Fritz's Group Day 1

My most notable experience today was our visit to the famous Taiwan Storyland. In a nod to the Taiwan of old, Taiwan Storyland seeks to give its younger visitors the same Taiwan their parents and previous generations experienced. Set up much like an interactive museum, Taiwan Storyland has multiple rooms and props showing what street shops, school classrooms, and public facilities looked like long before the terms iPhone or e-mail ever made it into our vocabulary. As we made our way down the steps of the entrance and into the “streets” of old Taiwan, we were greeted with myriad sights. There was the water pump where residents probably obtained their drinking water from, a living room set up, and various other shops in what must have been a typical street in the Taiwan of the 1960s. It was fun to watch Kevin attempt to balance on wooden walking stilts, Janice and Christine make candy on the street, and share some (imaginary) shaved ice with Sue. But perhaps what really struck me today was the thought that this was probably what my parents experienced growing up. To think that they may have played with those same wooden walking stilts or eaten at the same shaved ice parlors simply left me with a feeling of awe. Even more amazing was the fact that my parent’s childhood took place in a different country than the one I grew up in but had always heard so much about.

Daniel Chu