Four Months 在台灣 .

The past month has been positively lovely. I’ve adapted to living in this new country, and I’ve come to be very comfortable here. Sometimes I barely even notice that I’m a foreigner. I can do simple tasks like going to the market to buy fruit and ordering tea at Starbucks. I study Chinese regularly and I’m slowly learning more useful conversational tools. I can understand most of what people say to me…if they speak slowly haha.

The sky has been filled with sun for a good chunk of winter in Taipei. Christmas is 4 days away, and for the first time in my short life I’ll be having a rather green Christmas. Since my host family doesn’t celebrate the holidays, my Christmas plans are as follows:

-Sleep in; take a shower.
-Go out for morning coffee with a friend.
-Check out ice sculpture exhibition with some classmates.
-Skype with parents for Christmas morning their time.
-Perhaps watch Phantom of the Opera if parents’ package arrives before Christmas.
-Sleep surrounded by Hello Kitty merchandise.

I’ve been told that I will switch host families right after Christmas to a place closer to my school. I’ll be living there for roughly a month and then I’ll be moving back with my current host family. This arrangement works fine for me because I quite enjoy my first host family and I don’t mind living with them for the majority of the year.

In December, I went to see many new places. I went to a coffee shop on the countryside, located on a mountain with a great view of the Ocean. I took a bus out of the city to go to hot springs. I explored more around where I live, and found many gorgeous parks and a great place to eat. I ate delicious Thai food with my host family. Rotary brought all of the exchange students to a puppet museum followed by a science museum. They also held a talent show and Christmas gathering for us.

I’d like to wish everyone back home a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. To my mom and dad: I hope you enjoy the one Christmas you’ll ever have without me there to bother you. I hope Toey feels welcome in our home for the holidays. To all of my friends: don’t get too crazy haha. I’ll be seeing you all in roughly 6 months!

Best wishes for 2011!

Three Months.

This whole typing paragraphs in English thing is becoming more difficult by the day.

I've been in Taipei for 3 months now and I'm really enjoying myself. I find that my Chinese is improving at a rapid pace that I'm quite content with. November was a rather slow month that provided me with an excess of time to collect my thoughts and set new goals for myself.

This past month, I've done a little bit of exploring around Taipei. I went to a night market with some new classmates and chowed down on stinky tofu while enjoying a gorgeous view of a river. I went with some exchange students to a place called Tianmu in the northern part of Taipei. Tianmu is filled with cute little shops and many foreigners because of the two foreign schools in the area. I was brought to a small grocery store, just packed full of food I haven't seen in quite some time. Honey Nut Cheerios, Cookies and Cream Hersheys, Ritz Crackers, Lions and tigers and bears oh my. Then I take a look at my dinner table and see miniature squids. This month, I've also gone to a museum and learned a little bit of Chinese calligraphy. I spent a day explaining my home country to potential outbound exchange students as well.

Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to a good friend on my seventeenth birthday (which by the way, I'm 17 now!!) but I've also made many new friends. I meet more of my schoolmates each week and they're all very friendly. So friendly, in fact, that I recieved a marriage proposal from one a few weeks ago, to which I replied, "Perhaps, what's your name?" I'll send out the invitations soon.

I have plenty to look forward in the next couple of months. Christmas is fast approaching, as well as the new year. Also, the lovely, month-long winter break off high school in mid-January. I'll probably be switching host families during that time. My next host family lives on the very outskirts of the city, so I'll let you know how that is when I get there.

To my Canadian family and friends, I miss you all very much. To my friends in Taiwan, I'm really enjoying your company. And to Mr. Sammy Daylor, I miss you my darling; I hope you're doing fantastically. Until next month, adieu.

Two Months.

It’s time to try to organise my thoughts long enough to update those of you who are still on the English speaking side of the planet.

So, I’m still in a foreign land. Actually, it’s not really a foreign land I suppose; it’s just me that’s foreign. But let’s not worry about that. I’ll start with: I’m very content here.



Lately I’ve been taking time to appreciate all of the little things around me. I’ve been spending a lot of time on my well-being and self-awareness. It’s really a spectacular thing to do; you should try it sometime. Take time out of your routine to enjoy something. Really enjoy something. Anything. I spend so much time trying to change my life sometimes that I forget to live it. Now I indulge in every moment, and I don’t hold back.



School here is ridiculous. Never again will I complain about the school days in Canada. I honestly will consider it a pleasure to go to school there next year. It’ll be a pleasure to understand what my teacher is saying. I’m confident that I will be extremely attentive, just out of appreciation for my knowledge of the language.



I’m wearing a sweater right now. It’s not really cold enough to wear a sweater, but the people here do it. 28 degrees Celsius is hardly the proper temperature for fall fashions. It turns out that it rains a lot here in the “winter”. But strangely, I don’t find that it’s a gloomy sort of rain. It’s more peaceful than anything. Who knows though; perhaps after a few more months of rain I won’t be as fond of it.



My thoughts often wander to possible universities I want to attend. A friend recently shared a bit of advice. “Any school will be what you make of it.” He suggested that I make my choice, instead, based on the city the university is located in. I realised that I really haven’t been in many cities in Canada. I’ve never been to the west or the east. The only ‘university city’ I’ve really explored is Ottawa. Perhaps I’ll make it a goal to get to know my home country better once I return there.



To all of you at home, I love and miss you. I’ll be seeing you soon enough.

One Month.

It's hard to believe that it's already been a month since I've left home. The time is going by much faster than I'd expected, and I've already experienced so much. So much in fact, that it would be difficult to even come close to sharing all of it with you. My thoughts are extremely scattered, but in the best way possible. I will attempt to share with you what comes to mind at the moment.


At the moment, there is a typhoon raging outside my window, which is definitely a new experience. The fact that everyone here is so calm about it is comforting though, as it aids me in being calm as well. The weather here is much warmer here than in Sudbury, and also unbelievably humid. It is not uncommon to perspire here. It is beginning to cool down though, which makes me ridiculously happy. I’ll be absolutely ecstatic when the temperature reaches 15 degrees Celsius.


I have met many new friends here. Most of the exchange students have very strong, distinct, and very easily likable personalities. I believe I have already found a few friends for life. The relationships I have made with some of the locals have become very strong as well. It is fun to learn Chinese from them, and they seem to enjoy learning English from me. My host parents are very nice to me, and give me a considerable amount of freedom to explore. They always ask if I need anything and how I’m feeling, which is really very lovely. My host sister has been a great help in terms of communication and making me feel at home. The apartment I’m living in is absolutely gorgeous by Canadian and Taiwanese standards. I am very comfortable here.


At first I had trouble adjusting to the food, but now I enjoy almost all of it; rice, stinky tofu, bubble tea, fish, and the best fruit I’ve ever tasted. Mooncake has also become a recent favourite, as the moon festival is getting nearer.


School here is longer than school in Sudbury, and much more structured. It definitely makes me miss and appreciate the easy-going nature of Canadian high school. The innocence and maturity level of my classmates surprised me at first. I would say they act as well behaved, intelligent 8th graders, though they are in fact in the 11th grade. It’s very refreshing, but sometimes I feel slightly out of place…the language barrier does not help with that. Slowly I am breaking the language barrier though, and I’m also becoming closer with my classmates (I do have 10 hours a day to do so haha).


Scattered thoughts: I’m seriously addicted to bubble tea, just as one could be addicted to coffee or cigarettes. Asian school children are obsessed with English swears and see no problem with calling each other names that make me blush. Television here is so stereotypically Asian, it makes me tear up with laughter sometimes. The garbage trucks here make music just like the ice cream trucks in Canada…so whenever I hear the music I’m up and ready to run for ice cream, only to find smelly trash. It is common to drink warm or hot water here. In Taiwanese soap operas, there is a badly produced fight scene in each episode. Some things are impossible to eat gracefully with chopsticks.


I am enjoying myself more here than I ever thought possible. Though it is very hard to be away from my family and friends for so long, I am sure that this year will greatly benefit me. To those it may apply to: I love and miss you. I hope all is well with everyone.


For more photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=504281&id=604135633&l=86547b76b7

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=485835&id=604135633&l=d49725376a

Settling In

So I'm finally beginning to get used to Taiwan! The temperature and food and very different, but I'm enjoying them both now. I have met all of the exchange students in my district, and they're all wonderful! I've also started school, which is a crazy experience. Every Tuesday and Friday my class takes a bus to a mountain to learn on a farm. I'm getting along with my host family and new classmates. I miss everyone at home terribly though!

Arrival

I am now in Taipei! My flight was very long, but all went well. I have made many friends in the past few days. It is very hot and humid here, and very busy all of the time. In the photo, my new friends Remi from Belgium and Jenny, from Taiwan going to France soon, and I are standing infront of a silly theme restaurant: Modern Toilet. My camera was stolen in the airport, so I have not been able to take any pictures until today, because I bought a new one. There are a lot of things to take pictures of here, because everything is so beautiful and interesting. I will post more soon!

Departure

I am leaving Sudbury in two days! I finally have everything together: I have my VISA, my health insurance is all set up, and I`m all packed. My extraordinary new year is about to begin.