小米

Yesterday, I joined my Rotary club for lunch at a new Italian restaurant. My lovely little friend 小米 (the ten year old girl I always hangout with) was also there, and as always we had fun exploring the area and eating all the food we could. There were different types of pizza, pasta and rice dishes. The men of rotary had already begun drinking when we got there, not to mention it what only 12pm. My favourite dish, as usual, was Hawaiian pizza. It has also been raining like crazy the last 4 days due to a huge storm over the island that came from the Philippines. I love rain so I don't mind, but everyone else has been running around like crazy trying to stay out of it. At the restaurant, there was a overpass me and 小米 walked back and forth over, trying not to slip in all the rain water and we found a cool elevator on the other side. It led us to see some interesting things in the area. After lunch I joined her to go to her house and hangout for a few hours. We played with some of her toys and she helped me ride on a skateboard like thing. She also has an adorable dog and I was in much need of some puppy love. The dog is usually not allowed inside but an exception was made because I was over for a visit. I think the dog loved me almost as much as I loved it. Its name is "ballball" but in Chinese so its "chocho" I was also given a gorgeous bracelet by her mother, its beaded and green, I love it. I have a lot of fun and when it was time to head home, chocho even came for the car ride. At one point we all squeezed into the very back because we both wanted to sit with the dog.
Sister, Adele and I then took a taxi to Ama and Agongs house for dinner with the family and then a taxi back as well. Taxis are very easy here and quick, cheap compared to Canada as well. Still more money than needed to spent on transportation though. Buses here, one way, are less than $1 Canadian. Although, I don't have the regular income here like I did in Canada. No job. I do miss the money and the easy jobs to get it actually. Didn't think I'd be missing it so soon but a decent regular income is very nice and not having it sucks.
Today, I tried to get ingredients to make poutine.. but no where has cheese curds, or gravy packets. I was frustrated with that and other things so I didn't end up making poutine today. Kind of ironic because poutine is so simple to make but maybe next time. 
Sadly, a friend of mine is being sent home and I have had barely any time to hangout with him. Tonight I briefly went to dinner as an early birthday even for him because he will be gone by his birthday. Very short notice on when his plane is, makes it even more sad because now I only have a day left to hangout with him. Not only that but reason for him leaving is also a little too... I don't know, silly? I had hoped to have more time to see him soon but I now can't. I love going to rotary events and everything but now I regret not spending more time with my fellow inbounds. I hope to see him maybe sometime in the future. Tomorrow, I will hopefully be able to say goodbye before he leaves on Tuesday.

Longgg Weekend

Last Saturday, 爸爸, 妹妹 and I went to National Palace Museum. I learn a lot about Chinese and Taiwanese history thanks to everything being translated into English. I read a lot about different kinds of Jade and there was an interesting map of where real Jade comes from in the entire world, BC Canada was one of those on the map. I saw a lot of Jewellery and artifacts made out of Jade and they were very beautiful. Some pieces were carved into tube like shapes and carved hollow with tiny holes around the outside to see inside. I thought those were very gorgeous and would be very difficult to make. I also read a lot about Tibet which I have a little bit of an obsession with, there was a lot about Tibetan Buddhism and how it effected many other places in the world. I enjoy learning about Tibet very much. I also like seeing the ancient Chinese characters. They are very interesting and seeing how they evolved to current characters is very cool. We saw a more modern part of the Museum with art that has to do with modern day technology.Most of it looked like things from the movie Avatar. It had a very gorgeous piece with a peacock and lights for the tail making look like it moves and changing its colours. We saw the most famous artifact, a jade cabbage with a grasshopper ontop. People were crazy over it. I also saw a gorgeous painting of a peacock and 爸爸 bought me a print of it from the gift store later on. He also helped send a very pretty post card to my house back in Canada for my family there. It had a colourful print of what the building of the museum looked like from the outside so they can get an idea of where I was. We then walked fifteen minutes after to go back to the car. 爸爸 and I, after dropping 妹妹 at home went to another BBQ with my rotary club and some of their kids. I met a University student who was very helpful with Chinese and still messages me in Chinese for practice. Sadly he lives in Taipei and not Taoyuan but I will hangout with him and ask about more Chinese eventually. 

Sunday, I was brought to Taipei with two friends Ghabriel and Paloma by Ghabriels host family. We had lunch at a restaurant that was passed down through the owners family and it used to use strictly Canadian beef, I took a photo of the old poster they had about Canadian beef. I had a delicious chicken dish and a bowl of my favourite corn soup with a pastry bread on top. I'll have to remember where the restaurant is. Later, Ghabriels host mom was off to her art class and we went with his dad to Ximen Ding, a big shopping center in Taipei. We saw a store we called heaven because is was up a small staircase into a room full of stuffed animals and cartoon characters. Every stuffy you could ever want. Of every size. From bigger than me to smaller than my hand, it was awesome! We also saw a store that has all natural essential oils, I smelled them and said "Guys come here, smell this, it smell exactly like Canada." After reading the bottle I realized they were all essential oils from different types of trees in Canada. They had a Canadian flag and said "Made in Canada." Well, I sure know what Canadas woods smell like. It was a great day and We didn't get back to Taoyuan until around 10pm.
Beatrice, a Brazilian girl, and myself went out and about around the Art center near our houses and wondered for a few hours until making it to a cute bubble tea shop. We bought two pieces of cake to share because we are determined to find somewhere that sells cake up to our sweetness standards. We were then given two free bubble milk tea drinks just because the staff was super nice. They all came out one by one to add us on facebook. I got talking with one of them and he said his English was poor so we messaged in Chinese instead. Although, sometimes I have to use my translator apps when they text characters I havent yet seen. I explained that we are exchange students studying Chinese so its helpful to practice anyway. I then dragged Bia to a BBQ at my rotary counsellors house which ended up being very fun with Laura, my counsellors daughter and university student who helped me get information on her school, and her friends. We played fun card games and got along very well. We stayed quite late until all the other rotarians had left and we headed home while trying to plan out a hectic next day in Taipei. 

The plan worked on the way there and we successfully found our fellow exchange students that were already in Taipei. for the first few hours it was lovely and super fun but then with such a big group, some arguments are inevitable. Next time I will only go with a certain amount of people but it was fun anyway. We even met a lot of students from other districts. Our districts old second half, 3501, because we are 3502 but last year it was one district 3500 but changed because it was too big. Also some students from Taipei district. On the way home was when we got a little lost because a couple people thought a bus to Taoyuan picked up the train station we were at but they were wrong and we ended up going the same way Bia and I got to Taipei, which I said to do from the start but we were 30min later than my curfew but 爸爸 had assumed from the start that I would be a little late, which we wouldn't have been without the confusion. Over all it was a good day but could have been a lot less stressful and I know now that too many people isn't a good idea. Also, approving the plan with the group you go with a day or two before is a good idea. Although, everyone seems to not like planning things out as I do.
Yesterday, Wednesday was back to school after a long weekend due to Taiwans' birthday which was Tuesday. I was very tired so I didn't do much other than study and rest a bit. We went to Ama and Agongs (grandparents) house for dinner and had a delicious meal, as always and tried custard mooncakes that 媽媽 (mom) brought back from Hong Kong. Custard mooncakes and icecream mooncakes are the only kinds I like, I think. Mooncakes are made around the Mid Autumn Festival, another name is Moon Festival, which was last Wednesday. Everyone says it gets cold after this festival but its still hot to me. Today it is raining fairly hard so it is much cooler than most days but it is still 26 degrees celsius. I like rainy days. Also, Ama and Agong got an adorable picture framed plaque from the mayor for being married for 50 years. They are so cute. We still can't communicate all that well but they are such lovely people. I am very lucky to have the family I was placed in.
媽媽 today gave me beautiful gifts from Hong Kong, a gorgeous dress and T shirt, as well as a cute Peppe Pig bag and different types of pocky. Matcha, Banana and mango! Everyone knows I lovee mango. So much better here than in Canada. I am so grateful, as my little thoughts for thanksgiving, I am thankful for my amazing Taiwanese family and all they do for me.

Feelings

Life in Taiwan is great and I love learning Mandarin. Although, being in classes with others is sometimes frustrating, even though they are all wonderful people, I wish I could have private lessons where I got more done, but right now teaching myself is the most efficient method. My 爸爸 (baba, host dad) is very keen on teaching me but sometimes thats a little too frustrating and I don't want that to take away from father daughter relationship so I would prefer learning from someone else as a private tutor. I don't want to offend him but I think it'd be easier to learn from somebody else and have him as only a father figure. That being said I do want there to me more Mandarin spoken to me in the home, in daily conversation rather than lessons, but after multiple conversations about this it still isn't really happening. I understand that speaking English is easy because its a common language everyone in my home knows and benefitial for them to learn more but I think progress would be faster if it was more Mandarin as well because that is my goal for the year. Not to be a teacher of my own language but teaching English is everywhere, at school, at home, out with friends, always. Makes me even more sure I never want to become a teacher. A professor, possibly after a long successful career but teacher, no thank you. 
I also hoped I'd be travelling around often but I shouldn't have had any expectations because that is not what's happening, I have only been outside of my city twice, and each time I had a lot of fun because that is what I love doing, road trips and travelling around, seeing things I couldn't in my own city. Although I have not explored all of my city yet, I've only been to the same places again and again which I enjoy but I will have many chances to do that, where as outside of my city I won't have as many opportunities to travel to and want to see as much as possible. I hope in the future I will be able to explore the Island a lot more and see more than just my city because as beautiful as it is, there isn't much to do from what I've seen. No wildlife either which I would love to see whatever wild life they do have here. I want to do many things but everything costs money which I sadly do not have a bunch of extra money to spend.
Sometimes, I feel like I want to go out with my fellow inbounds more often because I don't get the chance to but most of the time I just wanna have a few hours to rest because that doesn't happen too often. Every time I have enough energy though, my family always has plans and I love spending time with them so I would always choose that over going out with friends whether I have the choice or not. I'm also a little unclear of what I'm actually allowed doing because when we talk about it, I'm not allowed doing much but when I ask to go out (which has only been twice) its a yes but there's also the problem of things not being planned well which bothers me the most. I like having a plan and knowing what we're doing before its happening but no one ever actually has a plan so I am a little uncomfortable with that myself and usually end up staying home instead.
Anyway, I should get back to studying and hopefully make some more improvement instead of sitting here typing away my time. Have a lovely day (or night.)

Water fall and Shark fin soup

At school I've joined a photography club, so every two weeks we meet for two hours and learn about photography. Most of what they are learning I learnt a couple years back in my film photography class, but it is still fun and hopefully I will learn some of the vocab in Chinese. I'm also hoping to get closer with my schoolmates by being in a club as well. This Friday we used some chemicals which I'm unsure the names of to paint onto picture paper and then laid our negatives on top, I'm not completely sure whether it stays as a negative or not but I am excited to see the result at the next club meeting. I got involved in this because a classmate is one of the leaders of the club and for the first meeting he even translated some things into English. I appreciated it very much because I understood the basic idea of what they were saying due to my previous photography knowledge. I'm enjoying this club very much considering I rarely understand what's happening.
Yesterday I went to another awesome BBQ with my Rotary club, although this time was a little more put together. There were people hired to BBQ our food and a stage for karaoke that afterwards turned into a truck, like a real life transformer. My Rotary club has so much fun singing and dancing with karaoke though, my club president has the funnsst time. Everyone gets a little bit (some more than a little bit) intoxicated as well. I am always offered beer, at least twice a day, but as usual I always say no. It is always very interesting. It was also further into the mountains and we actually got confused trying to find it at first. There was an adorable garden and fish ponds as well. I always have fun with the younger Rotary children as well, although I think a little ten year old boy might have a crush. He didn't want to go home by the end. His father was shocked when I told him that he speaks English to me. He is quite good at English though. Afterwards my little pal, the ten year old girl came over for another sleep over.
 In the morning, we woke up early to head into the mountains where a member of my Rotary club has a very nice restaurant. Many people tried to walk in although it wasn't officially open yet. We ate many good meals including something I never thought I would try and the first time that I have been shocked by food here. Shark fin soup. It was very tasty although I do feel bad for every shark this has ever happened to because most times the fisherman will cut off the fin and let the shark just die and sink to the bottom of the ocean. Again, the first time I've been this put off by any food and especially because I liked it so much. I'll most likely not get the chance to have it again though, and I'm not sure I'd ever order it myself either way. After all our lovely dishes my sister and I went on a little stroll down to a famous waterfall that was so beautiful I couldn't stop taking photos of it. I was stopped by many people to take photos with them and was pleased by the pretty background. I also saw a gorgeous wish tree which I have always wanted to see, they have ribbons with writing of peoples desires that are tied to the trees. We had to walk over a wobbly bridge to get to the pretty place and the bridge messed with my balance a bit. It was another very fun weekend with the family and my Rotary club.