So.
I'm going back to Taiwan on Sunday.
Oh my god.... I am leaving in less than 48 hours. I still have to pack.
I am going to be seeing my host family again... within the next few days!
I'm just too lucky. Really. Because I think to myself... maybe I really don't deserve this.
I'm getting a second chance to live in Taiwan. I got a second chance to see and to know all of the people who I left. The people who all meant very much to me.
I just hope, this time around, will be just as rewarding as the first.
Shit. Why am I so nervous?? >_<
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
So, Here I am
Hello!
Sending out a hug to all of you for taking the time to come on this website....and also a big hug for all the e-mails you have sent me. Reading your e-mails, hearing about your days at home, how things are going in real "life", always add much to my day.
I know this entry is quite overdue....and I have certainly neglected some promises and statements I made while I was back in the states. So, therefore I want to make a more formal apology. And I also want to apologize because I am extremely tired right now, as I am every day of the week, and therefore writing extreme crap.
Tomorrow marks the one month anniversary of living in Taiwan. To celebrate, I've made my own "new year's" resolutions. And it will start with the upkeep of this website. As well as the upkeep of my Chinese and Japanese diary I have been telling myself to start. Oh, and the upkeep of my room here in Taiwan; it is a mess.
Oh yea, and my hair. Especially since the heavy air here has been drawing the beast more and more out of its cage...
So, one month has gone by.
4 weeks?
I still have to repeat to myself over and over that I've been here only one month because, in all honesty, it feels like I have lived here forever.
Forever. I still don't know how to feel about it.
So, what to say about Taiwan. I could go on, romanticizing about old temples, side shopping streets, sweet bubble tea, tall green foggy mountains, the huge skyscraper known as Taipei 101... but to be honest, all of that a person could read in a tourist book.
What I'm doing here in Taiwan is actually far less.....invigorating. But I am not the least bit disappointed. The purpose of this exchange isn't to be filled with that kind of excitement.
To be honest, day to day life here is pretty un-eventful. Everyday I get up; eat the same breakfast everyday (rice porridge with the odd fruit or vegetable of the day), go to school at 7:30, basically fall asleep through ½ of the classes, while the other half I drill Chinese characters over and over. 5:00 rolls around, time to head to Sophie's work. 6:30ish we leave her work and perhaps grab a bite to eat at the corner restaurant or just head straight home for dinner.
So, to give you a brief picture of Taiwan: it is very small. Most buildings, including stores and restaurants (even in Taipei, the largest city) are very very small. I am living in the "country" right now; but we are living on a small street with neighbors five feet away. We would call it more of a condominium. Our house has two floors, but I would guess their floor space is no bigger than the size of my living room and kitchen combined.
Every place is filled with motorcycles and scooters. On every street there are herds of humming motorcyclists. I think there must be more electric scooters here than there are cars. At the same time, these motorcyclists definitely got some attitude. Or maybe they just have a hell of a lot of guts that I don't...
An equation for you. What do you get when you have 23 million people, crammed on impeccably small roads, herds of motorcyclists, and drivers with a speeding problem?
You guessed it. The traffic situation is horrendous here. And what's worse; people will absolutely not stop for pedestrians. Also, dogs. Every day I see groups of 3-5 homeless dogs wandering the streets. Not only in the country side, but in the big cities. Just wandering the roads. Sometimes I wonder how long it will take before even I stop noticing that poor homeless dog on the side of the road lying next to the gutter...
One thing that is great here; there is a Seven Eleven on every block. I have heard that Taiwan has the largest amount of Seven Elevens per capita in the world. So, at all hours of the night, you can fill your craving for that tomato-honey juice, or sweet avocado and melon smoothie. Mmm, tasty....
Also Bubble milk tea, that is; tea with milk and added tapioca pearls. I have a confession to make; I am a Bubble milk tea ADDICT. I can't get enough of these damn drinks. All of the other exchange students pretty much agree.
Speaking of my fellow exchangers, my neighbor, the French exchange student, can't speak Chinese at all. Actually, none of the other exchange students even bothered to study Chinese at all over the summer. So, most of them now are not having such a breezy time here in good ol' lacking of English Taiwan-land. I'm somehow, surprisingly, blazing my own way through. To where this will lead me, I don't know.
Today at school, I witnessed a startling event. I was having lessons in the teacher's office, all the teachers at their desks quietly resting or writing, when all of a sudden I heard a splitting scream and loud crash. A teacher had stood up from her desk, throwing her books against the window, screaming at the top of her lungs. A few more notebooks and pencils thrown and then a screech before two other teachers went to restrain her. I wonder what made that teacher snap so suddenly...so violently?
It reminds me of the fact that Taiwanese in general are by far more open with their emotions than I had expected. I have seen Taiwanese people angry, upset, happy, excited, solemn. Sometimes I am surprised at how blunt some of their comments have been towards me.
I am glad. In a way, I feel their expressions between each other and me are more genuine than they are false. Far more genuine than what I perceived of day to day life in Japan. In general, I get the feeling Taiwanese have a more "what you see is what you get" approach. That sort of deal.
Perhaps their struggle to prove their own identity as a people, independent of others, seeps in to their daily life. Who knows?
So...now that I have written a novel about a snippet of life on this tiny island, I believe it's time to wrap up for now. For the future, I will limit my posts to shorter, but hopefully more frequent entries about trips that I am taking.
This Friday, we have a Rotary barbeque. And then my family and I will head out to see their family in the southern city of Kaoshiung for two days. Should be very interesting to watch old time Taiwanese culture in action!
Sending out a hug to all of you for taking the time to come on this website....and also a big hug for all the e-mails you have sent me. Reading your e-mails, hearing about your days at home, how things are going in real "life", always add much to my day.
I know this entry is quite overdue....and I have certainly neglected some promises and statements I made while I was back in the states. So, therefore I want to make a more formal apology. And I also want to apologize because I am extremely tired right now, as I am every day of the week, and therefore writing extreme crap.
Tomorrow marks the one month anniversary of living in Taiwan. To celebrate, I've made my own "new year's" resolutions. And it will start with the upkeep of this website. As well as the upkeep of my Chinese and Japanese diary I have been telling myself to start. Oh, and the upkeep of my room here in Taiwan; it is a mess.
Oh yea, and my hair. Especially since the heavy air here has been drawing the beast more and more out of its cage...
So, one month has gone by.
4 weeks?
I still have to repeat to myself over and over that I've been here only one month because, in all honesty, it feels like I have lived here forever.
Forever. I still don't know how to feel about it.
So, what to say about Taiwan. I could go on, romanticizing about old temples, side shopping streets, sweet bubble tea, tall green foggy mountains, the huge skyscraper known as Taipei 101... but to be honest, all of that a person could read in a tourist book.
What I'm doing here in Taiwan is actually far less.....invigorating. But I am not the least bit disappointed. The purpose of this exchange isn't to be filled with that kind of excitement.
To be honest, day to day life here is pretty un-eventful. Everyday I get up; eat the same breakfast everyday (rice porridge with the odd fruit or vegetable of the day), go to school at 7:30, basically fall asleep through ½ of the classes, while the other half I drill Chinese characters over and over. 5:00 rolls around, time to head to Sophie's work. 6:30ish we leave her work and perhaps grab a bite to eat at the corner restaurant or just head straight home for dinner.
So, to give you a brief picture of Taiwan: it is very small. Most buildings, including stores and restaurants (even in Taipei, the largest city) are very very small. I am living in the "country" right now; but we are living on a small street with neighbors five feet away. We would call it more of a condominium. Our house has two floors, but I would guess their floor space is no bigger than the size of my living room and kitchen combined.
Every place is filled with motorcycles and scooters. On every street there are herds of humming motorcyclists. I think there must be more electric scooters here than there are cars. At the same time, these motorcyclists definitely got some attitude. Or maybe they just have a hell of a lot of guts that I don't...
An equation for you. What do you get when you have 23 million people, crammed on impeccably small roads, herds of motorcyclists, and drivers with a speeding problem?
You guessed it. The traffic situation is horrendous here. And what's worse; people will absolutely not stop for pedestrians. Also, dogs. Every day I see groups of 3-5 homeless dogs wandering the streets. Not only in the country side, but in the big cities. Just wandering the roads. Sometimes I wonder how long it will take before even I stop noticing that poor homeless dog on the side of the road lying next to the gutter...
One thing that is great here; there is a Seven Eleven on every block. I have heard that Taiwan has the largest amount of Seven Elevens per capita in the world. So, at all hours of the night, you can fill your craving for that tomato-honey juice, or sweet avocado and melon smoothie. Mmm, tasty....
Also Bubble milk tea, that is; tea with milk and added tapioca pearls. I have a confession to make; I am a Bubble milk tea ADDICT. I can't get enough of these damn drinks. All of the other exchange students pretty much agree.
Speaking of my fellow exchangers, my neighbor, the French exchange student, can't speak Chinese at all. Actually, none of the other exchange students even bothered to study Chinese at all over the summer. So, most of them now are not having such a breezy time here in good ol' lacking of English Taiwan-land. I'm somehow, surprisingly, blazing my own way through. To where this will lead me, I don't know.
Today at school, I witnessed a startling event. I was having lessons in the teacher's office, all the teachers at their desks quietly resting or writing, when all of a sudden I heard a splitting scream and loud crash. A teacher had stood up from her desk, throwing her books against the window, screaming at the top of her lungs. A few more notebooks and pencils thrown and then a screech before two other teachers went to restrain her. I wonder what made that teacher snap so suddenly...so violently?
It reminds me of the fact that Taiwanese in general are by far more open with their emotions than I had expected. I have seen Taiwanese people angry, upset, happy, excited, solemn. Sometimes I am surprised at how blunt some of their comments have been towards me.
I am glad. In a way, I feel their expressions between each other and me are more genuine than they are false. Far more genuine than what I perceived of day to day life in Japan. In general, I get the feeling Taiwanese have a more "what you see is what you get" approach. That sort of deal.
Perhaps their struggle to prove their own identity as a people, independent of others, seeps in to their daily life. Who knows?
So...now that I have written a novel about a snippet of life on this tiny island, I believe it's time to wrap up for now. For the future, I will limit my posts to shorter, but hopefully more frequent entries about trips that I am taking.
This Friday, we have a Rotary barbeque. And then my family and I will head out to see their family in the southern city of Kaoshiung for two days. Should be very interesting to watch old time Taiwanese culture in action!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
So....Time to Fly
This time tomorrow, I'll be on the flight to Narita Airport (about an hour from Tokyo, Japan).
Woooo! Time for another 14 hour flight. Maybe another Singaporean cutie will sit next to me ;) (wink wink wink)
So, for the next 10 months (more or less) I will be living in Hsinchu county/city, Taiwan. I guess the Taiwanese have a hard time spelling in pinyin (part of their own language)....because in reality it spelled and pronounced "Xīnzhú Shì". It is a city in Northern Taiwan (about an hour away from Taipei). It is also the oldest city in Taiwan and is particularly famous for it's rice noodles (yummeh) and "high tech science park". Actually, I've heard Hsinchu really is not that interesting at all; but, at least it's close to the coast (trying to be optimistic here)
My first family's name is Kuo. My host father, aptly named "Tiger", works for a solar battery company, his wife- "Sophie"- is an interior designer who owns a studio in the city. They have three kids; A daughter, "Jo", who will be in Austria for the year, Taylor, who is 19 years old and going to college, and a son named Peter who.....likes to perform magic tricks >>?..?
There is going to be a Japanese exchange student named "Mika" who will be living with my second (and friends of my first) host family. (Seriously, no exchange experience of mine would ever be complete without some Japanese love hehe. ;D Lucky me!) We will both be going to "Hsin Chu Municiple Cheng Te High School" together.
Check it out (if you're curious they've got a nifty pic slideshow!): http://www.cdjh.hc.edu.tw/2003en/index.htm
So, I guess I shall go back to my daunting task of packing a years worth of stuff in to two suitcases (no more than 50 pounds). phew.
This is the [yet to be named] exchangee signin' out! Goodbye Pittsburgh....
Woooo! Time for another 14 hour flight. Maybe another Singaporean cutie will sit next to me ;) (wink wink wink)
So, for the next 10 months (more or less) I will be living in Hsinchu county/city, Taiwan. I guess the Taiwanese have a hard time spelling in pinyin (part of their own language)....because in reality it spelled and pronounced "Xīnzhú Shì". It is a city in Northern Taiwan (about an hour away from Taipei). It is also the oldest city in Taiwan and is particularly famous for it's rice noodles (yummeh) and "high tech science park". Actually, I've heard Hsinchu really is not that interesting at all; but, at least it's close to the coast (trying to be optimistic here)
My first family's name is Kuo. My host father, aptly named "Tiger", works for a solar battery company, his wife- "Sophie"- is an interior designer who owns a studio in the city. They have three kids; A daughter, "Jo", who will be in Austria for the year, Taylor, who is 19 years old and going to college, and a son named Peter who.....likes to perform magic tricks >>?..?
There is going to be a Japanese exchange student named "Mika" who will be living with my second (and friends of my first) host family. (Seriously, no exchange experience of mine would ever be complete without some Japanese love hehe. ;D Lucky me!) We will both be going to "Hsin Chu Municiple Cheng Te High School" together.
Check it out (if you're curious they've got a nifty pic slideshow!): http://www.cdjh.hc.edu.tw/2003en/index.htm
So, I guess I shall go back to my daunting task of packing a years worth of stuff in to two suitcases (no more than 50 pounds). phew.
This is the [yet to be named] exchangee signin' out! Goodbye Pittsburgh....
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Words of advice from a veteran:
"You know you're a YEP (youth exchange student) in Taiwan when...
You subconsciously hum "the garbage truck song".
When you stick toilet paper in your pockets before you go out -
just in case.
When you're not afraid of regular cockroaches,
only the ones that fly
When your idea of a great night out is going to KTV. ...
When you find can only speak slowly using simple words.
When you have a large collection of Hello Kitty and Snoopy toys (and you think they're cute).
When you start thinking McDonalds is a perfectly acceptable place to meet up
When you get scared about SARS...
When you dont notice how appaling the traffic situation is anymore
When you realise those girls are not saying good morning but saying Welcome in Mandarin.
When everytime you say the number six, your thumb and pinky finger pop up on reflex to clarify.
When tea takes over coffee.
You know every stop on the mrt
When you get stared at everywhere you go...
You immediately make the peace sign whenever someone takes out a camera
When you understand people's chinese better than their english
When you start getting mosquito bites on your knuckles,
When you start thinking a mat is a perfectly normal place to sleep,
When you start answering by "wei gou ren"
When you kill ants for fun,
When rock paper scissors becomes used in any situation
Clothes are cheaper than a meal at mcdonalds.
Girls have more hair on their legs then guys. (:O)
When mullets take over.
When you start drawing characters in the air to explain your meaning better.
When you can recite all the mrt stations in mandarin, taiwanese, hakka, and english
When breakfast sandwiches become your life."
Haha, cockroaches?? mullets?? Hairy women (D:) Awesome....
I'll be trying my best to add on new ones as they come! :D
You subconsciously hum "the garbage truck song".
When you stick toilet paper in your pockets before you go out -
just in case.
When you're not afraid of regular cockroaches,
only the ones that fly
When your idea of a great night out is going to KTV. ...
When you find can only speak slowly using simple words.
When you have a large collection of Hello Kitty and Snoopy toys (and you think they're cute).
When you start thinking McDonalds is a perfectly acceptable place to meet up
When you get scared about SARS...
When you dont notice how appaling the traffic situation is anymore
When you realise those girls are not saying good morning but saying Welcome in Mandarin.
When everytime you say the number six, your thumb and pinky finger pop up on reflex to clarify.
When tea takes over coffee.
You know every stop on the mrt
When you get stared at everywhere you go...
You immediately make the peace sign whenever someone takes out a camera
When you understand people's chinese better than their english
When you start getting mosquito bites on your knuckles,
When you start thinking a mat is a perfectly normal place to sleep,
When you start answering by "wei gou ren"
When you kill ants for fun,
When rock paper scissors becomes used in any situation
Clothes are cheaper than a meal at mcdonalds.
Girls have more hair on their legs then guys. (:O)
When mullets take over.
When you start drawing characters in the air to explain your meaning better.
When you can recite all the mrt stations in mandarin, taiwanese, hakka, and english
When breakfast sandwiches become your life."
Haha, cockroaches?? mullets?? Hairy women (D:) Awesome....
I'll be trying my best to add on new ones as they come! :D
Saturday, August 11, 2007
You know what? I realized something tonight.
Zhongwen isn't that scary.
Fo real.
.....it isn't that bad.
Why do I work myself up about it soooo? Why is Zhongwen such a recurrent nightmare?
So what if I can't express myself fully at the beginning? Isn't learning a language you don't know part of the exchange experience? :)
Tonight I went to say "goodbye" at Lay's dinner she prepared for her French student and I. We ate a delicious hot pot of vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, and spices....some quite spicy and delicious. She was right; I did break a sweat. And that just made the experience all the more worthwhile.
We talked about everything; from Buddhism and the Dalai Lama, to the new Hong Kong cinema which, in her opinion, is utter crap. Haha, I think I am truly going to miss her...but I can't wait to talk to her again once I get back from Taiwan.
I can't wait until I finally uncover my Chinese personality :)
Zhongwen isn't that scary.
Fo real.
.....it isn't that bad.
Why do I work myself up about it soooo? Why is Zhongwen such a recurrent nightmare?
So what if I can't express myself fully at the beginning? Isn't learning a language you don't know part of the exchange experience? :)
Tonight I went to say "goodbye" at Lay's dinner she prepared for her French student and I. We ate a delicious hot pot of vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, and spices....some quite spicy and delicious. She was right; I did break a sweat. And that just made the experience all the more worthwhile.
We talked about everything; from Buddhism and the Dalai Lama, to the new Hong Kong cinema which, in her opinion, is utter crap. Haha, I think I am truly going to miss her...but I can't wait to talk to her again once I get back from Taiwan.
I can't wait until I finally uncover my Chinese personality :)
Sunday, August 5, 2007
The clock is ticking...
Could there be only two weeks?
Two weeks left until the take off for that tiny island?
15 more days until I will return to Asia. I'll be landing on its leaf! :)
And yet, for some reason, I am feeling unexplainably calm.
The thought of the opportunity ahead-
despite how cliche, this a chance to restart.
I don't want to restart the past, or the people who mean the most. But I want this to be an opportunity to restart myself.
A chance to really change as a person.
Hopefully, I won't fight the changes when they come.
Asia can do that to you, you know; I have seen it before.
Even for that short time, I could see that Japan had changed me. Somehow...it got to me. In ways maybe I couldn't have figured out yet. But now, I feel little older and a little wiser than I did then. And I want to make the most of the time I've been given.
I've been given a second chance in a whole new ocean.
So, looking towards the shore, calmly...I want to dive... :)
Two weeks left until the take off for that tiny island?
15 more days until I will return to Asia. I'll be landing on its leaf! :)
And yet, for some reason, I am feeling unexplainably calm.
The thought of the opportunity ahead-
despite how cliche, this a chance to restart.
I don't want to restart the past, or the people who mean the most. But I want this to be an opportunity to restart myself.
A chance to really change as a person.
Hopefully, I won't fight the changes when they come.
Asia can do that to you, you know; I have seen it before.
Even for that short time, I could see that Japan had changed me. Somehow...it got to me. In ways maybe I couldn't have figured out yet. But now, I feel little older and a little wiser than I did then. And I want to make the most of the time I've been given.
I've been given a second chance in a whole new ocean.
So, looking towards the shore, calmly...I want to dive... :)
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