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.