Day 114 -- Hello ALISHAN!

Woke up early in the morning just to make sure I could catch the first train to Chiayi. Yes, it was early, at 4.30am! *yawns*

Wanted to take the forest trail initially but I realised it won't bring me up to Alishan so I took a private mini-bus up instead, which cost me NTD 250, same price as I would pay for a public bus ride. I'm totally in love with the drop in the temperature as we ascend!

The day started with really gloomy skies and heavy drizzles and I thought it's going to be a wasted trip for me. But by God's grace, I was blessed with awesome weather, with occasional light drizzles for most of my trip. It only started raining heavily when I was almost done with the trail, so YAY! The whole forest was practically made up of Cypress tress and I felt so small next to these giants! Perhaps this is why I love the nature so much. It reminds me to be humble no matter how accomplished I may feel at times; and when I feel small, it will remind me of the wonders awaiting for me. Positive thinking much ehh.

And it was my first solo trip out of Kaohsiung! Nothing could describe how excited I was, and perhaps a bit of apprehensiveness because I'm out all alone. But wells, it was truly a great experience :)

After the trek, I explored Chiayi city while waiting for my train to hsinchu to meet my aunt and cousins. The city is rather small, somewhat similar to Hsinchu. And by chance, I got to 文化街(?)夜市 and of course being a foodie, I got some local 方塊酥 back too!

Day 113 -- Another typical school day

Well, there aren't much about the day. Like a typical Thursday, I had a full day of classes and I'm sometimes confused with my love-hate relationship with it :/

And I am going to Alishan tomorrow, so hopefully it'll be good!

Day 112 -- DB celebratory dinner and after party

Went for the celebratory dinner at some Japanese BBQ buffet restaurant with the whole Dragonboat team! For the first time, almost all the members are present at the same time at the same place! Well, other than the race days :p

I really loved the fact that from strangers 3 months back, we could now just sit together for dinner and talk like old time friends! I'm so loving the bonds we had forged over the few months together :)

At the end of the dinner, we presented the gift that Juliette helped to get to Dunia :) We knew we got the right things when we saw Dunia's priceless expressions when she received them :) I'm glad that she really liked them and thanks Juliette for getting it!

And Dunia had a surprise for all of us too! As you might have read in my previous post, our international team emerged as champions in the race, but Dunia went the extra mile to make gold medals for all of us, because this whole Dragonboat team is one made up of international students!

What's celebration without party? So can you guess our next stop? Yup, we proceed to Lamp afterwards! It was really an awesome experience partying with the team and yes we had a blast! Some of us were also wearing our team shirts and medals while clubbing, so it was like some themed party :D Not to mention that because we reached so early in the night, it felt as though we booked the place!

I'm so glad to have made the right choice to join dragon boat during this exchange. The experience, the people, the training and all the fun we had together will always be the part of this exchange I will never wish to forget :)

Day 111 -- Finally out of the cash-less state!

Perhaps I'd mentioned before, my card was replaced some weeks back, but not my pin number. So for the past month I'd been living on loans from the girls for my daily expenses. After a month of living frugally, I'm finally able to have some cash with me (thanks to Miyuki who helped me with it)! So the next thing after repaying all my debts, I could finally shop, and I only got what I needed... Although it wasn't the best thing to do now when I foresee a bursting luggage :O

Yup, so I'm so so so glad that I finally have some cash on me now :D

Day 110 -- Day 4 finals!

It's the last day of the race and many of us made it there because there were 2 teams competing, Dragon and the International teams! 

The first race was the dragon team's but they didn't manage to get into the finals :( Just like what my team met in our last match, their opponents were kneeling on the boat while they row! This was how strong the team was! Nonetheless, it was a great match because we could see how much effort the guys put in the race. Of course not to mention we only trained for 3 months prior to the race while the rest may had trained for the past year! So, well done guys!

The international team did an ASTONISHING AMAZING job! In the semi finals, their boat seemed to be gliding across the river so effortlessly and they kept their opponents so far behind! Then in the finals (after a painful 4 hours wait), they put on yet another GREAT show! The 2 other teams in the finals were really strong and that included the Philippines team which was known to be really strong (as mentioned by those who were in the Love River race last year). When we first saw the international team in the mid-point, we were so nervous for them (ok, we were already nervous even before the race :p)! The 3 boats were so close to each other! Then something magical happened. Our team picked up speed after the midpoint and they only got stronger and stronger and we emerged as the champions for the category! It was such an intense moment for us when the boat reached the end point! All of us standing by the bay was cheering fanatically as they pass by, and when they crossed the finishing line, it felt as if all of us won the race! What a moment!

As we gathered after the race to cheer and all, Maggie our manager from the OIA got beer for all of us and we had a mass beer shower! (If you don't know what it is, think of champagne showers substituted by beer) We were ecstatic and truly in a carnival mood!

With the end of the race, it also meant that my days in Taiwan is coming to its final countdown. I never regretted joining this team although it meant I didn't have the luxury of time to tour around Taiwan as what I initially thought of doing. In turn, I'd met new people, made new friends and created a special memory for my exchange here in NSYSU! For that, I'm truly grateful for such an opportunity and felt so blessed for all these in my exchange :)

Day 109 -- Day 3~

It's the third day we're spending in Tainan! The weather was so much better today, although it was still scorching hot!

It wasn't too happy a day for us sadly. We lost the first 3 races of the day and this meant that the Women team, which I'm in, and one of the Men's team did not manage to progress to the next stage. However, we still have one more Men's team that advanced to the next stage, so hope's not lost yet! Also, the international team did EXCEPTIONALLY well! Despite being the last of us to compete for the day, they did not slack off, instead, they had such an awesome timing! 1:39:88 for the race! The best timing ever! When we heard the results, we're so thrilled! They really put in their all into the race and they had indeed raced well! Needless to say, they were given the opportunity to move on to the finals!

Though we (the women small boat team) lost, I'm so grateful to be in this team!
Firstly, the girls are simply AMAZING! Most of us made it a point to attend as many practices we could! There may be times we felt lazy and unmotivated but we still moved our lazy asses to the tracks / pool for training.
Also, this team is so ENCOURAGING! No matter what happened, we are always there to support each other! And this was so obvious during our races! We don't blame, we simply reflect and push each other on to do better. I really love this culture of the team <3
Lastly, but definitely not the least, this team is too FUN to be in! We were always on our way to do some crazy stuff together, cracking jokes with each other and pulling some tricks or another with each other, not to mention the spontaneity of the girls!

At the end of the day, it is all these moments we spent together that pulled us closer. And I am glad that we all know each other by name, something which some teams may to be able to achieve given that the teams were only formed for only 1.5 months!

Day 108 -- Day 2!

We advanced to the next race! This is pretty much the highlight of the day. Ok, no, there were of course more..

The international team did a splendid job today! Though they only started racing today but the results were so good! 1min 40-odd seconds! They are really a strong team! The Men teams did their best too and I'm so glad we all advanced to the next level together!

But sadly, the Women (big) team didn't managed to pass through but we could see that all of them put in their 200% effort and team spirit in the race! It was so close! Nonetheless, it was a race well done!

And the weather today was BAD! It was scorching hot and when I checked (while waiting for our turn to race), the real feel was 38 degrees.. 是要热死谁啊！Spent so much on drinks alone, laying my hands on whatever that were cooling -- Sour plum juice, winter melon drink, plain water, ice cream... but they just don't seem enough at all!

Right now, I'm so tired and still got to wake up early tomorrow! Ciaos~