Foreword: during the winter break, the teacher took us in front of Grand Hotel to give out surveys that help us understand Grand Hotel from a tourist’s point of view.

This Thursday and Friday, eight members of our Net Expo and two instructors went up to Grand Hotel to give out surveys because we need to use the surveys to gather necessary data. Before going up to the hotel, the teacher prepared us mentally. Not every attempt to get someone to fill in the survey would be successful. Not every tourist at Grand Hotel would cooperate with us. We had to prepare for rejection. It’s normal. After the teacher prepared us and put us into groups, we were sent on our way with excitement in our eyes!

We started the hike at 10 o’clock in the morning. It didn’t feel tiring. As soon as we arrive at the door of Grand Hotel, we saw a foreigner that was taking photos. Yu Ru and I decided to gather our courage and walked up to him and asked if he could do the survey for us. Unfortunately, the foreigner didn’t speak Chinese and we couldn’t speak English. There was no way of communicating! Our first try, was a failed. But the chance of a foreigner speaking Chinese was slim to begin with. It’s ok. We thought we could find someone else. We walked around, met some other tourists. We tried again. And we failed. NO! I felt like crying! We thought to ourselves: how come we failed every try? It was up until this moment, we felt what the teacher always said that we should have gone to the temple to pray regularly. Now we can see the difference between the ones that go regularly and the ones that didn’t. Of course, this was only a joke to comfort ourselves. Every time we ask, we failed!

After a quarter of an hour, we were almost desperate. We stood outside Grand Hotel. The cold wind with our gloomy moods, it was miserable beyond words! However, Cheng Hung Tin and Lai Wei Ho’s team was very lucky. They were successful every time they asked. Cheng Hung Tin said, “it might work better if you ask a family.” That’s why we changed our target to the families that were waiting for the shuttle bus. Cheng was gloating over our misfortune. He said we had bad luck. We tried nine times but was only successful four times. We were filled with discouragement. There was almost no room for lunch. At the end, Yu Ru and I decided to ask anyone that we saw. There was nothing to lose! The teachers encouraged us to try more actively because not everyone would turn us down. We were still a little scared nonetheless.

The next morning, we were up there at nine fifteen because the tourist would already checked out and got on shuttle bus at ten. The tourists that we ran into were from different areas. Most of them were from central Taiwan or southern Taiwan. The foreigners came from the States and Japan. Even though we weren’t successful with many of them, miracle happened when we were about to leave for the day. We saw three blonde foreigners. Hong Tin went up to them to try. Surprisingly, one of them spoke a little Chinese. It was a miracle. Or maybe he was just lucky. This upset Yu Ru and I even more! After two days of survey, we trained our courage, and met different people. In the process, each team was just fighting for the numbers. At the end, it was just a game to see who was faster. We couldn’t outrun Cheng Hong Tin! We could only pray that Cheng could fail! Fail! But he was successful every time. We all thought, what kind of world is this! In the process of giving out surveys, we took a lot of fails, experienced falls that left us feeling tears. However, this was all a part of learning. It was also preparation work for our Net Expo. After we were bathing in failures, we grew stronger! At the end, it didn’t matter if we succeed or not, just had to “do” it!

Due to the demand of our report, we were interviewing people passing by Grand Hotel early in the morning. Lai Yu Ru and Lin Yun An were our vanguards. Too bad the person passing by was a foreigner. He was happy to fill out the survey but…he didn’t understand Chinese. Therefore our vanguards were defeated. Then, it was Lai Wei Hao and me’s turn. We not only did not lose any battle, we were winning continuously. Even though their team was defeated time and time again, they grew more courage. At last, they gave all they had and finally won! There were also two other teams. I’m not sure how many people they have interviewed so far…

The teacher trained us first. Of course it was a funny scene! Some chit chatted for a while but did not ask any questions. Some asked questions but were turned down by the teacher. Some spoke to the teacher in a disgusting way! So, nothing was good. At last, we moved on to Grand Hotel in laughter.

When we arrived, we saw a foreigner taking photos of Grand Hotel. Our teacher asked if we wanted to go for a try. Lai Yu Ru and Lin Yun An volunteered to interview that foreigner. Even though they were not rejected, they were still defeated because the foreigner did not understand Chinese. There was no way to communicate with him! They were rejected on the first try. But it’s ok. Because we knew we would get rejection sooner or later. It was my turn, I saw a family. I snuck up to them like a ghost in unbeatable speed because I was afraid someone else might get ahead of me! I interviewed the father of the family. He was really nice. He not only accepted my interview but also wrote things down for me. He was such a nice guy! Just like that, I interviewed seven or eight people smoothly without any rejection. I was so lucky! Haha~

When we were leaving, we ran into an old couple. I went up to them like a flying saucer. This time we got quiet the catch! They knew all the answers to our questions. They knew the history of Grand Hotel, too! They knew the hotel from inside and out! Looks like there was some reason behind the elderly wisdom.

Looking for foreigner tracks ~ second day

On the second day, after our initial group gathering, we went up to Grand Hotel for last interviews. Lin Hsin Hui’s team got a few interviews when they arrived. A few minutes later, the other teams also got interviews except for me. It forced me to use the last trick up my sleeve! I had to rush up to anyone in sight. Honestly speaking, this was a good one. But my luck was not as good as yesterday. I only got two interviews. The others all rejected me. Fed me “rejection.” But it was okay. It didn’t taste like anything. It was a lie. Just ignore it. Sigh. But it came uninvited.

Everyone at the door of Grand Hotel was gone. The smoke cleared. We were hungry. We couldn’t just sit there and wait forever. It was such a waste of time. It was not a bad score! The data I gathered was a little short. After all, there is still a difference between valid and invalid surveys.

On our way back to the school, we saw a big fish and a foreign one too. Usually there is no happy ending for someone that is greedy. Because sometime people try to catch the foreign fish, but the foreign fish was too strong, so either the fishing pole broke or the fisherman got dragged into the water. So most people avoid catching this kind of fish. But…I was greedy so what? I wouldn’t give up without success. I didn’t expect actually succeed! I got this fish. He could understand my language! I didn’t expect he knew what I was doing! This was a very special experience!

Because of the report, we came to Grand Hotel to give out surveys. We were confident at first. We thought everyone on the street would take our interviews. Unfortunately, not everyone had so much time to help us. We were rejected many times but we did not give up. We grabbed on to every opportunity. We stood by the shuttle bus stop and asked the tourists that were waiting for the bus in hope of good people that could accept our interview requests. After a few hours, the “score” of our team was bad. We only had four interviews. Cheng Hong Tin’s team was really good. They got seven or eight people. I thought, maybe there were not many people. That’s why it turned out this way. When it’s finished, we walked back to the school in despair.

Because the people we interviewed the day before yesterday was really few, we decided to take on the challenge again today at Grand Hotel. It was different today. We got quite a few people one after another. We tasted success. It was a joy. Our team interviewed someone from Malaysia. He was really good. He could understand what we said and what we wrote. He was really good. He must had learned Chinese for a long time.

After these two days, I changed my perspective of people in Taiwan. In the process of interviewing. I realized even though the foreigners couldn’t understand Chinese, they were more polite when they rejected us. On the other hand, the Taiwanese may not accept our interviews, they sometimes even rejected harshly. This left me with a bad impression of Taiwanese people. Even with that, there were still some Taiwanese helping use with the surveys. If there is anymore similar report in the future to do, I hope everyone could participate.

Because we had to gather more information, the teacher made us do interviews in front of Grand Hotel two days in a row. When we arrived Grand Hotel, we saw a foreigner taking photos of the view. A team went up to him bravely while everyone thought they would get rejected. Without the doubt, they failed. They became the first group that tasted failure.

In front of Grand Hotel, everyone chickened out. No one wanted to take initiative. There were many people around so we did not strike much. One team was very lucky. They scored every time they stroked. They got a lot more than what we had. Everyone envied them. The team that failed first was so jealous. The successful team walked with their heads high like they had gold on their faces. The other team did only one or two. It was such a big difference. The team that failed first did worse. They only had one.

The two people in our team were afraid to even ask. But we went up to someone from the Health Inspection Department. He did the survey for us. It was really touching. But our luck was bad. We only got one or two more afterwards. The most unbelievable thing was that an old lady told us she couldn’t speak Mandarin well, so she turned down our interview. When we said we would write it for her, she turned around and left us. It was making us furious.

We did better on the second day. We got three or four interviews from families. I wanted to stay at Grand Hotel for a few days just to see how it was. The lucky team was still lucky. Even though they didn’t get many interviews, they got an American that spoke Chinese.

In this interview, I experienced the hardship and challenges of being a reporter and learned the strength and spirit of team work. I also learned that there is nothing you can’t achieve if you put your mind to it. With hard work and courage, we will succeed. I learned a lot from this interview experience.

We wanted to gather what people thought of Grand Hotel. We handed out surveys outside Grand Hotel. I was in the same team as Yun An. We wanted a good score. But if we kept getting rejection, it would be too embarrassing. We were looking forward to it yet so scared of getting hurt. Soon, it was ten o’clock. We went up to Grand Hotel with anxious hearts.

I’m the kind of person that likes the thrill and not thinking about anything before doing it. When we arrived Grand Hotel, we saw a blonde foreigner taking photos facing the hotel. The teacher looked at us to see if anyone wanted to take the chance and ask him. Everyone looked at each other, no one dared. I grabbed Yun An with me and walked up to him. Unfortunately, he didn’t speak Chinese. We shook our heads and came back. It’s ok. Defeat only made us stronger. It’s not a battle that only allowed success. We failed once, just try again. I didn’t believe we were jinx.

It was at the moment, I realized the difference between the people that went to the temple and the ones that didn’t. Yun An and I were as miserable as it could get. When we went up to the tourists, some were happy to fill out the survey (perhaps they were in a good holiday mood!). But this kind of nice people were only ten percent of our interviewees. The rest either ran away when they saw us. Or they gave us a disgusted look and turned us down. Some talked on the phone while they ran passed us by. Okay. Fine. I know asking foreigners and people that were working was not the best move, but those people that gave us the look were out of line. We were just innocent children, not old mean evil old people. Was it necessary to give us the look? They treated a bunch of kids like that? Wouldn’t they feel guilty? We ran into these grown-ups with no conscience. Fine. Just think of it as we didn’t pray enough so we didn’t have good luck!!

As Yun An and I were being shot down, the other team was in so much joy. They were not being mean. Their situation was complete opposite of ours. Cheng Hong Tin and Lai Wei Hao’s team was making us jealous. They tried six times and they succeeded every time! Look at Chen’s happy face and he kept saying this is great! And then look at us, we practically had clouds over our heads. I think, you can see the difference between people that prayed and people who didn’t. But that look on his face made me so angry I want to stamp my feet. I hope he fails the next time! We noticed he picked the people that were checking out, waiting for shuttle bus, or out with family and kids. We soon understood those are the kind of people we should be targeting! So just wait and see! I’ll make your score slide so fast you can’t get it back up again. At the same time, we started to fight over clients!

There is an old saying, “good companions have good influence; bad companions have bad influence.” Now Yun An and I get shot down less. Maybe it’s because we finally got the hang of interviewing people. But, the higher you climb, the harder the fall. When we thought fortunate god was waving at us, we met a Japanese family, and a busy women (she said she was working and what is it? We could only replied, it’s ok. Nothing.) At that moment, I felt like crying without being able to produce tears.

The second day, we were up there taking the challenge. But today, we learned the lesson. We stayed away from the foreigners. Only talked to the people that were checking out, waiting for the bus, or with family and kids. The success rate gone up. The gloating team from the first day took a few falls. Ha! It felt awfully nice! (I know it’s not right to mock the people that “failed”, but hahaha!) This day was amazing. Something unbelievable was yet to come. When we were leaving, we saw three foreigners. Yun An and I gave up on foreigners long ago. But Mr. Kuo rushed to them and started talking. We were waiting for him to come back so we could make fun of him. Who knew he would start a conversation with the foreigners. We all froze. I was furious yet helpless. One of the foreigners could speak Chinese. What! Why? Why was he so lucky? Darn it!

Today I went to Grand Hotel for survey with team members of our Net Expo. Everyone was scared at first. We backed down whenever we see any tourists. Lai Yu Ru was very brave and went up to the first tourist. Too bad it was a foreigner and Lai Yu Ru failed. He didn’t give up though. He tried for the second and the third time, but they also failed. Lai was very disappointed.

Cheng Hong Tin’s team was very lucky. They got seven or eight people to fill out the surveys. It was like there was gold on Cheng’s face. We could see the glow. Lai saw Cheng and became furious. He thought he should have no problem getting one or two people to do it. He didn’t expect total failure. Luckily, at the end, there was a nice tourist that agreed to do his survey.

Our team was afraid to strike. We were afraid of getting rejected. We stayed around for a long time. The teacher encouraged us many time and gave us the courage to go up to tourists. Very luckily, the first tourist we ran into was willing to do the survey. It made us very happy and confident. We went up to a few more afterwards. Even though, sometimes we still got rejected but because of our first success, it didn’t feel too bad. Sometimes there were still some nice people willing to help us, which made us very happy.

It also made me realized there was nothing we couldn’t do if we put our minds to it. If you are willing to do it, you can accomplish it. I have to be brave in trying to learn more things. Other than that, I also learned the value of team work. It was hard handing out surveys by yourself. I worked with my teammates and it became easy. We helped each other. It showed the value of team work. I learned a lot in this survey experience.

It was a beautiful day, the weather was nice. We hit the road with delightful mood to do the Net Expo. Unfortunately, a horrible news came. We had to go to Grand Hotel to give our tourist surveys! I felt weak in the knees as soon as I heard the news. Why? Because usually when we encounter something like this on the street, we either deny quickly or walk away quickly. I think this must be the attitude that we would get! But for the report, we had to finish this task. Fist, we practiced our opening lines. How to let them accept our interviews. According to our observations, most people were more likely to accept interviews from children. Therefore, before we began, we must tell them we’re from Jian Tan elementary school and politely address them as Mister or Miss to gain sympathy. It felt like we were the girl selling matches in the fairytale! After practice, we climbed up to Grand Hotel and faced the blow!

In front of Grand Hotel, the wind was so strong it almost blew me away. Teacher prepared us mentally for rejection! Seeing the tourist walking towards me, my heart raced faster and my feet were numb. I have no idea where I got the courage, I walked up to him and started the interview. “Mister, we’re from Jian Tan elementary school. We are working on a report on Grand Hotel. Is it a good time for interview right now?” “Well, let me see…” Just like that, my first interview was a success. With this experience, I became more comfortable with the interviews and it got easier. Even though we still get rejections from time to time, we didn’t give up, we just kept trying. Finally we finished the second survey and also understood the feeling of those that do survey on the street every day and the discouragement they feel!

This interview showed me how cold blood this society is. I also learned to interview others. It’s a special, unforgettable experience!

On the cold, windy mountain, we went to Grand Hotel to interview people. But because there were many tourists, every time someone passed by, we rushed to him/her. Sometimes because we were rushing, we also got rejected. That showed us we have to pick our targets and not just run up to anyone. We also needed the courage to go up. Otherwise the interview number would grow smaller and smaller. Sometime when you come back the survey would still be blank. When interviewing people, rejection did not feel good. But it felt good when the tourists were filling out the surveys. We felt like what we worked so hard, was finally paying off. When the other teams failed, we also mocked them. When our team led the score, the time passed by so soon and it was noon. We happily went back to the classroom. We organized each data and made a pack to go together again next time.

This interview made me understand that even though we get rejected sometimes, we sometimes felt lost. But because we were asking someone a favor, we should also accept their good intentions. After many interviews, we grew stronger. Even with rejection, we could see it as practice. This would help us in the long run under and circumstances and any situations. We would be able to handle it.