NSLI-Y Chinese

I am seriously so sorry about the way I generally dropped writing but my life in Taiwan is very busy and easily overwhelming so I ended up prioritizing sleep over writing and I regret it but that’s what it has come to :/ I’ll give a little brief list of the things I’ve been up!

- I went with my host mom and fellow NSLI-Y kids to Kending, a beautiful beach town in Pingdong County, right south of Kaohsiung and the southernmost tip of Taiwan

- The whole iEARN crew was invited to Thanksgiving dinner at the AIT director’s house and it was delicious and actually real Thanksgiving food 

- I attended Kaoshiung pride which was totally awesome to see! Same sex marriage is legal in the US, but it’s not in Taiwan, so it’s so awesome to be able to be here whlie watching all this change and peaceful protest to take place. Taiwan’s government is on its way to being the first Asian country to legalize same sex marriage

- CLC went on break for two weeks so our tutors taught us! It was a very chill and much needed two weeks

- I cut my hair! Why? I’m still not sure but I got bangs and I’m still trying to figure out how to handle them

- The crew went to Meinong (a Hakka village) and had a cool afternoon with an elementary school there. I learned a few words in Hakka, and I seriously appreciate how diverse Taiwan is! Came to learn Chinese, but have actually learned a little bit of three languages!

- My plant class ended :( I had an awesome nine weeks with that class, I am the proud mother of many plants. 

- I had a birthday party! It was a joint party with my host sister, Ziyun, so there were American friends and her Taiwanese friends together and it was fun!

- I had an actual birthday! I turned 19 and I feel like a grandma

- We went to Taipei! For 3 days! I was pretty sick the whole time (I had a nasty side effect to a medicine I was taking that caused me to being extremely dizzy and lightheaded) so it wasn’t as fun as it could have been but I still enjoyed my time! I saw pandas and the National Palace Museum AND managed to give a successful speech in Chinese when I wasn’t sure which way was up so it was good

- I went to Jiayi and Alishan with my host mom! My host uncle lives in Jiayi with his family so I got to meet him, his wife, and his two daughters who are about my sisters’ ages. They were super nice and we had a really nice time! Alishan is also SO BEAUTIFUL I’m super into trees

- We had our program Christmas party!!! It was just such a GOOD night, my family was having fun, my sisters were loving it, my friends were having a good time, just overall Good

- My family went to Taipei together to celebrate the New Year! We did a really fun stuff including watching the fireworks at the Taipei 101 (the Taiwanese equivalent to going to Times Square and watching the ball drop, big deal) and then we went to a volcano!! Also walked around Taiwan University

- My host mom and I went to Hualian! Hualian is known as the most beautiful place in Taiwan and wow it did not disappoint! It’s on the Northeastern coast of the island and is right on the edge of a tectonic plate so the ocean hits right up against gigantic cliffs oh it’s so beautiful! Taroko Gorge! OH MAN

- I got this weekend off so I can finally sleep! I’ve been super busy these last few weeks so it has been so nice to sleep!!!

Hillary Clinton

11/4/16

Oh my gosh it’s been two whole weeks and I feel so behind! Sorry for missing so much :( I’ll do a little recap of my life.

I’m now a plant mother! My host mom and I are attending a plant class and I now have three entire plants that I care for, which are thriving to say the least.

The days were kind of a blur but Thursday night the Applied Chinese department did a play. So Mackenzie, Pablo, Mackenzie’s friend from Guangdong, China, and I went to eat noodles and condoms because we planned to do the condom challenge later that week. That was quiet an interesting experience. Then we went to the play, meeting up with Anthony. The played seemed interesting but it was at a Chinese level way too high so we had no idea what was going on.

On Friday, we went to Taidong! We left class a little bit early and took the slow train. We ate Subway sandwiches and dicked around and tbh what a fun three hours. When we got there, we went to our hotel which our room was BEATIFUL! I loved it. We went to the beach to ride bikes for a bit, took a few beach pics, and then headed to the night market where I ate lots of food and we played a few games. We returned to the hotel where we did the condom challenge (unfortunately could not get it to work) and then did face masks and talked. I’m IN LOVE with my group I couldn’t be happier.

The next morning, we headed to Chishang, a beautiful town on rice paddies with mountains oh it was so beautiful. We rode bikes, ate food, and went to an A Lin concert! A Lin is a very famous Taiwanese singer and we got to see her! How cool! We took the train back and I got home at about 10:30 and went the heck to bed.

On Sunday Xiaoyun, my host dad, and I went to Xiaoyun’s class barbecue. We played paintball which was super fun! I didn’t get hit at all and there was an actual game instead of open fire like my experiences in the US. Xiaoyun kind of ignored me but it was chill lol. Afterwards we met up with my host mom and Ziyun and then the three of us kids went to go see Dr. Strange which was decent.

The rest of the week wasn’t super eventful, just going to class, doing tingxies, and drinking zhenzhu. The usual. However, I do feel like I’m making more Taiwanese friends. I recognize people on campus and I say hi to lots of people as I walk to classes and even though not best friends it’s still nice to finally feel a part of Wenzao.

Today after class we drove to Tainan to visit an iEARN high school and it was so fun! WE made baozi, some that looked like pandas, did some games, and ate lots of food. Overall, it was a super nice time. Then we went to Mackenzie’s house for a bit and then I came home.

And that’s the last two weeks!  

10/21/16

Happy Friday! I can’t believe it’s already end of October? What the heck.

Todays’ class was really chill because it was the day right after the test so very low pressure just moving through the vocab. It was a fun class.

For lunch, Anthony, Mackenzie, and I went to the jiaozi place because it’s chiller on Fridays and ate some bombass jiaozi. For dessert, we got wheel cakes with ice cream inside and those are DELICIOUS and I’ve found a new favorite snack.

We met up with Kripa, Maureen, Heather, and Jenny and headed to a local elementary school! Maureen, Anthony, and I are in one class. First we did a little intro powerpoint about ourselves, then all the students introduced themselves, then we played a game where you had cards with names and you had to find the person whose name it was and swap with them so it was pretty challenging.

We went out to recess for like ten minutes and I was invited to play badminton with a group of super cute girls. So friendly.

After recess the kids had PE so the NSLI-Y students had a little reception with the school’s principal where we drank tea and chatted and it was nice! We went back to the class, which had moved to the music room and we taught them the cupid shuffle. Then we played some music related games! Much fun.

Then we took the bus to Mackenzie’s house where she taught us how to play mahjong which is pretty complicated but I got the hang of it I think. Mackenzie’s mom bought us pizza (how sweet), and then we all headed to KTV near the arena!

KTV was lots of fun! It was Heather, Anthony, Maureen, Pablo, Mackenzie, and I. We were there for like 2.5 hours and the song choice kinda sucked but we had a lot of fun!

When I got home I ate chocolate cake with my host mom, and I guess next week my sisters have a school barbecue that involves paintball? Should be fun!

IT was a really, really nice day.

Today was good! Very active.

Started off with Chinese class where we had da test that went really not bad at all, 95%! I could have done better too, it was a lot of small mistakes. Nevertheless, I’m proud! This class isn’t the hardest thing ever but I’m still doing work so it’s good.

For lunch, Mackenzie, Anthony, Pablo, and I went to the Japanese restaurant where I got curry noodles with chicken which was delicious as always. I wanted to get zhenzhu (again lol) but we just went to dance class quickly.

Dance was fun as always! I’m not good at it and it kind of hurts but overall the class is enjoyable so I don’t mind.

After class, Mackenzie and I met up with Pablo and Anthony again and we played badminton for an hour in the gym. I’m really bad at physical activity but I really appreciate the general Taiwanese attitude towards it—it’s not about doing it well as long as you’re doing it. I’ve been so much more active just because there’s no pressure for me to be any good at what I’m doing. I appreciate it.

At 4, Mackenzie and I had traditional dance club. Thankfully we learned more than last week but this dance is intense and fast and not everyone actually knows what they’re doing so it should be interesting.

We got zhenzhu on our walk to the bus stop and I headed home. After dinner, my mom, Ziyun, and I went to 9x9 (stationary store), the bakery, and then to the store so I could pick up some conditioner. Iit was nice to just walk and talk with them.

Happy birthday to my brother for life Erin Miller! Wish I was in the US to celebrate with you!

Today was fun! In class we went over our workbook because tomorrow is the test and not gonna lie my tones got me sweatin. I feel solid on grammar, but characters could be better. Oh well what can ya do.

For lunch I went with Mackenzie and Anthony to get chaomian which was yummy as always. I was going to get zhenzhu but lunch took longer than expected so we all had to get to tutoring.

Tutoring was decent! They helped me with some grammar and then helped edit my blog (which desperately needed editing tbh). Then for like 40 min watched a video about Taiwanese indigenous people which was chill because I think we were all pretty tired.

After tutoring I met up with Mackenzie and Pablo and we printed my ballot! Pablo and I then filled out our ballots on a picnic bench outside 66 Burger, a restaurant on campus. I then scanned mine, but Pablo had to mail his so after stopping for some much needed zhenzhu, we made our way to the post office. The angel lady at the counter was so patient with our horrible Chinese but it was so nice to not be condescended for once! Thanks post office lady! Pablo was pretty excited about his first vote and took pictures of the whole process. I’m just emailing mine!

I then headed home where I FINALLY caught up on my journal. We had shuijiao for dinner, and I talked to my host mom about a variety of topics including Grey’s Anatomy, China’s SARS outbreak in 02 and 03, college public vs private. I absolutely adore her, there’s always something to talk about and she’s so encouraging and patient.

Back to school!

But first to the doctor because my rash was off the hook. I went with Jenny and Kripa at about 9 am. Basically she just told me it’s an environmental allergy and gave me some pills and cream so hopefully that will help.

I returned to school where we had a tingxie that didn’t go horribly! Mackenzie was super hungry after class so went and got hella food at Sun Breakfast. I got hashbrowns and pasta and literally stuffed myself. So good.

I met up with Joey and we went to class where we watched a movie about Beijing opera. A little girl was going to be killed because she had six fingers so her mom chopped the other one off but she ran away from her mother and was taken in by the opera which at this point only boys could join so she pretended to be a boy and I guess as she grew up got confused on her gender because she was a boy but played girl roles and also the people who owned her company were super abusive and it was trippy movie and there’s still like an hour and a half left.

After school I stopped by McDonald’s to get fries because why not, and then I went home and took an hour nap. When I woke up we had dinner but I was still groggy from my nap so my host mom was all worried that my rash pills were making me groggy. What an angel.

She let me go upstairs early which is good because I had hella homework. I wrote my blog which took way too long, and then I had to finish my Chinese workbook since my test in on Thursday. Qiu laoshi is really getting after my tones which is hard but much needed and I can already hear the difference in my own speaking.