我想著你 (I think of you)

This whole thinking in English thing, is becoming more difficult by the day. I've been in Taipei for three months now, and I'm really enjoying myself. I find that my Chinese is improving at a rapid pace, and in turn is making me see life here through a new pair of eyes. An in depth look at my daily life here, made me realize that I have yet to let you all really understand how I life my life here, on a day to day basis.

Waking up is probably the most difficult part of my day; in order to to get my school on time, I need to wake up at around five every morning. Then the fun begins. I try my best to fashion my hair into an easy style that can also manage the humidity, while also being acceptable at school. Yes, my school, like many in Taipei has rules about hair styles. Boys can not grow their hair longer than 25 centimeters. Girls may not braid, curl, or wear shiny/colorful pins or barrettes.  After I fix the chaotic mess that is my hair, I put on my school uniform.

My school has two different uniforms each season, one for days that you have gym; and the other, dressier uniform for normal school days.  The best description that comes to mind for my P.E. uniform is: male cheerleader clad in all blue. My school colors are blue and red, and both of the uniforms incorporate the school colors. The P.E. uniform is a light blue, short sleeved cotton polo, with our school crest on a left breast pocket; paired with darker, almost peacock blue with red and navy blue vertical stripes running down the side of the leg.  The dress uniform is by far the better looking of the two. Navy blue trousers, with a white button up polo. For the dress uniform, boys get black pea coats with out school crest on the left breast pocket, and girls receive crimson red V-neck sweaters.

I leave the house at six-fifteen, and thus I begin the hour and forty five minute trek to my school on the other side of Taipei city.  A half hour on a bus takes me from my house on the mountain to the nearest MRT station.   MRT stands for Metropolitan Rapid Transport, and is basically like a subway system that runs above, and below the ground all over Taipei city.  The MRT is so cheap and convenient to ride. The forty five minute ride across town to the MRT closest to my school only costs twenty two NT (New Taiwan dollars) which is less than one US dollar. Then I have another half hour bus ride to my school.

School here begins at eight in the morning, and dismisses around five in the evening; however, there are always students that arrive early to study and stay much later to cram.  High schools are separated into three grades, with first grade being like freshman year. First grade students are all about fifteen years old.  Third grade students are the hardest working, each one in preparation for their "big test" which determines which universities they can attend.  Every Taiwanese student is very hard working, and in turn stressed to the maximum limit.  There are tests in nearly every class each day.  So, it is no wonder that these kids study so much.

I am lucky in that way, to be an outsider.  I do not take the tests they take, nor do I have to pay excruciating attention to my teacher's lectures. My schedule consists of Geography, Biology, Music, Art, Chinese, Taiwanese History, Computer Technology, Physical Education, English (best class), and Military. All of which are dispersed through a week. Luckily, I was allowed to choose my classes, unlike the students here; I was allowed to ditch Chemistry and Geometry. Also, every class here is with the same group of kids. Unlike back home, teachers travel from class to class each period, not students. A lot of my classes are with different grades, so I may connect with more of my fellow students.

At noon we get a much needed "rest hour." The first half of it is spent eating lunch, and in the last half hour it is mandatory that each student is sitting in their own classroom. Lights off, everyones' head on a desk. They take this very seriously too, we have military guards at our school who walk around during this time to enforce that rule.

There is always something interesting that happens to me in school. Whether it is being asked to take a picture with a group of curious girls, getting asked out by a shockingly bold Taiwanese boy, or asked to sing a song in front of my classmates.  I feel almost famous here, everyone wants to be my friend and get to know me. In turn, I have met so many lovely people, and can not remember life being too much better without them in it.

After leaving school at five, I take the journey home the same way I got there. Sometimes, I like to spend time with my schoolmates after we leave, but mostly they have "cram school." Which is like tutoring, outside of school, and just about every junior and senior high school student in Taipei attends one. When I don't have plans with friends, I head home for the night.  I arrive home at around seven and I am home alone for about an hour before my host mother comes home from work. We always eat dinner together, and every night we have a mini Chinese lesson over our meal. My host sister arrives home from cram school at about nine. While she is eating dinner and telling her mom about her day, I take my shower. Then, I talk to my sister until my host dad gets home from work; usually around ten. Unless it is a Friday, I spend about ten minutes with my entire host family after my host father gets home before I go to bed.

I think of everything, and everyone back home at least once everyday.  I miss all of it; but as I become more accustomed to my life in Taiwan, I love that I am here. Whatever void I could possibly ever think of, is filled here. For some reason, I just fit. It feels right for me to be here, now. 11,649 miles from home, never happier.  As I grow into Taiwan, I feel like I grow into myself. The person I want to be; who I am. Until next month, 再見。

大家好!（Hello Everyone!)

It’s time to try to organize my thoughts long enough to update those of you who are still on the English speaking side of the planet. Another Typhoon is in my presence as I write to you again.  I thought that first arriving in Taipei was the most intense flow of emotions, boy was I wrong. My second month here has brought tears of happiness, and of grief, smiles and laughter on a day to day basis, but most of all; confusion about, well, just essentially everything.  Lately I’ve been taking time to appreciate all of the little things around me. I’ve been spending a lot of time focusing on being self aware, rather than just focusing on how different everyone here is from myself. I spent so much time trying to change my life sometimes that I forgot to live it. Now, I indulge in every moment, and I don’t hold back. It’s really a spectacular thing to do; I am discovering so much more by just taking life as it comes to me. I live my life here hour by hour, for fear that one day at a time is too much to focus on. 

Time here is just flying by. I can hardly believe that it has been two months already. My environment continues to change as I struggle to catch up with this new world. Weather here is getting cooler, thank goodness! lately it has been about 75* Fahrenheit everyday, with sporadic rainfall. I am loving every minute of it. My classmates all tell me that I am crazy when I show up to school without a jacket on. Most of them have already dug out their winter jackets, and I have spotted a few scarfs.  Currently is is cold for me; I'd never thought I would say this in a million years, but it is 70* outside and I am FREEZING! It turns out that it rains a lot here in the “winter”. But strangely, I don’t find that it’s a gloomy sort of rain. It’s more peaceful than anything. Who knows though; perhaps after a few more months of rain I won’t be as fond of it.

I am still adjusting to school life here, but mostly I can handle school. I am beginning to understand what my teachers are saying to me, and lately i have been able to answer a few questions. They are all so proud of me (and themselves, because they like to believe that they are the only reason I know any Chinese at all).  I love all of my classmates, and the students in my school are so cheerful. WHEN they greet me, (I say when because most of them are still to shy to even look at me), it is always with a smile and a warm Chinese phrase. I feel myself fitting in more, not only in my class but in my school. I don't get starred at in the hallways as much, the cafeteria ladies know me (and each one of them wants me to come to THEIR register), and even my principle wants to talk to me as much as he can. It really astonishes me how quickly and well I am learning everything. I find myself eager to learn everything, about anything. Maybe it is a little of that hard working Taiwanese study ambition that my friends here have, being instilled in me.

With the joy, here is the pain. I have been away from my friend and family, and the quaint little town that we call home, for some time. I got my first case of homesickness, and it was no joke.  Craving home set up a huge hurdle in my path, and for about three days I did not want anything to do with Taiwan, I was in a completely irritable mood, and the only thing I could think about was home. So, I gave myself a break. I did not have to attend school during their midterm exams so that day, was a day all about me. I did everything I wanted to do. I slept in, which means until about nine a.m. here, watched american television on the internet, skyped with friends, and found the closest thing to American food that I could: pancake mix. The next day, I met someone on the MRT who completely changed my outlook on what I was doing here.

I was in my own world that day. Plugged into my iPod with the volume all the way up, staring blankly at the window of the car. A song came on that reminded me of my best friends, and a familiar line "Another aeroplane, another sunny place, I'm lucky I know, I just wanna go home..." I was bawling my eyes out and I could not stop. Thank god I was in the corner facing away from everyone, but I was just silently sobbing for a large part of the hour long ride. Now, understand this, Taiwanese handle emotions a lot different than you and me. It is embarrassing for them to feel sad or upset, especially in public.  A man came up behind me and just tapped on my shoulder. I took my headphones out of my ear to hear him ask "are you okay?". When I responded with "I will be", all he said was "I know how it feels to be alone here too".  WHAT?! I said to myself, who is his guy? I turned around to see a nice looking guy who appeared to be maybe 19 or 20. I learned that his name was Charlie, and that he was from California. He has lived here for 2 years. He is a student at a university close to where I live. He gave me a big hug and told me to just stick it out, not to worry. Encouraging words fell from his lips with the best sense of kindness. I learned that what I was gong through was, in fact, normal. He then told me that he knew as soon as he left my side I'd be crying again. He had to get off of the MRT at the next stop, and we had no time to exchange contact information, but I was okay with that. I feel so grateful for his innocent kindness. But non-the-less, I did continue to cry.

My host family has played a huge role in getting me over my home sick feelings as well. My family here is wonderful, more than I could have ever asked for. They do so much for me, a lot that they don't have to. I never have to ask them for anything, they just do such nice things for me. I love them. I am dreading the day that I have to change host families.

So everyone, I am still here. Just as happy as I could ever be. I have made leaps and bounds in this not-so-foreign, (at least to me anymore), land.  I am discovering more things about my world here, as well as my world back in the states, with each passing day. I look forward to sharing tons more experiences with you all soon! 

I WILL TRY AND BE ON HERE A LOT MORE-- I FIND, AS I GET MORE INVOLVED WITH MY LIFE HERE, I LET GO OF LIFE BACK IN THE U.S.  My apologies <3

Age 18 and 1 day :-)

So Fridays are probably my favorite day of the school week... For the sole fact that I only have 1 class on Friday, and that class is english :-D  So the day after my birthday was pretty excellent too. I spent most of it in the Library.  In the morning I got to talk with almost every freshman english class and help them find easy english novels to read. One boy in particular took a liking to me. I helped him find the book he was looking for, then I went back upstairs where my laptop was, he came up with me after about 5 minutes; told me "you are so beautiful" and then proceeded to run away. HAHAHAHA I love shy Taiwanese boys :-P
Then I went downstairs with Jane around lunchtime and I ate lunch with Fiona and my "living technology" teacher, whose english name is Jose (oh my god I know that is SO funny).  During/ after lunch I spent time with Jose, showing him pictures that I have taken and talking to him about working at Cooperstown Dreams Park-taking all sorts of pictures there and what kind of cameras we used, we also talked about photoshop.  He told me that he was a photographer himself, and he showed me his camera. I was shocked to find that the big, BEAUTIFUL camera that he pulled out of his sleek black backpack was exactly the same as the ones we used at CDP. Same camera, same lens, same neck-strap even; EXACTLY the same. I was so happy to see it.
Jose explained to me that there was going to be a huge emergency drill going on that day and that it was his  job (as head of the photography club) to take pictures and videos of the event for the school's website.  He asked me if I would help him by using his camera and taking pictures so that he could focus solely on taking videos. YES! I replied without hesitation, I could not wait another minute.  I was so excited.  Jose then convinced me that if I joined the photography club that I could use his camera whenever I wanted. He is one of my new bestfriends. Haha. I got some great shots of the whole thing, and when it was over: I went home, and then the norm :-P

My 18th Birthday in Taiwan

My birthday here was more than I could have ever imagined. I woke up to smell of my host mother making me my favorite breakfast I have here, 雞蛋餅, which translates to "egg cake". It is a sort of crepe with many different sorts of spices, topped with an egg that has been beaten, then you roll it into almost like a burrito and top it with some soy sauce.. SO GOOD. 


I got dressed, made an attempt to do my hair (which I knew would only frizz out of place the second I walked out the door), put on my makeup and jewelry and headed out my door. 早安 (pronounced Zao An- which means Good Morning) Chersea! (that is actually how they pronounce my name); 安(morning) I replied.  My home ma hurried to finish making my breakfast and putting together Joy's lunch, as Joy just started getting ready.  I made sure that all of my stuff was ready for Chinese class, Joy grabbed her stuff and we headed out the door, 雞蛋餅 in hand. 


We walked to the end of our street and waited for the bus together, her 612 and my 508.  When I got to my Chinese class I couldn't help but think study, study, STUDY! (I'm beginning to act more like a Taiwanese than I thought ;-D ) I was so nervous about my bo-po-mo-fo test.  When everyone else arrived, I got a German version of Happy Birthday from Fiona, a special hug from the Brazilian- Heitor, a Canadian "It's your birthday, eh?"(I love Faith), and many a "AWWW, Happy Birthday!" :-P


Derrick and I went out into the hall and studied our little New Yorker butts off! When it was finally my turn to go with our teacher and read the test paper in bo-po-mo-fo , my stomach was in knots.  BUT, I only made one mistake! (I later found out that along with one other girl in my class, I got a 99!!) Before we left my 老師 (teacher) said 生日快樂 (pronounced shengri kaile- which means Happy Birthday)- OH YEAH, now I remember; I almost forgot it was my birthday.


I made my way to school where I went straight to my classroom. All of 112 was excited to see me.  I got gifts from Jade (later found out that they were cute little jars), another girl gave me lucky stars, I got plenty of cards, a sign from the kids in my 2nd grade PE class, a card from Boba in my 2nd grade art class, 2 五十嵐 and much more.  And during the first 10 minutes of PE class with 112, they threw me a little party.. They brought me a cake, and sang me happy birthday (first in Chinese, then in English), they were all so excited. I (of course) had to make a wish before I blew out my candles. We then went outside with our teacher and play volleyball which was actually a lot of fun. It was a pretty short day after that. I left school at around 4 that day so that I could get home and shower before my host family and I went out to dinner at 7.

Dinner was probably the best part of the day. My ENTIRE father's side of the family was there.   We had so much fun together. It was a really nice dinner too, pretty much a 10 course meal- U hadn't eaten so much food since I had arrived! Joy and I had fun playing with my host cousins, and I introduced myself to my host grandma in Chinese. It was an all around good night :-) We had the coolest waiter at the restaurant too. He spoke in English to me and was very happy to hear why I was there and thought that it was just awesome that I was an American.  He gave me a taste of the special white wine, and a glass of red wine after getting my home ma's permission. When dinner was about over, my waiter friend brought out a cake and everyone sang to me. I haven't felt more love than that since my arrival in Taipei. It was wonderful. We made the long trek home and shortly after we got home and I took another shower, I was in bed. 

First Week of School- Oh Baby!

Monday, also the day of my chinese proficiency test was pretty eventful.  Mostly because my host rotary club told home ma that I was supposed to take the test on Tuesday, not Monday.  So we made the hour and a half long trek to my school, to the library; to get there and find out that I was in fact supposed to be taking the test that day: at that very moment to be exact.  So we hauled it outta there, and home ma was furious. She hailed us a cab and we set off on the 45 minutes ride to the testing center.  On the way there I got a call from my friend/ROOMIE :-) Faith (from Canada EH).  Basically that conversation consisted of "where the hell are ya?", and the quick response "i'm coming, i'm coming have you started yet?", "nope", "OKAY GOOD WAIT FOR ME!"

First of all, the stupid test was WRITTEN IN CHINESE! Please, get real.. You think I can understand what that says.  Basically the German girl behind me and I just started circling random numbers of answers that could be right :-P For the writing part, I just took some of the prettier symbols that I saw on the test and put them together. I'm pretty sure that the teachers must have had a good laugh grading my exam.

After the exam was over, and I said goodbye to my friends; home ma and I made the second trip of the day to National Chung Ho Senior High (oh yes, that is the name of my school ;-D). She left me at the bus stop, and after about 5 minutes of repeatedly asking me "are you sure you know how to get there?", home ma finally went to work.  By the time I got back to my school it was about 12:30.. So I ate the lunch that my mom prepared for me and waited for Julia to arrive as I sat in the Library with Fiona.  Julia arrived, and Fiona, Julia, Julia's counselor and I all went to get our school uniforms. They are pretty ugly, I'm not gonna lie. Pics of it will be uploaded soon..

Then Fiona and I went to my class room: First grade class 12 (or 1-12).  But, the people who were in there was a French class, so not my real classmates.  After sitting through French (I actually read a passage aloud with another girl in the class-shockingly enough, by pronouncing all the words as they would sound in Spanish, I had read everything correctly :-P) I went back to the Library with Fiona, and got my locker(s) and desk.  After a short while Julia joined us. Our counselors left and it was just Julia and I in the Library Director's office. We talked about our Taiwanese experiences, and ate yellow colored watermelon (much better in Taiwan). Then there was an earthquake. It only lasted for about 30seconds, BUT it shook the entire building that we were sitting in- SOOO COOL! We expressed our excitement about it being our first earthquake, continued talking as we waited for our counselors and eventually just went home.  

Tuesday was better.   

Tuesday was my first full day of Taiwanese school. I was wearing my super duper ugly uniform (a forest green PLEATED skirt that falls to the knee, and a short sleeve white button up polo) grr.  I was able to finally introduce myself to all of my classmates! Which was absolutely amazing. I loved every single minute of it. The boy who sits next to me has the weirdest english "name" I have ever heard of. Da.. That's it. Not dan, just Da :-P All he usually says is "HELLO!" to me.  Lately though, he has been using more English..

I made a lot of friends in my class. The whole rest of the week kind of blurs together.  I traded wearing the ugly green skirt for a pair of my own black pants (which kind of match the dark navy pants that most of the other people wear.) I made good friends with Jade (sits behind me), Savannah (who sits on my right side, up one seat), and of course Da :-P We pass notes in class :-P I have started to help him with his english homework, which turns into him translating every question into English and telling me he needs help answering them all.  Haha I love it. Friday I went with home ma to the Rotary meeting of Taipei Mu-Lan RC, where they gave me my allowence; and sang the Chinese version of "Happy Birthday to You" to me and the other people in our club with September birthdays. :-)




This weekend was AWESOME. Friday night with the fam, Saturday was a nice resting day, went out shopping Saturday night. Sunday I went school supply shopping with David- I didn't think that shopping for school supplies could be so much fun! 


David met me at the Shipai MRT station and together we went to Taipei Main Station, went to 3 bookstores and I had gotten everything on my list.  Then we went to Starbucks to take a break.  After our break, we went to two more department stores. We met up with one of David's friends at the last department store and we all went out for ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery :-P  By the time we were done having our ice cream, it was about 4:00 and we were both thoroughly exhausted, so David rode home with me on the MRT home. What a great day.








Monday I went to Chinese class, went to lunch with Derrick(NY), Faith(Canada), Katelyn(Canada), and Jesse(TX); then off to school.  After school I went home to change quickly then Joy and I went to go get our hair washed, which is oddly common here- maybe because it is very cheap and you get a full scalp and shoulder massage! :-D 
And today, was another full day of school. Except it was a lot of fun. We played Volleyball in PE, the rules were totally different than in America. They are allowed to catch the ball and throw it back to the other team over the net :-P I had a Chinese calligraphy class with Fiona during my free period at the end of the day. I LOVE TAIWANESE SCHOOL! --Minus the uniforms and Math class ;-P


Oh and today, my English teacher offered me to go with her to her house in Southern Taipei. She goes almost every weekend to see her family and her baby. I really hope that I can go with her sometime, she is one of the sweetest people I know here. OH and last week, maybe Thursday, I met a girl named "Haiwei" (yeah like highway) on the bus. She was an exchange student to Ohio last year and she goes to my school. I'm pretty sure we are going to become really good friends ;-)


That's all for now.

OH BOY do I have some catching up to do...

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.. :-)

Hmm alrighty, now we're on Tuesday...

Tuesday, as compared to the rest of my time here, was mostly uneventful or maybe better worded as- uninteresting.

Ali and I made the hour and a half long trek to my school by bus, MRT, and other bus.  When we got there I was in pure awe, too shocked to take a picture, too nervous to breathe steadily.  My school is absolutely enormous.  3 buildings, each as large as MCS, make up the entire campus.  It was all sort of a blur from there.  Ali and I went to the office of student affairs, met with 3 of my teachers and what I think is my principal to discuss my being there (which was actually them discussing- me listening in utter confusion), and then my three teachers introduced themselves to me by English name, and showed Ali and I around the school.  Fiona is the one who speaks the most english. She explained to me that she will be my counselor for this year.  My teachers showed me the gymnasium/auditorium first, which at the time had the entire school inside for a special presentation. Following that was the "playground" which was a combination of a track, various athletic courts, and what looked like an outdoor stage. Lastly, they showed us the library which is one big building, with the main part of it on the third floor; which is where Fiona's office is. She is very sweet. She told me if I need anything, I can get a hold of her.

After that was really nothing important.  We said our goodbyes and Ali and I began the long trek home.  When we got back, Ali went to work. I was more than happy to have the house to myself. I cranked the AC in my room, took a shower and went to sleep. (mind you this was at like 2 in the afternoon) I slept until 8 when Ali woke me up to give me dinner and to go with her to get Joy so we could all go grocery shopping together. Again, we finished, went home, nightly routine, and alas: lovely bed :-P

Okay, so Monday...

In the morning, after skipping breakfast (for some reason I never feel very hungry here-Ali makes me eat lunch and dinner :-P) I went down the stairs of our apartment building with home pa. There we met up with Robert. (remember him?)  Together Robert and I waited for a car driven by his father to come and pick us up.  In the car,  Robert told me that we were on our way to pick Jeffrey up from school; that he would be going to the National Palace Museum with us.  Robert's dad is very nice. He tried to speak as much English as he could to me which was very nice. He told me that the radio station we were listening to was 107.00 and that it was a very good radio station that has been around for many years.  It is actually an English speaking radio station, and it just so happens that when we were in the car, it was theme hour. Today's theme- color, the DJ would play song requests that only had something to do with color. Whether the song or band name had color in it, he'd play it. I heard "Red, Red Wine" by UB40 and "Purple Rain" by Prince. HA. We got Jeffrey from school and continued on our 40 minutes drive to the museum. Robert's dad told me that The National Palace Museum holds all Chinese treasures, many Chinese people go there to see everything. He was totally right. He parked the car, bought our tickets, took a group picture of us outside, and left.  

Before we went in the museum, Jeffrey apologized to me for not introducing himself to me the night before. He said "I want to say sorry for not telling you who I am last night, there were too many people around, and I do not like my English; let's start again. My name is Jeffrey." How sweet is that? Jeffrey, Robert, and I spent about 2 hours in the museum before I was absolutely bored out of my skull. We then, spent another hour there, walking around. We saw everything, big stone statues of buddah, ancient ink paintings, pottery, jade and bone carvings, and almost anything else you can think of. 

Then, we caught a bus to take us to the National Science Museum which was about 20 minutes away. The Museum is huge, 7 floors high, it takes up almost an entire block. We bought tickets and had lunch there. After lunch we went to the top floor of the museum, which was a chocolate art exhibit.  Everything was beautiful, there were so many gorgeous, detailed chocolate sculptures of everything that you can imagine.  We spent about an hour there. It was really amazing to see. There were also little fun things to read, like your chocolate horoscope, and what kind of chocolate are you?  We had a lot of fun in there.

After that we walked around and played in the rest of the museum, which was more of a Science/Discovery center type of deal... That was a blast. At four, Robert's dad came to pick us up, and Lydia was in the backseat of the car waiting for us :-)  She asked me if I had fun today and what we did.  She then told me that we would go to the night market, but first they had to go to the dentist.  

It only took about 30 minutes from the time we walked in the dentist's office for Lydia and Robert's teeth to be cleaned and we were on our way. We walked to Shilin to go to the night market, and at about 7:30 we caught the MRT home.  When we got to Shipai, we quickly went to 7-11 to grab a sandwich for dinner and caught then next bus home. Robert and Lydia were the first to get off, it was a quick goodbye to them. Since Jeffrey lives in the same building as me, we walked home together.  

After the short elevator trip up to the third floor of the apartment building (where my family lives) Jeffrey got off with me to make sure that I got in okay. Of course I had troubles with unlocking the door (like always, right?) But of course it had to happen this time :-P EMBARRASSING- whatever haha. Eventually I got inside, we said goodnight, then I started my nighty routine and went to sleep.

:-)

Okay, so I have some catching up to do...

Sunday was by far one of my favorite days in Taipei! I told you all that I was going to Danshui with some friends of my family.  It turned into this: WE WENT ALL OVER THE IMMENSE CITY THAT IS TAIPEI! Ali taught me how to use the bus here, which is surprisingly complicated.  In Taiwan they have this thing called an easy card, which is kind of like a credit card in the way that it looks, but it has a sensor inside so you don't swipe it you just hold it against a sensor pad that every bus, MRT station, and 7-11 has. :-P Yes there are 7-11s here. They are on almost every corner, and are used very frequently because of their very cheap prices.  

Anyway, so you get on the bus, and depending on where you need to go and where you currently are, there could be about 6 or 7 different busses to take just from your one stop.  When you get on you have to look at the sign that hangs right above the driver, it tells you whether to pay when you get on, when you are about to get off, or both.  Then most likely you get off at the MRT station.  When we got to the MRT station, Ali introduced me to Jonathan (16) and his younger brother. Ali left and Jonathan, his brother, and I got on the MRT and headed to the C.K.S. Memorial Station which is where we met Jonathan's friend, Flora; who is probably Jonathan's age, and speaks English a lot better than him.  Together we went to the Chaing Kai Shek Memorial and the National Concert Hall, both absolutely stunning.  After about 3 hours and about 150 pictures, we left and went to get something to drink. We actually went to 7-11 and got slurpees :-P We then headed back to the MRT.  

We rode the MRT to Taipei Main Station, and after turning a few short corners and playing chicken with public transit busses to cross the street we arrived at Taipei 101. The second largest building in the world. It is absolutely gigantic.  We did not go up into 101 however, because it costs money to go all the way to the top.  (Ali told me that she will take me to the top of it someday.)  Instead we went into the extension of the building, which is actually like a mall :-P  Flora brought me downstairs to show me one of her favorite drinks, a Taiwanese specialty with a new age twist.  It was pearl milk tea (much more tea than milk) with tapioca and coconut jelly. It was SO good.  After walking around the mall for about an hour, we decided to go meet up with some of Flora's friends for lunch. 

I can't tell you exactly where we got off the MRT because honestly, I have no clue myself.   We walked down crowded streets, sketchy alleys, and through markets galore.  We went to a restaurant which literally translated means "Fat Boss", where we met three boys; Flora's friends.  They liked me right from the get go,  I could tell because they couldn't stop asking me questions all through lunch.   Andy, one of the boys, even drew pictures to show me what the items were on the menu-- TOO funny.  I can't remember the other boys' names, but I'm sure it will come to me.  Flora asked me if I wanted something to drink (they do not usually sell drinks in Taiwanese restaurants) and I told her that I could really use some water; unaware that she would excuse herself from her seat, go down to the corner and buy me a bottle of water from the 7-11.  She is such a sweetheart, she also bought me a package of instant beef noodle to bring home with me.  She said it is one of her favorite things to eat.  After a lunch of rice and beef, we went to a large department store. Here is where we had probably the most fun.

The boys and Flora thought it would be funny if I asked some of the staff who worked at the store questions in English, because they would not understand.  Here is what we did: In almost every section, there are 2-3 employees to assist shoppers.  I went up to them with a piece of clothing in hand saying "Do you think this will look good on me?" or "How much does this cost?", and each time; the person I asked looked so completely puzzled.  I could hear my new group of friends laughing as they watched me through a clothes rack in the section next to the one I was in.  We repeated this about 8 or maybe even 9 times before we decided to stop. :-P While we were in the store, between picking on its employees, we looked at stuffed animals (oddly popular with people of all ages and gender here) and we tested out the large array of musical instruments.  I picked up a guitar and played "Good Riddance", and was shocked to find that one of the boys could recognize the song I was playing.  He then played the same tune on a piano sitting right next to me. Not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome.  

As we headed outside the store, large crowds were formed on the street (bigger than normal I should say.)  Flora exclaimed and darted towards a large platform in the middle of the crowd.  Andy explained to me that there was a surprise concert going on.  I got to see a famous Taiwanese singer on only my second day in the country- SAWEET!  When she was done performing, Flora and I rushed to the end of the stage where she was exiting and snapped a few quick pictures.  We all got on the MRT and chatted all along the 40 minutes ride to Danshui. When we arrived, Andy explained to me that we would be going to old street, which is the Danshui equivalent of a night market.  We went to a bunch of cute little shops, looking at stuffed animals, cell phone charms, and played that stupid game where you try to catch a fish in the stupid little fragile net- which honestly, I am terrible at. :-P Andy then made me try all of his favorite street foods. Soft black egg- which is famous from Danshui, it tastes sort of like a regular egg, but also some how different.  It comes in a plastic package, and when you first look at it and hold it, it kind of feels like a leathery black or dark brown stress ball. Then he showed me something that does not translate but it is made of potatoes, but looks and has the consistency of a donut hole.  Then there was the legendary tall ice cream, you can choose from 12cm to 32 cm high.  He got the 32cm one, I got 12. :-P Ice cream here, doesn't taste like ice cream in America, but it is still very good.  Danshui is a very small little town on the river, with a beautiful sunset- which we were able to see before we left.  

One last MRT ride back to Shipai- where Andy and I both got off to go home. He told me that he does not live far from the MRT station.  I gave hugs to Flora and Jonathan as I exited the train and Anthony before we parted ways at the station. I went to the bus stop, where Ali and Joy picked me up on their way to drop Joy off at cram-school (which is like a tutoring center type of deal-almost everyone here goes to one.)

Ali dropped me off at home before bringing Joy the rest of the way- where after about 20 minutes of not being able to open the door- home pa showed up, let me in, and gave me dinner- a hot dog. :-P Then I got in the shower.  When I got out of the shower, I quickly got on my computer and uploaded my pictures to Facebook and hoped to be able to talk to some friends on Skype. Ali got home shortly after I got out of the shower. At about 8:30 almost the whole family poured in. My home pa has 7 other brothers and sisters, two of his sisters came to our apartment, followed by their four kids- Robert and Lydia, who are brother and sister, both speak english and Lydia's english is amazing- then there was Jeffrey, their cousin. He was too nervous to introduce himself - ohh and his sister Sophie, it looks like she may have downs but I am not totally sure- she is adorable.  Jeffrey and his family live on the seventh floor of our apartment building. Later came another sister of home pa, who's family lives right next door.  I do not remember her name- by this time I was so tired that I was falling asleep on the couch that I was sitting on.  She has two kids- again names unknown- they are a boy of 12 and a little girl who is 8.  She was very very nice. She told me that if I ever needed anything to let her know, that she could also be like another mom while I was here. She also offered that I could come over and play the wii with them whenever I wanted.  

At around 10 my host mom finally let me go to bed, she could see me dozing off while I was sitting up.

And that was Sunday :-)

Too much happened today to remember it all. I had a lot of fun. I will try and update this tomorrow, I am far too tired to do anything now.

Night Market Fun

The night market last night was absolutely amazing. It is an entire block completely jam packed with small stores, vendors, games (a lot like carnival games), street food, fresh fruit and vegetables, "snow ice" shops, and always many people.  

Ali and I left our house at around 9:30 to go get Joy.  We picked her up just about 2 miles down the road from our house.  We then drove maybe 15 miles to the night market.  We parked in a parking lot full of cars (I thought that it was insane that we actually found a place to park) and walked the rest of the way. As we walked closer to the main drag, this awful smell hit me. Like sewage and hot garbage juice, it was absolutely awful.  I asked Joy what the smell was and I was half right... she told me that it was the "garbage cars", they only come out at night and when they drive by it fills the air with that terrible stink. As soon as we got to the proper street, there it was- one of the most popular pieces of Taiwanese street eats (in America anyway); BUBBLE TEA.  Ali told me that this store had just opened so everything was buy one get one free. The man let us try some free samples, Ali told me that it was honey and lemon flavored: and it was so good. While we were walking down the crowded streets Ali and Joy both grabbed my hands, as natural as could be, just so we could stay together and no one would get lost.

We crossed the hectic street to get closer to the food stands and oh my goodness: I thought we were going to die. If I had crossed a street in America the way we crossed that street last night, I would have gotten killed. The cars here are pretty good at watching out for pedestrians however, the motorcycles and scooters that make up most of the traffic are not.  That is probably due to the fact that most of the people who drive them are very young.  Ali told me that in Taiwan you have to be 20 years old to drive a car and only 18 to drive a motorcycle.  She thought it was crazy that I was allowed to drive in America. :-P

The other side of the street had many different foods that are popular to night markets throughout Taiwan.  There were absolutely IMMENSE sausage type thing, Joy said that they are home pa's favorite. (Oh, that is what we all call my host father. He told us he did not want to come to the night market because there were too many people- I get where he is coming from :-P) Next to that was what looked a lot like the typical american version of pork friend rice, a dumpling stand that let you choose what fillings to put in the dumpling, drink stands that looked almost like smoothies, and then what we got: Fried Chicken.  Now I know what you all are thinking- "Chelsea, you are in Taiwan, a food capitol of the world; and you choose fried chicken?"- No, Ali and Joy told me it was one of their favorite things to eat there. I quickly found out why.  It is not like American fried chicken.  You can actually decipher chicken from breading, and it is not very greasy.  Ali and I split a piece of spicy chicken, which does the name justice, and Joy got plain.  It was absolutely delicious.  

I walked through the market with chicken in one hand, camera in the other. It was so amazing to see this many people in one place, for something that happens every night.  You can find anything at the night market- and all for very cheap.  Ali and Joy showed me this special restaurant (they call anything that is out of the ordinary or very nice, special) called "Modern Toilet". One of the stranger, but more interesting places I have seen in Taipei.  It is a novelty restaurant, with toilets as chairs with glittery lids; and they shape their food like- well, like poop. I couldn't help but laugh. Ali told me that someday her, home pa, and Joy would bring me there to eat.  

Eventually we made our way to a very colorful little stand. Again it was special. a man sitting in front of the stand was bending beautifully colored wires into cute little key chains, and statue figures.  Ali let Joy and I pick out the shape we wanted and we got key chains made with our name on them.

After walking around for about another hour we went to a restaurant that served what Ali and Joy call "snow ice".  We shared coffee, and green tea flavored ice with red beans on the side- beans are eaten with sweet things here.  It was so good, and worth the 15 minute wait in line. Ali says that the place we went to is the best place to get snow ice in Taipei.  It has been around since she was very young.  

We returned to the street lined with food to pick home pa up some fried chicken and dumplings before we began our hike back to the parking lot- it was almost midnight.  On our way to the car, Joy had a cockroach scamper across here foot. She shrieked- Ali and I, laughed. :-)

We went home, where home pa was watching t.v. (a lot of Taiwanese television is in English).  He was happy to see us and told Joy and I that he liked our key rings.  Joy and I got in the shower, I let her go first seeing as how she has school today, and we went to bed. I gave a short "wan an" to home ma and home pa first, they were excited that I remembered how they taught me to say goodnight.  

Today I will be headed to Danshui with Ali; where two of home pa's, friend's, sons will be showing me around the city.  I can't wait to tell you all about it.

Goodbye America: Ni hao Taiwan

Hello Everyone,

After about 29 hours of travel, meeting many new people, a shower, a good nights sleep and almost a full day in Taiwan; here I am.

I don't want to bore anyone with talks about my flights: they were long, tedious and very, VERY boring.  Some highlights though: On my way to Washington DC- I'll admit I was crying like a baby, my stewardess was very nice. She offered me a box of tissues and asked me what was wrong. When I told her that I was going away from home for nearly a year all she could say was "oh my god." While on my way to San Francisco I met a boy named Derrick who was also going to Taiwan. Funny thing actually, I was sitting next to him waiting to board our flight and I saw his rotary patch on his blazer. I followed that glance with a simple "Where are you headed?" It was nice to have someone else with me. It was very relieving to have someone who understood just what I was going through. On that flight I sat next to the cutest little girl and her father.  We watched "Shrek" on the plane and she giggled and laughed through the whole thing, and after it was over we watched "High School Musical 3" on her dvd player: she let me have one of her ear buds. :-P When her battery died, we watched "Up" on my laptop; it was so adorable.  After landing in San Fran; Derrick, another girl exchange student who's name currently escapes me, and I all headed towards our next gate.  There we found about 14 other students from America who were all going to Taiwan.  Most of them were from Florida and California, with a few from Pennsylvania, and of course New York.  Together we boarded the plane and headed out of the country.  After 10 LONG hours on the plane we finally arrived in Narita, Tokyo, Japan.  We spent a short time fooling around and taking pictures before we headed to our gate.  Who can guess where we went as soon as we got to our gate? We BOOKED IT to the closest bathroom; you start to feel gross after a 10hour plane ride.  The first think I noticed was the squatty potty! But I was too afraid to use it :-P We had a short time in the waiting area and then we boarded our plane. I was so excited that I got to see Mt. Fuji on our way to Taipei.  YES the real Mt. Fuji, not the Japanese restaurant next to Bed Bath & Beyond :-P

Arriving in Taipei brought a crazy flow of emotions. I was nervous, scared, happy, excited, and most of all, TIRED.  Security and Immigration were a breeze to get through. Baggage claim was of course the thing that took the longest amount of time.  After all of us American exchange students got their bags (yes we did wait for everyone) we headed out our first set of exit doors to head into the lobby.  What a sight when we got there! All of our host parents and a lot of Rotary members filled the airpot lobby smiling and laughing, holding beautifully decorated signs with our names on them :-D  It was very exciting. I searched the crowd for my name on a sign and there they were: my host family.  Ali: my host mom who actually wants me to call her mom, my host dad whose name I do not know: I am supposed to call him dad,  and Joy: my super sweet host sister of 15 who is the only person in my family who speaks enough english to hold a full conversation with me.

We exchanged hugs, took pictures, and talked with a few other host families. I met a boy from Australia who has already been here for a month. He told me that he was very excited to finally see some other exchange students.

After the greetings we grabbed my bags and headed for the parking lot. My host dad helped me put my bags in the car and drove all of us the 40 minute route home.  When we arrived at our apartment building, strange scents filled my nose; the intense humidity started to create droplets of sweat on my forehead; my eyes squinted as I focused on the chinese symbols written on the walls. Here I was: home. The apartment is small, like most in Taipei are; but it is very cute.  After putting my bags in my new room Joy and Ali showed me how to use the shower. Interestingly enough, the shower here is pretty much a room. The bathroom is a semi small room, with a toilet (that you are not allowed to flush anything down but your actual "business"), a sink, a couple buckets for bathing water, and a shower head that is hooked up to a hose that stands about two feet off the ground.  There is nothing that separates the shower from the rest of the bathroom so, when you are taking a shower, the whole bathroom acts kind of like one big shower.

I took my shower first (we take showers at night) and then began unpacking my things.  My host mom told me if I needed anything at all to just tell her and she would help me.  After about an hour of unpacking, she told me that it would be good for me to go to bed, that we would be leaving at 9:30 to go to her shop. So I stopped unpacking, leaving it for the next day and got myself ready for bed.  Joy and I brushed our teeth together and we all said goodnight.  I started to watch "Juno", because I wasn't able to sleep yet, but soon after I went to bed.



I woke up at around 7:30 this morning, unable to go back to sleep. I went to the bathroom, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and then resumed unpacking.  At 9:30 Ali and I headed to her shop. On the way she picked us up breakfast and coffee.  We drove maybe 10 miles to her store.  When we arrived, I soon discovered that she owns a paper craft store; it looks almost like a scrap booking supply store.  There she sat me down at a table, unpacked my coffee and showed me all the things that she had bought for breakfast.  My choice was a small breakfast sandwich: not a typical one though. I was a bread bun (almost like a hamburger bun) with egg, ham, lettuce, and PEANUT BUTTER on it! The internet lies- there is peanut butter in Taiwan- thank heavens.  after I ate breakfast she showed me around the shop and showed me some of the craft instruction books that she had published.  After about an hour at the shop, Ann- my host mom's best friend who lives in California, came into the store.  Ann had breakfast with my mom and talked to me in English.  She is a very nice lady, who speaks English well. She helped Ali tell me the rules of the house, show me how to use my new cell phone, describe the metro and bus maps, and eventually just asked me how I was :-)  At around 1 we all ordered lunch. Ali ordered me some kind of beef and rice that was very very good. After lunch, we got into the car and headed down the road to a local temple. Ann explained to me that this month, and this day in particular is very significant in their religion.  It is a time when ghosts are supposed to be leaving them.  Ann says it is sort of like Halloween.  We arrived at the temple, which was extremely gorgeous; I studied the detail of the paintings and artwork inside, and I watched Ali and Ann bow to these dragon statues that were holding burning incense. After temple, we went back to the store to drop Ann off and Ali and I headed back to the apartment.

In a little while Joy will be out of school and I will get to spend some time with her. Tonight, we are all going to the night market, which is full of shopping galore! I am so excited!! Tomorrow I am supposed to go to Danshui with the sons of one of Ali's friends who are 16 and 14.  It is sure to be a lot of fun.

Let's Get It Started

Well here I am, 81 hours and 8 minutes until my departure time.  My psyche is going bipolar on me. Part of me is in a whirlwind of excitement, ready to go out into the world on my own new adventure; and the other part of me is in a complete downpour of tears and affliction over leaving my friends and family behind. What to feel, what to feel? Friday night brought a painful goodbye to a great deal of my friends, some having already gone. :-(  Saturday brought even more grief as I bid farewell to a great deal of my family, and my extended family of friends at interskate. I know that I should be ecstatic, I should be jumping up and down with joy at the thought of going on this amazing trip, and leaving in only a few short days; but I can not help but think that I am ill-prepared.

On a lighter note, I recieved my itinerary today. Oh boy: 22 hours of flying :-P
I depart from Binghamton Airport, at 5:50am. Then it's a 1hour and 30minute flight to Washington Dulles Airport for a 1hr, 35minute long layover and a connection flight to San Francisco lasting 5 hours and 54 minutes. When I get to SanFran, I have 1 hour and 50 minutes to find my gate and board my flight to Narita Tokyo, JAPAN.  A 15 HOUR FLIGHT! but because of the time difference, it looks a lot shorter.  After that it is a 1 hour 40 minute break and straight to Taipei!!! I will arrive on Friday at 8:45 pm, their time; Saturday 8:45am, our time.

Hopefully I will get to see everyone that I need to before I depart, so I can say my goodbyes.

<3