Los Gatos and Saratoga High students let out various shrieks of laughter and shock as shrimp flew up out of the water, swinging toward their faces. This was the first time many had tried shrimp fishing, and it was only one of the many activities on a spring break trip to Taiwan.

During spring break from April 5-13, Chinese teachers Chen-Hui Wu and Amanda Chang, Japanese teacher Yumiko Muneishi, Los Gatos Chinese teacher Sara Tseng and 37 Los Gatos and SHS students, who are currently taking Chinese at their respective schools, traveled to Taipei, Taiwan. This marked the first trip to Taiwan for both the schools.

The goal of visiting Taiwan was for the students to practice speaking Chinese to the locals there and to learn about Taiwanese culture.

“My goal is for the children to go outside and see what the world is like,” Tseng said. “You learn something from the books but when you actually see it, that’s when it clicks. You make connections.”

Because of the recent earthquake in Hualien on April 3, last-minute changes had to be made to the itinerary. Throughout the week, the group visited many famous monuments and explored Taiwanese culture. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, Go Muzha Municipal Zoo, Taipei 101, Yangmingshan National Park and the presidential palace are just a few of the places the group explored. They were excited to be immersed in Taiwanese culture, using the Taipei metro system and walking along the old streets.

One of the most memorable and enjoyable experiences the students had on the trip was getting to visit Beida High School. There, the students were assigned a partner from the school and were able to take classes with them for two days and experience the difference in school life and the two cultures. 

“It was surprising how similar the two different cultures are,” freshman Alan Rong said. “I thought that Taiwanese culture would be really different from our culture, but when interacting with the students, I realized that they still have similar manners and similar ideas as us.”

Freshman Allison Ma noted differences in the school’s structure in that Taiwanese schools were multiple stories tall and Taiwanese students would stay in a main classroom while the teachers moved through different classrooms.

“All the students were very friendly and when we were leaving the school the students gave us a performance and Taiwanese snacks,” junior Zozan Liao said.

After days of immersing themselves in Taiwanese culture through a variety of activities, such as releasing sky lanterns and using indigo dye, the students headed back to America.

“It was really fun,” Ma said. “We went and ended up learning a lot of different things, and I think we got to experience a lot of the Taiwanese culture that we hadn’t really been able to see before.”.