Written on the Train: My Family in Hualien [from my personal journal]

Monday, July 9, 2012

I have a stuffy nose and red eyes because we just said goodbye to Maggie and all the others who could make it to see us off at the train station and I cried. I hadn’t cried before… I’ve come close but always held it in. But today it was the right time. 

Our time in Hualien is over now… but it was amazing. When we first got to Hualien on Friday, we attended a Rotary meeting right away, and were given a very warm welcome. They asked Dad to say a few words, and despite his stage fright, he didn’t hesitate to agree. His thank you for hosting me and taking care of me was heartfelt and beautiful. The emotion was raw and plain to see, and though many of the Rotarians could not understand his words, they clearly understood his message. It was a beautiful moment, but only one of many.

Maggie and I have a tradition: after each Rotary meeting, we go out and get 豆花. This time, we were joined by Celia, who had never had 豆花 before. She enjoyed it, and I enjoyed the quiet time spent with 2 of the people I love most.

Celia and I have many, many things in common. Just one of these is a love for mochi, which we each got to indulge on Friday afternoon thanks to the hospitality of our club member Mochi. He treated my entire family to as much mochi as we could eat, and then all that we could carry! We gorged and chatted, and almost before I knew it, it was time for us to go. We said our goodbyes and thanked Mochi, then went with Maggie to another of my favorite places to go with her: Qisingtang. This stony beach was one of her favorite places as she grew up, and was my favorite place to play in the waves, then walk and chat with her. As my family skipped stones, frolicked in the waves, and picked pretty pebbles to take home (or, in Lance’s case, practiced his martial arts on the beach), I felt a deep sense of peace and contentment.

Soon, it was time to go to dinner. Mochi and Maggie drove us to the restaurant, where we were joined by a variety of people. Maggie, Mr. Lee, and Nicole [Mama, Baba #1, and younger sister]; Lunch [Baba #2]; and Apple and Sand [Mama and Baba #3] were all there. Further, we were joined by: TV [my counselor] and his wife; Stone [a Rotarian with very good English and a pleasant disposition] and his wife; Attorney [the YEP representative in our club] and his wife [one of the most fun women I have ever met]; and Plant [the club VP]. I gave a small gift from New Mexico to each of them, and received quite a few gifts in return, including a Dior perfume. Once the dinner was concluded, the fun was not over. We went to Mitsubishi’s souvenir shop, where we made a couple of purchases, and then to the stone market. I got the jewelry set I’ve had my eye on for quite some time: matching jade earrings and necklace. The earrings are shaped like 8’s, and the necklace is the same but with 3 loops. This is because the number 8 is lucky in Taiwanese culture, and the ‘double 8’ of my necklace is, thus, doubly lucky. The store had a fixed price policy, but thanks to TV being friends with the proprietor and my haggling, I got them at a 600 NT discount. This still cleaned me out moneywise, but I was quite happy.

Saturday dawned bright and early, and saw us all at the Hualien train station at 7:50 AM. We quickly bought our bus tickets, then got onto the bus that would take us to our destination: Taroko National Park. We skipped the Visitor Center and started the day with a short walk along Shakadang trail, which was a first for me (I’ve been to the park 5 times before, but never gotten to do that walk). We spotted spiders and caterpillars, but none of the ‘killer bees’ or ‘poisonous wasps’ the signs in the area warned us of. A short bus ride took us to Buluowan, where we had a short nap in the theater [the film was in Chinese, the air conditioner was heavenly, and the seats were super comfortable; how could we not succumb!?] and then an early lunch. One more bus ride took us to Swallow Grotto, where we walked and admired the formations. At this point, we decided to return to Hualien, where we took a taxi to the B&B. I tried to help Mom get rid of a calf cramp, but couldn’t figure it out and was thus not very helpful. She shooed me away to pack, so I gathered my boxes and excess things and packed as much into said boxes as I could. Then we piled into another taxi, which took us to the only open Post Office to ship my stuff home. This process took far longer than I thought it should have: we had to fill out the forms, then we discovered that they would not take the card, only cash. We tried the ATMs in the building, but none allowed us to withdraw money. We ended up exchanging money, which took a good time longer. We ended up being there nearly an hour, even past closing time, just to send those two boxes. Finally, we finished and headed over to Starbucks, where the rest of the family and Gabriela were waiting for us. We walked around the downtown clothing market. Dad found 3 shirts to give to other people, but none of my family members got shirts for themselves. [I already have a Taiwan shirt, but the goal is for each of us to have one.] After Gabi left, we indulged in a pineapple shaved ice treat, which helped us to deal with the crippling heat before continuing to shop. Celia found a nice sundress; I found one too, but since I had no money I had to pass on it. However, I did still have some coins… so when we went to the bookstore/office supplies store in the area, I was able to buy 4 pens and a little notebook, which I intend to use to continue practicing my Chinese in the US.

With our shopping completed for the day, we took another taxi, this time to Zoe’s family restaurant. They treated us to yet another banquet-style dinner, which was absolutely delicious. When we had eaten our fill, we sat around the table with Zoe, her parents, and occasionally her brothers (2^nd and 5^th grade boys who tend to bicker but are very sweet when they want to be) and drank tea and chatted for over an hour. We also encountered an English teacher from my school with his wife and 3-month-old daughter (named April, for the month in which she was born), as well as Flower, another of my lovely classmates. He is quiet but we get along very well, so it was a very pleasant evening.

Yesterday was a bit slower than much of our trip has been. We got to sleep in a bit, enjoying our breakfast at 8 o’clock. We got to laze about a bit, until around 10, when Maggie and Mr. Lee showed up to take us out traveling. Originally, we had planned to go to Shitiping, a beach far away (yet still in Hualien County) but due to several factors (primarily our dismay at traveling so far) we ended up traveling around Hualien City instead. Our first stop was at the Tzu Chi Foundation. We had our tour of the auditorium, which Maggie and Mr. Lee had not known was possible – so it was a first for everyone but me. I did get to see new things, though, as our tour guide (a man originally from Kaohsiung who studied in the US for a long time) took us to see a few rooms I had not visited before. Our tour ended up taking until nearly noon, so we stayed with the guide for the [vegetarian] lunch. Our next stop was a Japanese temple, preserved from the colonial time. However, the heat pushed us to, once more, indulge in ice. This time, we went to the Ji An Food Company. I had a nice passionfruit ice cream, and Dad had bamboo coffee ice cream [it tasted of coffee, but was gray]. Celia and Lance had lemon popsicles, and Mom’s was passionfruit. Maggie and Mr. Lee also had lemon ‘ice-lollies.’ Finally at a comfortable temperature, we were reluctant to return to the heat, so we took Maggie’s suggestion and went to the department store FE21 for a while. Mom bought some nesting pots for me, then we went downstairs to A. Mart to buy supplies for our evening BBQ. That done, we returned to Sand’s house / our B&B to rest for a while. At 6 we headed out again, but this time to the Aboriginal Dance performance being held about 10 minutes away. We declined all offers of food, since we’d be eating at the barbecue anyway, and just enjoyed the dancing. The first group to dance was Amis students from Si Wei Senior High School in Hualien. Then there was a group of much younger students, from an elementary school. Their costumes featured turquoise and black as the primary colors, and I was rather enthralled with their performance, miming the life of a millet farming family. I do not know which tribe they were. We were not able to see the rest of the performances, because we had to return to the B&B for the BBQ. Everyone was already there, waiting for us, which was slightly embarrassing for me. I was so happy to see them, though, that it didn’t really matter. Zoe’s family was all there, though she couldn’t be because of a church camp; her parents took over the food, tending the barbecue and distributing the rice noodles they had prepared in advance. John, Jack, Allen, and Stitch (so named because she loves Stitch from Disney’s Lilo and Stitch) all attended as well. We had a lovely time; at one point, we played limbo. Celia impressed everyone, as she tends to do. I was also very impressed by Sand’s niece, who speaks English very well (she’s in her senior year at the language college in Kaohsiung) and was ridiculously good at Limbo. Sand and a few other Rotarians also joined us around 9:30, after they returned from their trip to Yilan. I received a gift from each person, which was surprising and touching. Eventually I dragged myself up the stairs, where I began the slow process of packing.

Thus, the morning began far too early: at 6:15. Even without having to shower or pack much, I still needed all the time up until breakfast (at 7) to get organized. We had a nice breakfast, and Willy (he’s 10) even set the alarm so he could say goodbye to me. Then we piled our things into my fathers’ (Mr. Lee and Sand’s) cars and I bid Apple farewell; she was fighting back tears when we left. At the train station, Maggie surprised me with a last-minute gift: a jade bracelet. We each started crying, and then had to do the pictures in front of the train station with tears on our cheeks. I couldn’t stop crying, and am fighting back tears even now, hours later, as I write this. Maggie is one of the most fundamentally good people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. 媽媽, 我愛妳. 

Together Again!

Reunited <3

My family has arrived in Taiwan!!! The reunion didn't go exactly as planned, in that I had to go to the hotel first and our reunion happened there instead. I checked in and made the 2000 NT security deposit, signed stuff, showed my passport, got an extra bed for Lance, and got settled. Mom, Dad, Lance, and Celia took a taxi from the airport and arrived around 11:15. Celia got some pictures of our embraces with her DSLR, of course. We headed up to the rooms and I showed them the quirks of Taiwanese rooms; for example, there is a slot in the wall to place your key card in, which controls whether or not you have electricity. If you remove the card (say, as you leave the room) all the appliances will turn off. Everyone got settled, and it’s definitely bed time.

Short post, but hey, I'm falling asleep at the keyboard! Good night, all!

The Final D3490 Inbound Activity, and Other Notable Events

This week has contained several events which I have deemed worthy of sharing with you.
The first is that I moved from my third host family back to my first. This occurred on Wednesday, and was a relatively quick affair, conducted entirely by the ladies of each family. I haven't decided yet whether I should bother unpacking... it seems almost a waste of time to do so, since I have less than 3 weeks to live here... This is because on June 29th, my entire American family (blood family, that is - my 'other sister' Michelle will not be joining us) will be arriving in Taipei! We'll travel around the island together until the 10th, (my wonderful host mother, Maggie, has been very helpful in creating a schedule for this) and then we will all return to New Mexico and continue preparing for Celia's exchange.
I shared this news with my host Rotary club at our meeting on Friday, and it was very well-received. A few club members have already stated their intentions to treat us all to dinner. This creates a different sort of 'problem' - we will only be in Hualien for 3 days! Somebody is going to be disappointed... Perhaps quite a few people!
Here's a fun tidbit for you all: the sun rises around 5 AM here, and sets about 12-13 hours later. So it was, indeed, bright and early when I boarded the train to Taipei at 6:20 AM on Saturday morning for the final D3490 YEP Inbound Activity. This took place in Shulin, at a place called Dann Farm. Dann Farm provides job opportunities for people with disabilities and provided us, the YEP students, with DIY opportunities. We transformed plain, colorless soaps into heart inside a heart, scented, colored soaps (using dyes, scents, and molds). Then we made wooden door-plaques or number plates; mine has a crazy owl and the Chinese character for strength, 力. We also received certificates for our exchange, as well as a rather expensive pottery mug with swans painted on it. I said goodbye to the other exchange students, understanding that I will not be seeing some of them for a couple of weeks, some for some time, and some others ever again.
Taken all together, it's quite a lot to handle. My emotions are going haywire... I'm heartbroken that I will be leaving Taiwan and all my Taiwanese friends; excited to see my family and introduce them to my other families, amazing friends, and breathtaking sights that Taiwan has to offer; awed that I have had this amazing opportunity and determined not to waste my remaining time in this, my second home; proud beyond measure of and thrilled for Celia, whose exchange will be, I'm sure, as incredible as she is; and yet somewhat sad that I'll have such a short time to spend with her before she rushes off to have her own adventures. Yet, overall, I am excited. Excited for myself for everything that I'll get to do in the next few months. Excited for my family to get to see how I've been living. Excited for my sister to go on her exchange. Excited for my brother to go to college. Excited! ^_^

The Big Trip

I have just returned from my one-week trip around Taiwan, which was definitely one of the highlights of my time here. Our group of ~30 people, including the tour guides and attending Rotarians, traveled all around the island in a bus. We had 4 guides for this trip. The primary guide, Samantha, was a Canadian-Taiwanese and did most of the translation work, as well as handling students' complaints. The other 3 guides were all male. One was nicknamed Pikachu; he was with us during the Penghu trip as well, and was very popular among the students. The second male guide was called Black Bear, and was as burly as his name suggested. The final guide was called Xiao Xin (which sounds like the Chinese way of saying 'be careful') and he was by far the most quiet; he was most willing to help us move our luggage in and out of the bus.
Our journey started with assembly in Taipei, whereupon we took our bus to San Yi and had our first DIY activity: painting wooden sculptures. I chose a cute little duck, rather reminiscent of a rubber ducky; the other options were a decoy-style duck, a swan, and a cat. After eating there, we moved on to Sun Moon Lake, which we toured via boat and cable car. It was raining very hard, but the cable car ride was beautiful, if a bit shorter than I would have liked. Outside of the hotel that night, a semi-miracle occurred: I found shoes in my size! I bought sandals, in American size 11. This is the second pair of shoes I have managed to locate in my size in Taiwan, and it will probably be the last.
The second day's first activity was a train tour of a former sugar factory which has been converted into a Culture Park. The train's top speed was 5 km/hr; while sitting in it, we got a good view of the sugar cane fields and the High Speed Rail (HSR). After disembarking, we toured the factory on foot; the steam-driven machines were huge and very impressive, if a bit rusty. After lunch, we went to a traditional farming village, where we had 2 more DIY activities. The first was dying bandannas with blue dye (I'm inclined to call it indigo, but I'm not absolutely certain that's correct); we made the patterns by using popsicle sticks and elastic bands to define the white spaces. While those were setting, we painted farming hats or fans. There was also an ox-drawn carriage which took the students on a tour around the village. The bandannas' color was set by washing them in a salt-vinegar-water mixture, then air-drying.
The third day included a tour of Tainan, then a trip to the Buddha Memorial Center. This center had an enormous sitting Buddha - the largest in the world. The center also boasted 3 shrines and 4 exhibits, each of which was extremely impressive and culturally diverse, showcasing how Buddhism is different in its distinct nations (India vs. China, etc.). In the afternoon, we traveled to Kaohsiung, where we frolicked in the E-Da theme park. The haunted house, bumper cars, and roller coasters were all very fun. As we were leaving, a downpour began and so the boys and a few of the girls began to penguin-slide around. This, of course, was highly amusing to the Taiwanese bystanders, as well as to me. Soaked to the skin, we all quickly walked to our hotel across the street, which was enormous and, like many of the hotels on our stay, rated 5 stars.
The fourth day took us to Kenting via the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium, which I particularly enjoyed. I think the penguins were my favorite part, although the beluga whale comes in a close second place. We had a large, typical Rotary lunch, then went outside and waited. Before long, we were picked up by our expected ride: a fleet of camouflage Jeeps. We all piled in, 4 or 5 students per Jeep, then set off to the mountain trail. We had a short encounter with a police officer along the way, due to students standing while driving on the highway, but were let off with a warning. (This may have been because we were foreign, or perhaps because we were young. I don't really know. Regardless, I'm glad.) Once we got to the trail, we began our ride, which was rather similar to a roller coaster in that it had ups and down and crazy turns. That ride showed me why people enjoy motocross. Our route took us to a river, where everyone got soaked by the others' vehicles. As we were all prepared and wearing swimsuits under our clothing, shirts and shorts were quickly shed. When our ride in the Jeeps came to an end, we were deposited, wet and giddy, at the Go-Kart track. Each person got 7 minutes to do as many laps as he/she could; I managed about 9, despite my more cautious tendencies. After this, we were all loaded back into the bus and taken to our next stop for the day: Nanwan Beach. We swam and played in the water, then returned to our hotel. After dinner and checking in, we took a trip to the Kenting Night Market.
The fifth day included one of my new favorite activities: paintball. Each person got 60 yellow paint bullets, and we were all split into one of two teams: black and yellow. (The colors refer to the color of our face mask; other than this, our outfits were completely identical camouflage jumpsuits.) I was on the black team. The first round, with about a dozen people per team, lasted 15 minutes; I had about 20 bullets left at the end of this round, so I got to participate in the second round, which was 5-on-5. During the first round, I got a couple of good shots out (my preferred style is sniping) and in the second, I had a couple more from behind enemy lines. People had the option of paying to play a 3rd game, which I passed on. In the afternoon, we were scheduled to tour another village by bike, but it was raining so we had to cancel that.
The sixth day, our only activity was whitewater rafting. This was a 2-hour activity. My raft had 7 students and Xiao Xin; we were not the strongest of rowers, but we did establish a good rhythm and hit a few good rapids. Unfortunately, we all ended up with rather angry sunburns on our legs and (most of our) arms. I avoided the arm burn by wearing a long-sleeved shirt; this was a fashion faux pas, as I paired it with short shorts... but I don't regret that. In the evening, we had a good-bye party in the hotel, which involved karaoke, soda, and dancing. This party was also to celebrate Maggie's 18th birthday, which was today. Our curfew was at 12:30.
Today, our final day, had several activities and required an early start; thus, our morning call was at 5:30 AM. Needless to say, everyone was sleeping on the bus. Our first activity was river tracing, or walking upstream for a couple of hours. We walked in the river and next to it, crossed the river while holding hands, floated downstream, and finally jumped into the river. There were 2 heights from which one was allowed to jump: 2.5 meters and 7 meters. Everyone did the small jump, and most of the students also jumped off the 7 meter cliff. I did not. Instead, I attempted to skip stones, and failed rather miserably. We had lunch there: a delicious soup with lots of noodles, vegetables, and little meatballs. After cleaning it all up, we headed back downstream, where we all changed from our wetsuits into dry clothing and got back on the bus. Our next stop was the Visitor's Center and then the Secret Valley in Taroko Gorge; due to the weather, the rest of the Gorge was closed. We then continued around the city, stopping at various landmarks like Qishingtan beach. Finally, we went to the train station to say our goodbyes and eat a Pizza Hut dinner.
I had an absolutely amazing time on this trip. However, I'm definitely happy to be home; at one of my homes, at any rate. ^_^

Endings? Or Beginnings?

As usual, I've been quite busy lately. I've been finishing a lot of things that I've been intending to do for some time.

For one, I finally packed up the box of gifts I've been setting aside for my family, wrote the letter to go with it, and mailed it to my family. Two of my pens ran out of ink while I was writing the letter, but I finally finished it. I'm hoping the package will arrive in NM close to Mom's birthday (May 23) so that my gifts get there at an appropriate time. Even more than that, I hope everyone likes what I got for them. I won't say any more about that, because I don't want to ruin the surprise! 

Another thing was that ... drum roll please... I finished my high school courses and graduated! It was a bit odd to not be there, but I'm just happy that it happened. I am now officially done with high school!! Now I can go to college! Or rather... I can return to college. And my family. And my friends. I am looking forward to seeing everyone, but... I am not ready to return to the USA. I still feel as if there is so much more for me to do here! Just one week ago was my first trip to Taipei for fun! I got to see a couple of memorial halls, as well as do lots of shopping. I found out that it is true what they say around here: People go to Taipei to spend money, and to Hualien to play. I want to spend time in Taichung, Kaohsiung, and Yilan... I'm planning to, though. (Anybody up for hosting me there? It would be greatly appreciated.)
Other than the solo travel, I'm really looking forward to the big trip for my district. Many of the exchange students, though not all, will be going on this week-long trip around the island. We will get to do many, many fun things, including paintball and rafting! That is one week away, and I'm super excited for it.
Sorry this is rather short, but I'm rather tuckered out. I'll try to update again soon!

Penghu and School

Last week I, along with most of the other exchange students in District 3490, got to go to the tropical archipelago Penghu. This was a 3-day trip, which was prefaced by a day in Taipei. During this free day in Taipei, the students from Hualien went with Rotex (former exchange students) around the city. We went ice skating for a couple of hours in Taipei Arena, which I thoroughly enjoyed. That night, I stayed in the house of CP Lily, a high-ranking Rotarian in our district. Her house was a penthouse apartment in a very expensive part of time, and it was very spacious. I roomed with Zezi (Mexican girl) and we got up at 5:30. Our host provided breakfast for all the exchange students (sandwiches and tea), then we took the MRT (subway) to Songshan Airport. Here, we were joined by all the other exchange students. After the usual process of checking bags, going through security, and such, we were seated in our plane. The airline's name was Far East Air Travel... which was abbreviated to FAT on the tail, causing a certain amount of hilarity to ensue among the students. We all sat together on the plane, and it was a very noisy flight. I was lucky enough to get my favorite seat: a window seat even with the wing tips where I could see everything happening outside.

When we arrived in Penghu, it was a whirlwind trip. We saw lots of very cool places. The highlight for me was definitely the second day, when we got to do water sports. The very first thing I did was ride on a jet ski (as a passenger), which was thrilling and ended with the driver dumping my friend and me into the shallow water. After this, I did lots of rides where I was pulled along behind the jet ski on inflated rafts of various kinds. (Everyone was required to wear life vests and blue lightly padded helmets.) We took a break for lunch, then returned to the beach. A group of us went to snorkel, which was oddly restricted in that we had to hold on to the boat with both hands and just lay on the water while the boat moved (pulled by a jet ski, of course). After some begging, the guide agreed to take us into deeper water and allow us to jump into the water (still wearing our life vests). Somehow the boys managed to convince the guide to drop us off at the end of the land spit, and even leave our life vests on the boat. This made for the perfect afternoon on the perfect beach. The water, the sky, and the sand were all exactly perfect. We got to swim in the ocean, build sand castles, bury our friends in the sand, and even had the option of playing soccer in the sand. After a couple of blissful hours of laughter and fun in the sun (which resulted in more than a few sunburns) we continued our tour. However, our time on that beach was definitely the best part of that trip for me.
There was drama, caused by the breaking of the no alcohol rule, as well as no leaving your room after bed check. This resulted in everyone having to attend a meeting on the final morning, during which the culprits had to confess before we could continue with our schedule of touring.

In other news... I have finally chosen my college! After lots of careful deliberation, I have decided to attend New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, more commonly known as New Mexico Tech. Now my primary focus is on ensuring the timely completion of all remaining schoolwork before graduation. I can still hardly believe I'm graduating in less than a month...

Thanks to my readers!

An Eventful Day/Month

Today was certainly interesting. It started off with the usual routine of eating breakfast with my brothers (my host parents eat later, after exercising) and collecting all the things I would need for the day. In addition to the usual school supplies, I brought an additional bag with a change of clothes. Because of this bag of clothing, I could not ride my bike to school, so my host mother gave me a ride to school.
I skipped Chinese class so that I could print a survey for my classmates regarding what, when, and where they like to read. (I will write up this information into an article, which I will then turn in to Connie Blue, my English teacher in the USA.) I then gave this page to my homeroom/English teacher and she agreed to distribute it to the students this afternoon.
I sat through math class, which made total sense, then worked on puzzles during the 3rd period class. At 11:15 my first host mom, Maggie, picked me up and took me to our club meeting. I changed into slacks, a loose-fitting but flattering black shirt with a white flower on it, and my Rotary blazer. After helping Maggie get the meeting room ready, we headed downstairs to eat lunch. This month, the lunch was in the Western-style buffet. I enjoyed my lunch very thoroughly, and even allowed myself to indulge in a dessert or two. After the delicious and very filly meal, I went upstairs and sat through the meeting. There was an unusually high number of birthdays, and many of the birthday people were also celebrating their wedding anniversaries. I am learning some Taiwanese, so I could understand some of what was said... but not much. I gave a short speech about my recent life, then received my monthly allowance of NT$3000 (approximately US$100).
I was back at school by 2:30 for PE and English class. I got back lots of my surveys, and a few promises to return it ASAP. My favorite was from one classmate whose Chinese name is pronounced Lo Jien (his English name is Steve, or Mr. Lo). He has a talent for art, and his survey had several adventurous-looking folks sketched on it.
After school, my host mother, Apple, picked me up. Upon arriving home, I changed into more comfortable and attractive clothing (the same shirt from earlier in the day, with jeans). We picked up the boys from their schools, then all went to a restaurant near the train station for dinner with some friends and guests. At the moment, one of the families staying in our house/B&B is a married couple, with their son and the father's mother. Normal, right? Except that the man and his wife are each Taiwanese television stars. Our dinner was, for this reason, very interesting. A surprising amount of time was still spent discussing my exchange and my plans for the future. So... does that mean that being a foreign exchange student makes you more of a celebrity than being a local/actual celebrity? That amused me.
That pretty much covers my day... an update on some other things:

• April 9-11 I will be in Penghu (a small island off the west coast of Taiwan) with all the other exchange students in the district. The schedule looks like we'll be running around a lot... But I think it'll be fun! I'm excited to see everyone.
• April 21-22 is the District Convention in Yilan. 10 of the Hualien students will be attending and performing the Aboriginal (Amis) Dance. (One is injured, and another will be traveling with his parents.) We are trying on the outfits for the first time tomorrow! 
• April 28-29 is the Multidistrict Convention in Kaohsiung. We will perform here as well!
• Finally: school. I'm finally buckling down and working on writing all the essays that I've let pile up. Further, I have until the end of this month to choose which college to attend. At the moment, I'm going back and forth between New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NM Tech) and the University of Arizona.

I think that about covers it. Thanks for reading this very lengthy post, and I'll keep you updated!

<3

More Interesting Stuff... or not

My life has been pretty quiet over the last couple of weeks, but I figured it's time to update anyway.
Last week I went to another wedding. This wedding was particularly interesting because the groom was the son of a member of my Rotary host club, and the bride was the daughter of a member of another Rotary club (which hosts my classmate and friend, Victor Perez). (This was funny because we didn't realize we had been at the same wedding until the following day.) For the first time, I was a guest of the groom's side of the family. The main difference, I learned, was that instead of getting a box of cake or cookies at the end, we were each given a bag of raw rice. (For cooking and eating, not for throwing. No birds were harmed!)
Another interesting bit of wedding information is that here, the brides wear more than dress for the event. I'm pretty sure they are rented from the wedding planning companies, for wearing for pictures and the ceremony. Some brides have 2 dresses, while others have as many as 5. They are generally large and fluffy.
This week, I have been rather idle. I've had little schoolwork to do, because every was busy studying and reviewing for the midterms happening yesterday and today. As I am still not required to take these tests, I had these two days off. I had sincerely hoped to spend time with my friends but all plans fell through and I ended up hanging out with either my host family or my computer for the last 2 days.
I have started working out a bit more often, in an attempt to lose some of the pudge that I've developed during these months. I am also eating normal amounts, rather than overstuffing myself to be polite. My host parents say that I eat very little, because their young sons (10 and 8 years old) eat as much as or more than I do. They also say that if I lose weight while living in their house, it will look bad. Apparently, it would mean that they didn't feed me enough, which is the ultimate indication of whether they were good hosts. Thus, they keep trying to get me to eat more than I want, and I have to turn down quite a lot of food.
Wish me luck!

This Past Month

Blog Entry: March Begins

Wow… a month since I last blogged?! Holy moley, the time flies!!

During February I returned to school and focused on my Taiwanese schoolwork. I’m doing the homework and most tests for English and Math, which are the only two subjects I can actually understand (although some of the math is more advanced than I have seen, which makes it more difficult). I bought the textbooks and received the workbooks for each (free thanks to my homeroom teacher’s negotiation skills), and have been doing everything I can understand. Other classes are far more difficult, in part due to my limited vocabulary and in part to the teachers’ styles. My conversational vocabulary is decent (I’ve been told on multiple occasions that I speak better than some English teachers whom have been living here for 3 years), but more advanced terminology such as Chemistry, Biology, Physics, or Geography terminology escapes me. Then there is the issue of how the teachers teach. This, as one might expect, varies widely. On one hand we have the Geography teacher, who often seems almost as if she is auditioning to be an auctioneer because she speaks so fast; this makes it quite difficult for me to keep up, since I can’t process what she says (when I understand the words) until several seconds after she has said it, by which time she has already moved on. On the other we have the Chemistry teacher, whose voice has a somniferous effect on me.

Since March began, I’ve been pretty darn busy. I went to Taipei on the 3^rd and 4^th for district activities. Saturday the 3^rd was having studio portraits taken, which was very fun for me. For the first/standard set, I wore black dress pants with my red chipao, and one of the ladies who worked there did my hair and makeup for me. My hair was up, with a hairpin/chopstick through it. The second set, aka personal pictures, was even more fun. I wore my blue summery dress with my black high heels and my hair down. I got to do a couple of group pictures during this set, which was also quite fun.

The following weekend was equally eventful. On Saturday the 10^th, I began Aboriginal Dance class with the other exchange students in Hualien and Yuli. I was enrolled in this class during regular school during the fall semester, so I was the only one with some prior experience in this activity. I tried to be helpful, but may have been a little obnoxious about it. I will aim to be a bit more constructive tomorrow.

The 11^th was the day of my move to my third family. I did some last-minute packing, marveled at how many things I have now, then packed them up into my first family’s car. My first host parents drove me to my new house, and helped me take everything inside. I got to know my family a little better. My host father’s Rotary name is Sand (I actually have no idea what he does), mother is Apple (she’s from the mainland), elder little brother is Willy (age 10), and youngest brother is Chuen (age 8). Willy attends an English class after his regular classes, so his English is arguably the best. Chuen is a bit overweight but more willing to play active games like tag. I spent some time playing with my brothers, and then some drinking tea with all 4 parents. That evening, my family hosted a Rotary barbecue, so my entire club was in my house. Thus, I got to share my first meal with my new family with many people I already know pretty well. I also got to explore my house a bit, and it’s huge!! We have a huge yard around our spacious house, which has 3 floors. The bottom floor is for us, and the upper two are the beautiful rooms for the B&B my host mother runs here. (There are also little huts outside for those more inclined towards camping.) This house has amazing views, and my family is wonderful. I think I’m gonna like it here. (Yes, that was an Annie reference.)

Today, we had tests in my school. I participated in the English test (which went well) and the Math test (which went horribly because it covered things from last semester, when I was not paying attention). Tomorrow I will have Aboriginal Dance class again and my host father will return from his trip to Japan (he went to play golf). Sunday, we will all go to the hot springs together. 

So Much Stuff

It has been quite a long time since I last updated, and for this I apologize. I've been incredibly busy enjoying my vacation and then getting back into the swing of school. I'll tell you a bit about each.

During my vacation, I traveled once to Luodong. My first night in Taiwan was spent in Luodong, and that was also the first night market I went to, so it holds some special memories for me. I had a lot of fun there with my friend Kathryn. We saw the new Sherlock Holmes at the local cinema (which has only 3 theaters, no restrooms, and [if I remember correctly] no concession stand, and is open in the front) and hung out with other exchange students, many of whom were Brazilian. We also went to a Kung Fu lesson, which was wonderful. I hadn't worked out in so long, and it was a very good work out. I was not very good at the form, but when we did staff I was much more in my element and absolutely adored it. I also spent a lot of time in the night market, which was partially open for business during the day as well.

I also spent more time socializing in Hualien. I finally went shopping downtown a few times. I found, loved, and bought a shirt, but otherwise made no major purchases. As I had expected, my feet were several centimeters larger than the largest ladies' shoes all of the stores had, so I failed in my search for boots. I also considered buying shorts, but when I looked at the selection available in the stores, I quickly gave up on that. Taiwanese girls like to wear very short shorts, with leggings. I have a rather more curvy figure than most of them, and am taller, so it was quite impossible to find anything that would fit on me.

On February 8th, school came back into session. This semester is different from last semester in a few major ways. First, I no longer have a beginning Chinese class with the other exchange students. Second, after much deliberation, I decided to stay with my class for all classes, which means I no longer have Amis Dance or Calligraphy class. Finally, I am actively participating in English class and in Math class, which means I bought the textbooks and workbooks and am doing the homework and tests. As one might expect, I'm doing quite well in English. Math is an interesting subject. One might think math is a universal language, but that isn't entirely true. The problems are solved the same, yes, but one must be able to determine what the problem is before one can solve it. This is where my trouble lies: I don't know enough Chinese characters to determine what many of the questions are asking for. When I understand what it wants, I have no problem. Word problems are completely hopeless, though.

Finally, a little about the future. In April my entire grade will be going on a graduation trip for 4 days, April 10-13. I was placed in this year specifically so I could attend this trip. However, unfortunately for all 4 of the exchange students in my school, Rotary has chosen to reschedule our trip to Ponghu (a small island nearby) from April 22-25 to April 9-11. This means that I will get to go to the Rotary trip, which will be fun, but not to the class trip, which I was very much looking forward to. It's rather frustrating, but I suppose I must look on the bright side.

This post might be rather odd, but I just typed whatever came to mind. So there it is. Thanks for putting up with my rambling and nonsense!

P.S. My father's birthday was yesterday. Happy birthday Daddy! I love you! <3