Medan 2008-07-31

leave from Taiwan 7/31
3：00 am打包完畢，清大學生活動中心，天將亮，前往桃園機場。
7：00 am集合，托運，登機，四小時的飛行，起飛。

今天是特別的一天，7小時的轉機時間，又在20小時內吃了五大餐。
從台灣到新加坡，大夥兒在飛機上吃了早餐，中午、下午茶在新加坡機場享用；從新加坡到棉蘭，航空公司的沙拉；棉蘭當地，大魚大肉的宵夜。
新加坡機場廣闊又精緻，三個航廈各有不同的主題。社大的領隊不停提醒我們要謹慎小心的過海關，一切都挺順利的，頂多遇見幾個較嚴謹的海關人員，只要多花一些時間，都是能夠解決的。在會後關頭，也就是在進入印尼當地的那一關，真的把大夥兒嚇壞了。

小飛機一降落，旅客們紛紛走下飛機，印團的夥伴們也魚貫的走下飛機。迎接大家的不是鋪著地毯的室內機場，取而代之的是非常直接的柏油路---又熱又悶的室外柏油路。這雖然令人驚訝極大的落差，但那部份黑暗、勢力的海關及印尼排華的氣氛，才是最另大家不寒而慄的原因。一雙雙不安好心的眼睛掃視著團員們，團員們的黃皮膚。像一群肥羊闖進虎穴中，我對雅京這樣說，她說：不入虎穴焉得虎子啊！沒錢沒路活，這是我到印尼的第一印象。眼睛不敢亂看，頭不敢亂轉，全身緊繃不安。行李箱無辜被定罪，罰金兩萬元。不敢吭聲，真的。
在海關被扣了好一陣子，終於全員平安到齊，雖然大家都已呆若木雞。先吃宵夜吧。

拖著沈重行李往前，到了餐廳，就坐，上菜。菜色：炸蝦、烤雞、炸雲吞、海參、蚌殼、蛋包麵、清江菜淋香菇醬料、超甜冬瓜茶、水果。棉蘭團果然是團結力量大，不僅把盤子都清空，還把老師桌的剩菜也一網打盡。是多餓......明明就已經晚上9點多了（台灣10點多），還這樣吃。但想到晚上要披星戴月的工作，還是先吃再說吧！
到了台灣會館，洗澡。廁所很不一樣，馬桶自己舀水沖，沒有衛生紙，跟浴室聯在一起，每一間皆是如此。第一天工作到好晚，大部分都三四點才睡，隔天七點前要起床，希望能活著起床。

Friends in Banda Aceh: Saya suka anda!

Pak. Irwandi, who helped us a lot for the 3 E-Mate workshops in Syiah Kuala University.
His dress is always cool! Yeah! Photographed in the computer lab of the Physics Department.

Pak. Helmi. After such a long journey from Taiwan to Aceh. you could never imagine how well that he speaks Madarin Chinese. Photographed at Aceh e-Learning Center now ran by Taiwan Red Cross.

Yes, Ibu Lily is the Mandarin Chinese teacher at Aceh e-Learning Center. She was helping Pak. Helmi and Pak M. Nur. Oh, by the way, Pak. Helmi and M. Nur speak English very well. Well, friends from Taiwan, please try to improve your English, especially when we want to join the international society.

Statue of software liberty! The goddes is Risma. She's in the office of POSS and KPLI in Syiah Kuala University. Those mean Center for Free and Open Source Software Development and Linux User Group in Aceh.

Pearl's from our E-Mate. She is studying photography with the instructions from Johnson Mo. Some day she will also be a great photographer.

Eric's cool! He's like in a Sci-Fi movie. He's using Ubuntu and he's helping the E-Mate volunteers to get familar with the applicaitons of Ubuntu. That's why he's so cool.

Pak. Liong and her daughter Chunxia. Together with Ibu Lily, they're the kindest family in Banda Aceh. Without their help, I don't think that we could even survive in Banda Aceh.

This is Dewina. She was Pak. Liong and Ibu Lilys' family-in-law. Now she's teaching sewing classes in Aceh e-Learning Center. She's also very kind to us. We love the deserts made by her, pudding, bread and so many others.

This is Dewina's student. She's making her own fashion bag.

This is a young pupil from Pak. Liong and Ibu Lilys' school. Study hard kid! Knowledge is power!

Mechelle was talking to 齊修平(Qi Xiuping) in Aceh e-Learning Center during the visit in Ibu Lily's Chinese Class. And guess what? Xiuping is a local Acehnese who study in the Department of Physics and who speak Chinese very well -- he never speak Indonesian to us, because he talk like a native Taiwanese! ^___^

Language and culture are the greatest tool for world peace. We've learned Indonesian language in Taiwan before we came to serve at Banda Aceh. And we've found out that some local Acehnese they've learned Chinese language when we came to Banda Aceh. We could communicate using both languases together. Indochinese! Wow! Cool!

The best wishes for our Aceh group

After we arrive in Medan in the evening at 7/31,
our another international volunteers group- Aceh group have to catch their flight before noon at 8/01. However, the Medan group have a formal meeting with Shifu and other teachers in Bodhicitta school.

Therefore, I am the only one (on on behalf of Medan group) to give best wishes to Aceh group ... ^___^

(Rhyan：為什麼要把行李綁個大橡皮筋啊？...@@a) 通關前要先將行李打帶，讓行李在運送過程中更為安全穩固。(沈老師：年輕人多學著點吧！...)

親切的黃大姐(菩提心曼荼羅基金副會長) 特地帶我一起來送行，臨行前還不放心又叮嚀一些生活注意事項。(檢查護照人員：同學，你真要到亞齊當IT志工喔？粉辛苦內。Joe：沒問題，我們要去教Ubuntu，很有趣的啦！有空的話一起來啊！)


全團16人浩浩蕩蕩地排起長長人龍，已拿好護照準備通關，要將我們在台灣超過半年多的準備，在17天內給他好好用力Show出來啦！亞齊團的夥伴們一路順利，我們8/15棉蘭再見了...^^

PS. 磨老師您拍的照片太好啦！讓我的文章都不敢放太多照片...>///<，順便跟大家預告，過幾天會有篇很精采的專訪跟大家分享喔！

Photographed by Mo Johnson ^__^

I love Johnson's photos. That's why he's a photographer and I'm not. The aesthetics of his photos look like commercials. And then luckily, the E-Mate volunteers in these photos look like
movie stars.

That's the reason why we want to invite Johnson to join our E-Mate programs.

Minnie, Tulip and Peiyi at Singapore Airport.

Writing immigration cards, including Uniphin at front.

Joe always helped us with our luggages. He's a computer specialist from Taiwan. Yeah!

Waking up at 3 and arriving at Taoyuan Airport (in Taiwan) at 5, I do think that they did not have enough sleep.

Jackily. At Taoyuan Airport preparing for departure.

Loveeight, Malaybird.

Minnie. This photo looks especially like a commercial film. And... that was not a middle finger :)
They're so exciting for the first time to go to Indonesia.

Eric, Arhou, Synic, Kerwin. Synic's briefing the journey.

Oh, beloved Medan! Here we are!

And, after 8 hours of flight transit, we finally arrived in the beloved Medan! But what are the first things we did in Medan? Volunteer services preparation. YC, Johnson, Panz, Michelle and Arhou studying documentary photography at Taiwan Guest House in Medan.

And these are the beloved E-Mate Financial Management Army! They're fighting with the invoices of the expenses of our first day services, especially the tickets of the flights. Some of them were studying how to use the XL cell phone SIM card. Telecommunication is a very important tool for volunteer services. You could see Pearl, Yvonne, Kerwin, Jada, Arhou, Synic and Loveeight.

And of course we are using Eee PCs for our preparation works. Could we say that Eee PC is an honor of Taiwan? Yes! You bet! She is Tulip. Great! She worked until 3 o'clock in the early morning!