上學。

Today was my first day of school! I got up at six, showered, dawned my gorgeous uniform, and ate breakfast before starting my hour long journey to school. Luckily it wasn't raining this morning (it probably will tomorrow D;) when I walked to the MRT station.

EVERYBODY STARED AT ME. It gets pretty bad in everyday life here, the staring I mean, but today it was intense. Everybody was like O.O, especially when I met up with Kenese (other American exchange student) everybody crowded around us and peered into the classroom to watch us talk. I feel especially bad for Kenese because of his awesome poofy afro hair. Everybody asked to touch it. xD Hopefully the staring and my Mandarin will get better!

The day started with English class. The teacher was from Britain and was very awkward and a not very good teacher. He asked me to say some things for the class and that's about it. Then came math (oh, and you know in Asia you don't go to teachers, teachers come to you ;D). Math was odd. The teacher, who looked about 25, came into the classroom and did a double take when he saw me sitting in the front. Laugher ensued. I guess nobody knew about the exchange students. xD He was very nice, though. During the lesson I could recognize half of it and the other half I was like wtf. I'm sure I would've gotten it better if it was in English. xD After the note-taking he came over and sat next to me and laughed at how I wrote down all the math and numbers but didn't even attempt really at the characters.

After this we had another English class. I got put in the English major class, so they take 15 hours of English a week. I would have been upset except that besides the British guy, hardly any English is spoken in the other English classes. It's just like back home where not much Spanish is spoken in Spanish class. x] Also, it is helpful for my vocab when they go through it because it's English for them and Chinese for me. After this class, we had Business, which I didn't even know until the end of class when I asked somebody. xD This woman spoke so fast and was quite intimidating. >.<>

Tomorrow the Brazilian boy is joining Kenese and I at school! Hopefully the staring won't be so bad for him. I swear, all day it was "Ooh! Your eyes! Your hair! Is it natural? Do you have boyfriend?" Hahah, excited for tomorrow? x]

Oh! Time for my to show off a bit, I got third place in the Mandarin placement test and I'm in the best class! Woot! :D I'm happy that I wasn't just put in a beginner's class and have to learn everything over again.

Okay, sorry, I just have to add this in. 7/11s here are awesome! They're on just about every corner, have atms, a little restaurant/eating area, and the most awesome asian foodies. I'm gonna miss them so much when I come home, that and the bamboo shoot. So nummy.

對呀 對呀 對呀

Just got back from the inbound student orientation!

Holy poo, Taiwan is not the exchange country I was expecting. While the ability to learn the culture and Mandarin still stands true, the rules of my exchange and the exceptions made for exchange students are way different. I thought it would be really strict (maybe that's me stereotyping on Asia, I dunno) and that if you even dared to break the rules a bit you'd be sent home no questions asked. This, along with having to follow school rules exactly, like going to the same classes as any ordinary exchange student and having to take on the same work load. Not even close.

There were rumors since I got here from other exchange students about previous inbounds "misbehaving", and they were pretty much all confirmed at this orientation. Before I get into detail, don't worry about me breaking any of the rules. I don't want to even risk being sent home (this place is awesome) and it's just not worth it. I won't unveil who or what did the confirming of the rumors, I don't want anybody I met being sent home despite their being naughty. I already love them all. xD Well, first off, apparently the only places you get carded at are night clubs. Exchange students have picked up cigarettes and whiskey from the 7/11 and weren't even asked for an ID. Not only this avid drinking, but also doing the nasty quite often and uninhibitedly. Despite all of this, nobody (even the ones that have occasionally been caught) haven't been sent home. I simply wasn't expecting Taiwan to be the go-to-this-country-on-your-exchange-if-you-want-to-party-for-a-year country.

Well, the first night of the orientation we met everybody. You wouldn't believe how weird it is to be hanging out with Taiwanese, French, Germans, and Swiss and be the only one that natively speaks English.. Oh, language barriers are magnificent. It seems like many of the Europeans who came here were looking to learn English and then saw that in Taiwan you can learn both English and Mandarin so they went with that. Hahah, it was a lot of fun, though. Not many people were too awful. x] The majority of the people at the orientation were native Taiwanese and members of Rotary. About a quarter were exchange students.. I was a bit surprised by that. Well, we were all assigned groups mixed with the Taiwanese and students and we had dinner. Now, this is where it gets interesting. xD After dinner we went the the gym of the resort and did some uhh.. team building games? During these we noticed a dj was setting up and music was playing so me and the others in my group thought it would be fun if we were to have a dance party, but we assumed it wasn't so because they don't have dances at schools in Taiwan. However, not late after this the lights dimmed and on came the loud hip hop! All of us Americans wanted to dance to way we do back home (you know xD), but were worried it would offend people. Nobody was doing ANYTHING. Eventually, one thing led to another and most of the exchange students were dancing and the Taiwanese were just standing b

y shyly and curiously. Then.. out came the STRIPPERS. Okay, well, maybe not as far as strippers.. but I mean, look at this..

All of the exchange students were like (:O).. Are you sure this is a Rotary event? It was odd.. But we went with it, eventually half the people were dancing and the rest of the Taiwanese there just sat down in the dark. Lame poos. After this we were all exhausted and sweaty, but it was time to go back to the hotel anyway. xD Such a fun night. I roomed with two girls from the US. One was Mormon, she told me after she pulled out a big fat bible and started writing in her journal. I forgot for a minute and told her I was going to make tea and she immediately said "Mormons don't drink tea." And I thought, oh, yes! I remember! But can you imagine being in an Asian country and not be able to drink any tea? My God, tea and fruit is what is offered to guests here.. She has to refuse it every time it's offered.

The next morning we put on our hideous baby girl t-shirts that were so see-through you could see the color and pattern on our bras. Nothing much exciting happened that day apart from more YEP bonding, awful organization, being lectured and or yelled at in broken English and Mandarin and food. xD This morning started off about the same. I was about ready to die when the last Rotary guy was talking about rules and how to be a competent exchange student. Not only had we heard the same thing BEFORE we left, but also an additional four times during the orientation. Finally! It was over, we had lunch, then each group (there were ten) presented the skit having to do with leadership or communication that we had about an hour the day before to get ready. They were all pretty awful, and some of them the exchange students couldn't understand because it was all Mandarin. One group's skit had the roles of a wife and husband where the husband was lazy and watched tv all the time. The wife asks for his help and the Taiwanese guy playing the father yells (for his role) "I'm watching fucking tv!" he also shouted shit a few times as well. Once again the exchange students were like (:O) and it stills remains unknown as to whether he didn't know they were bad words and just thought they were cool or he did know and said them anyway. It's just odd to hear it from someone up on stage, at a "professional" club meeting, with several Rotarian leaders there... Yeah. o.o

Well, that's over and I'm back home! About to go to sleep because I have a Mandarin placement test in the morning and then off to school to get my uniform and classes! Supah fun! x]

Awh，好可愛。

Heyyylo. I once again waited three days to post a blog, but I don't think this one will be quite as long.. Or maybe it will be. Who knows. o.O

So, where did I leave off? Uhhh.. Oh, yeah! The day before Juliette left. We all got up in the morning and my host mother told me to put on some long pants because we were going to temple up in the mountains and there are lots of mosquitoes there. (that's an understatement) We brought some fruit with us and my host mother added the American tootsie rolls that I brought to the bunch to offer to the Gods. When we arrived they first introduced me to si jie, who can be compared to a priest and or fortune teller. We then took our offerings and placed them on the table before the shrines, then lit some incense before doing a lot of bowing and praying. They didn't make me take part because they thought I might be offended with my family being Catholic and all, but of course I don't mind. After the bowing and the praying we sat down for fruit and tea (this is like half of my diet now x]) with si jie. She spoke no English, but my host sister translated some of what she said for me. She could tell I was well taught (but who can't tell, really?) and she had nothing bad to say about my future so I am pleased with that.

After temple my host parents dropped me and Juliette off at a bookstore in Taipei so we could find a French-Chinese dictionary for Juliette. There I ran into another exchange student (easy to spot because he was the only other white person in the store) and we discussed all of the madness that has occurred these last few days. I looked around at the Chinese learning books because I didn't bring any textbooks with me. I know, once again I'm a genius, but something told me being in Taiwan would be the only textbook I'd need. While this is basically true, a textbook always helps. :'D Juliette didn't think any of them were good enough so I trusted her judgment and didn't get any right then. We returned home and then rested a bit before going out and picking Jessica up at the MRT station before once again returning home. I pulled out my Dirty Chinese book for them to look over and tell me what applied to Taiwan because of it being Mainland China Chinese. They were shocked and amused by the book and were very helpful. xD

Jessica left but returned the following morning (the day Juliette would be leaving) and brought Mos Burger! A fast food chain that I've never seen in the US.. I'm pretty sure it's just Asian. Lemme check.. Yup, just in Asia. Jealous, much? Well, I haven't eaten fast food in like a year, but I had to try the breakfast burger thing she got for me. It had a bun, ham, egg, lettuce, mayo, and peanut butter. Maybe it's just me, but peanut butter is somewhat of an odd choice to add to this combo. It was surprisingly good, though. ^^ Then their friend Ariel arrived and we hung out for a few hours before we visited Juliette's Grandma and brought Juliette to the airport. D; It was sad, she helped me a lot and brought me around Taipei while she was here and I got really worried I'd be lonely without her. While I wish she was still here because she's just awesome, I'm not lonely! So that's good! :D However, when she left I got sad, and it didn't help that wo duzi teng, but we then went over to my third host family's house for a little get together. I met three other exchange students, one from France, one from Belgium and one from Mexico (probably the only Mexican in Taiwan, but yayyy!). We ate food and sang karaoke. x]

Today!! The exchange students I met, as well as my third host sister, some of her friends, and another family went to an amusement park in Taipei county. Yeah, you guessed it, it was kind of a rip off of Disneyland. A lot more roller coasters, though. Going to the park today really cheered me up because it made me feel less alone here. I'm still in the stage where when I zone out and suddenly come too I freak out when I find that I'm not in America. I just sort of miss the normalcy of being in my house and eating cereal and crap. x] While there were many language barriers between the exchange students and the uhhh, what's a good word to call the people from Taiwan? Natives? Citizens? Not foreigners? Ugh, I can't find a word for it right now. My brain is dead. I'm doing this late because I'm going to a three day long inbound orientation tomorrow and I cannot blog! :o Despite the language barriers (the inbounds spoke very good English, though.) it was a lot of fun! Another fun thing, not to sound creepy, but the family we went with had three kids, two girls and a boy. The boy was about 11 and the girls both looked about 14 maybe, but they were all so adorable. o.o One of the girls was dressed like a boy (A LOT of girls do that here in Taiwan.. According to Juliette it's really just to be cool but some of them are lesbians.) but this girl was so adorable. When she smiled her eyes went all ^^ and I was like AWWWH. >D Oh! Oh! When we were in line for a roller coaster I saw a gay couple! At first I just saw two boys that were hugging and hanging all over each other and thought, well, I'm not in America so this may be normal here. I asked my third host sister and she said it wasn't and that they might be gay. Knowing me, I conclude that they are gay. Don't argue me on that. xD

Hm! Well, it's late, and I have to make an all about Isabel poster for the orientation for my orientation tomorrow in the morning so I should probably go to bed. I'm excited to meet the boys I'm going to school with. :D Yayy, more friends. Okies, until next time!

很好吃。

So, today is my third official day here. Late start at blogging, I know. But better late than never, right? I would have photos to go along with this but my brilliant self forgot my camera cord at home! So I either have to buy a new one or have it sent here... D;

Well, the flight was insane. I got to the San Diego airport at about 6:30 in the morning where I checked in and was separated from my sobbing (not really) parents. My flight was delayed for an hour, and in the process I dropped my passport. Can you believe that? How stupid can a person be to drop one of the most important things to have with you when leaving the country? Thankfully, a generous man flying first class picked it up and gave it back to me, silently awarding me 'idiot of the day.' The flight from San Diego to San Francisco went quickly, and in San Francisco I met most of the other American exchange students! So happy I had them for the flight to Japan. Wow, it was long. I sat with another exchange student named Michelle and during the last four hours we sort of went crazy and made goals for the plane to get to while watching the map of its progress. Somehow we felt in control of how fast it got to Narita by doing that. From Japan we boarded the plane to Taipei, where I fell asleep. So tired. Then we were there! Magic! Needless to say I was freaking out. We all got our luggage, then proceeded to the entrance area to meet our host families. I couldn't find mine at first, but when we finally got together I found out that was because they were looking for a girl that was 6'4. Something apparently got mixed up and the information they received about me read that I was an abnormally tall 15 year old. x) I can't imagine their surprise to find I'm more than a foot shorter.

When we got to their apartment I suddenly wasn't tired anymore and I hung around, took a shower, unpacked for a bit and watched tv in Mandarin. Eventually I passed out. x)

The next morning I woke up early and I went with my host mother to the market. So many people stared at me. o.o A bit intimidating. We got grapes and pineapple. :] Later I went with my host parents to a flower shop where I saw two white people! :o We bought flowers and then we drove and dropped them off at the temple. We picked up Juliette (host sister who's ditching me for France in two days. D;) and went to lunch where I had soup dumplings. :D So nummy. Mmm, hen hao chi. After we ate Juliette took me on the MRT and the bus to show me how to get to my school, it's about as long as it took me to get to Guajome so that shouldn't be too rough. Apart from the whole process being located in a foreign country and in a different language.

Ooh! Night market, night market! So much food and and so many shopsss! Stuff is so cheap here. Shirts and other pieces of clothing were going for around 100 NT which is about 3 US dollars. I refuse to shop in the US after seeing how cheap stuff is here.

I already knew that Asians didn't like how their eyes can be small but I didn't quite understand the depth of their dislike for it. I saw a poster of Jay Chou and I pointed him out to Juliette and Jessica, telling them I like his music, and they asked me if I thought he was handsome. I said yes, because, well, he is. They were totally surprised, saying that the Taiwanese don't think so because he has small eyes. Later on the television we watched a talk show where a bunch of Asian girls were told by a surgeon that he could make them more beautiful through eye surgery. The eye surgery initially makes the eyes bigger and less Asian-y. I personally adore the small eyes and how they disappear when people smile. :D Why would people wanna change that? D; They have circle lenses, eye tape, eye glue, fake eye lashes. It's madness. Women also carry around umbrellas so that they don't come in contact with the sun, tans being unattractive. Nor do many of them shave. Cultural beauty differences, is all.

On my second day we drove south to about the center of Taiwan where we went to a hot springs resort. It was very relaxing and I'm glad it wasn't one that smelled like farts or in Mandarin pi. We had dinner, which was an assortment of meat and vegetables, then we went out to the shopping areas. They had me try grilled chicken sausage, green peppers, and these pancakes that were like a mixture of dough and potato. So nummy. When we went back to the hotel I watched some tv with Juliette, including a dubbed over Harry Potter. (Ha li Bo te) xD Interesting, to say the least. Then I died.

When we woke the next morning, or this morning, we had breakfast. Food was awesome, once again. Then we went to Qingjing Longchang, which was a very hilly place with sheep and food. It is so green, you wouldn't believe it. Just wait till I get the pictures on my computer. Then they took me out to lunch at one of their favorite places and we had mushrooms, cabbage, this odd jelly like stuff made from beans and spicy chicken. They got into a extensive conversation with a man who worked there, and they discussed my being an exchange student and I think I said something was delicious when I shouldn't have. Looking like an idiot is just part of being an exchange student I'll have to get used to, though. It's rude not to finish a meal here, so we ate so much and the cuisine is so different I have a really bad stomach ache currently. D; I'm gonna go without nummy dinner tonight because of it, but there's always tomorrow morning's breakfast! Heeh! I wonder what we're gonna do tomorrow... :D

Until next time! Hopefully sooner so the next blog won't be as ridiculously long as this one!