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