. Hsu took us visit some landmarks and Science Park Exploration Museum. The museum introduces the Park's history as well as shows several notable products in today's competitive high-tech industry.

All in all, i saw lots of products that would appear in next generation, as HSP's slogan: innovation for a better tomorrow, and pride of this Park.

Tamshui

The plan in this afternoon was Tamshui old street tour. We had MRT field trip in the morning, so the tour was also to let foreign students to experience the MRT.

Nick's clogs

It took about 40 mins from Taipei Train Station to Tamshui station. When we arrived, some went to Red Castle and some hang out in the old street. By the way, Nick bought clogs. That's cool!

Before the tour, I did some homework. I searched some special food, like Stuffed Brown Tofu, Iron egg, Fried fish crackers. I introduced those foods to foreign students, but they seem to not like....

Than, we moved to Fisherman's Wharf by bus to see sunset. To kill time, some guys played B. B. gun, and they won some points. They used those points to exchange gifts for me and Bonnie. The gifts are Mickey and Minnie's bag. So cute.

After sunset, we took boat back to Old street again. We walked through the streets and found something to eat. Finally, we went to Chungli by MRT and train. Although I was very tired today, I thought that was a wonderful day, too. Have lots of fun~

P.S- http://bachungli.pbworks.com/Classwork#

Taipei Rapid Transit Co & Traffic Control Center

Today is our field trip day. The first stop was Taipei Rapid Transit Co., an important and convenient public transport in Taipei. When we were there, a guide took us to a room and showed a short video. Then the guide led us go nearby and introduce some information about Metro network, there are 8 lines, 82 stations, 90.5 km operational length on it. The details are as following: 

• 
  
  Wenshan-Neihu Line: Taipei Zoo Station - Taipei Nangang Exhibtion Center Station, 25.2 km, 24 stations.
• Danshui Line: C.K.S. Memorial Hall Station - Danshui Station, 23.5 km, 22 stations.
• Zhonghe Line: Guting Station - Nanshijiao Station, 5.4km, 4 stations.
• Xiaonanmen Line: Ximen Station - C.K.S Memorial Hall Station, 11.3 km, 10 stations.
• Xindian Line:Xindian Station - C.K.S Memorial Station, 1.6 km, 1 station
• Nangang Line: Nangang Station - Ximen Station, 10.8 km, 12 stations.
• Banqiao Line: Fuzhong Station, 7.2 km, 5 stations.
• Tucheng Line: Fuzhong Station - Youngning Station, 5.5 km, 4 stations.

After brief introduction, we arrived High-Capacity Operation Control Center (OCC), the hub of the Taipei Metro. I have took MRT several times, but this was my first time that I shocked by MRT when I saw what information presented on the screen in OCC. Because there are high-tech ,and the scenario usually saw only in the movie. What awesome!

The second stop is Traffic Control Center, a place that make public better understand the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). As before, we had a video first, and then the guider took us to exhibition areas and experience the cutting-edge technology . The eight exhibition areas are as following:

• 
  
  ITS area
• Historic landmark displays area
• Taipei parking information system area
• Bicycle area
• Traffic engineering area
• Public transportation system area
• Bus shelter area
• System operation area

I was interesting in System operation area, that is a big exhibition of mobile phone with touch-screen operating systems, because I can search traveling speed, bus arrival time, and remaining parking spaces available from it.

All in all, only experienced this trip by myself can know how important they are! That's amazing.

PS: classwork