Starting School, Our Student Orientation, Tamsui, and Hot Springs
The Friday before last, I had my first day of school in Taiwan, although I only stayed for two hours. I wasn't totally sure what would be happening while I was there, but it turned out I had to introduce myself in Mandarin to the whole school of 2,300 students. I also met my class, a group of 40 15 and 16 year olds who I will stay in the same classroom as and have all my classes with for the whole year. Most of them were friendly and immediately helpful, although I think they had the impression that I was a little better at Chinese than I am, and talked to me constantly in fast paced Mandarin that I could only understand a fraction of. Still, I would much rather they speak to me in Chinese than English, so I will just have to ask them to constantly repeat themselves until I become more comfortable understanding the language. On my first day of school, I also received my PE uniform. We have two uniforms for school, one which we wear all day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for PE