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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]