Hey again, so I'm kind of bored at the moment. I just basically spent the day at home, except for church, because my host parents don't really like me staying out too long. Which is weird, they had no problem with this 2 weekends ago.
So my life this week: I don't know if I mentioned this in my last post, but I realied the source of all my frustration in Taiwan: public transportation. Before, this wasn't a problem, but now that I'm at my last host family, things are more complicated. And it's only because of one thing! The community bus. This bus comes to JingAn MRT station every hour at 20 minutes past the hour. This is annoying because if I miss it, I have to wait another hour for it to come again. Which happens quite frequently, but I'm downloading more apps for my iTouch to keep me busy. Actually, I have a story to tell, which I promise is true, or in Jamie Kelly's words, 'as true as it needs to be.'
Yesterday was the culmination of the Chinese classes. We had a speech competition that we had all been preparing for since February, or whenever the new semester started, which I guess was in January! So a long time, I had worked on mine (finding out who you are) for a few months now and had my Chinese teacher and my teachers at school go over it several times and practiced it a lot! I know there were other people who were taking this seriously because it counts as our final exam.
So imagine what a blow it was to everyone when 1st and 2nd prizes were awarded to the Australians, who have been here since February and weren't even in our Chinese classes. I mean, everyone else has been learning Chinese all year, and they've only been here a few months. A lot of exchange students think the Rotarians here are prejudiced and prefer people with blonde hair and blue eyes. Which seems really mean, but it's hard to deny. 1st and 2nd prizes along with the 2 runners up all had blonde hair, and I think most of them had blue eyes, I'm not sure. A lot of people have learned that if you wear short skirts and low cut tops, your odds are better at winning, which is also sad, but true. It sucks that things are this way, but that's the way it is here. I did my best, and dressed modestly, and that's all that matters.
After the contest, I went to the bus stop to get the bus to JingAn, but it took forever! I figured once I got on the bus, it would be half an hour tops until I got to my stop, then I would have to run to make my community bus. But we hit every possible red light! Then, at 5:13, I realized I missed my stop, and the bus was stopped anyway, so I asked the driver if he could let me off, and this always works, as long as you speak Chinese, even for Taiwanese people, but he just shook his head! It took all my self-control not to punch him in the face or scream. He let me off 2 blocks from where I wanted to go, and by then it was 5:17, so I decided that even if I could fly, I wouldn't make my bus, so I walked and ended up having to wait another hour for my bus. I hate that I'm becoming a slave to this bus!
On the more positive side, sort of, last Friday night was the St Peter's Formal, which I missed. But I did manage to talk to my friends on the phone at 8:00am on Saturday! It was so good to hear their voices, but I'm afraid it's made me a little homesick! But it definitely made my day and now I can survive the community bus because in just over a month, I'll be back in Peterborough where I never take the bus and my friends haven't forgotten me and have their G2s and can drive me around! Haha, but for now, I have to enjoy this last part of my time in Taiwan! It feels like Summer, and it rains at least once a day. I'm getting a little sick of carrying my umbrella with me everywhere.
Well, that's it for now. I'm exhausted, and it's only 8:00! Now to find something else to do...
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