Country Fair

Hey again. It's really been a while since I've written anything here. Things are starting to get busy again. But people have been asking me about the Country Fair, so I decided I'd tell everyone at once instead of repeating it way too many times.

So, I had to get up at 5:00 last Sunday to get ready and pack all my Canadian stuff, then my host dad gave me a ride to the MRT station so I'd be on time. I met Mariah (from Alberta) and we waited for the train, figuring out that the MRT doesn't start until 6:00. We got to Zhonglun High Schoo at 6:45 ish, we weresupposed to be there by 7:00, but most people were already there. We called Kevin and Chris (both from BC) ahead of time to get them to check our igloo because they live closer to Zhonglun than we do. They hadn't by the time we got there because all the doors to the basement were locked.

While Mariah, Kevin and Chris pounded on a door, I walked around and found an open door. The igloo was fine, so I found the door they were pounding on and told them to take the elevator down. We managed to get the igloo up with minimal damage. We set it up and the Americans promptly sprinkled it with red, white and blue balloons that said USA on them. We popped them all and I stealthily stuck a Canada sticker to their table.

The actual fair started at 9:00. But people were there before then. It was hard figuring out what to say about Canada, yeah, we have snow and hockey, but I couldn't really think of anything else, let alone say it in Chinese. But Mariah helped me out and started talking about Inuits and Canadian culture. The people at the fair were the outbounds for district 3480 and they were deciding which country to go to. I actually spent about 20 minutes talking to a guy whose first choice was Canada. But most people just came by to ask us to stamp their paper (they all had these papers they had to get stamped by evry country) then left for the American table which was right beside ours. But don't worry, we had a bench as a border and the Americans needed a passport to get through. My host parents and sister came by and checked out the Canadian table to be polite then spent about 1/2 an hour at the American table. My host dad told all the inbounds he was Jasmine's host dad, which they told me later on. I'm not sure, but I think my host sister is interested in going on exchange, but she's not too crazy about Canada. She laughs when I walk outside in a t-shirt and she wears a winter jacket. One of the Americans made a weirdness scale. Low is weird, then crazy is above that then over crazy is Canadian. She thinks I'm even over Canadian.

Anyway, by 1:00, everyone was exhausted. But we still had 3 hours to go. So we satisfied ourselved by playing Uno and other card games. I tried to teach them President, but they thought I was cheating with all the rules I kept throwing at them. Also, the French guy and German girl that live on the Kinmen islands came to the mainland for the Fair. We haven't seen them since August, so it was good seeing them again. Most people think they shouldn't live on the island and have their own list of inbounds they'd rather lived on the islands. I won't repeat it here unless some inbounds find it. Still, the people on the islands learn a lot more Chinese because not a lot of people there speak English.

Anyway, my friend Yu-En from church came around the end while everyone as practically asleep because of the early morning and long day. Still, it was nice to see her and she got to meet some of the other exchange students.

At 4:30, we were finally allowed to go home. Some people wanted to see a movie, but I just wanted to go home, shower and sleep. I actually ended up staying awake for a lot longer then went to bed. It was a fun day, but very long! They assured us the next country fair in April will be a lot smaller. It's supposed to be at Taipei Grand Hotel, which is apparently the fanciest hotel in Taiwan. So I'm thinking the styrofoam igloo woud be out of the question. We also had a cardboard inukshuk covered with tinfoil named Inukshuk Hank. But the Americans squished him at the end of the day.

On Wednesday at Culture class the rotarians announced the winners. We didn't know we were competing. Canada got second place. Germany got first and USA got 3rd. I don't know if that was the number of people interested in going to our countries or how our tables looked. Anyway, we all got shirts with a map of Taiwan on them and the Germans got water bottles in addition to that.

I'm also kind of frustrated because last week at Culture class I was wearing my hoodie and I put my MRT card into the kangaroo pocket because I didn't feel like digging my wallet out of my backpack. Despite the number of times my real Mom and Dad have told me that cards should go into my wallet or I'll lose them. After some Taekwondo, then rolling around on the ground building an igloo, I realized my card was gone. Mariah asked what I was looking for then told me Joe (the guy in charge of YEP inbounds) had my card. On Sunday, I expected he'd have it because he normally carried stuff we leave behind with him. But when I asked him, he told me he left it in his other bag. I thought only girls had more than one bag. He promised he'd bring it on Wednesday. In the meantime, I had to use change to get around on the busses and MRT. I used most of my NT$4000 allowance on Christmas gifts and NT$1000 of it went to my MRT card. My host mom gives me NT$700 a week for lunches and dinner when I can't come home for dinner. Most of that went to the bus, so I was really glad when Wednesday came because I was pretty much out of change and money. But Joe forgot to bring it! I was so mad, but I guess this is my own fault for being foolish with my card. I'll always do whatever Mom and Dad tell me. So, I've resorted to using Canadian change I found in my suitcases for the bus. It's NT$12 to ride the bus and the $10 coin looks a lot like a quarter, but a bit bigger and the $1 coin looks like a penny, except in Chinese. So I have to be sneaky when I put my change in the box for the bus, so far no one's noticed. The MRT is trickier. I have to use actual Taiwanese currency for that. I'm down to NT$60, which is enough to get me to church and back on Sunday. I guess I won't be going anywhere this weekend.

I got my first Christmas package from home yesterday! It was from Miranda and itwas kind of shock. It feels nothing like Christmas here. It was sort of cold last week, meaning below 20 degrees. This week it's been rising again slowly. It was 25 today. Still, I can't believe it's almost Christmas. It's still summer to me, despite everyone telling me I'm crazy for still wearing shorts and t-shirts. I was listening to some Christmas music this afternoon (Arrogant Worms and Christmas X, classics!) and for a moment, it felt like Christmas, but then I look outside and it's gone. I guess Christmas will be easier for me than some of the other outbounds from 7010 (my sponser district in Canada) because Taiwan is one of the few countries that doesn't celebrate Chritsmas. I was talking to some of them and they're having a tough time dealing with it, even though it's still a month off.

Anyway, I'm doing fine! Believe it or not, I'm actualy losing weight, which makes no sense. But I guess I've been laying off the bubble tea which is so bad for you! Still, then I can eat some Christmas treats when they arrive!

Hope it snows soon back home!

Styrofoam Igloo Construction

So, as I mentioned before, me and the other Canadians here in Taiwan (Mariah from Alberta and Kevin and Chris from BC) are planning our table for the Inbound Country Fair this Sunday. We orginally wanted to hijack the zamboni from Taipei Arena and build an igloo, but we only decided to do one: the igloo. Since we can't make one out of ice because it'll melt, we decided to go with styrofoam. I was put in charge of gathering styrofoam.

At first, it was really hard because I had no idea where the heck I was supposed to find styrofoam in Taiwan. I asked my teachers at school and they directed me to this totally bogus place. I was about to ask my host mom last Saturday when my cell phone rang. It was Ju, from Brazil. She wanted me to come to her school's aniversary party. SO I ended up asking my host mom if I could go there instead. I was allowed, so I went. It took about an hour by MRT to get there. Anyway, it was kind of like a Fun Fair. There were activities and entertainment and classes were selling food and stuff. Ju's class was selling ice cream and soft drinks with dry ice cubes, it was so cool! It looked like the drink was billowing steam, but it was so cold! But they had the ice cream in styrofoam containers! I asked if I could have them and they kind of looked at me strange then asked me why I wanted it. I explained and they laughed and let me have it only if I promised to send them pictures.

You wouldn't believe some of the looks I got on the MRT as I was going home with my arms piled high with styrofoam. My host mom's face was priceless when I walked in the door. But, like Ju's classmates, she laughed once I'd explained myself.

Yesterday, i brought it back on the bus and MRT to Culture Class. Mariah, Kevin and I stayed after class to build the igloo. Chris went ice skating with his host brother, so we were all jealous. But we bought all kinds of junk food and had a great time anyway. I also purchased an exacto knife at 711 to cut up the styrofoam boxes. I knew I was going to get injured sometime duing the evening. It went well while I cut up all 5 boxes. Then I started making them a little more straighter and Kevin told me to cut towards my friend and not my thumb, but I didn't hear him, so I looked up and the knife slipped and now I have this huge gash on my finger. The same one with the scar from camping last year. It hasn't stopped bleeding yet, so I'm a little freaked out. Mariah had a complete 'Dad' moment and was all, 'the igloo! The igloo! Don't get any blood on the igloo!' Luckily, I had some Spiderman band-aids in my bag, so I was able to clean it out and put one on once the bleeding had slowed down. If yoou look at my profile picture on facebook, you can see it.

After that, we were fine. But Kevin did all the cutting from then on. My host mom still hasn't said anything about my hand. I think she's used to me coming home with band-aids on.

It's still not quite finished. We're ging to be at Zhonglun High School early on Sunday so we can put the last touched on it. It's going to be so cool! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. I can't wait!

What people REALLY think of Canada

So, I was in Chinese class yesterday and this guy named Cory from Oregon comes up to me and starts talking. Now, Cory's cool, so we talked for a while, then he brought up Canada and how no one has any idea what Canadians do. I guess it's true that no one every hears anything about Canada. Now terrorists bomb Canada and nobody has a grudge against us. I told him we build igloos and ice fish.

Then he started telling em about this Japanese TV show where all the countries are represented in manga by a single person. So each country is summed up by one person. Like Italy eats pasta and plays soccer all day, England has these bushy eyebrows, Germany has blonde hair, blue eyes and is extremely ripped and US always puts himself in charge and makes all the other countries work hard so he can be the hero. I asked about Canada, and he showed me this video:

http://www.animefreak.tv/watch/hetalia-axis-powers-episode-19-online

The first thing I said was 'Wait, if you want English subtitles, you have to click the USA flag?' I would rather have watched it in French. I mean, doesn't ENGLish come from ENGLand? Anyway, Canada only made a brief appearence, I'll let you watch for yourself. And Cory testified that No one in the States really pays attention to Canada. We're just kind of... there. I could have punched him, but he's just an American, he doesn't know any better.

Anyway, sorry I can't really remember all that's happened this past week. It's all a blur. It's ridiculous how fast time's going. I'm slowly wearing the Americans down. They make fun of Canada a lot, but there's so much more dumb things to say about the USA, so I'm covered for a while.

Garbage and Recycling and Stalkers

There’s also a very different system here for waste disposal and recycling. Both are very interesting. The garbage trucks here are much smaller and more abundant than the ones back home. Unlike the lone huge one in Peterborough. There can’t be more then one of them at the rate it takes them to everyone’s garbages. Anyway the ones here sing. Very loudly. It’s a different tune wherever you go. In my city, it’s Fur Elise. Which, you know, kind of cool when I first got here. Then it drove me dangerously close to insanity. Because there are a lot of them and sometimes you get a fugue going, which likewise is pretty cool at first, but then five minutes later when it’s still going, all you want to do is jump out the window. The first time I actually saw one of these babies, I was shocked at how small it was. Then I was scared for two reasons: one, it was way too loud up close and I was scared I’d lose my hearing and two, it wouldn’t stop and almost ran me over. They do stop though. Well, more like slow down. Then people have to bring their garbage to it if they want to get rid of it. It’s more like a bus for garbage. If you miss it, you have to wait for the next one. I also had a near death experience with one of these again when I was walking home from the MRT (Mass Rapid Transportation) and I have to walk through a labyrinth of alleys to get home. One fo the Americans decided to stalk me on my way home because we both get off at the same MRT station and I just read my play to the class and then he wanted to know where I lived. Which is kind of creepy, considering he’s from Pennsylvania. But everything turned out okay because I made a lot of confusing tuns and lost him. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow if he ever made it home. So I entered the first alley and heard a garbage truck. Whatever, it’s probably on one of the main roads. No. I was almost out when I saw the flashing lights nd it appeared out of nowhere like Jareth or the Pit of Eternal Stench, more accurately. And it cut me off and then, of course, this time it decides to stop and when I tried to go around, it started moving again and almost ran me over. The person driving it must have gone blind with the excessive noise. I eventually got away and arrived home with my life.

Recycling’s a lot more fun! Once a week, my host mom asks me to help her bring the recycling down to the basement of the apartment building where we sort it. The basement is also the underground parking lot so whenever a car comes in, red lights start flashing and sirens go. I have no idea why. I think it’s to warn anyone that might be walking around that there’s a car coming, or worse, a scooter. Because, in the words of Elf, ‘The yellow ones don’t stop.’ Well, in this case it’s the little ones that don’t stop. But the yellow ones don’t stop either. People actually cross the street if scooters are coming but no cars are because the scooters can swerve around you. And you have to watch out when you’re getting off a bus because there’s a whole 1 ½ feet of space between the bus and the sidewalk and scooters will take advantage of it. That was pretty scary the first time that happened to me.

Anyway, so it’s always fun when the alarms go off because it makes me feel like a secret agent sneaking into a top secret basement and I have to leave evidence that I was never there, someone else was and I have to sort the recycling quick, then get out of there before someone sees me. I think I creep my host mom out a bit when I started ducking around corners and inching myself along the walls. She was probably wondering what the heck she thought she was getting into when she allowed her son to go to Florida for the year. I also have to walk behind her when we walk through the market because there’s so many people and scooters and cars and trucks. It makes me feel like a duckling like I did when I used to go shopping with my real mom and sisters. And Kara, the small one’s always at the back, not the front! Oh well, I guess you only have to move back one spot because you’re taller then Chelsea now. Anyway, I felt like quacking one day, so I did. We were walking past the chickens at the time, so I don’t think my host mom noticed it was me. If she did, the thoughts going through her mind were probably something like, ‘only three months until I get to host the nice, normal Hungarian girl.’ Sure, they named a very vicious dragon after her country, but she can’t be much weirder than this crazy Canadian.

There’s also these really tiny ant-like things in my house. They’re everywhere! In my room, the kitchen, the bathroom. At first, I didn’t mind because they weren’t hurting anybody. But then I realize they bite. And the bite is about 100 times the size of their bodies and itch so bad! So now I don’t take food into my room. I thought they left with the first ‘frost’ which was last week when the temperature went below 20 degrees, but no, it’s above 20 again and they’re still here. And it’s not supposed to go below 20 again for a while.

The plans for the country fair are going okay. It’s on November 22 and every country gets their own table and NT$500 to spend. Except the Americans who get 2 tables and NT$1000 because there’s so many of them. But there’s only 4 Canadians, we’re the 4th most represented country here, Americans being first, then the French then the Germans. Then there’s 1 person from every other country. Anyway, the last time we met, it was just me and the 2 guys, both from BC, who suggested we hijack the zamboni from Taipei Arena and build an igloo out of styrofoam. Now, I’m all for that, they’d let us have the zamboni because we’re Canadian, but where would be find enough styrofoam for an igloo? And even if we did, would we stay in budget? There’s a Costco in Neihu, we’ll have to make a field trip. I have yet to see the Costco, but I guess I don’t have a membership.

Anyway, I think I’ve ranted enough. I’m just killing time until it’s late enough to go to bed. If you guys have any suggestions for the country fair, let me know! Also, the peanut butter here is really expensive and it’s too sweet, like the peanut butter in Reese’s Pieces. Yet, the label says it’s from Canada. I miss Skippy. I actually said this out loud and the Americans started laughing at me. Also, let me know if you know of anywhere in Taiwan where I can find excessive amounts of styrofoam. This could be fun!

Band

I just realized I haven’t given you my rant about band yet. Actually, I just came back from one of the worst practices. So it’ll be worse than it actually is. Band is on Fridays after school at 6:00. I have volleyball from 5:00-6:00, so I have about 0 minutes to quickly grab dinner, eat it and get down to band. But it doesn’t matter anyway, because we never start on time. Tonight we started at 6:30. The first thing we always do is tune. This should only take about 5 minutes to tune each instrument because there are so few of us, then maybe another 3 minutes to do a chorale or something. But no. It took 45 minutes to tune tonight. It’s usually half an hour on normal nights. We tune each instrument, then spend like 15 minutes playing concert B flat in the various different ways that you can play a concert B flat. Section by section, tubas start, then add baritone, trombone, trumpets, saxes, clarinets and flutes. And then we add person by person, so the tubas are usually very lightheaded by the time the teacher is satisfied by the way we sound.

Our band consists of 2 tubas, 1 baritone, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, 2 tenor saxes, 2 clarinets, 4 flutes and 7 drummers. So we’re pretty small. Tonight, I had someone sitting behind me who was just learning to play the tenor sax. For those who aren’t in band, that basically means it sounded like the devil was sitting behind me. During those 45 minutes we spent tuning, she could not get her instrument to pitch properly, and in the words of Mr Bailey, it was exactly like the sound you expect to hear at the gates of hell. And it was loud and she was directly behind me, so it was torture. Eventually, the director just told her to stop and go outside to practice on her own.

By the time we were ready to actually play a song, it was 7:15. Band goes for 3 hours straight and we don’t get a break unless the teacher’s cell phone rings and considering he’s a Biology teacher, that does not happen often. About as often as Mr Heyes’s cell phone rang in class. Never. I leave at 8:00 because I’m dead by then. Tonight we played Titanic for almost an hour. The teacher kept asking me if I understood what he was saying, and I did. I know my numbers and my musical terminology in Chinese. It was the other musicians I was worried about. I thought I was the foreigner who has a hard time understanding Chinese. I wondered if they knew how to count and if they knew the difference between a quarter note and an eighth note. At the beginning of the song, the tenor sax has a solo type thing which is 2 eighth notes followed by 3 quarter notes and a whole note. Not very hard if you ask me. We spent almost 20 minutes on those 6 notes alone because she could just not get it. NEEDLES IN MY EYES!!

At 8:00, we had 10 bars to go. I figured it wouldn’t take very long because people either had whole notes or a part we already went over about a million times just 10 minutes before, so I figured we should be done in no time. Ten minutes later, I was still sitting there. This time, the trumpets could not figure out how to play the part we played now 20 minutes ago. I think I hate band here. I want to quit, but I also want a t-shirt. Everyone else has a t-shirt. Whatever, I’m just the exchange student. I don’t need a cool t-shirt.

On a brighter note, on Tuesday we watched a movie during Home Economics class. We had a choice between 17 Again, What Happens in Vegas and Yes Man. We were allowed to vote twice. I voted for Yes Man and What Happens in Vegas. 17 Again won. I guess some thing just don’t change even if you’re on the other end of the planet. These Asians. They have this thing for Zack Efron. In Music class, they wanted to watch High School Musical 3. I don’t know what the other choices were, but when we voted, almost everyone had their hand up for HSM3.

This Monday will be the day that marks I’m 1/4 of the way through my exchange. Some of my friends back home figured that one out. They must have a lot of time on their hands. I can’t believe I’m already 1/4 through. Where is the time going? I hear it’s a different story back home with Grade 12 and all. Sorry. Well, at least I’ll be home before I know it. The Australian goes back home December 12. Hard to believe he’s already almost done, doesn’t that mean we’ll be halfway done by then? No, wait, I just checked. I’m not half done until January 23, and by then I’ll still be at my first host family. Strange.

the Situation Over Here

So, you remember in my last post I was upset because my chinese class cast me as Hagrid in our Harry Potter play? Well, instead of pounding them, as I orginally planned, I decided to take the high road and write an original script that does not include Hagrid. I threw this idea by my class and they liked it. I came up with a few ideas and they picked the one they liked best and today during school, I wrote my first ever fan-fiction play. It's about a Taiwanese exchange student who comes to Hogwarts. They wanted it to be funny, so I tried my best. But then I read it back to myself and I was like, ar! This is so lame! But I was out of time, so I took it to chinese class and hoped no one asked about it .

But Laoshi (teacher) asked how our play was coming and everyone wanted to know. So I wrote a list of characters on the board and gave them the general plot line and they loved it! Still, I was a little worried about the actual script. My sense of humour is not that great, as you all know. But then they wanted me to read it to them, so I had no choice.

You have no idea how relieved I was to hear them laughing at the parts I intended to be funny and clapping when I finished. They loved it, and they told me so later. In no time at all, I had everyone volunteering for parts. Now we just need to translate it to Chinese. They were a little upset that it had to be in Chinese because the other exchange students wouldn't get it. But, seeing as it's only about 20 minutes long, we're going to type up a program with the English translation so they can follow along. I stayed after class with most of the class as volunteers to help me edit out the script, but they didnt want to change anything. They wanted to keep it the way it was. Ah! It was so cool! Ihave to type it up tonight to send to Laoshi so she can translate it. But then I'll post it here so you guys can see it. There are a couple inside jokes, I'll try my best to explain.

Anyway, thanks for listening! Until next time!

P.S. So, the play's typed up. I'm not exactly sure how to post it, seeing as it's 7 pages long. Oh well, I guess you'll just have to live with it.