So I have found that I really don't have enough hours in a day to blog every single one of them.. Maybe when things with Rotary/School/ Chinese class get a little more settled I will be able to blog more frequently. Alright well, here goes nothing:
Last Wednesday:
I went with my "cousin" Ariel and her friend DunDun (don't ask) to Taiwan story land. It is a little place that is almost like a mini recreation of Taiwan in the 60's and 70's. It was pretty fun, we tried stilt walking and enjoyed a little vintage puppet show. After we were done there, Ariel, DunDun and I caught an MRT and went to go shopping at a different department store. We had lunch at Din Tai Fung, which is a place that originated in Taiwan but currently has locations in Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Beijing, Shanghai, Japan, and many other places. They are famous in Taiwan for hand making these very intricate dumplings- which just so happen to be delicious. After lunch, we walked around just looking at everything. We sat on a bench/couch thing to take a rest for about 15 minutes, sitting next to an old lady who was napping. We then proceeded to take pictures of ourselves so that the old lady would be in the background. :-P We walked around for another short while then returned home.
Thursday was one of my favorite days: Ariel and I lounged around the house most of the day, just resting. It felt so nice! That morning I woke up with my host mom at about 7 and her, her best friend Lilly and I all went to the immigration office. We got my visa information all settled- no problem. Lilly and I talked for a long time, she asked me tons of questions but I had no problem with answering them. She is one of the sweetest people I have met since I have arrived here. She gave me a present before we went to the immigration office... It is pronounced "shuh dzuh"- a kind of lucky fruit... except mine is a paperweight :-) I love it.
That night Ariel and I caught the bus to my host mom's store-where we met up with Ann, her two kids, Ali, and Lilly. We all went to have dinner together at Lilly's husband's restaurant. They all called it barbecue but that is definitely not what this is.. It was this cute little place where you have steam pots in the middle of the table so you can boil and cook some of your own stuff (all that you choose from a refrigerated shelf in the middle of the restaurant and bring back to your table) or you can choose to have the chef's there prepare it for you. It was the most adorable place to have dinner. I really enjoyed myself.
Friday I got to sleep in! And home ma and I went to go to a Rotary meeting. Taipei Mu Lan Rotary Club. It was like one of those typical Rotary meetings: we sang songs that no one new the tune of, we ate SOUP (plus some other stuff for lunch :-P), and I listened to older people talk about things- of which I had no idea what they were saying. Anywhos, I introduced myself to them, the interrogated me, like pretty much everyone does here when they first meet me; and home ma and I left. Then she took me to meet the humongous group of people that are the RYLA students and Inbound TRYEX students for Inbound Orientation.. WHOOP WHOOP!! :-)
Orientation was a great time, filled with fun activities every day...
Friday:
-Self introductions on the bus on the way to Aspire Resort
-Rules and crap in our classroom
-Dinner all together
-Games and team building stuff in the gym
-DANCE PARTAY!!!- complete with a really funky DJ, a emcee who didn't know the words to any of the songs he was singing, two dancers *cough cough* STRIPPERS who were on stage all night, and Derrick and I representin New York on the stage and right up front ;-)
-Much needed showers and SLEEP
Trust me, we had way too much fun on Friday to even explain in words.. Pictures say it best- check out Facebook-Inbound Orientation&&Dance Party
Saturday:
6:30am wake up call- Oh and wear your pink Ryla shirts-- JOY
Breakfast time-forever long- oh and meals were always interesting..
Cultural class intro/the attitude and ways of learning Mandarin (POSITIVE ATTITUDE- Taiwan really touch my heart :-P)
Then we had a Q&A session- filled with no Q's so a group of us went up to the front of the conference room and were interviewed as a way to get to know each other. I, of course, jumped at the opportunity and was the first volunteer :-)
Then was Lunch, followed by a ropes course sort of thing (and the epic beginning of a ongoing Facebook photo album "the many faces of nick paluba" ;-D)
Dinnertime
"Group Report Prep"-- in which we developed skits we would perform for the entire TRYEX group. My group's was about effective communtication.
--Again shower and bed--
Sunday:
After Breakfast, we were scheduled to sit through another 2 hours of listening to people talk about the rules of youth exchange-- BORING!
First we actually were taught a dance by one of our group leaders, SO FUN!!!! We had a great time, everyone in our room was dancing and laughing.. Basically a great way to start the day.
Then there was tea time and "How to be a Competent Exchange Student".
Followed by closing remarks, and Lunch.
After Lunch we had group reports which were all absolutely hilarious (again refer to pictures.)
After that we had a short tea time and closing ceremony, which was a lot of just taking pictures.
We all told our goodbyes and exchanged Facebook info and made our way to the busses to head back to the SYS Memorial Station entrance to meet up with our families.
INBOUND ORIENTATION WAS THE BEST WEEKEND OF MY LIFE! By far.
So home ma and home pa picked me up at the station, and we made our way home. On the way home ma and I talked about the weekend- I am definitely starting to understand more and more of her Chinese. She then asked me if I wanted to go see a movie with Joy- OF COURSE! So they drove me to the movie theater where Joy was already there waiting for a friend. We found her friend, Zephyr was her name, and we all ate dinner together (PASTA- what a nice change of pace). After dinner we went upstairs where the movie theaters were, bought our tickets with still an hour long wait and played games in the arcade. I was completely boss at the claw game and won 5 little stuffed pink panther dolls (two of which I gave to little girls we found in the theater- I gave, Joy translated :-P) Then we watched the new Cats&Dogs movie (all in English, thank heavens.)
Then home and bed, as I had to get some rest for my first day of school the next day.. :-)
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