Memory Tricks and Cheat Sheets

Bethany,

I quite possibly have the worst memory ever. How on earth can I do mystery shopping?

-Um…what was my name again?

Mystery Shopping does require a fair amount of memory…but, no one is perfect, and there are always tricks to help you get the details you need for a great shop.
Here are some that I use:

For Apartment Shops: They always give you brochures, or floor plans, or community newsletters, or business cards, or whatever. Take them, and take notes on the shop. It’s very common for an apartment seeker to write down the prices, move-in fees, etc. So take advantage of the oppourtunity! 

For Bank Shops: As with apartments, there are brochures abound. Since employees like to rattle off interest rate information as quickly as possible, grab a brochure and take some notes. More often than not, the employee does this for you without prompting. 

For Retail Shops: Be VERY familiar with the assignment before you head out. Create a little cheat-sheet about the areas you’re supposed to visit, or the products you’re supposed to buy. Keep it in your purse or wallet, and head to a different department, (or washroom) to take notes. A cell phone comes in handy here, since you can text yourself or leave voice notes for particular things you notice. 

For Restaurant Shops: These are the bane of existence for anyone who has a poor memory. Since they’re all about timing, make sure you have a watch with a second hand, or a digital timer, and cheat sheets in your purse or wallet. You can mark off your cheat sheet under the table, (or in the washroom) as each course is served. 

Regardless of what type of shop you do, make sure that after you leave, you drive about a mile away, pull over, and take more notes. If you have a tape recorder, you can fill out the form orally so you don’t miss anything. Likewise, you can also leave yourself text messages, or voicenotes on your cell phone!

Developing a good memory takes time and perseverance. You can help build the skill by doing memory games online, or by doing sample shops to get you warmed up. Don’t worry, in time, you’ll become a pro!

Good luck, and happy shopping!

-Bethany

 

Organizing Mystery Shopping Assignments

Dear Bethany,

I am now signed on with 15 companies, and I’m feeling SO overwhelmed with keeping everything together. How on earth do you manage?

-Dazed Diana

Don’t worry Diana, you too can become a type-A, organized shopping machine. I actually have a pretty simple system that I’ve honed over the years:

1) File folders for each company with IC agreement, and any experience that was particularly good or bad. 

2) File folder for payment stubs (I keep them all together…easier for tax time)

3) Spreadsheet that has the following information:

      a) company name
      b) scheduler name
      c) location to shop
      d) target (if any)
      e) payment amount
      f) date due
      g) date done
      h) expenses (mileage, etc)
      i) date paid
      j) confirmation number

4) Dry-erase board with writable magnets. I have a calendar on the dry-erase board, and I write the assignment on the magnets. If I have to re-schedule the assignment, I just move it to a different day. It’s much easier than erasing from a day planner. Some people, of course have a digital organizer, but I’m just not that hip!

If I have to keep any supplemental materials, (business cards, etc) I leave them in the company folder. Every 4 months I clean those out, and the spreadsheet allows me an easy view for tax time.

I hope this helps! 

Good luck, and happy shopping!

-Bethany

 

There Are No Mistakes In Art

Now that the Parade is done, and my little adventure in Taiwan is over, I can’t help but reflect on the whole thing…

Yes, it was frustrating.  On many levels.  Mostly because I felt like no one was really heeding my advice, and it seemed as though I was almost being sabotaged on an hourly basis.  The end result was not really what I was hoping for, but they were happy, so I just went with it.

I think one of the most frustrating things is that some volunteer parents and teachers couldn’t get past realism and just enjoy making art. 

If I was to do this again, I think the most important thing to do straight away is to have some sort of discussion that there are no mistakes in art. For both the teachers, workshop leaders, and especially the kids, this is an important concept.

I can’t even tell you how many times one of the teachers would tell me that a kid’s creation didn’t look like something, or how we couldn’t use “blue” for the horses mane because it wasn’t realistic, or how someone had to start over because they goofed. My mantra became: “IT’S ART!” (follwed with an exasperated arm gesture…)

When a kid would ask me what colour they should paint their animal, I told them that they could do anything they wanted…red, yellow, purple, green, polka dots, stripes…whatever their little heart desired because it was ART, and therefore anything they chose was OK.

Believe it or not, I don’t really think this is a cultural thing…I’ve done my fair share of workshops and have run into the whole “perfectionism” with kids in the States too.

Personally, I think I was lucky because I went to a weird hippie private school, and my art teacher, (the awesome Katie Muganis) instilled in us that in her classroom, errors did not exist.  

I remember going up to her with one particular piece that I did, and told her I needed to start over because I made a mistake. She flatly told me NO. There were no mistakes in art, and I would just have to change what I had made to make it work for whatever I wanted.

The piece was actually a model of the school, and I kept messing up the blacktop of the basketball court.  Finally, I came up with some weird concoction of glue, paint, and actual dirt.  Somehow the glue and dirt cracked the drying paint making look like an actual blacktop…I was very pleased with the results, (the other kids were in awe and started making their own blacktops) but would not have discovered the magic formula if Katie allowed me to start fresh.

I was maybe about eight at the time, but the lesson has stuck with me to this day.

 

If I Were to do An Artist Exchange Program

It is my goal, wish and desire in life to create an artistic community.  I had a brief experience of this when I was in Detroit, but it was a much smaller version of what I ultimately invision.  One of the reasons why I was drawn to the Dream Community is that they have already started this process, and I wanted to learn a bit about how they did things.

I’ve looked at various communities in the US and Canada, but haven’t really delved into what an artist exchange would look like.  So, based on my experiences here, I’ve put together some ideas that might suit me once I get to that point. 

Common Sense things:
 Contact information of Artist
 Emergency information for artist
 Allergies/Medical Conditions

It amazes me that the Dream Community doesn’t have this information on me.  I could die tomorrow and my family wouldn’t know.  I could end up in the hospital from an unforseen incident, and no one would know that I’m allergic to certain medications. This suprises me greatly.

Before the artist arrives, they should receive:

*Scope and purpose of project outlined
    Theme, number of participants, types of activities, number of artists, etc

*Have responsibilities defined for artist

 *When determining arrival and departure days, factor in enough for “decompression” time; and extra travel time if desired, note what is paid and what is not.

 *A contract noting rate of pay, or reimbursement etc

 *An audio MP3 or CD of common words and phrases

 *Contact information of other artists if there is a colaboration

 *Required/Requested items to bring

 *Contact information and welcome email from Project Coordinator

 *Photos of past events

 *Recommendations of books on area (travel guides)

Out of all this stuff, I received a general overview of what the project was going to be.  And, even so, what I was told was different than when I arrived.  At first, I was told that there would be a parade, a puppet show, and just small items for the younger kids to build.  When I arrived, it was the parade.  Which, frankly, I’m thankful for…but still, it wasn’t completely planned well.

When the Artist Arrives:

 *Have time tables determined: let the artist be aware of free time as well as when people want to host them  (or at least forewarn them that people may want to host them)

 *Give the artist a map of the area with shopping outlets noted

 *Provide a transit pass

 *The budget for the project, as well as common costs…tools already available, etc.

The volunteer mommies gave me an MRT pass, as well as a map of downtown, so for that I’m thankful.  But even so, I didn’t receive a map of the local area, and anytime I wanted anything, I was told that someone else would get it for me.  Which, usually took 3-5 days. 

Meeting with the School, (or other head-honchos):

 *Preferably before the artist arrives the teachers, (or others) will have ideas from students on what type of designs should happen.

 *The facility should provide a workspace

 *The school should provide number of people working on the project so that the artist and project coordinator can determine materials needed and work within budget.

* If the facility does not have rules for the workspace, then the artist’s own guidelines should be adhered to: (washing paint brushes, where items go, etc)

I did receive my own workspace, (thank GOD!) but my own rules for keeping things in their place and clean were not followed or respected.  Once, when I told a teacher that the students needed to finish cleaning up before leaving, she told me that they had to go to lunch.  Lunch, apparently, was more important than having my space clean.

I was not informed of any kind of budget, instead being told that certain things were “so expensive.” It was quite frustrating trying to find materials that people would agree to and then trying to make puppets out of those materials.  

Throughout the Project:
 A project coorindator should check in every few days to see if more materials are needed or if problems are occuring.

 The artist’s word is GOLD.  Their opinions and experience should be respected.

Inchie did check in with me at least once a week, but when I asked for things, again it took 3-5 days to get them.  In terms of general respect: phhhhht.  Forgedabouit.  I’d tell people things, they’d ignore me and do whatever they wanted.  It took about 2 weeks before I realised I was just “damage control.”

After the Project has been completed:

 Daily clean up day falls on the kids to pick up any mess; and the artist to return the workspace back to its original state.

 A meeting with the Project Coordinator to get feedback on the project and event.
 
 Free time for the artist to do whatever they want…

No follow-up meeting for me…but at least I do get some free time!
Sample Itinerary:

Arrival Day, and First full day: Let the artist recover from jetlag

Before the artist arrives, a theme has been determined, and the teachers, (or workshop leaders) have had classes draw ideas about costumes, puppets, etc.  The teacher MUST explain that these drawings are ONLY IDEAS, and will not necessarily come to life.  The Artist will determine
what will be the easiest to fabricate in the shortest amount of time.  About 3-4 different options for each class/grade level.

Second Day: meeting with the project coordinator as well as the school, (or other facility) to choose specific ideas from ideas presented and come up with a materials list.  A time table is determined, so the artist knows which grades/levels, or people are coming when. A tour around the facilities, maybe the city/town if time.

Third Day:  Shopping day for basic materials (for mock ups) artist settles into studio space, begins fabricating mock-ups of designs: about 3-4 different ideas for each class.

Fourth Day: Artist continues fabrication of mock-ups; meets with teachers (or workshop leaders, assistants, whoever) to show the process of making the mockups already completed.

Fifth Day: Continuation of Fourth.

Sixth and Seventh day: Artist finishes mock-ups if necessary

Eighth Day: Each class gets a tour around the studio.  They become familiar with English words for items.  They learn the rules of the studio, cleaning up, and respecting other’s work.  They view the mock-ups and determine which design they would like to do. There is a sign up sheet so that everyone knows who is doing what…the Project Coordinator buys materials based on the number of people doing each type of design.

Weeks Two-Five: Classes arrive at their set times to make their designs.  The Artist is available for
 consultation and to help lead workshops, but since the teachers have made the designs, everything runs smoothly for the next few weeks.

Even with big, parade puppets, you really only need about 15 hours of building time:

 frame
 sculpted clay face
 newspaper papier mache 
 brown paper papier mache
 paint 
 sew costume 

This, of course, is longer depending if you want mechanics or not.  So, conceivably, You’d only need to meet with each class for 2 hours a day over 2 weeks in order to get these things done.

Why did it take us more time to get MUCH LESS done?  Complete disorganization…and not listening to the ARTIST!

Week Six: The students get to have a practice parade around the school, auditorium, playing field, whatever.

Day of the Event:  The Parade, and then a big ol’ party.  

 

Turtle Island

Since the school had a competition day on Saturday, they decided that the following Monday would be a day off for the kids.  They do this a lot apparently…deciding to have the kids come into school on Saturdays because of missed days during the week, or vice versa.  I asked Eve if this was all planned out ahead of time for the school year, and she told me no…that they only informed the parents and students about 3-4 weeks before whatever schedule change is to take place.

That would drive me nuts.  Apparently, it is a cultural thing.

So, on Monday about 80 kids, parents, teachers, administrators and I went on a little trip to Turtle Island. Technically, it was a day off, so this wasn’t a required thing, but we still had a big group.

Turtle Island is off the northeast of Taipei.  We left at some ungodly hour in the morning, even though it was only an hour drive…but it was well worth it.  I finally was able to see something other than dirt, grime, and pollution.  Well, there wasn’t as much pollution, anyway.   The island is currently under the control of the government, but at one time was a fishing village.  It’s a great area to go whale and dolphin watching…

I should note that my camera broke, so I had to buy another digital camera in Taiwan and neglected to get another memory card, so I don’t have as many photos as I’d like…the folks at the school are supposed to email me some more.

 Heading out to sea…

  Smart kid in the poncho…we got pretty wet on the boat ride.

  Arriving at Turtle Island.

 Vacant Temple on the island.  How do you know it’s vacant?  The “wings” of the roof are cut off.  This means that the God doesn’t live there anymore.  I’m not sure where he went…but I guess once the military took over, the God was displaced. 

 Vacant buildings.  I’m not sure why I like dilapidated buildings so much, but I do…maybe it’s just the potential…

 Like a ghost town…

 Look over there…waaaay across the water…there’s a statue of a deity.  Actually, up close it’s about 18 feet tall.  It was erected to protect the waterways and fishermen.

 Leaving Turtle Island to head out to the Pacific Ocean for some Dolphin watchin’

 Turtle Island has several naturally occuring underwater hotsprings.  You can see them easily because they change the colour of the water from dark blue to vibrant greens, yellows and electric blue.  This photo certainly doesn’t do it justice, but you can begin to see the different hues.

Once we were about 2 hours out at sea, we happened upon a HUGE pod o’ dolphins.  It was beyond amazing. 

All of a sudden, one popped out of the water…and then another…and then there were a string of 6 or so…and then a few decided to do “sea-world” style backflips.  And, then…they were everywhere!  The capitan told us that he counted over 100 on the radar.   It was extremely unusal to see so many at once, and he told us that we were really lucky.

Of course, the little buggers were so quick that I didn’t catch any on film…

After we returned to shore, we went to a Traditional Arts Museum.  It reminded me a lot of Greenfield Village, (for those who know) as it was set up as an actual village from traditional times.  They had authentic candy-makers, performers, and exhibits.

 Village street-shot.  I’d imagine that this place is packed on the weekends, but on a Monday afternoon, it was pretty much just our group.

 A Hak’ka (aboriginal) boat.

I should note that this whole day was sponsored by a local politician.  He footed the bill for Turtle Island, the Cultural Museum, as well as dinner…for all 80 of us.

I think he might be up for re-election soon…

Frankly I think it’s a pretty brilliant campaign.  Instead of having wealthy business people host dinners, sponsor a few schools in the community to learn about their culture.   Why not?

 

Catching up…buildings ’round town

In the days following the parade, I had some time off.  I wanted to go down south and check out the other side of the island, but I was required to be back at the school on Saturday for the games.  So, I didn’t really get more than a day off here and there.  I spent my time going around each nook and cranny of Taipei and found some cool things:

  Longshan temple…one of the most beautiful temples in town, in my opinion, anyway.  While I was there, I happened upon a service and I actually have audio of some of the chanting.  Someday, when I figure out how to upload it, I’ll put it on here.

 The gates to the Palace Museum.

 The palace museum: a considered “must see” of Taipei.  The building is quite impressive in architecture, and the exhibits were fairly decent.  I’m not one for museums, but I thought they had some interesting things on display.  Mostly old artifacts, jewels and such.

 “The Story House”…because I like old tudors.  This is an old house, in a style that’s quite rare in Taiwan.  Currently it displays the history of various architecture and it’s located by the museum of fine arts.

 This was taken at the sculpture garden near the museum of fine arts.  I just thought it looked cool.

 The Grand Hotel.  I first saw this building peaking out over the mountains on the freeway ride from the airport.  It impressed me immediately, (how could it not?) and it took me awhile to figure out how to get to the grounds.  I can’t even imagine how many rooms this hotel has, and apparently it was the signature building in Taipei until Taipei 101 came along.

 Side view of the Grand Hotel.

 Seattle has the Space Needle, Toronto has the CN Tower and Taipei has Taipei 101.  It’s a really tall office building.  I’m not sure why people are so fascinated with really tall buildings, but they are, and they continue to build them. 

 Taipei 101 at night.  The lights change colour depending on the day of the week…this was on a Tuesday, to the colour was orange.

 

Parade Day!

The parade went off nearly without a hitch.  They were pleased, the kids had fun, and so since they’re happy, I’m happy.  Some of grade 6’s horses fell apart, (which I anticipated, but was still sad about) but overall things went pretty smoothly.

Our route was about 3 or so miles.  The school was savvy enough to get police assistance and permits, but neglected to have the streets blocked off.  So, a lot of the time we were weaving in and out of traffic, or on the sidewalk.  At least they know now for next time.

I decided to re-live my high school glory days and twirl a flag…so I don’t have a lot of photos of me, or during the parade, as I was busy running between the high school band that led us, and the 4th grade band at the back.  But, I’ll let the photos I do have tell the rest of the story:

 Grade 6 kids getting their face painted by teacher, Miss Wei.

 Lining up in the school courtyard.

  The front and back of the Keelung float that led us.

 Inchie getting ready.

 Grade 1 Lions….

 …and butterflies

 Grade two flowers…

 …and elephants.

 Grade 6 dragon, and you can see the big rabbits in the background.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any close-ups of the rabbits, which is a shame, ’cause they were pretty cool.

 Grade 6 fish

 Another grade 6 fish that wasn’t designed as a bike fish, but the girls were determined anyway…

 Grade 6 horses.

 Helping the grade 5 stilt-walkers up the steps of the school.

 Grade 5 eel.

 Eve, Grade 5 teacher, as a sea horse…

 Grade 5 Blue Octopus.

 Grade 4 boar…my personal favourite of the parade.

  Grade 3 big pig.

 Grade 3 little piggies.

 The Flame.  I don’t remember if I mentioned this, but the whole purpose of the parade was because the school was having an Olympic-style game day.  Like a field day of sorts.  So, we even had a torch that we carried through the town during our parade, and had a flame lit on the school grounds.

 Taking over the streets.

 This poor dog didn’t know what the heck was going on.

 Decompressing after the parade.

 

Questions From Home And Other Folks Who Find My Blog Mildy Entertaining

There seems to be a theme in the emails I’ve received and the phone calls I’ve had, with friends, family, and random people who somehow found this blog and find it relatively entertaining. (At least, enough to write me, I gather…) So, without adieu, here are some answers to your most pressing questions:

Is the Pollution really that bad?
Yes. It’s beyond gross…for me, anyway. Other people seem to be coping just fine, but there have been times when I walk down the street and end up gagging half the way. It’s not a pretty sight. When I go running and then use a Q-tip, usually it’s grey…you don’t even want to know the colour of my kleenex.

What American (or familiar) companies have you seen?
The two main contenders are McDonalds and 7-11. You can’t walk a block or two without seeing at least one of these. A close second is KFC, and I’ve seen a few Ford dealerships, the Body Shop, Blockbuster, Burger King, and Cost-Co. I’ve seen signs for Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut, Dominos, TGIFriday’s, and Subway.  And, I was shocked to find a “Lush” at the mall.  (This is an awesome bath store that I used to get a lot of bath “balls” from in Vancouver.) What surprised me is that I haven’t seen a Wal-Mart. I thought they were notorious for having sweatshops and such in the area, and expected to see at least one store, but so far, it hasn’t happened.

How manymosquito bites do you have now?
Eh, I lost count at 50. And they’re ruthless…arms, legs, back, face, fingers, toes and other places too…

What is the weirdest food you’ve tried?
I have a lot of weird food allergies and frequently change my diet to experiment in hopes I can find an eating pattern that won’t make me sick. (Currently, I prefer the raw-vegan thing.) That being said, considering that I will probably never be in this place again, and I know that different cultures have different ways of preparing things, I vowed to just try everything that was offered to me. Who knows, maybe an asian-type diet really is what my body needs…and besides, my reactions are pretty swift, so I’d know within minutes if it was something that really wasn’t good for me.

So, (vegan and veggie friends, please advert your eyes) some of the more unusal dishes have included octopus mouth, pig intestine, frog, and coagulated sheep’s blood, (they also offer duck, pig, and goose.) None of these were particularly appetizing, but I tried them nonetheless.

The cool thing about being here is that somehow I can eat the bread…my little gluten intollerance has gone by the wayside, and I’m not quite sure how, but I’m enjoying it.

Have you noticed any racism?
Luckily, I’m blissfully unaware of much of the Chinese language, so I haven’t really been subjected to any untowards feelings. I’m sure there have been moments that the locals have sworn at me under their breath, but it’s not like anyone has come at me with a pick-axe screaming, “You American! You Suck!” or something to that effect.

I have noticed that people really stare at me. I mean REALLY stare at me. I prefer to think that they’re staring at my utter beauty…but the culture is pretty homogenius, so I do stick out as a random white chick.

In terms of racism, I’ve noticed that the people I talk to have fairly negative things to say about other Asians. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean are slammed on a regular basis. Especially the Korean. I’m not sure why, and I don’t think I’d get an honest answer if I asked.

Do Taiwanese like Americans?
I have no idea. They seem to like me…

So are you fluent in Chinese now, or what?
(Insert uproarious laughter here) That would be NO. I think I have a bit of a mental block when it comes to learning Chinese. It’s just not working for me. You’d think that after studying seven languages I’d pretty much master how to learn another one quickly, and I have been able to pick up some words, but nothing major:
Ni-how “hi”
Ni-how-ma “How are you?”
Hung How “I’m good”
Boo-How “I’m not good”
How-Chuuuh “delicious”
She-ay she-ya “thank you”
Boo ka chi “you’re welcome”
ee, er, san, tsuh, oooou “1,2,3,4,5″
jo-dai “tape”
jen-dauw “scizzors”
Lao-shuh “teacher”

How do you do laundry without a dryer?
It takes a bit of planning, let me tell you. Because of the humidity it does take a few days for clothes to dry, which I did not realise. I’m used to just getting everything done in one fell swoop, but here, I had to plan and make sure I had enough clothing to last the few days until my stuff would be dry…oh, and pray that it didn’t rain, because that would set me back even farther.

What other little cultural quirks have you seen?
Well, first off, nobody has carpeting. Too much humidity, so homes, schools, stores and even sidewalks, either have concrete, (not asphalt…CONCRETE) or ceramic tiles. Which, is interesting, because it rains a lot, so this can make for a very slippery place to walk.

Everybody smokes.  Ok, not everybody, but a LOT of people.  You’d think with the pollution, they’d cut back on the toxins, but apparently not.

The busses have TVs on them filled with Advertising, of course, but also English lessons.  They have little cartoons that act out scenarios with repeated phrases.  Also, they have the phrase of the day.  Today’s was, “You can say that again!”

The garbage is collected daily.  Which, if you think about it, since they throw out toilet paper instead of flushing, it’s a good thing.

On maps around town, North does not always face up.  It took me awhile to figure that out.

Movie theatres have assigned seating.

Some people cover their mouths when using their cell phones, yet chew with them WIDE open when eating.

I’ve passed a few fountains, but…no coins. The smallest denomination is $1, which is a copper coin, (like the penny), but even those aren’t in the wells…I’m not sure about why the fountains are clean of money, but I’ll probably ask before I go.

And, the police drive around with their lights flashing. That’s just how they patrol…its when the sirens come on that you’re in trouble…

Do they smell?
Let me preface this question with a little backstory, lest you think my friends are idiots. I ran out of deoderant, and had a bugger of a time trying to find some. I went to every convenience store within a half-mile radius, but NO ONE had deoderant. I mentioned this to a few folks and they asked if people had BO. And, actually, they don’t. I haven’t noticed any particular odours, and I’ve been on the MRT at rush-hour, so I think I have a good idea.

And, yes, I did finally find some deoderant at a beauty shop.

Are there gender issues?
Well, I was told before I left that I would have a problem because I’m female. I can’t say that I’ve experienced any outright sexism…but most of the people I worked with were VERY strong females.

There have been a few cases where I’ve heard the volunteer mommies talk about how one was unfortunate enough just to have daughters.

Apparently, a boy is very important because the parents go to live with the boys family, and when a woman gets married, she really is just joining a family and not starting a new one. So, if a woman doesn’t have at least one boy, she is looked down upon and pitied because she failed to create someone to take care of her and her husband in old age.

One mommy tried to get me to play the pity game too and agree that it was just such a shame that this other woman didn’t have a son, and I remarked that in the US, we only care if the children are healthy and happy…not if they’re boys or girls. I think I offended her, but whatever.

Now, I don’t know if this is a sexist thing, but I was sent to work alone at Cloud Elementary. Ben was the director at Keelung with Pandora and Nina assisting, and I was put in charge of Cloud. However, the folks at the Dream Community thought I was a boy from our initial emails thinking my name was masculine. They didn’t realize I wasn’t until I arrived and it became quite apparent that I’m pretty darn female.

I don’t know if they would have put me in charge had they realized this ahead of time or not, but it’s an interesting twist to things.

Would you do it again?
Well, there’s two answers to this question, actually. If you’re asking whether knowing all that I do now, would I go again, the answer would be, “Yes, of course!” Life is just life, and I’m all for experiencing as much as I can in whatever time I have.

If you’re asking whether I’ll come back for another go-around…well, probably not. I’ve learned so far to never say “never,” but I will say that having been here, I don’t feel an overwhelming desire to return. I can’t imagine a situation where I would return, but you never know…

I’m an artist thinking of going to the Dream Community this fall. Do you think I should go?
I am not the type of person to tell people to make decisions in their life based on my experiences. The things that I found frustrating, you might find endearing. The things that bothered me, might not effect you that much. It’s all relative to your own history, experience, and tolerance levels.

When I spoke with Sonia before I left, she mentioned a lot about the gender thing, but I didn’t have that experience. Likewise, she didn’t mention pollution so much, which was something that REALLY effected me. If you’re a vegetarian, you might have a harder time, if you don’t tollerate heat and humidity well, you might be downright miserable. These things can effect your creativity and productivity…its hard to function if you can’t get a good night sleep from battling mosquitoes or heat or whatever…or if you’re starving yourself because you just can’t seem to find anything you like to eat…

The wonderful thing about the Dream Community is that they do offer this experience completely at their expense. You will learn a lot, you will get to do art, and you might just have some fun too. If it’s something that you’re even remotely curious about, then I think you owe it to yourself to try working on an event. You’ll never know unless you go.

 

Cast of Characters

Considering that I lived at the school, I didn’t have a lot of contact with the folks over at the Dream Community.  My day-to-day life consisted mostly of dealing with the kids and a flow of random volunteers.

Regardless, I still have some pics of folks I’ve met and worked with along the way:

Van and Pei-Yu.  Both Student teachers at Pai-Yun, and Pei-Yu is my awesome roommate extraordinaire…

Ming-Pha and Mei-ling.  Ming-Pha works at the school, although honestly, I’m not sure in what capacity, but she’s delightfully witty and came around every once in awhile to make sure I was still sane.  Mei-ling is a volunteer Mommy who helped me out in more ways than I can imagine.

 

Heidi, another Dream Community artist, who designed our costumes.

Inchie, a Dream Community Employee who was my project coordinator of sorts.

Adam and Yu-Chen, Dream Community Resident Artists and Puppeteers.

Jessie and Mom, Mei-ling.

Max, another Dream Community Employee, milking the goats.  No, I don’t think that was his primary responsibility.

Melody, a volunteer mommy who made my life easier and more difficult at the same time.  We worked together on pretty much a daily basis, as she was my translator, and I can honestly say that without her, it would have been a different adventure alltogether.

Eve, a grade 5 teacher, and me the day of the Parade.

 

Twas the Day before Parade

Twas the Day before Parade and all through the school children were scurring trying to keep cool
A practice was planned to help the kids along but no one told me isn’t that just wrong?
There were puppets to finish and costumes to make Someone tripped down the stairwell… Oh, no, did the octopus just break?
Kids will be kids, and one kicked the boar. the sticks to carry it broke, so now he’s no more.
And now, the school decided, “It’s not enough, we need a lot.” so to Keelung they went and left-overs they got.
Extra Nemos, and whales and everything else… Sure they’re pretty, but what about “doing it yourself?”
I thought this event was to help the kids learn about art, cooperation, fun and self-esteem they earn.
Sure our puppets aren’t perfect and it’s been frustrating for me, but at least they’ve been trying so why not let it be?
But, my opinion doesn’t matter it hasn’t, from the start. Come on, this is the kid’s day! Can’t ya’ll just have a heart?