Rahoe Night Market

       I know I say this every time I post, but I'm still so. busy. But I don't mind in the least. Last Tuesday my classmates took me out to Rahoe Night Market after school. Unbeknownst to me, the slacker American who gets out of school at 4 everyday, my classmates have class until 5 most days. So I awkwardly waited in class and tried not to draw any attention to myself. After their class was finished, we hung out at school for a while and waited for it to get cooler before venturing out. We all survived the us trip and made it there in one piece.

The best thing about the night market is the cheap and awesome food.

Red Bean Filled Cake

Fish and Egg Dish

Indian Milk Tea

Some sort of cake

Spicy Beef Kabob

Watermelon Juice

Oyster Omelette

Stinky Tofu

Annnd the closest translation I could get to what this dessert was is "pudding"

       Friday at school we celebrated three of my classmates birthdays and suprised them with tiramisu at lunch. Then on Saturday Rotex held a "tea party" for us inbounds. But there was not that much tea involved. We got split up into groups and competed against each other in a series of games that involved our knowledge of Chinese. For example, we were given the name of certain objects in Chinese and the first team to grab all the correct items got a point. Unfortunatley there were reprecussions for the losing team, the winners were given pens and got to draw on the losing team. Thankfully my team won a majority of our games. After the Rotex event I quickly ducked into one of the bookstore chains here that sells English books, somehow I was able to refrain from buying any books. But I did end up purchasing some envelopes and this weekend if I have time I'll attempt mailing off some letters.

       I spent Sunday in Taipei with my brother and parents. We went to the Sun Yet-Sen Memorial Hall and arrived just in time to see the changing of the guards. We also hung out around Taipei 101 because there are a lot of street performers there that are interesting to watch. That night we had dinner with my dad's side of the family as an early celebration for my dad's and aunt's birthday. We had barbecue, which is becoming a rapid favorite of mine here. Seafood is great for two reasons here 1) it's really fresh and tastes amazing and 2) you definitively know what you're eating. When it comes to the other meat, you have no idea. And that's how I tried cow tongue for the first time Sunday night. 

       This Sunday is the Moon Festival here! Saturday, my dad, brother, and I are going down to (I think) Tainan for a Moon Festival party with Rotary. Also my school is having an English singing competition in which the entire class has to participate in. Today my class is voting on which songs we'll sing. I've been asked to help act as a pronounciation teacher when we start practicing, so I'll be even busier. But busy is good! 

       My Chinese is coming along I think. Everyone usually talks to me in English which makes it super easy for me to slip into speaking English instead of Chinese, but from now on I'm trying to forego the English. So here's to me accidentally butchering the Chinese Language!

Abbie

       So I'm still super busy here! It was the first week where I attended all of the classes that have been finalized in my schedule. I have a two hour swimming block on Tuesday where Oceanee and I have the whole pool to ourselves. But guess who didn't have goggles and a towel. But I do now so I won't have to repeat the long process of drip drying. On Thursday I have additional Chinese class at my high school with the other exchange students. Then we get to do calligraphy. For me though the first hour of calligraphy, I'm pretty sure I caused my blood pressure to skyrocket. We only got a quick demonstration of the character we were supposed to paint and for whatever manic reason I was super nervous about messing up. So it took me twice as long to finish as the others, but in the second hour I was able to paint stress free. I also have a computer class now, but it's not with 205. (ok so quick primer on taiwanese school: you stay in the same class all day with the same kids. The teachers are the ones that change classes, students are the ones who stay). So it felt odd not being with my classmates, but they are the actual best. During break time some of them came into the class to make sure the other kids were being nice to me and to check if I could understand what was happening in class. I seriously lucked out in getting placed with class 205!! On that note some of them invited me to go to a night market with them on Tuesday!
       While I'm excited to go with them, I'm positive they'll be making try some of the odder delicacies here in Taiwan because they already do that in class. It seems to me that peoples favorite game here is to play "feed the foreigner". Everyday during lunch someone gives me something new to try, which ranges from dumplings, candy, and tofu. But the other day someone was eating a school lunch and I was asked if I wanted to try. So I did. And it turns out I had a bite of pigs blood mixed with rice. Might as well call me Khaleesi after that...
       On Friday, during the second to last period of class we had a class meeting to decide on our class t-shirt. I had no idea what was happening other than I occasionally raised my hand to vote on a color choice. After that we (meaning the whole high school) went into the gym for the performances. I'm still unclear on the details, but each class has a best student. The best student and a handful of his/her classmates put on some kind of a performance for the school whether it was singing, dancing, or a skit of some sort. I was comfortably sitting down watching, when one of my classmates ran over and said "come with me", so I did so with confusion. She led me over to where my classmates who would be in the performance were sitting..."Abbie, can you say something up on stage?" They are all so nice so I couldn't say no. They told me what to say and when, I don't think five words in Chinese have ever been so daunting to me before. But I think it went well! Which made up for earlier I'm the week.
       Wednesday I along with the other inbounds had to introduce myself to the entire school. We were told it had to be at least one minute, and I'm not sure I could do that in English let alone Chinese. But I wrote out a little speech and recited it v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. When actually talking on stage I definitely mispronounced something, there was a lot of laughter suddenly, but afterwards people said I did a good job so all was well.
       Yesterday I had my first culture class with the other inbounds in my district. We actually didn't do much though, there were opening remarks, and a presentation about our class next month in which we will bike. (I'm sure I'm totally wrong about this but I dont know how much the Taiwanese bike because there were so many rules and tips for biking). We then were divided into groups and had to pick a group leader and assistant group leader. Then we had to vote for an overall cultural class leader. After that we just ate and loitered around before we could leave.
       After class my mom along with my aunt, baby cousin, and brother, picked me up to take me to dinner and Taipei 101. We ate at an American restaraunt, and I must say while I love the food here, I was thrilled to order some tacos. After dinner we alked over to 101 and went into the base of the building. The first few floors are like a department store, with a lot of high end retailers housed there. So we wanderered around the stores for a while, but sadly I didn't actually get to go in the upper levels of 101. It was raining and cloudy and my family said it would be better to go at a different time so I could have a better view. I'll be back there soon enough I'm sure.
       Edit: I was originally writing this post Sunday afternoon, it is now Tuesday morning. Sunday I spent most of the day studying for Chinese class. After studying I decided to update and make a post. But while writing this, my dad came in and said we were going to the most famous mountain in the Xizhi District. My mom, dad, brother and I drove there. We were treated to a fantastic view of the entire city. There was a temple near the observation area which I was able to duck into for a short amount of time. And there was a pig. In California I live in an area that contais a lot of farmland so I've seen/interacted with farm animals more than once back home. I don't think my family in Taiwan has ever seen a pig in real life due to how excited they were upon seeing the pig, especially because it was a counting pig. Someone would say a number and the pig would turn on, then turn off a faucet the correct amount of times (but it only could do so correctly once). Everyone was still impressed though.
       After that experience, we were driving around trying to figure out a place to eat. While driving past a night market my dad was talking about Taiwanese food, and about the pigs blood with rice. He was saying how foreigners never want to try it, so I said that I wanted to, thinking the chance to do so would be in the near future. Nope. My mom, brother and I hopped out the the car right then and there to go buy some. And the verdict is: pretty good. The pork and rice are tasteless, just very chewy which isn't a texture I love. But its covered in a spicy sauce and rolled in peanuts so it tastes like chewy spicy peanut butter. We ended up eating at one of the stalls in the night market.
      Later today after school my classmates are taking me to the night market that's close to my school. I'm sure I'll have some stories from that to talk about later.

       -Abbie

Bubble Tea

       The first day of my English class my teacher came over and said that my classmates wanted to talk to me but were too shy... I found that hard to believe. One of my classmates figured out we live in the same neighborhood and therefore take the same bus home. So she invited me to go get bubble tea after school with her friends.


Then on Saturday I met up with a large group of my classmates in Ximen to eat some food and see a movie. So I'm still finding to difficult that my classmates are shy.


In addition to hanging out with my classmates, I went to another Rotary meeting. Got my school schedule solidified, I opted out of Chemistry, Chinese, and Geography and now I have some free periods in the library, more art classes, and a two hour block of swimming. I also joined the dance club at my school. Here are my qualifications for joining the club.
1. I have seen the cinematic masterpiece Dirty Dancing dozens of times
2. Many years ago I took Irish step dance lessons
I'll be fine right? The real reason that I joined was because I only knew of like 3 other clubs which I had no qualifications for and my fellow exchange student from France was joining.

Last night my family and I went out to dinner at a hot pot restaurant that is owned by one of the Rotarians in my club. Quick explanation of hot pot: a constantly boiling container with either a soup stock or water (I'm not sure exactly) is placed in the middle of ones table, there are a variety of uncooked foods placed at the table as well and you choose what you want to eat and put in the pit to get cooked, like finely sliced beef, shrimp, mushrooms, dumplings, etc. So after hot pot we drove to Danshui, a part of New Taipei City famous for its lit up suspension bridge. We walked across the swaying bridge, it makes you feel like you're out at sea so when getting off the bridge I was less steady than before and my gait resembled that of a drunken sailor. We walked around the river had some ice cream and just enjoyed the view. I hope to go back there again, there's this coffee shop that's  located right on the cliffside next to the river. And I'll be sure to bring my camera then.

Abbie
     

School so far

(alternatively titled: Abbie vs. Public Transportation and hint I win)

       So after waking up far earlier than I would have back home, Kiky drove me to the university. I had to go and find out what my class assignment was and it turns out that I was all the way across campus. Walking with purpose I made it to class. There are about 13 of us total in my class. My teacher seemed very kind and helpful. We spent the three hours going over pronunciation of Chinese phonetics, which sounds awful but it wasn't too bad with the inclusion of what turned into a violent death match of the three boys against the ten girls in a game where we had to match sounds to letters. 

       After class Kiky picked me up again and we drove to my school. I have to go and sign in at the library each day for reasons that are still unclear to me. My arrival on campus was well timed with the beginning of lunch. I entered just as they were all struggling to escape. My mom and one of the school workers talked to some of the girls in rapid Mandarin and suddenly I my own personal helper in the class. Then the adults were gone and I was surrounded. People started asking me questions and I did my best to answer. I was even able to ask a few (read: one) question(s) in Mandarin. And I'm apologizing right now to my wonderful classmates because I'm horrible with names so most will be identified incorrectly. But I ate while answering and then people started stacking their chairs on their desks. The semi-circle around me excused themselves, they had to help clean the classroom. I watched, trying to imagine if one could get a bunch of Americans to clean their class so efficiently. After cleaning we have a "dim the lights and nap or at least do something quietly" period for about 20 minutes. I went over my Mandarin stuff while the vast majority of my class enjoyed their cat nap. And did I mention this is all without a teacher in the room directing any of this? After nap time we had art class which we actually switch classrooms for. I have no idea what was happening in the class because 1. Mandarin and 2. The girls who have taken pity on me and let me follow them around kept talking and asking me questions. But I did eventually get a breakdown in English on what we were supposed to be doing. Next was music. Having never played an instrument I'd be anxious in a normal music class, let alone this one. But it was fine, we listened to a song, people sang along, and then  we watched Pocahontas and went over Colors of the Wind. So all in all ok. Last was math, which I was able to pick out some information from my previous math classes, but I still dont know what's happening. 

       After school I was supposed to take the MRT, then a bus home...AND I DID. The MRT never posed a problem, it's the bus. So while I may get lost in parking lots at home, I can navigate around a city. And then I had to do it all again today.

       Today was my first full day, meaning 7:30 to 4:10. Which by Taiwanese standards is a late start. First class was Chinese so I just sat there. Next was math where I could sort of follow along. Then a two hour block of chemistry, where the teacher acknowledged me. (it's not that I'm sure the other teachers didn't notice the foreigner who was not in uniform, they just didn't say anything about it). But I was told I could read a book or work on some other stuff. So I did. And I'm sure all were staring at me in jealousy as I was told multiple times by multiple people that chemistry was extremely boring. Then lunch finally! I went down to get food with some girls, and let me just say that getting the food at my high school may have been the inspiration for The Hunger Games. There's this small booth shoved in way back and what I'm sure most have been millions of teenagers jostling their way up to the counter. Two girls volunteered as sacrificial lambs to go into the chaos and bring us back food. I am happy to report that they made it out alive and returned baring great gifts of tea, dumplings, and chicken. 

    Lunch came to an end and we kicked off what I'm told was health class. But I'm not entirely sure if that's the actual class because the teacher had written Freud up on the board...But anyways English was after in a two hour block. My English teacher is great, very nice and seems like she wants to involve me in class. She made the students prepare some questions for me in English and ask me and I answered in English, but one time when I threw in a Mandarin word I got applauded by the class. Hard work does indeed pay off :)

School again for the rest of the week, but this Saturday I've been invited to hang out with some of the aforementioned girls in my class.

Abbie

School Tomorrow!

       Tomorrow is the first day of high school and Mandarin class at the university. I'll be going to the university first, we start at about 8am and get done at about 11am. Then off to regular high school. Because I miss all my morning classes I will only have 3 classes which are art, music, and math. I get out of school at 4pm.
Here's hoping all goes well

Orientation, ghosts, and school

       Whoops, let me firstly apologize for the weird formatting of the last post, my iPad can be touchy. But I've been super busy here. Saturday was my orientation with all the other kids in my district. For the most part it was just a lot of sitting and listening, but it was nice to meet the exchange kids.
       Sunday afternoon we went to my grandmas for lunch. But then after we drove into Taipei to drop off my brother before his music lesson, who with an hour to kill before picking him up my dad drove all around Taipei pointing things out. We drove through a highly coveted street to live on, stopped at a famous bakery, went past Taipei 101 and a lot of temples, and a small parade. After picking Timothy up we headed to Keelung. We first went to an old fort that was built as protection against pirates and then after we went into this cave temple. It was literally a temple in a cave with shrines, incense, offerings spread out on tables, statues carved out of the walls and old poems carved into the rock. We had to squeeze through this tiny passage, I'm certain my body was at a 90* angle, to get to one of the shrines.
       Monday was my placement exam for the Mandarin lessons I take with the other exchange students, which was not exactly pleasant in itself but being late on top of it made things slightly more stressful. But I managed and I think I got placed in the second level class but come Monday we'll see. After the test Kiky and I made the trek to the immigration office via MRT to get my paperwork finished. Waiting took forever but we ran into another girl from my district and her host father and it was nice chatting with her.
       Tuesday Kiky, my sister Justine and I went to Eslite which is one of the popular book store chains here. It was super nice and stocked a good selection of books in English, and I imagine a portion of my allowance will be spent there. But Kiky had a meeting to go to so she left us there and said we could take a bus home...well we tried to at least. We waited for like an hour for our bus which never came so we ended up walking to the  MRT station and taking that to another bus stop and finally ending up at my dads office where we hung out until pretty late.
       Wednesday is the day my dad takes the afternoon off from work so he can show me around. So at noon we left for my clubs rotary meeting. I don't understand what happens at the meetings but there seems to be a lot of joking and teasing amongst Rotarians so I feel at ease. For a brief moment I played Vanna White and helped demonstrate this weird cloth that our guest speaker was talking about, so I'm sure there's going to be some attractive photos from that. Later on in th evening, Kiky, Timothy, Kent and I went back to Kelung. This lunar month is the ghost month and the largest celebration for th ghost festival takes place in Keelung. We first went to a night market (my first!) and walked around trying all the different foods while Timothy looked longingly at the games set up, at one place you could win a miniature turtle. We also quickly ducked into a temple that ran adjacent to the market. Then it was finally time to head to the temple where the festivities take place. I went a night before the peak of the festival so there wasn't as much activity but it was still beautiful. The temple was all lit up and it's perched right on the hillside. We stayed late just wandering around, soaking it all in.
       Thursday Kiky was determinded to get me a working cell phone so that if I ever get lost I can call her. I brought my cell phone that I used back in California, but I was just planning on reactivating it when I fly home, but Kiky thought if we got a new SIM card it could work over here. Well it didn't, after spending a long time in the cell phone store, we accepted defeat and went back to my dads office to see if he had an old phone. So I am now the owner of an ancient duct taped brick of a phone :)
       Today I woke up annoying early so I could go by my school with Kiky. We drove over to the school so I could geet my schedule, meet my teachers, etc. we met with one of the teachers and got my schedule, my school has already factored in the fact that I'll be missing school twice a week all morning for Mandarin class at the university, which was good. My schedule was only for the first week but it includes art, math, English, Mandarin, chemistry, math, sport, and more. But th school said after the first week if I don't like a class I can drop it and switch it to something I like better. We will see how long chemistry and math stick around for. The other two exchange students who are going to my school were there too, a girl from France and a boy from Hungary I think it was. so I won't be all alone.
       Tomorrow my family and I are going to a concert that my brothers music teacher is playing in so that will be something new for me. Monday I start Mandarin at the university and regular high school so I'll be even busier!

Abbie

My brother, the maid, and I

       So bright and early I woke up at 3:00 AM to catch my 6:00 flight out of Sacramento to LAX. The two hours of sleep I got made for a groggy scramble around the house to finish loading up. I arrived at the airport but had to embark on a long trek to find the right terminal. Finally upon arriving in line to get my miraculously underweight bags checked in, it hit me that I would be in a different country for the year. My family stayed in line with me as long as they could and we said our goodbyes. I headed through, while they stayed and watched me go.
       While going through security, I met a couple whose daughter was doing mission work in Taiwan, and they had nothing but praise for the country. I was also relieved to be flying with two other exchange students who were also going to Taiwan. The three flights were uneventful, but small mishaps did happen (our luggage was routed only to Seoul, and we weren't issued our boarding pass for a long time). Thankfully we were able to resolve everything, and I managed to sleep quite well on the plane.
       After finally landing in Taiwan and making it through immigration, a sea of host families stood waiting for us. Everyone was holding up posters to welcome us, so I was able to find my family right away. My father, Kent, and my sister Florence were there waiting for me, along with my mother, Kiky, and my brother Timothy. We loaded everything up and began the drive home. My entire family speaks some degree of English, so that made things easier for me. Before we went home we stopped by my father's dental office, which is also right by my grandmothers house. My dad got out of the car and said he would meet us back at the house. The rest of us got home safely and unloaded my stuff. My dad was home almost immediately after us and he had bought me a cash card, which I can use at 7-11, the bus, trains, and subway. After discussing some of the house rules I took a shower and slept.
       The next morning I was home alone, save for our maid. Kent was at work and Kiky took the others to their music lessons. I thought Kiky said that maid spoke English...she didn't. But somehow with my limited mandarin I was able to get food! I waited for my family to get back because at noon
we had a rotary meeting to get to. They got back and we drove into Taipei. My rotary club was so welcoming and kind, I'm so happy that their my sponsors. After the meeting we went to pick up timothy and then we were going to an amusement park, "like Disneyland" my dad said.
       The drive there took a while, but it was worth it. It was like a zoo, water park, and theme parked rolled into one. We went and first looked at all the animals, and I found it amusing that there were sheep and horses featured along with the lions and tigers. After that my sisters, brother and I went on some of the rides. While Timothy and I waited to go on a water ride my mom came back with some food, which included roasted squid which was delicious. So far my time here, can be summed up as I follow my sisters around eating whatever's handed to me, not understanding much. Timothy and I went on the water ride, it was already dark at this point so I hoped we wouldn't get too wet...this was not the case. Not only did we get soaked, it started raining mid-ride so we got the added effect of that. But somehow after we were done we managed to dry off pretty quickly. After that it was time to go home. I fell asleep on the car ride back, tired from jet lag and constant confusion. But we stopped for dinner on the way back. I give my family credit for not laughing at me more than they did, sleepy Americans with subpar chopstick skills have a high entertainment value.
       Yesterday was Chinese Valentine's Day, and the start of two typhoons that are supposed to hit Taiwan. I got up when my brother came into my room, which is actually his room, I crashed there for a few nights and just moved into my room today. But I headed down to breakfast with him. And I was with my brother and the maid, who speak no English. But once again out of the handful of food related words I know, mian bao (bread) was something I could ask for. Later on I went to Costco with Florence and my mom. The Costco here was two stories,with a special escalator ramp to take carts upstairs, and exceedingly crowded. Before Costco we actually met up with my aunt and her baby so we did our shopping together. We dropped off my aunt after, and we went it my grandma's for a traditional dinner, which ended up being a sticky rice with chicken, sweet melon, yam leaves, and soup. My grandma runs a Chinese medicine store thats been in their family for 100 years and I got to try what I think was something to aid digestion? Don't worry there have been no negative side effects.
       Then this morning once again it was just me, my brother, and the maid. And once again breakfast was a word I knew in Mandarin, ham bao or hamburger. It was two rice patties with some beef in the middle. And after I moved all my stuff into my real room, and finally unpacked. Then at noon we were going out to lunch, originally I thought my mom said a Vienna restaurant and I had no idea what that would entail, but it was actually a Vietnamese restaurant. There were many people at lunch to welcome me, and say goodbye to Florence who leaves for Seattle this Sunday. And there was so much food. Soup, bread, shrimp, fish, vegetables, hot pot, and more! I came home stuffed, but the party also followed us back home where we ate even more, cake and seasonal fruit. I believe it was my mothers friends who all came over, and their kids as well.  Us kids hung out upstairs and played cards, well I didnt,