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 (I'm not sure why we wear it on Monday, we only have PE on the other two days). The other uniform is our regular uniform which we wear in Tuesdays and Thursdays. My PE uniform is huge and all pink, and looks like some kind of pajamas when I'm wearing it. My regular uniform, which I got more recently, is a pleated skirt and striped blouse, which looks a lot more like the uniforms I'm used to seeing in the US. I was also given a tie with my uniform, which I had to learn how to put on, but I'm really not sure if and when I'm ever supposed to wear it. I left before lunch, so it really wasn't much of a school day, but it was great to meet my classmates, find my way around the building, and also get to know our class "homeroom" teacher, who is also our English teacher. She's very nice and helpful, and also speaks to me completely in Chinese, but relatively slowly and clearly, which is the best way for me to practice.

On Saturday, my host mom drove Mati and I up Yang Ming Shan, a mountain and national park next to Taipei. We were dropped off at a camp part of the way up the mountain for our Rotary Inbound Orientation. The best part was that we finally got to meet all of the exchange students from our district. We did some fun activities, learned a lot about what to expect from our mandarin classes and culture lessons, and spent a lot of time getting to know each other. It happened to be my birthday that day, so Rotary brought a few cakes which they had some other students and I come up to blow out the candles, and they asked me to give a speech, I guess because it was my birthday, although I really wasn't sure what was going on, it was somewhat chaotic. The two other girls were called up because their birthdays were supposedly coming up, but one of the girls they called was the wrong person, and her birthday wasn't until January. We just went along with it though, because the whole thing was very fun and confusing. Before we went to bed, some of my friends and I went on an adventure in the dark through the woods to try to find the showers, got covered in cobwebs when we did finally find the showers, and also had to kill five or six giant cockroaches that were on the door and inside our cabin. It was all very dramatic, but a great way to bond with my fellow exchange students.

The next morning we got up at the crack of dawn to go on a 1.7 k hike that was somewhere closer to 5 or 6 k up and down the steep mountain. We ate breakfast, then had more classes talking about different aspects of our year. The second day wasn't too eventful, but I made a lot of friends, exchanged a lot of pins, and became even more excited for the coming year. That evening my host mom picked Mati and I up and took us to a traditional Chinese buffet, although we were both exhausted and nearly slept through dinner. What I did eat was delicious and interesting as always. I finally had xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, which I've had a few times in the US, but was very excited to try in Taiwan. They were very good, and I probably ate at least ten of them. We also had guava, a few platters of papaya, and dragon fruit, as well as filled bread buns, chicken, various vegetables, and a few types of rice, along with tea. I've gotten so used to having tea with most of my meals, which I really enjoy, just as I've gotten accustomed to eating all of my food with chopsticks and sometimes a spoon. Recently I was at a nice dinner (mentioned later) where a fork and knife were provided, so I tried to use them, and maybe it was just because the food is supposed to be eaten with chopsticks, or because I'm out of practice, but I found eating with a fork to be very awkward, and went back to the comfort and simplicity of using chopsticks.

Monday was my first real day of school, and I was a little excited, a little nervous, but mostly very uncertain of what to expect. I didn't have the schedule, so throughout the day I just sat at my desk in the back, waited for a new teacher each hour, and tried to follow along when I could, and work on my Chinese on my own when I couldn't. I found that math was pretty easy to keep up with because there was a lot of context for me to figure out the meaning of words and I had done the math before so it wasn't too difficult to figure out what was going on. Some of the other classes such as English and Art History also made sense, and were a good opportunity to practice listening to and trying to understand Chinese. That morning, most of my classmates and I ordered lunches, and at noon they came in small metal "lunchboxes" which we ate out of at our desks. Lunch was followed by nap time, during which the whole class is required to put their heads down on their desk and sleep for half an hour. I was surprised by how quickly I actually fell asleep, but it ultimately left me a lot more tired than I had been earlier. After our first class after lunch, my class all got up and went to different parts of the school to clean. Other classes were also out doing it, and I was very impressed by how willingly and efficiently they completed their assorted tasks. I went with some other students to mop part of the stairs, but we didn't have nearly enough time to finish before we had to run back to our classroom for the next class. I had no idea what time we would be done with school, but at five o'clock everyone started packing their bags and leaving school. I had to go to the office to get a new uniform because my first one was a few sizes too big. I took the bus home, but didn't end up getting home until 6:00 or 6:15. On Tuesday morning I went to my first Chinese class with other exchange students at a culture university in the city. While the material was very basic (they will divide the students by level in October, but for now we're in random groups together), it was great to see the other exchange students, and to get lunch with a few of them afterwards. I then headed back to school for the afternoon.

After school, I met up with Grant, the other exchange student from my district in the US. We hadn't seen each other for a few months, and not since arriving in Taiwan, so it was really fun to meet up and talk about everything that had happened since we'd arrived. We got sushi and pastries and spent a while talking about our expectations and experiences. Because we'd known each other since the first orientation, had both wanted to go to Taiwan since before then, and had discussed our excitement extensively before leaving, it was nice to be able to finally talk about actually being in Taiwan.

On Wednesday evening I had dinner with my host mom at a traditional Taiwanese food chain restaurant less than a block from our apartment. Something that I've noticed in Taiwan is that people eat out almost every night, or at least buy food and take it home to eat. While we almost always have breakfast at home, lunch and dinner are eaten out if we aren't at school or work. Another interesting thing regarding food here is breakfast. I don't know what breakfast is in other households, but every morning before school my host mom prepares breakfast for me, and it can be anything from sweet bread or fruit to pasta with marinara sauce, pizza, or fried chicken. She also makes a hard or soft boiled egg for me every morning.

On Thursday I had Chinese class again, and we had a short test on what we'd practiced on Tuesday. After class, my classmates and I walked to McDonalds to get lunch. I really didn't want McDonalds, as I'd already tried it once in Taiwan, and didn't really feel the need to try it again. It's also very expensive here, compared to most of the other food in the small restaurants along the street. Since I get 4,000 NT a month, about US $130, for my food and transportation, I've been trying to budget properly as to stay within that, at least for my everyday purchases, and have figured out exactly how much I should get per day, depending on whether it is a weekend or school day, and whether I have Chinese class or not. McDonalds was way out of my budget, so I went to the small bun and tea store next to it, and was able to get a big pork bun and a milk tea for only 32 NT, as opposed to the 100+ NT prices of typical McDonalds food.

After lunch, I ran to catch the MRT and take it one stop to Taipei Main Station, and walked from there to the Palace Hotel for my Rotary Meeting. I was one of the first people to get there, so I spent a while talking to the other Rotarians who were there. Because they know I speak some Chinese, many of them will speak to me in Chinese as well, which is a great opportunity to practice. Eventually others started arriving, but by the time the meeting started, there were not nearly as many people as had been there last time. At the last minute the night before I had found out that I would be going to this meeting and would have to give a presentation, so I had fixed up my slideshow and thrown together a short speech in Chinese. I still wasn’t totally sure it was actually happening, so I was surprised when they called me up a few minutes into the meeting. I knew what I was planning to say to describe each of my pictures, but I couldn’t get the slideshow to work, so I ended up just improvising a speech in Chinese on the spot. About half way through my slideshow started working, so I got to show my pictures which I was really excited about, but I had to rush through them because my time was almost up. It wasn’t the smoothest of presentations, but I was just happy that I was able to do the whole thing in Chinese, and that the Rotarians in my club actually understood what I was saying.

Mati gave her speech as well, and then the rest of the meeting was spent learning how to decoupage on canvas bags. One of the Rotarians presented, and I think this was her career, or at least serious hobby, because she certainly knew a lot about it. Mati had to go back to school after the meeting was over, but I stayed with my host mom to actually make the bags. It was really fun, mostly because, as we worked, I got to talk to the Rotarians in a more relaxed, informal environment. After the project, my host mom drove me back to school, but by the time I got there it was almost 4:00, and I didn’t have a last period class.

I met up with some friends at the MRT station near my house, and we went to get cake at a shop nearby. We picked up more people at the MRT, then headed to a really pretty park nearby, where we sat on a dock by the lake and talked for a while. Later we went to a small restaurant where we got everything fried on the menu to split: french fries, fried chicken, and fried mozzarella sticks. The mozzarella sticks and fries were a little different, but still similar to those in the US, but the chicken was very distinct. I’m not sure that I’ve actually had fried chicken in the US, but I at least know what it usually looks like. Fried chicken is actually a pretty typical food in Taiwan, so it makes sense that they would have developed their own style of making it. I can’t exactly describe how it was different, something about the batter and how it was cooked, but either way it was really good. After dinner, we walked around a little while longer, then headed home for the night.

On Friday during school, I finally had PE. I had been really excited for it all week because it would finally be a chance to be out of my classroom and actually talk to and work with my classmates during class. We played badminton, which wasn’t much exercise, but was better than nothing. I hadn’t played too much badminton before, and it was actually fairly enjoyable, especially because I was playing with a group of girls in my class who didn’t take it too seriously, and were making jokes the whole time and laughing at themselves if they made a mistake. Normally I can carry on a conversation with my classmates in Chinese, but the language barrier is still always something that is profoundly obvious. When we were playing, it didn’t take much thought to understand when they were laughing because they slipped and the birdie went out, when they were cheering because they won a point, or when they were joking around and doing crazy serves. I could play right along with them and it felt great. I finally felt like I was starting to make some friends in my class. One of the things I really want to push myself to do this year is not only to become close with the other exchange students, but also to spend time getting to know my classmates inside and outside of school because I think that’s the only way to fully embrace the experience of being a high schooler in Taipei. Still, it can be really hard to connect with my classmates. While they are interested in me as the foreign girl who just joined their class, there isn’t much time to socialize during school, and most of them go straight home to study after school or to cram school. After class, I finally asked if they had any plans for the next week, and was told they didn’t yet, but that they would invite me if they made any.

After school I met up with exchange students at Taipei City Hall, where we got dinner and walked around for a while, before I headed home. However, when I got off at my MRT stop and onto the bus to my apartment, I accidently took a bus going in the completely opposite direction and finally got lost. The transit system in Taipei is so easy to understand that it didn’t take me long to adjust, but I was surprised that I hadn’t gotten lost a single time since I got here, until that day. I hadn’t come home that way before, so I didn’t realize it was wrong for 15 minutes, and eventually got off the bus in the city district next to where I live, an hours walk from my apartment. I called my host mom to tell her I would be late, and she tried to help me find a bus, but there were none going towards my apartment. The more I tried to walk towards home, the more lost I got, so after almost two hours of walking around trying to get home, she came and picked me up. This was really kind of her, especially because it was completely my fault that I had gotten lost, and I should have been able to figure out how to get home. It reminded me what an amazing host mom she is, especially because she wasn’t upset at all about having to drive to pick me up when I should have been back over an hour earlier. While she is often busy with work, when she does have time to spend with me she’s always willing to take me around the city and explain to me what everything is, where I should explore in the future, and practice Chinese with me despite my constant mistakes. When we finally made it back, I was so happy to be home safely, and finally be able to get to sleep.

I got up late the next day, and had a relaxed morning at home. I had lunch with my host mom, then met up with Mati and went to the Taipei Zoo. We were supposed to meet up with other exchange students there, but we never found them, so we spent a while walking around the exhibits. Compared to the Oregon Zoo, the Taipei Zoo was huge, and the animals were unique and certainly not the same ones you would see in Portland. We saw camels, donkeys, horses, a bunch of monkeys and apes, pandas, black bears, a grizzly, roosters in the monkey enclosures, elephants zebras, tigers, giraffes, lions, and much more. We didn’t even make it to over half the animals before we had to leave.

We took the MRT for forty minutes north, and arrived at the Grand Hotel, where a club Rotary dinner was taking place. The Grand Hotel is a huge building with traditional Chinese architecture, that used to be used to host and house ambassadors and foreign politicians when they came to Taiwan. Now it’s open to the public, but it’s still beautiful and very fancy. We played pool for a while, then went into the restaurant for dinner. There was a huge buffet with dozens of options including seafood, salads, mongolian barbeque, noodles, meats, vegetables, and more. After a couple of helpings, we were ready for dessert. They were around 15 options available, so Mati and I got a plate, picked out about seven of the ones that looked best, and split them. Common sweet things in Taiwan are jellies, custards, pastries, and sweet breads, so while some of the desserts tasted or reassembled desserts in the US or Europe, they were mostly constructed of those things, and always tasted slightly different than their foreign counterpart, if one existed. They were each delicious, but very unique. After dinner we spent a while taking pictures with Rotarians, chatting, listening to music, sitting by the pool, and taking more pictures, until we finally left around 10 or 11, and headed home.

On Sunday, I got up early, and practiced Chinese until my host mom woke up. Around lunchtime, we headed to a traditional Taiwanese market. The best part was having my host mom to show me around, tell me what foods to try, and point out which stands she loyally visited every week and which to avoid. I drank juice made before my eyes out of fresh fruit, ate a few types of tofu and taro, and took a piece of mongolian bread made with green onions to eat later. We wandered around the market for a while, which was truly incredible, and really epitimized the traditional experience of living in Taiwan. This wasn’t some touristy market with lanterns and cute boutiques for show, this was a cluster of self run stands crowded together in the narrow streets, extending for blocks, filled not with foreigners trying new foods, but with Taiwanese people buying their daily groceries, their plastic slippers, their ever necessary umbrellas or fans.

After finishing our shopping, my host mom brought me to a famous xiao long bao restaurant. We ate boiled, sweet tomatoes, ribs, some long pancake wraps filled with meat and vegetables, a moon cake filled with pineapple paste and a dried, salty egg yolk, and of course, the ever delicious xiao long bao, or soup dumplings. After lunch, my host mom dropped me off at the MRT, which I took across town to meet some other exchange students. A friend of mine from Spain, Marina, Mati from Italy, and I found each other at Ximen station. From there, we tried to find a karaoke place, which was too expensive, then tried to find a movie theater. We ultimately failed, and instead spent 45 minutes going up and down an escalator through a department store. We did eat some small sweet grilled buns with custard and red bean filling on the way to the store though. These were filling, delicious, and only 15 NT (about 50 US cents). Eventually we ended up at Taipei Main Station, where we sat around for a while. There is a big mall like area with lots of small shops, which we wandered through, before sitting down amongst a group of Taiwanese teenagers working on some huge arts and crafts project. We never quite figured out what they were doing with the enormous rolls of paper laid across the floor, and they gave us strange looks, but we ended up talking there for a while and eating the mongolian bread from earlier, which was very good. After a while, we split up to go home, and I went back to Mati’s apartment with her to make noodles for dinner. Afterwards, I headed home and went to sleep.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all fairly normal school days. On Monday I went to my host mom’s class with her again, and ate some amazing noodles at the restaurant there. On Tuesday I had Chinese class. We had another quick test at the beginning of class, but it was relatively easy. After class a few of my friends and I took the MRT to Taipei Main Station, where we met up with other exchange students whose classes were at different locations. We got dumplings at a really small restaurant, and also drank rabbit rabbit tea, which is a tea from beverage chain that sells really sweet, delicious juices, teas and smoothies. We ate for a while, and then eventually had to head back to school. After class on Wednesday, I went to see a movie with a few friends of mine. I hadn’t wanted to go because I’m not too big on horror movies, but my friend Natalie, from Texas, insisted I go see “It” with her and another friend, Arnaud, a boy from Belgium. It was a decent movie, considering I only actually saw about half of it, and that I’m sure Natalie’s hand will have permanent damage from being squeezed to a pulp for over an hour. The most entertaining part was probably the subtitles. Because they don’t dub English movies here, there were Chinese subtitles throughout. They didn’t always match up exactly to the English words, especially for phrases or exclamations, so I had a great time translating some of them for my friends, especially when the discrepancies were particularly amusing. Of course, it’s impossible to translate some things directly between languages, so at certain points the subtitles simply said the thing that would be most appropriate for the situation in Chinese, even if it was totally different than what was said in English. Even though it wasn’t a Chinese movie, it was still fun to be able to have part of the Taiwanese experience of reading the subtitles while I watched, and was also a great way to practice my chinese reading in a more relaxed (ok, actually very traumatizing and not at all relaxing) environment. My friend has promised to slowly immunize me to horror movies, so we have plans to watch a few more throughout the year, including some in Chinese. I did manage to make it home alone without being eaten by any clowns, so I would call that a success on my part.

On Thursday, at the end of the school day I had French class for the first time. Originally my teacher had told me I wouldn’t be able to take a second language, but the school ultimately decided to let me audit the class. While my French vocabulary is very, very limited, it was not quite as limited as that of my most of my classmates, especially because many of them had never taken any french before, so it was a fun experience. It was very interesting to have French translated from Chinese, and I managed to have a pretty detailed conversation with my teacher in a combination of French and Chinese, which a very unique experiencing considering I was switching constantly between two very distinct languages. It gave me some kind of an understanding of how my non-English speaking friends must feel having to learn Chinese from English. We spent all of French class learning French names and practicing reading them from a list, so I had a great time circling the names of many of my French, French Canadian, or French Belgian friends, and noting down others the list had missed.

After school I took a you-bike home (this is something I’ve been doing for the past couple weeks, it only takes about ten minutes to get home, costs a lot less than taking the bus, and is very fun and easy). I then went to another class with my host mom, at a different Buddhist Institute in the city. While my host mom volunteered in the classes on Mondays, she told me this was a more advanced class, and that she was actually a student. I worked on my Chinese homework during part of the class, and practiced listening to Chinese during the rest. Sometimes a segment would be read from a book we had in front of us, so my host mom helped me to follow along in the book. Being able to connect the characters to the sounds definitely made listening easier. I really feel like I improve in my ability to listen during every class. Half way through, there was a break during which the students all went out of the classroom to eat traditional, organic Taiwanese and Japanese foods including sushi, some gummy taro snack, salty pears, guava, which I ate handful after handful of, and sweet, crispy egg roll cookies. It was fun to walk around as I ate, talking to the other students in the class. They were all very excited that I spoke some Chinese, and I had a great time talking to them and telling them about my exchange. After the break, we went back to the classroom for the second half of the lesson, then headed home. On the way back to our car we passed by a few monks, so my host mom took the opportunity to explain some of the details of the religion to me, including the responsibilities and expectations of the monks, as well as how you should act with them and around them. We finally drove home and and went to bed at 10 or 11.

On Friday I got a new schedule for school. While most of my classes are the same, a few new, fun classes had been added throughout the week such as French, art, a special culture and Chinese class for the other exchange student and I, and music class. As it happened that day I was scheduled to have two hours of music class, which I was very excited for. Before lunch, however, I had swim club. It felt amazing to finally be in a pool again, to smell the chlorine as I entered the building, and to finally jump into the water and start swimming. My classmates were all very impressed, and it was fun to swim laps with them. Some of the boys were doing races in the lane next to me, so I had fun giving them a five or ten meter head start, then pushing off and catching up to them. It definitely felt strange to be back in the water, but after a few laps I was used to it again, and it was very exciting. Unfortunately, I will only have one hour of swim club once every week, so hopefully I will find a different place and time to get some more practice in.

After nap time, I met up with the other exchange student at my school, a Canadian boy named Hayden, and we headed downstairs for English class. We were immediately welcomed by our new classmates, and the teacher was happy to let the students spend at least half an hour asking us questions and taking selfies with us. Everyone wanted to follow me on instagram, and when I followed them back, my feed was immediately filled with dozens of similar or identical selfies that had just been taken, each of them accompanied by captions welcoming us to their class. After the initial excitement, my teacher handed out ukuleles. I wasn’t at all sure what to expect from music class, but learning to tune and play a simple song on the ukulele was definitely surprising. What was even more unexpected, though, was what followed our hour of ukulele playing. The second half of the class was spent learning how to beatbox. After a few minutes of practicing this unique form of artistic expression, our teacher decided the other exchange student and I should demonstrate our immense skill in front of the class. We didn’t have much of a choice, so we went up in front of our at least 30 or 40 classmates, and completely embarrassed ourselves for a few minutes before our teacher finally decided she had seen enough to never want us to beatbox in public again. Overall, it was a great class, and also a great opportunity to practice my Chinese in a more interesting, activity based environment.

After school I met up with Natalie and Marina at the MRT station next to my school. I tried to lead them home, but ended up getting us lost when I tried to take a short cut. We stopped at a 7-Eleven to by papaya and watermelon milk and to get our bearings, then we started walking again and finally got to my apartment. We had previously really wanted to do karaoke, but found it to be too expensive at the regular places, so instead reserved it in the room on the first floor of my building. My host mom had told me there would be some english songs, but we couldn’t find any apart from jingle bells and happy birthday, which were both actually only half in English and half in Chinese. Still, we had fun trying to sing the Chinese characters we could read/making up the words as we went. We also found gangnam style, which we went through a few times because we could actually read it, and were very familiar with the chorus. After about an hour, my host mom got back, and we ate a small snack with her, then headed to the night market. We weren’t too hungry, so we spent most of our time wandering through the tiny clothes shops and looking at the snacks and desserts available on the streets. After eating some small sesame balls, and wandering around for a while, my friends left for home, and I started walking back. Because I couldn’t find the bus stop, I decided to walk to my usual MRT station, and take a bus from there. It ended up being a very pleasant, half hour walk in the dark and among the lights of the city. I arrived at my apartment just on time, then watched a movie in Chinese with my host mom for a few hours before going to sleep.

I had been wanting to go to an area called Danshui, or Tamsui, for a while, and my host mom also recommended it as a great place to explore, so I invited a big group of my friends to meet up on Saturday and go together. We found each other at an MRT station on the way, then headed to the end of the red line for tamsui. There were about 16 of us in total, all of us pretty good friends who had hung out before. We arrived in Tamsui, and walked through the crowded markets for almost an hour. We bought bubble tea, went into the small clothing shops, and considering the many interesting food options. Later we took a boat to a small island called Bali. The whole island is a single forested mountain, with markets and beaches ringing its base. We walked along the beach (not exactly pristine white sand but it was still nice to watch the tiny waves lapping the rocky shore). We bought watermelon juice, noodles, and a bag of tiny snails which had to be sucked out of their shells. As you did so, their salty juice would run down your fingers and had to be licked from your hands. It was definitely worth it because they were delicious, and my friend Arnaud and I ate one after another, but still didn’t manage to finish the huge bag. There was also a tiny road that wound around the island, and could only be used by these small pedal carts available for rental. We thought about getting one, but decided against it because it was pretty expensive. We actually ran into the host family of one of my friends who was with us using one of the pedal carts. It was very random to see them there, since they also live in the city, but it was fun because the had three small children who were all very excited to see us.

After a while on the island, we took the boat back to Tamsui, where we wandered the markets for a while longer, took pictures on a staircase covered with bright, colorful murals, and ate matcha and mango ice cream that reached over a foot into the sky. We got back on the MRT, and most of our friends stayed on to head home, but a few of my friends and I got off after a few stops to go to Shilin night market. We bought more bubble tea there, as well as the sweet, filled bread buns. The night markets are definitely one of the most enjoyable, interesting characteristics of Taipei, and there are many throughout the city, each unique and specializing in different foods or goods. I’ve been to three of the biggest, but it’s fun to try a new one every week. The food there is cheap, traditional, and usually of good quality, so it is definitely an essential Taiwan experience. We wandered around around some nearby temples and streets with interesting stores until dark, then headed home.

On Sunday I hadn’t made any plans, and was really hoping to be able to spend the day with my host mom. She originally told me she would stay home during the day, but I’m very glad I asked her again if we could do some activity together, because she offered to take me to lunch, then up the tallest mountain in Taipei, Yangmingshan, where my orientation was held. We went out to hotpot at a very traditional restaurant. It was a great experience, but took me at least two hours to finish because of the vast quantity of food. After finally leaving, and making a quick stop at the apartment, we drove to Yangming Shan. As soon as we got to the bottom of the mountain, we got stuck in a huge traffic jam, which is apparently constant at that location and time of day. The view the whole way up was still beautiful though, and when we did finally make it to the top, it was definitely worth the wait. We climbed, or rather raced, a few kilometers up to one of the peaks to make it in time for the sunset. The sun, a huge, bright red disk in the sky, was just disappearing as we made it to the top. Below us we could see Tamsui in one direction, and in the other, miles and miles of green hills and mountains. On the hike up and down, we saw herds of huge, ox-like cows the size of cars with long, sharp horns, which sat placidly among picnickers and hikers alike. My host mom encouraged me to go up and pet them, so I did, and they were very gentle and had no problem with me sitting next to them. There were a few young ones, but we saw one particularly tiny baby sleeping next to its mother, and then drinking her milk, which my host mom said was the smallest cow she’d ever seen out in the open on this mountain. It was completely adorable, and a once in a lifetime experience to be able to stand only feet away from the tiny calf.

While I was on the mountain, I started thinking about how amazing my weekend had been, how many unique, absolutely incredible experiences I have every day, how many completely new routines I have already grown accustomed to in my everyday life. While I had been ridiculously excited about my exchange for over a year, and while there are certainly times it’s been difficult, I think up on that mountain was the first time I truly understood, not from the mouth of some rebound, but for myself, how unique and once in a lifetime being on exchange is. I’ve talked to many people who said they could never do an exchange in high school because they wouldn’t want to be away from home for that long, and of course that’s part of the challenge. But if you manage to push past that, the payoff is unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced. Before coming, I certainly thought going on exchange was something unique that everyone should get to experience, but being here I finally understand how amazing it is that I have this opportunity, and would strongly encourage, even push, any student who has the chance to take a year on exchange during or after high school. Anything you might miss back home doesn’t even compare to the depth and uniqueness of the experience you would have abroad. I’ve been here less than a month, and I’m sure I will learn so much in the coming year, but I’ve already grown incredibly as a global citizen, a friend, and an individual, independent person.

After driving a few minutes down the mountain, we stopped again at some hot springs. While there are bigger, fancier hot spring hotels in a town nearby, this was just a small establishment where you could sit on a bench in front of the building and soak your feet. We stayed there, relaxing in the darkness, for at least an hour, and then finally headed home, making a quick stop for dinner - takeout at a famous traditional restaurant - on the way.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were pretty typical school days. On Tuesday, after returning to school from Chinese class, I had a special class for two hours with the other exchange student and four student teachers. Only one of them was an English teacher, and the others couldn’t speak much English, so I ended up translating between the Canadian exchange student and the teachers. It was a great feeling to be needed for my limited, but sufficient, Chinese abilities, and to know that my study and practice was coming to use in allowing two people from other countries to communicate more easily. The teachers told us that they would practice Chinese with us, and also take us to do lots of cultural activities throughout the year. Other than that, the week so far has been relatively uneventful.

A couple other notes I feel are worth making are: 1) the (almost) typhoon and 2) squatty potties. First, the typhoon. There was supposed to be a huge typhoon in Taipei last Wednesday and Thursday. Many of the exchange students were nervous, but as typhoons are a pretty common occurrence in the small island country of Taiwan, I was much more excited than nervous, especially because we wouldn’t be allowed to go outside, and would end up stranded in our aparments for at least a day. The rain did start, and got pretty intense on Wednesday morning, but died off later in the day, and we learned that the storm had changed directions.

Squatty potties, as they are often fondly called by foreigners, are basically troughs in the ground where a toilet would be. Most of the exchange students are irrationally terrified of these, and will not use the bathroom at all at school to avoid the risk of encountering this challenge. Usually some regular toilets are available, but these can be few and far between, and are usually in use. I realized almost as soon as school started that I would have to get use to the unique toilets, and, while they aren’t my favorite, I don’t think the problem many exchange students have with them is merited. Another strange thing about bathrooms: you have to take your own toilet paper. This is also common in some other countries, such as in South America, but it certainly takes some getting used to. Toilet paper can be bought in stacks of individual pieces like tissue paper, that can be pulled from their plastic, box shaped wrapping one at a time. Especially at school, where there is really no other toilet paper available, it can be hard to remember to bring your own every time, and it’s certainly awkward when you walk all the way to the bathroom and into a stall, before remembering your toilet paper, and having to walk all the way back to class to get it.

Please comment if you have any other questions, I’d be happy to share more!

Hotpot I ate with some exchange a cougar at the zoo rhinos at the zoo
students at a night market a
few weeks ago

a camel, you can't see too well some kind of antelope a huge matcha and mango
but some people were reaching ice cream cone, after I had eaten a
through the fence to scratch it few inches off the top

The island of bali from our boat on the ride over a bunch of my exchange students friends in a
temple in Tamsui

a few of my friends on a really beautifully painted exchange students at the Bali sign
staircase in Tamsui. From left to right: Maria from
Canada, me, Marina from Spain, Laura from Austria,
and Mati from Italy