Aiming Center in Taipei County

Hey there! Towards the end of the month of July, some of the volunteers came back to the north of Taiwan
With the long days that the volunteers worked everyday I bet it must have been very tiring for them but with that I would like to praise them for their hard work. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves to the fullest and even though it could sometimes get long and hard, each volunteer put their best effort into what they did. As far as I could tell it really encouraged the children quite a bit, there was one day that the children read English together and one girl said she was scared to read but with the encouragement given from the volunteers, she became a bit more confident. That is one of the best parts because if the children were not encouraged it would have probably been the longest week of their lives. So I would like to say Thank you to all of the volunteers some whom I have met and some whom I have not met. I learned a lot watching how it all worked out and have heard great things of the volunteers in the south. I really hope that each volunteer also learned or benefited from this experience as well and I hope they all would like to continue to help out when they can. Everyone from the International Department is very pleased with how things are going and it makes us want to bring in more and more volunteers as we can.
Bye bye! Jasmin

International Volunteers in Southern Taiwan

Hello once again!!

It has been a while but I am posting with some new information of what has been going on recently in the International Department. So during the middle of July a new batch of International volunteers came together with the Eden International Department to work in summer camps in the south of Taiwan and teach children English. There were volunteers from around the world, and some of them have already experienced Taiwan because they are studying in Taiwan and the others are just here for a month or so to do volunteering here. This time around we have volunteers from Turkey, India, Korea, Panama, Paraguay and of course the local Taiwanese volunteers. This time around the volunteers would not only be teaching English to children, they have also included information on their home countries. They taught their own language, introduced unique things and foods, and also taught the children games and activities.

I am quite sad to say that I did not have the opportunity to be there with them because of my classes going on in the city but it looks like everyone enjoyed themselves! I am very glad for that because with all the work that needs to be done at times when you see the outcome, it all pays off in the end.

Well that is all I have for now, take care and Thank you for reading! Jasmin

暑假，艷陽高照，想要和國際志工一起在台灣服務嗎?

2009年夏天來自國外的五位志工，將在伊甸基金會服務為期兩個月，邀請個性開朗、英文流利、不排斥基督教信仰的青年朋友，一同參與。

• 第一梯次：多元文化夏令營
  
• 第二梯次: 視障英文夏令營

活動詳情、報名方式，請下載 報名從速，6/22(一)截止＊ 伊甸英文志工優先錄取 與我聯繫 伊甸基金會國際合作中心 周庭妤 TEL:02-5553-2833 E-Mail：eden.international.cooperation@gmail.com

4/23/2009 Accessible Tourism Video and I am the voice

Hello hello!!!

Let me tell you about an interesting and nerve wrecking experience that I had this week. So I am working on the assignments that the office gives me to do here at Eden, and it turns out that I was going to be recorded for an instructional video for the Accessible Tourism Department.
I found out about it last week but when I was told I just thought it was going to be a dubbed voice for a Taiwanese speaker and so that would result in a few lines. However, arriving to the office on Tuesday it turns out I was to read 2 pages of listed sentences for the whole movie. I was feeling a bit nervous after that because yes I can speak English fluently but you know, it is just a small bit nerve wrecking when you realize that many people will be watching this video and I was not sure if my voice is nice enough to be put on a video.

So I get these two pages of print outs with Mandarin and its English translation. I was asked to make corrections but I was not sure what type of corrections were going to be needed. I thought at first that the Mandarin and English were separated to help me know where one sentence starts and another begins, so that originally it was like one big paragraph. So I made corrections as if the sentence were to form a big paragraph. But it turns out that, that was not the case I was going to read each sentence separately. So some of the corrections that I made were not needed, I felt a bit embarrassed after that and hope I did not offend the person who wrote it out in the first place.
Then 3 of us (myself included) went into a small room and did the recording. It was interesting because I had Catherine to translate for me but I did make a lot of mistakes anyway. Such as not starting at the right time, my voice cracking up, and sometimes there were noises when we had to record in silence. We had a few laughs over some of the incidences so it was not bad or anything. It was really cool and I tried to my best to make this video up to the expectations that were needed.
But before I go on, let me fill you in, a little bit about the Accessible Tourism if you don't already know about it.
So I will start off by saying that accessible travel, is pretty much a set itinerary for physically disabled people. Unfortunately, most places of attraction do not necessarily target to the physically disabled or attraction areas do not even have the area built so that people with physical disabilities can't get around alone very easily. So that makes it very hard for those with disabilities to go on vacation, and many of them don't even bother taking vacations because of those reasons. So what this department does, is take all of that into consideration and has created a plan to make traveling something all people can do no matter if they are physically disabled or not.

In addition to that, they have created instructional videos to show to places around the world who for the most part are mainly vacation destination areas, who might be interested in making their place of business/attraction more accessible. The process of Accessible tourism is spreading so much that there are even International Conferences being held to inform the world. This year the International Conference on Accessible tourism is being held in Singapore from April 22-24th. It is believed that business ventures that incorporate accessible tourism will benefit from travel, tourism, and will enhance the lives of many people in the host country.
To find out more please visit:
www.ICAT2009.com.sg or http://www.wretch.cc/blog/barrierfree
I find that this will enhance the lives of many people as well, accessible tourism is opening many doors for people to enjoy the world as well and take in the beauty that it has to offer. Being the English voice for an accessible tourism video is an honor but I have got say that hearing my voice being recorded is a bit strange. I would have never thought in my life that I would be the voice for a video. Although, they probably could have picked someone with a better voice, I am glad that I was able to experience this. Who knows if people who watch the video listen to my voice it could be a potential for me to go professional! LOL Just a joke (^_*)b
Well I would like to say Thank you to all who were involved in the process and it will be an experience that I definitely will remember.
Cheers!!
Jasmin Nunez

Up with People Day 4 4/10/2009

Day 4 the last day of the volunteers working with us.

The final activities are being held today and once again we are doing the charity selling and work at the gas station. I once again spent my day at the gas station but there was a switch in groups everyday, so there were different people to spend the day with.

The day was really interesting, it seemed as though many people wanted to purchase gasoline for their vehicles and most of us were hoping that it was because they looked forward to not only meeting foreigners but also to support the foundation by purchasing gas from us. But myself and the other volunteers really think that holding the signs and waving to people passing by really helped in bringing in customers. We did a test to see what worked best. We first just held up signs and stood on the corner with them and we saw that not many people came in. Then, we waved to people and smiled and held the signs up and noticed that many more people came into the gas station. It was a lot of fun. Most people seemed happy with us waving, we even got elderly ladies and random people waving to us as they were walking down the street. The waves seemed to make many peoples day.

I noticed that many people from the day before returned once again to get their gas tanks filled. The group that was filling the gas tanks always seemed to have a good time, they spoke with the customers and they seemed to like the fact of pumping the gas tanks. It was a whole new experience for them since, the pumping system is probably different compared to the way it is done back in their home countries. I know in the United States, most gas stations do not even have people waiting to pump the gas for you, you have to fill it up all by yourself. So I can easily see where the excitement might be when it came to the volunteers pumping gas for the customers.

Some of those people were impressed that the international volunteers were trying their best to speak to them in Mandarin. However, it also seemed that some of the customers who knew English also wished to practice their English with the volunteers, which was pretty nice all on its own. I was taken back to realise the amount of people who appreciated what the international volunteers did that week.

That morning went by so fast for me, I really had a lot of fun working with this group of individuals I learned a lot from them as well. It will be sad not to see them after having worked with them. Our time together was brief, but I feel that I will always remember their great personalities and the good times we had together, and I am sure that anyone else they might have affected as well, will always look back and smile.

Until next time!! See you!!

Jasmin Nunez

Up with People Day 3 4/9/2009

The days just keep on rolling we are in Day 3 already!!

Today pretty much consisted of the same projects as the day before, one group was to stay in the Eden area and do some charity selling but of course with different items. Then the other half was to work their magic charms and bring in customers to the gas station. Today I spent my day with the group that was to stay at the gas station. It was a pretty fulfilling day, but just like a normal business, it had its high and low moments when it came to customers.

The way the volunteers worked is that a small group was to stand on the street corner and hold up the signs that they made to call the attention to customers. Then the other group would stand but the gas pumps and either introduce themselves to the customers and give them small gifts or they would introduce themselves and pump the gas with the help of the regular workers. Then after a certain amount of time, the groups would switch.

They all looked like they were having a great time, from my observation, it also seemed like the workers also had a great time getting to know the Up with People volunteers. Some more than others were very interested in learning more about the volunteers and asking them questions in English as best as they could. When there was a problem with communication they tried their best to show what they are talking about or they would ask the Taiwanese volunteers.

Even without the volunteers, it was great to see them interacting without worrying about language barriers. The customers seemed really interested in meeting the volunteers and learning about where they come from.

All in all I think it was a good day for everyone.

Until next time!!

Jasmin Nunez

Up with People Day 2 4/8/2009

Welcome to Day 2 Today was the first day after the introduction to the Foundation that we had the Up with People split into groups and take on various activities for the day. One group stayed in the Eden area and did some charity selling, while the other group went to an Eden Gas Station to work their best to bring in customers. This day I was with the charity selling group. We tried our best to sell some goods to people passing by on the street, since it was a bit rainy in the morning, umbrellas was the item of choice for the day. The volunteers practiced a bit of Mandarin (none from the group ever learned Mandarin in the past) and used what they learned to bring in the customers and introduce themselves as international volunteers.

After a bit of work trying to attract the customers to buy the umbrellas, the volunteers were given handouts that informed the community that Eden will take use able goods that people no longer need/want and will use them to give to people in need. I thought it was an interesting activity because people passing by were able to meet some foreigners, which might not be a daily routine of theirs. Not only that but many people seemed a bit surprised that Eden takes such items to reuse.

The volunteers worked hard and tried their best, it was great to see them speaking in Mandarin, because they just picked up on words so quickly that very morning. They gave it their all and it looked like they were having a good time with the tasks that were given to them for the day.

Well until the next post!

Bye-bye!!

Written by Jasmin Nunez