Graduation Trip Day Three & Four: Quarrel and Reconciliation (That was What Matters)

Hello, Tim!

I first have some apologies to make.

It is the twenty-ninth of June today, and I know that I should have had this uploaded if not on Wednesday but Thursday. Still, here I am, typing and hoping to make up for my delayed schedule on a Friday evening. Today is also the official end of the semester so the thing for today will be in another letter.

06/27, Wednesday

Wednesday was the last night we were staying in a hotel. That day was so full of activities I kept dozing off when I was typing on the bed even though I had a cup of coffee on the stand next to the bed.

The main event we had for the day was the E-Da Amusement Park. It the only one Greek-themed amusement park in Taiwan. Being a mythology nerd, I guess you would have figured out that I have been longing to go for a visit ever since I had heard of such a place.

What we were all fully aware of was that even with the five hours we were given to roam freely around in the Park, we would hardly be able to have a go on all the facilities (is that how we call all the things you can get onto in an amusement park?) since it is normal to have people flooding places like this. Therefore, we separated into groups and went our own ways. I joined Jay, Cathy, Doris, and Melody in on a Virtual Reality game of horror. At first, we were only warned about some morbid and bloody scenes, both of which I thought I was able to stand. BUT NO ONE MENTIONED MOVING CORPSES/ZOMBIES AND BEING DECAPITATED BY SOME WEIRD SLOUCHING PSYCHIATRIST!!!

And not to mention the one and a half hour of waiting!

That was the first time I thought VR can feel so real. I hated (though kind of enjoyed) the experience. We all laughed when one of us screamed and screamed when we were scared. I would never go into such a game if I were to endure it all by myself.

Then…

It rained. Hard.

The Park had to close all the outdoor facilities, no matter how exciting and how much we want to be on them.

We walked around indoors until the rain stopped and we rushed out to make it on the first ride after the rain. It was fun, albeit too short before I could enjoy it. Let’s just say that the ride we were on focuses more on the speed rather than the duration.

One sad thing, by the way, was that Candy still didn’t talk to me that day. I knew what she was angry about (splashing her with sea water when she wanted to stay dry), but Cathy assured me that it was obvious that I meant no harm, and the one overreacting was Candy, so I should just leave her alone to let her process everything on her own. I had to thank Cathy for the advice she gave me, and she proved herself right on the coming day.

After the amusement park and dinner comes the evening party. It was like a bonfire party of the whole school but without the bonfire and a lot more of the blasting music and disco lights. Some of the classes brought out some performance of their own, and most of those were quite impressing.

It had been a very exhausting day. I typed and typed until I dozed off and decided to call it a day.

06/28, Thursday

The last day of such a short trip.

We spent half of the last day on the bus, honestly, for it was such a long ride to go from the south end of Taiwan to the North of it.

Our stop was at Chiayi, for a traditional drum performance form the drumming group called Ten Drum (十鼓) I have known this group since I was in elementary school, for my cousin used to have a DVD of one of their live performance, and there were some of their songs I really liked. I enjoyed the performance even though my favorite song wasn’t performed, and Melody, who went to sleep at five in the MORNING the day before understandably dozed off next to me (Believe it or not, though the drums were loud, the rhythm can be very very hypnotizing)

Drum experience

On the third day of our trip, we were given each a small piece of paper before we headed back to our rooms. We were told to write a small note which is to be addressed to someone else in the class, about whatever. My mind wandered to Candy, who was still not talking to me then, and I was sure that I wanted to write something to her, no matter she was going to see it or not.

I wrote it like this, “Candy: I hope that you won’t be so angry that I splattered some water on you anymore, even though I can sometimes be a little too dense to realize the change of emotions of others…” and I handed it in the next day during breakfast to our guide, who was collecting them.

On the bus heading back to Taipei, our guide read out the messages we wrote.

A lot of the notes were for Angela, saying that the best and funniest thing on the trip was her incessant silly dances (Oh, really, Tim. You would love to see it. It was incredibly hilarious.) until she read one note addressed to me, and it was something like this “Hugo, I know these days I have been throwing a small tantrum on you , but you do know why, don’t you? That day on the beach, I was insistent on not getting wet, but you splashed me with a handful of sand and water…”

It was such a surprise. The crowd on the bus (the 220 crew and the dancing class) and then the notes kept on being read until mine popped up.

In short, I am immensely glad that she and I ended our small quarrel. I have been through many of the most interesting things in my high school life and I have yet prepared myself to lose a friend over such little things.

Four weeks of exhaust but relaxation it was. If there is something that I have harvested from this trip, it’s that I’ll be spending the next and last year of my high school life with these amazing people:
Melody, Cathy, Angela, Selena, Sherry, Doris, Candy, Vivian, William, Amy, Sabrina, Jack, Patrick, Jay, and Otto.

I relish the notion.

Best wishes,

Hugo