Some Little Things You All Might Like to Know

I often don't know what to write about, because things that are different or strange to you have become quite normal to me. However, talking with my family usually helps jog my memory, so here are some of the things I have remembered whilst talking with them.

• Taiwanese people commonly misuse some English words. For example, the word "high" is used to mean "excited," so people often say they are "very high!" Another example is "lady": when I got dressed up for a wedding, my host mother said I looked "very lady", which I interpreted as classy or attractive.
• This brings up the point of weddings. Buddhist weddings are very different from the traditional Christian ceremonies many of us are used to, in that their wedding ceremonies occur at the same time as the reception. Everyone sits at the tables and the food is served throughout the ceremony. After the couple is officially married, they walk around and greet each table of guests. Candy is always available at the tables, and the bride holds a huge basket of candy outside the reception so that when guests leave, they can take pictures of/with her (in one of the various gowns she will have donned over the course of the evening) and take a piece of candy when they leave.
• People dress very conservatively here, especially in my rural city. Girls never wear bikinis to swim, because nobody ever wears clothing that reveals their stomach. A more different, unexpected part of the body that people tend to keep hidden is their forehead; many girls think the forehead is unattractive, so hair styles generally cover it. 
• People rarely get large tattoos, preferring instead to get small, inconspicuous, generally meaningful ones. Body piercings are rare, mainly because the schools do not allow them. Students cannot wear makeup or jewelry of any kind in school.
• Fashion is a very big deal. Many students have their own mirrors, and will use these or other reflective objects (such as classroom windows) to review their appearance throughout the day, and make appropriate changes. Almost every boy has a container of hair gel in his desk, and one boy in my class has a spray can of hair spray that is about two feet tall.
• The only sirens I have heard since arriving here have been for ambulances. The police and fire trucks have flashing lights, but seem to lack sirens. The police use these lights whenever they drive - apparently it is by law. 
• Taiwanese people, girls especially, love to take pictures of themselves. One of the most common poses for these pictures is the peace sign, which they generally put near or on their own faces. 

I'll update again very soon with more tidbits. In the meantime, enjoy!

Update on Life Recently

Hey everybody! Sorry I have been so horribly absent for so long! I can hardly believe a whole month has passed since I last updated! Time passes so quickly for me here.
First off, there was another school-wide competition today. We sang Christmas songs (most were in Chinese, of course, but I did hear "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" a couple of times) and danced; each class did two songs. My class sang and danced very well, and won fourth place in our grade. As soon as the video is posted to YouTube, I will put the link in a comment on this post.
This past week, I went to see the doctor twice because I hurt my leg playing volleyball. There wasn't any one specific incident or accident; it was a buildup of stress. The doctor required three days of rest and that I wear the medicine-coated gauze, as happened when I hurt my ankle. While Chinese medicine is not always pleasant, it is certainly effective.
Another development of recent times (and part of why I have been so busy) is that I switched host families. I moved from the Lee family (who live near my school) to the Wu family (who live downtown). This family consists of the parents, two brothers (the elder is on exchange in Mexico; the younger is 14), and the grandmother. I am now closer to the cinema, bowling alley, a public swimming pool, and hundreds of stores. I went and saw "In Time" with my host parents. (All movies have Mandarin Chinese subtitles here, regardless of what language the characters are speaking in, including Mandarin Chinese.) I have spent a lot of time in my new home, watching Harry Potter 7 (Part 2) on the enormous television, working on school and college applications in my room, and spending time with my host family. My host [paternal] grandmother lives on the floor above me; she owns the company my host parents work for, which provides food to school cafeterias for lunch and dinner. Her eldest daughter, who is a doctor, and her granddaughter, whose English name is Joy, visited this week. (Joy goes to high school in Massachusetts.) I loved spending time with these wonderful, inclusive women, who all were so welcoming.
There's more to come, but I have no time at the moment, so I'll update tomorrow. Again, sorry for the delay!

School Competitions - Part 3

So, here's the final segment of the Competitions post. Enjoy!
Our competition continued on 11/11/11. It was another rainy day, but we did our best not to let it bother us. The day started with live performances by three student-based bands. My classmate, Lin Yiyu, was the bass player in two of these bands. The performances got better as we went. The final band played 2 songs, one in English (Holiday by Green Day) and one in Chinese; both were very well-received.
Next were the class relays. Each class had 20 people on their team, each of whom would run 100 meters and pass the baton to the next person. We were given about 20 minutes to stretch and get organized; my team used this time to play Ninja [if you don't know this game, ask Celia Robinson to explain it to you], chat, stretch, and put on our numbered jerseys (my team got the green ones, which was exciting for me). When we were finally ready and were all in position, our race was postponed for several minutes because of the heavy rain. Students and teachers did their best to push all the water off the track, using various tools, some more effective than others. After about 20 minutes, we all got lined up again, and this time the race went without any unfortunate incidents. My team finished 3rd in the heat and didn't place overall, but I felt we ran quite well.
Following these races, there was one more, slightly more lighthearted competition. In this race, each class had a team of about 20 people, paired according to height, and the object of the game was for each of the pairs to get a large inflated ball (like an exercise ball) across the play area and back to their team without dropping it. This was made tricky by how they had to hold the ball: the partners would stand back to back with their arms linked and hold the ball between their backs. My team did okay in this competition, but other teams were definitely better-prepared.
When I wasn't competing, I was having a good time socializing with my classmates and friends. I lost count of how many pictures I posed for, but my smile was genuine in all of them. I especially enjoyed my time with two very fun, silly girls who go by the names Red and Kiki. They are both very sweet, pretty girls who made me laugh and smile throughout the day.
After the games (lunch happened sometime in here, without a nap this time) came the awards ceremony. The principal gave out the awards for all the competitions. My class got 3 awards. One of these was a 1st place, which was for "Most Creative Entrance." As we did in the cheer leading competition, we received food products as our prize. Various class members also received individual awards for their races.
Thank you all for your patience, and I hoped you enjoyed these stories. Please comment!

School Competitions - Part 2

As promised, here is part 2! However, I have decided to put only the first day of the sports event into this post. Part 3 will cover the second day, and should be published very soon. Enjoy!
This two day event was a very big deal! My class didn't prepare for it for as long as the cheer leading competition, but we did prepare how we would walk in during the opening ceremony. Every class had a sign with the class name, and we were allowed to decorate our signs, dress up, and/or use music for our entrance. My class decorated our sign as a lion and everyone dressed up in the class shirt, along with black headbands with gold tinsel (designed to look like a lion's mane) and strings of tinsel emerging from the seats of our pants (as our tails). We walked in and did our class cheer (the clapping and screaming we started our routine with in the video from Part 1), but instead of jumping at the end, we turned and showed the people on stage our tails. Then we watched the other classes do their entrances. Many classes had short (15- to 30-second) dances. Only a few chose to do nothing special.
After everyone had walked in with their classes, we ate lunch. After lunch, we had about an hour to nap. This naptime was entertaining for me, because I finally got to see my classmates sleeping on the floor (or rather, on cardboard and newspaper) instead of in their chairs (because our chairs were outside). One girl even slept laying across several desks! I found it very entertaining.
After this intermission, the classes returned to their seats (which were covered) and watched several demonstrations. First there was a demonstration by the Aboriginal Dance group, in full costume and utilizing various props (including baskets). Despite the rain, it was a good performance; a few dancers fell, but they got up and carried on. It was very impressive. Afterward, the winners from the cheer leading competition, our sister class, performed their routine for everyone again. It was, as one might expect, a very good routine. Then we had another cheer leading performance, this time from about 20 of our female teachers. They had been practicing for over a month, and were extremely good - synchronized, confident, etc. Following these presentations, the sports teams walked in. The volleyball team (of which I am a member) wore our uniforms (all Mizuno products; I had received mine the previous day) with short blue shorts, sleeveless shirts with our numbers (I'm #10), high black socks with red flames up the sides, and carrying blue-and-yellow volleyballs (with our numbers on them) under our left arms. The track, basketball, and cheer leading teams followed. Then the flags were presented (as ROTC does in NM) by several students while students from each class presented their class signs.
The remainder of that day consisted of a jump-rope competition where each class had a team of approximately 20 people attempting to jump over the rope as many times as possible during the given time. My class didn't do very well, but we weren't horrible.
Please comment!

School Competitions - Part 1

In the last several weeks, Stella Maris has held two school-wide competitions: one for cheer leading, the other for general "sports." I found both to be highly entertaining and interesting. In part 2, I will address the sports event. For now, here's the scoop on the cheer leading!
My class prepared for the cheer leading competition for several weeks. Every class was given the same music (Best D*** Thing by Avril Lavigne) and the students choreographed their own routines and chose outfits. Some classes chose the stereotypical cheer uniforms, sometimes including pom-poms, while others got creative. In my class, most of the girls wore red ribbons in their hair, our class shirt, and short shorts. (I didn't have a ribbon.) The boys wore the class shirt with their blue uniform sweatpants. There was one exception: one boy wore a ribbon in his hair and wore shorts, which weren't as short as the girls' but were made shorter with paperclips along the hem. In essence, he was dressed as one of the girls. This was not uncommon, however. I noticed that almost every class had at least one boy dressed as a girl or vice versa. One class was particularly daring: they had two boys wear fishnet stockings and boxer shorts rather than pants. The routines were as widely varied as the outfits. Some were exactly what you think of when you hear the phrase "cheer leading"; others, like my class's, were more dance-based. The event was led by 2 student Masters of Ceremonies (one female and one male) and featured small, fun contests during breaks, such as a competition of which team's representative could do the most push-ups in the given time period. My class came in 4th place, while our sister class took the title. For those of you who want to see my class dancing [I'm right up in the front for most of it!], here's a link to the YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2v4jV8p2cU. Enjoy!
And I promise you won't have to wait long for Part 2!

Halloween

Since Halloween is the day after tomorrow, this post is about Halloween in Taiwan. Enjoy!
Last night, my mother's office hosted a Halloween party for the city's children. This was outside, with a stage set up in the road. [The area was cordoned off and was off the main road, so traffic was not a huge issue.] People sat on plastic stools, and most of the children wore costumes. The usual were popular: Superman, Spiderman, Batman, vampires, pumpkins, etc. The adults involved also wore costumes. These adults would encourage the children to yell phrases or sentences in English, then in Chinese [for example: "Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!"]. To reward them, the adults then threw candies into the crowd. These candies are generally hard and fruit-flavored; I find the white gourd flavor tasty, but dislike the starfruit. After this, children from an orphanage sang and danced, then all the children did a "costume ball" where they were individually introduced and paraded across the stage to have their costumes admired. Following this, the children were sent into a field where colored foam balls were hidden (like an Easter egg hunt) and the 10 children who found the most were given special prizes.
In conclusion:

• The Taiwanese celebration of Halloween does not involve actual trick-or-treating, but does involve candy.
• Teens and children over the age of 10 don't really participate, except to help out with the set-up.
• Costumes are generally modest.

Comment! Or tell someone else to comment on your behalf! Hahaha :)
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Taiwanese Barbecue!

I have been to several barbecues since I got here, most of which were for the Moon Festival. However, this week I went to another, which was hosted by my school. Now that I've had this small variety introduced into my experience, I've decided to tell you all a bit about how Taiwanese barbecues are different from those back home.
First off, I have yet to see a grill here. A normal barbecue consists of a group of people gathered around a camping grill, which has charcoal inside and a wire grill on top. (The grill may be similar to either thick chicken wire or a cooling rack.) Because it uses charcoal instead of open flames, the food takes a while to cook. While it is doing so, the people generally designate one to three persons as grill-masters (my term, not theirs) to flip all the food periodically, while everyone chats, drinks (soda, tea, and bubbly cider are popular among teens), and/or stares at the food. When the food is done, the grill-masters use their flipping utensil (generally tongs) to put the food into a bowl/plate. This dish is then passed around and people take the food with either chopsticks or small wooden (disposable) skewers.
So now... to discuss the actual food. A bean product, similar to tofu but more firm, is almost always present. Other staples include chicken (varying parts of the bird are often present), fish patties, and pork (especially sweet sausages). [I have also had grilled octopus, which is tasty, if a bit rubbery.] Mushrooms are also common.
If there are any more details you want, PLEASE comment. And of course, please comment if there's you'd like to tell me how you feel about this. I'm really sorry it took me so long to update this. If you want me to update sooner next time, let me know... by commenting! Haha :)
Thanks for reading!

Some Differences

I have been asked to tell everyone about some of the differences between Taiwan and New Mexico. These things seem relatively normal to me now, but were initially rather shocking.

• Driving
• There are about as many motorcycles here as there are cars, and the motorcycles don't always stay on the road. When there is a sidewalk, the motorcyclists often don't hesitate to use it.
• The cars ignore the rules of the road as well. Lines on the road don't mean much. Red lights are routinely run if it is safe to go through. Taiwanese drivers DO NOT like to stop. This includes stopping for pedestrians, so said pedestrians must be very careful when crossing the street, regardless of what the signals say.
• Houses
• Because Taiwan is a small island with a high population, structures are built up instead of out. Almost everyone here has multiple stories to their houses. A good indication of wealth is the presence of a yard, because it's not a necessity.
• Shoes are not worn inside houses.
• Animals
• Pets (the most common pets here are dogs) are not spayed/neutered.
• Dogs lay in the middle of the street in the day, sunbathing, but don't get hit by vehicles.
• Meals (minus the things I said previously)
• People eat more food, more often, and are thinner. I don't understand it. Anyway, they eat the 3 normal meals, plus snacks throughout the day. However, they also eat shortly before bed. This snack generally consists of fruit (at least in my family).
• At regular meals (as in, not fancy ones), drinks (such as black tea, green tea, and milk tea) are drank (drunk?) out of bowls, not cups.

That's all I can think of right now. If I remember something I've forgotten, I'll either edit this post or write it in a comment. If you want to know about something, comment! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside that you care!! Alright, thanks!

The Food!

Hey all! I've decided to dedicate this post to the wacky wonders of Taiwanese meals!
First off, I'll describe the table manners. Each person gets their own bowl of rice, and their chopsticks (generally). Each meal consists of at least 3 dishes, which are put in the middle of the table for everyone. People then use either their own chopsticks or the serving utensils (which are sometimes also chopsticks, and sometimes spoons) to put food into their bowls. It is considered most polite for you to sit up relatively straight and hold your bowl in your left hand, with your thumb on the rim and your fingers on the bottom. Soup is put into the same bowl and you either drink it (which is common and polite) or use a spoon (which is less common but also polite). Burping is permissible, as is chewing with your mouth open; these are not polite, but I have seen them happen relatively often. Talking a lot during the meal is not polite.
Secondly, the food. Tofu and rice are, as you might imagine, staples. Meat is not as emphasized. Vegetables are almost always cooked into a mushy state (which I don't particularly enjoy). I have tried snails (which I found to be rather rubbery), pig stomach, pig kidney, pig blood, chicken butt, chicken heart, chicken feet, fish tail (a German student, Felix, ate the head), octopus, and goat. I enjoyed all of these (although the snails are at the bottom of the list)!
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please let me know! Thanks!

The Moon Festival

For those of you not familiar with the legends regarding the Moon Festival, here is an informative link: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/mooncake/a/moonfestival.htm. I found it very helpful.
So. Tomorrow is the Moon Festival. This means several things.

• There is neither school nor work for many people.
• People should spend time together, especially lovers.
• Everyone (except me) will be enjoying mooncakes. 
• Dogs and small children will be wearing hats made from pomelo peel (the Chinese name sounds like yo-tsi) while everyone (especially me!) will be eating the fruit
• Regarding the eating of this fruit, it is important to note that it is similar in appearance to a large, green navel orange. However, unlike in an orange, the tissue separating the sections of meat is NOT edible.

Sorry, but that's all I have to say at the moment. If there's something you want to hear about, please please please comment! I'll try to write a more informative post next week!

A few differences

I have now started school, and it is very different from school in America, so I figured I'd tell you all about it.
First off there are the uniforms. The exercise uniforms are pink/maroon for girls and blue for boys, and consist of sweatpants and an absorbent shirt (since everyone sweats so much). The non-exercise uniforms for girls are a white collared shirt, blue knee-length skirt, high white socks, and black dress shoes. Boys wear slacks and regular socks with their collared shirts and black shoes. So far we've had 2 uniform inspections... in 4 days!
Secondly, there is the cleaning. Taiwanese students clean their own schools, often multiple times each day. Some classes get twig brooms and sweep the exercise area; others sweep and mop the entrance area or their own classroom. My class cleans our room before lunch.
Another difference is the lunch arrangement. Some students eat in the dormitory cafeteria. Others have to buy their food from the on-campus restaurant (which is similar to the CNM cafeteria). I eat lunch and sometimes dinner in the dorm cafe. Of course, how food is eaten is also different here. Each person gets a bowl and a pair of chopsticks. We generally fill our bowls with rice, then top the rice with other foods from the other communal dishes. I'm getting much better with chopsticks! Another difference - lunch is an hour and fifteen minutes long because everyone naps on their desks after eating. The teachers *encourage* you to sleep in school!
Thanks for reading!

My new home

I've been getting a lot of questions about my new home, so I figured I should devote an entire post to it. Hopefully this will answer all of your questions, and give you some interesting information you may not have thought of.
First off, the first floor (we have two. Almost everyone here does - because the island is so small, people build up instead of out). We do not wear our outdoor shoes into the house. There is a shoe rack outside the front door for regular shoes. Inside, just past the front door, we keep our house shoes (flip flops or similar; mine are green foam sandals). Because these never go outside, they are very clean. The living room has a couch, a love seat, a coffee table, and a TV. We have a desktop computer, some bookcases, and a piano. Then we get into the kitchen. It's a pretty standard kitchen/dining-room combo. We have to wash all dishes right away. Continuing through the kitchen, we come to the laundry room. We wash our clothes every night in the washing machine (everything gets washed together - delicate clothing goes into zippered cloth bags to protect it from stronger materials), then hang them to dry. We have to hang them inside, because they would never get dry in the humid air outside.
Next, there are the bedrooms (all on the second floor). The floor in these rooms is raised a couple of inches from that in the hall, and we leave our house shoes outside the door. (This is true for the bathrooms as well, but there are more shoes inside the bathroom specifically for bathroom use.) The bedrooms are the only rooms with air conditioning; however, to keep costs down, we all sleep in one room (the master bedroom) during the summer. Nicole and I share the bed, while Maggie and Mr. Lee sleep on the floor. However, when I first got here I was sleeping in my own room. My bed (and Nicole's) lacks a mattress. Instead, I have a wooden frame with some thin padding over it (about 1-2 inches thick). It is actually more comfortable than it sounds, but it can be difficult to adjust to.
Finally, the bathrooms (we have one on each floor). Yes, we have a toilet. And a shower. And a sink. And toothbrushes and toothpaste. But there are some differences. Instead of a roll of toilet paper, they use tissues (like thick Kleenex) and throw them in the trash instead of flushing them. The shower doesn't have a door. Basically, there's a shower head in the wall, a drain in the floor, and that's it. Everything gets wet when we shower, and the last person to shower is responsible for cleaning everything up.
That's all I can think of to tell you about right now. I miss you all, and I'll have another post next week :) thanks for reading! And of course, feel free to comment if there's anything you want to know!

I have arrived in Taiwan!

First off, thanks to everyone for the good wishes! ^_^

Second, my apologies. I forgot to bring my camera cords, so my pictures are stuck on my camera -_- and Maggie's camera and computer are not playing nice, so her pictures are also unavailable. I am sorry.

Third, my words. After flying in, I met my host family. Maggie is my host mama, Mr. Lee  (he doesn't have an American name, so this is my attempt to give him one you can understand) is my host papa, and Nicole is my little host sister. We went to the night market last night, and loved it. I tried lots of new foods, and enjoyed them all. Then, this morning, we went to the National Center of Traditional Arts, which was a wonderful place full of, you guessed it, traditional arts. These included glassblowing, wooden-shoe-making, and bamboo crafts. We enjoyed looking at this art while munching on cotton candy and candied fruits (I found out that candied tomato still tastes like tomato when you bite into it...) I got a glitter-painting done on my arm. It is a blue, green, and purple eye design. After the Center, we continued on our way to Hualien City. We stopped at a beach along the way. Instead of sand, it was entirely rock, smooth stones of various sizes, from pebbles to about 3 inches in diameter. It was beautiful, but I had some trouble taking pictures because the humid air kept condensing on my camera lens. Finally, we made it to Hualien. A group of Rotary members greeted me, then we came to the house. I got unpacked, then took a nap. We went out for dinner, since we hadn't had time to go to the market. We went to a Japanese restaurant, and got a table on the 3rd floor. All the buildings here go up instead of out. The mark of a wealthy person here is a wide house, not a tall one.

That should do for today. I'll try to get pictures on here next time!

Getting Ready for Exchange

Welcome to my blog! (My thanks to Connie Blue, for providing me with the title.)
I can hardly believe my exchange begins in 1 week! That's right, just one week! This time next Friday, I will be flying away from everything I know... (cue dramatic music) ... Venturing out into the great unknown...
So, of course, I'm preparing. In case you're wondering, I've compiled a list of what that entails... because I love lists.

• Studying Mandarin
• Making several lists of things I absolutely *must* remember to pack (told you I love 'em)
• Trying to say goodbye to everyone
• Encouraging my friends to get Skype and Facebook accounts so we can stay in contact
• Filling out dozens of forms
• Packing everything in my room into either a suitcase or a box.

Of course, I haven't actually packed ANYTHING yet... But I will soon. Very soon.
I'll keep you updated!