Second Host Family

Hello, everyone! It has been a nice two months since I have last posted, my apologies. 
In two months I have....


Received third place for a Chinese speaking contest.


Finished first in the 100 meter dash. 


Joined soccer club. (HAHAHAHA)


Learned how to ride my bike to school with no hands.

Moved to a new family.


Cut my hair off. :)

Made many many new friends.


Learned how to take a bus, train, and taxi all by myself.


Learned a lot of Chinese...A lot.


Learned how to make my favorite tea in Taiwan... unfortunately, I will have NONE of the things I need in America :'(


Celebrated Thanksgiving Taiwanese style. Which is no different than eating dinner every other day, so it really wasn't too special. 


Conquered finals and exams...all in Chinese. Okay, so I didn't exactly ace them...but I didn't completely fail, either. :)


Sang Last Kiss by Taylor Swift in front of 1,000+ people. I am pretty sure I can do anything now. That was the most nerve racking thing I have put myself through thus far.


Climbed to the top of the highest point in Taiwan. It was absolutely beautiful.

Painted paper umbrellas. 


Fallen into a routine:
-Wake up everyday at 6:30
-Help my host mom prepare breakfast
-Ride my bike to school
-Have a great day with my friends <3
-Ride home
-Help cook dinner
-Go out with my host parents and talk
-Take a shower
-Sleep
Repeat.


(That may sound very ordinary, but believe me, it's not. Everyday is different, of course. That is just an outline of what occurs. I try to meet as many new people as possible. Like, today, I made a new friend. We hung out all day and played basketball. :) My parents teach me new Chinese words every day and I learn how to make more delicious foods.)


I am loving life. Taiwan is amazing and has taught me many things in four short months. Respect, love, happiness. I think those are three very important things a person needs in life, and I am learning all about them right now. The first time I cried on my youth exchange was when my first host father dropped me off at my second host family's house and said "Take care of my daughter" I was so touched because he didn't say it just to say it, he meant it. That is something that no body can take away from me and that I will always carry in my heart.
I love Taiwan. I miss America. Such a bittersweet ending when I must return. :(

So, my thoughts are racing...

I am an exchange student:

How do you know what a dream is, if you never accomplished one? 

How do you know what an adventure is, if you never took part in one? 

How do you know what anguish is, if you never said goodbye to your family and friends with your eyes full of tears? 

How do you know what being desperate is, if you never arrived in a place alone and could not understand a word of what everyone else was saying? 

How do you know what diversity is, if you never lived with people from all over the world? 

How do you know what tolerance is, if you never had to get used to something no matter how different it was and you didn't like it?

How do you know what autonomy is, if you never had the chance to decide something by yourself? 
How do you know what it means to grow up, if you never stopped being a child to start something new without someone constantly holding your hand? 

How do you know what is to be helpless, if you really wanted to hug someone and had a computer screen to prevent you from doing it? 

How do you know what distance is, if you never, looking at a map, said “I am so far away”? 

How do you know what a language is, if you never had to learn one to make friends? 

How do you know what patriotism is, if you never shouted “I love my country!” while holding the flag in your hands? 

How do you know what true reality is, if you never had the chance to see someone figure theirs out and you begin to make yours. 

How do you know what an opportunity is, if you never caught one? 

How do you know what pride is, if you never experienced it for yourself and realized how much you have accomplished? 

How do you know what it means to seize the day, if you never saw your time running so fast and slipping through your fingers? 

How do you know what a friend is, if circumstances never showed you the true ones?

How do you know what family is, if you never had one that supported you unconditionally when you first met? 

How do you know what borders are, if you never crossed your own to see what there was on the other side? 

How do you know what imagination is, if you never thought about the moment you will go back home? 

How do you experience the world, if you have never been an exchange student?

朋友

Here are some pictures of me and my closest Chinese friends. They are all awesome, funny, loving, and very helpful. It is going to be so hard to leave them; but it just gives me another reason why I have to come back to Taiwan. <3

Bruce.

Sandra. 

Cindy.

I love every one in my class, don't get me wrong, but these are my closest. 

月數二。

I have been in Taiwan for two months. Time is flying. Right now, I am watching Rambo...in Chinese, and drinking Pearl Milk Tea. (Aka. The best drink in the universe.) <3

In two months I have:
Made countless friends; Chinese, American, Mexican, Hungarian, Canadian, Brazilian, more and more.

a better understanding of a different culture and way of life. (I take my shoes off before I enter a room. I think it is bad for your digestion to drink a cold drink during and after you have just eaten. I meditate everyday.)

Built confidence and respect for myself. (I say thank you when some one says I am beautiful. Something that was really hard for me to do when I was in America. I know I am good at things; not in a cocky way.)

Truly realized what respect really is.

Fallen in love with Taiwan. (Rotary was right, your exchange country does become your second home country.)

Directed my energy towards the future.

Really understood how it really feels to miss someone or something. (If you don't miss something from your home country then you haven't fully understood your exchange. You should be grateful and have a better understanding of your home country, and your second home country.)

Stopped taking things for granted. (People and things that are important in my life now, may not be there tomorrow. My youth exchange is not going to last forever, so I need to start spending time wisely; taking too many pictures, asking too many questions, going with friends to too many places.)

Felt old. (I was just walking to the bus to go home and the feeling just hit me like a sack of bricks. I felt like I had been living in Taiwan for years, that I was years older. Totally dreading going back to high school when I return.)

Realized how to properly respect parents, siblings, and grandparents.

Not used a microwave or fork. (I just realized this last night. All the food I eat is fresh, and usually grown locally. It taste amazing. I use chopsticks for everything. When I have soup, I drink from the bowl. So, really, I haven't used a spoon that much either.)

Began to learn how to make awesome food; bread, noodles, rice. Mmm.

Realized why Rotary makes you switch families every three months; I love this family. I can only imagine how hard it would be if I had to leave them after a year..three months is already going to be hard.

Hit the ground running on trying to learn Chinese. Me- 0 Chinese- 1. It. Is. Hard. (I was very naive, hope I spelled that correctly, before I left. "Yeah, yeah...I'll catch on when I get there." No, I have spent countless days and nights studying and studying.)

Not been disrespectful or sarcastic to any adult figure. (It feels good to respect your elders. They do, actually, know what they are talking about and yes, indeed, they are smarter than us teenagers. They aren't thirty, or forty  or fifty years of stupid. Teachers and elders are here to teach us and it is your choice to actually pay attention and learn from them or not.)

Learned how to drink tea out of a bag. (It was so odd. Vivian, my host sister, handed me my breakfast bag to take up to my classroom like she always does. When I opened the bag to see what I had I pulled out a bag with two bread rolls and then a bag of tea. I held it up and I guess he could tell I was confused, so, Bruce, a close friend of mine, took the bag and my straw and got it situated for me. Weirdest thing I have ever done; drink from a plastic bag.)

I can't wait to have more adventures. I am loving every minute here and I love all the people. I am afraid it is my bed time. I hope you enjoyed!

I just have one thing I wish to complain about. I think America needs to jump on the bandwagon with THE REST OF THE WORLD, and use the same measurements as THE REST OF THE WORLD. You have no idea how many times I want to know exactly how hot it is outside. I look at the thermometer and I literally say "Oh, that's right, I learned an equation to convert this...because I learned fahrenheit." I'm really sorry, all the science teachers I have had, but I am not going to sit here and do an equation each time I want to know the temperature. So, once I get use to measuring everything in cm, kilometers, liters, milliliters, kilograms, ect. I have to go back to America where everything is different. Oh, well. Roll with the punches, right?
Any who, Taiwan is great.
Close your eyes (after you read the description). Imagine a place where you don't have to chain your bike up. A place where you can leave shopping bags unattended on your scooter to go into another store, and come back out, and they have been untouched. A place where I haven't heard one bad thing said about another person. A place, where there is an abundant amount of trust in people (strangers or not). You, my friend, would be imagining Taiwan.
Can you imagine high school without drama? I know I certainly can't, and that's a sad truth. Or, I couldn't, until I attended school here. Girls here, they actually like and get along with each other. People sit with each other, regardless of who you are. You know if there are three seats and one was occupied by a complete stranger, you would skip a seat and then sit? Well, here, if there are three seats and one was occupied by a complete stranger, you'd find yourself talking and meeting a stranger. In Taiwan, there is so much respect and trust. Sometimes, I even question my host sister. I will be like "Um, shouldn't they be watching the money box?" or "Aren't they going to put those pineapples up for the night?" and she'll just say "What's the point in that? Too much work!"
As far as culture shock goes, I haven't experienced any. That just means when I get back to America, I will have what's called reverse culture shock. So, we will see how that goes. Wish me luck; good thing I still have nine months.
Basically, I am in love with this amazing island. I am going to some lake next week with my host sister. (Sorry for such a sentence "some lake" but I forgot the name) So, you should expect a picture or two and a good post about it. Hopefully, it will make up for this short and sweet one. For now, I am off to bed.

学校.

I started my first day of school on August 31st 2011. It. Is. Awesome. Everyone is so nice and understanding. I like the way school functions in Taiwan. The students stay in the same classroom all day, and different teachers come throughout the day. If I am correct, Mexico does the same thing, right Mrs. Triplett? Any way, we get to school around 7:30 in the morning and everyone has their breakfast that they have purchased or made from home, and we sit around and eat breakfast together. I like it a lot. It's different than buying your breakfast at school in America, then sitting in a crowded cafeteria that's loud with people tossing their cereal everywhere. We buy our food from a cafe, then bring it to school, and sit with our calm classmates, talk and eat. After we are finished, it's 8:15 by now, we, the students, clean the classroom. So, you can already see where this is going. So, since the students clean the classroom, nobody spits spit balls, throws balls of paper, ect. I have mop duty. So, after we clean the classroom, we all sit in our assign seats and study. Like, I never thought it was possible for a bunch of teenagers to sit, be quiet, and actually work with no teacher in the classroom. That's right, I forgot to mention, there usually isn't a teacher in the classroom until 10:00 when classes start. And, yes, all my classmates do sit in their seat the whole time, and the only time I have ever heard any talking at all was if someone needed a piece of paper. It's amazing, because they actually have the desire to want to learn and be taught, I definitely see that American teenagers take education for granted. Then we have eight classes. (I haven't got my schedule yet, so I am sitting in with the kids that are studying mainly foreign language, English. So, I have a little group that can speak English enough where I can understand them, and they teach me the ways of the Chinese mastery of Chinese Characters...Until I get my new schedule, which will include things like cooking, braiding, ect.) We have PE every Monday and Thursday and somehow I got signed up for the volleyball club today? We played volleyball and when my team was up, they made me serve first, so I did, and as soon as I hit the ball everyone in my class said as plain as day, in English, "Oh, my God." I started laughing. So, after PE was over and we were walking back to class the Coach came up to me and informed me that I was now in the volleyball club...so, yay? I am very proud of myself, actually, because I am starting to piece together words that my teachers say in Chinese that I know and I can put a sentence together, then they keep talking faster and faster then they lose me. But, what matters is that I am catching on. So, *Clap* *Clap* for me! Also, I love my town. I ride my bike with my host sister and every time we go out all the little shop owners or miscellaneous people will wave at me and shout "Ni hoa!" (the way you say hello in Chinese) and I shout back and wave for as long as I can, because it's hard to ride a bike with one hand. They have all been very kind and amazing people. I <3 Asia! But, for now I have caught you up to an extent on what's new in Yunlin, and I must be on my way.

台湾。

I. Am. In. Taiwan. Finally! The plane ride was horrible; mainly because I don't like to ride on planes, I decided that on my thirteen hour flight from Chicago to Japan. The food, the people, the scene, the everything! I don't know where to start. Okay, okay. Let us begin with my arrival. Fair enough? Good.

I stepped off the plane, ready to drop on my knees and kiss the ground, thankful that I did not have to get on to another plane for a year. I found my luggage had made it safe and sound, which was a relief. I exited the luggage area to find a cute little Asian family holding a banner with my name on it. The first sentence I said was "I'm not a plane," when I meant to say "I don't like to ride airplanes." Epic fail. My host mother looked at me funny, nodded, and smiled. I turned bright red after Vivian, my host cousin, told me what I had just said. Obviously, they already knew I wasn't an airplane without me having to tell them. The airport was an hour away from my new home. We had stopped at a 7-Eleven to get some food. I didn't eat much because my stomach was upset from the airplane food. But I was almost in tears on the car ride home, because my host dad was looking through the radio for any station that was in English. He speaks not one word in English. I was touched.

The family; Amazing. I've spent most of my time with my host uncle, Victor, Vivian, and my host brother. (I haven't learned their names yet. I don't think I will learn my host brother's because he is going to Russia on an exchange in a couple days.) Victor keeps me on my toes and makes sure I don't fall asleep while the sun is still up. He says in English "Sun up, you no sleep when sun down." Smart boy. Victor and I hang out the most. We ride bikes, kick a soccer ball around, play video games, and like right now, watch Sponge Bob Square Pants in Chinese. Vivian has been my translator. I know some Chinese, but not enough apparently. She is helping me the first week, but after that, no more English for me.

The food. Lord have mercy, the food is amazing. I wish my body was use to eating a lot, but I am not a heavy eater. Vivian thinks I don't like the food; but each time I tell her "No, no the food is amazing! I just don't eat a lot." Regardless, I still don't think she believes me. But all of it, is amazing. My host dad and I go to a local cafe each morning where him and a bunch of other men gather to start the day off with a good cold beer. They are all funny and happy go lucky. Never fails that they will ask me if I want a beer too. I just smile and say "I'm sixteen," in Chinese. The drinking age is eighteen. But, regardless, they'll ask anyway. And I bet my bottom dollar, they'll ask me again tomorrow.

(Ground pork, sprouts, green onions, and noodles. Amazing. It's local Chinese food they eat for lunch. I also had the traditional bubble tea. I would have taken a picture, but it was in a cup with a plastic film over the top. Then you punch a straw through it.)

在美国的最后一天

It's my last day in America! And I am so excited! I have waited what feels like forever for this moment to finally come. For those of you that think this is a vacation, or a chance for me to runaway. This is an exchange. I have to go to school like a normal kid would, I have to speak their language, and I have to adapt to their culture. I don't know if any of you have done your research, but Yunlin County, Taiwan is no resort. And I won't get treated differently because I am American or an exchange student. *sorry for being so harsh on my opening, but I had to get that off my chest.*

Anyway, to be honest, the exchange still hasn't hit me and I am within hours of boarding the plane. I know I am going on an exchange... but something is still not clicking for me. I am excited, don't get me wrong, but I still think this is all a dream, that I am going to wake up soon. Luckily, this is not the case.

I suppose few of the questions that have really annoyed me were: "Are you going to school there?" Yes, I am. Being my title is Exchange STUDENT, that just kinda gives it away. "Aren't you going to miss your mom?" Yes, I will miss my mom. But she won't always be there to catch me when I fall, especially when I am thrown into live a life as an adult. She is my mother, of course I'm going to miss her. "Won't you be scared?" No, I am not scared because I know when I get there I will figure things out. If you're scared about trying new things, then I wish the best for you in life. I love trying new things and being scared holds you back. And besides, Rotary does plenty of background checks on everyone I am staying with *Lol* "Do they speak English?" No, English is not a universal language. Not everyone knows how to speak it. I am learning Mandarin Chinese, their language. Although, I did get lucky and my host sister speaks some English, but that's because she took the time to learn it.

I have an eighteen hour flight bright n' early tomorrow morning. Then, around 9:30 PM on Friday August 20th I will be in my new home for a year. I've got my visa, passport, even some New Taiwan Dollars. I am set. But for now, I must go get in the van to head for Arkansas to sleep in a motel and awake in the morning to board my flight.

 再见

家庭礼品

I thought I would share my hard work and research to make and design the best host family gifts ever. I decided to wood burn. I sketched and detailed a certain animal after I researched it. I had to make sure I wasn't going to offend any one, that would be horrible.
My first plaque has Koi Fish. The fish represent peace and balance. In the middle is the Chinese symbol for family.

The second gift is the Chinese Dragon. The Dragon represents power and purity. (It was the hardest to detail, too.)

The third plaque will be of the Tiger. The Tiger represents sensitivity and pride. I will have it done in a couple days to show the final gift. :)

谢谢, Cassville Rotary Club!

I want to give a shout out to my district club in 6110, Cassville Rotary Club! If you all did not help sponsor me, I would not have this wonderful opportunity to be apart and around amazing beautiful people and share my experience with them. Thank you, Cassville Rotary Club!

我会想念...

In no particular order, I will ramble on and list certain things/people that I will miss and why.

1. Obviously, I am going to miss my mommy. Why: Because she gave birth to me. She has tolerated everything I've put her through, and some how she is still sane. She is my right hand man in the kitchen while we are jammin' to tunes and cooking. She's the best mommy a girl could ask for. :)

2. Vanilla ice cream :)

3.  Apple Jacks. Why: Because it's the best cereal in the whole wild America. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to find them and get my hands around a box in Taiwan.

4. Tate and the other two knuckle heads. Why: Because, regardless of all the annoying things they do, (making weird moaning noises while eating cereal, slurping spaghetti noodles, or running around the house and screaming while shooting nerf guns) they are my brothers and somewhere along the lines I have to "claim" them. Truth is, I'm going to miss the rambunctious dysfunction they bring.

5. My friends. Why: Because I know in the back of my mind that the people we are now are not going to be a year from now. I already miss them because I know there is always the possibility that we will not share the common interests and mindsets when I get back, that in all reality, we only have stupidity in common. But they have helped me shape who I am now, regardless of what the future may hold. They are amazing people and I can always count on them to make me laugh.

6. My room. Why: This is a hard one to answer, because if you have never been in my room, you cannot fully fathom the meaning and wonders it holds. My room has lime green and blue walls. Among the walls hold old photographs of my childhood and who I am now. Hand prints, because whenever somebody new steps into my room they have to put their hand print on any of my walls (haven't had any one put their feet yet, though). quotes and messages that important people have added, wrote, or that have inspired me. My room, is the scrapbook of my life, and I already have a wall picked out for Taiwan. I even have all the tally marks that I have added for a count down for when I leave. My room is awesome.

7. Forks. Why: Because Taiwan eats with chopsticks, nuff said.

8. My grandparents. Why: Because they spoil the heck out of me and they are awesome people.

9. Chelsi Curtis. Why: Because she is awesome. She is the older sister I've always wanted; If I would have ever been able to have an older sister, I would have wanted her to be exactly like Chelsi.

10. Band. Why: Because music is what makes me who I am. Hopefully, I can find myself a nice little Taiwan band. Yeah, that'd be legit.

That's all I've got to say about that, for now anyway.



大使对我来说意味着...

Ambassador: Noun: 1) A diplomatic official of the highest rank appointed and accredited as representative in residence by one government or sovereign to another, usually for a specific length of time. But, for Rotary Youth Exchange students, we use: 3) An authorized messenger or representative. But, being an "authorized representative" just doesn't hold meaning to me. Anyone could go out and think they are an "authorized representative," but they don't work to be so much more than the label they've been given. It is one of my goals to work as hard as I can to be more than the definition, to be an outstanding person who is willing to go beyond my comfort limits and be all I can as an Ambassador.
Being and ambassador is a life choice. It's not something that you decide to be one day and then not follow through with it. It takes people that are willing to go beyond boundaries, like the wonderful people I met at Outbound Camp. An ambassador is someone that takes the extra step to be all they can be, to take two minutes that they may not have to help someone else, someone that always shows how grateful and honored they are to be able to represent their home, city, state, and country without over thinking and forgetting to adapt to their new home, city, state, and country. Ambassadors are people that learn new ways. "There is no such thing as being abnormal. There is normal, and there is going out of your comfort zone to find someone elses  normal." I cannot wait  to stretch my limits and be all that I can be; to grow as a new person, as an Ambassador. 再见!

最后的倒计时!

Hello, everyone! I am going to Yunlin County, Taiwan for eleven months on a foreign exchange trip. All thanks to Rotary Youth Exchange International. If it wasn't for them, well, I don't think I would be here typin' this nifty little bit :)  It will be one of the most life changing experiences I will ever encounter and I am getting very anxious to board the plane and get goin'. I just got all of my information (school, first host family, ect.) last night. I just emailed my first host father this morning. I am waiting impatiently for his email back. I cannot wait to read it. Although, it just hit me that my morning here is their evening there... so he is probably just now getting it. Opps.
I feel that I should give everyone a bit of Taiwan 101: Taiwan speaks Mandarin Chinese; I have been learning it for almost six months. My favorite Chinese resturant in my town is called Peking. Little did I know that the people that work there were from Taiwan, I mean I knew they were from somewhere in Asia. The day I found out that I was going to Taiwan I worked up enough courage to ask them what language they spoke (I would hear the owner, Cindy, tell orders in a different language.) She looked at me funny and said, "Chinese." I was so excited. I stammered on saying something that probably seemed bizarre to her: "Well, is it, like, Mandarin...or, like, just Chinese." She proceeded to tell me, "Mandarin, yes, Chinese." I was beaming so I continued on with the rather stupid questions of, "Really?! Could I, like, pay you some money so you guys to teach me? You know, like a tutor thing?" I think she thought I was crazy, matter of fact, I think she still thinks I'm off the wall, but she said "Yes, I teach, you no pay." I was so happy. In the end, I helped the little girl (Amy) read more fluently in English and she taught me handy phrases in Chinese. Amy became my cute little third grade best friend, she was a mean one in the beginning, but now we are tight. The grandmother (whom I never learned the name of because her English was about as good as my Chinese at the time, so there wasn't too much talking between her and I, if we did I would awkwardly stand there and nod my head and agree with whatever she had just said. She would smile and nod her head with me) arrived in late February, if I am correct, and helped give me more one on one time. I would teach her an English word, and she would teach me a Chinese word. Her favorite phrase was "See you later!"  Sadly, Amy and her brother, Mike, just went back to Taiwan with their grandmother for the summer. Unfortunately, I had to say "再见" which means "see you again" in Chinese. I leave the night before she gets back to America, so I don't get to see her before I depart. Taiwan has the second largest building in the world;  I don't have a really cool story to go with this one, well, not yet any way. The building is called Taipei 101. It is on my things I want to do and see while I am in Taiwan. Taiwan is roughly the same size as the state of Maryland; I like small states, so Taiwan and I should get along jusssttt fine. Taiwan is an island 100 miles off the east coast of China. In Mandarin, Taiwan means "Beautiful Island," and from all the google images I've seen, I certainly agree. There is such a thing called American Chinese Food, and Real Chinese Food. Both of which are completely different, although, Cindy did make me count to 100 in Chinese while making Crab Ra-goons (an American Chinese Food which is Crab filling wrapped and folded, then deep fried.) I found it ironic. Prior to popular belief, dog is more popular to eat than cat. But, that is in China. So I'll give everyone a heads up on the dish name if I come across either. For now, folks, I must be on my way. 再见!