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!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
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:
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
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