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!