The entire week was definitely one of the biggest highlights of my time here in UWC. It felt like a successful culmination of our group’s effective collaboration with each other for the past few months, and even though we had a couple bumps along the way (like someone forgetting their visa upon arriving at the airport and having to drive back home to get it), we knew that having a positive mindset and organized group was the best way to support each other and keep ourselves safe during the week. In acknowledging this, we allocated roles to everyone in the group. I was in charge of the group fund, in which we would pool a certain amount of money each day (or when we needed it), which would then be used to pay for dinner or any transportation, eg. taxi. As the media person, Russell was responsible for filming the trip and the two cameras he brought along. Angelina was the only person in the group who could read traditional Chinese (not simplified), thus she was the person who navigated our group through the city. Hyun Kyu was in charge of our first aid kit, as he was the first aid person who went on the paid course. This allocation of roles was integral in making our collaboration as smooth as possible (LO5).

Buddha Tzu Chi was ultimately a really wonderful experience because we not only got to learn more about the small ways we can help to make our lives more sustainable (eg. eating vegetarian or vegan, avoiding buying so many textbooks because you wouldn’t believe how many people end up throwing out good textbooks, etc.) but we also got the opportunity to practice our listening and speaking skills in Chinese. Hyun Kyu is in ab initio Chinese, so he couldn’t always keep up with the speed at which the volunteers spoke, thus, I ended up being a translator for the three days that we were there, which was a fun and unique experience for me. The volunteers were mostly retired locals who came to help out for a portion of their day, make some friends, and engage with helping the environment. From the very start of the day when we were cooking vegan lunch in the kitchen to the afternoon we spent sorting trash into different recycling boxes and ripping up paper to be recycled, the volunteers talked to us about the importance of sustainable living. Considering that Taiwan is a country that is trying hard to make leaps in being green and sustainable, there was still so, so much waste being produced. Seeing the mounds and mounds of trash, some of which were just boxes of brand new electronics, wires, books, clothes, makeup, that people and companies bought too much of and just threw out, was a real shock to me. The physical enormity of just how much useless junk we buy without thinking really opened my eyes to the amount of waste we produce, and prompted me to consider a new way of thinking when I purchase stuff. (LO6)