As some of you might know, Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year as it's referred to here in Taiwan, was last week. My host family went to ChiaYi, which is in south Taiwan, it's strange, we basically drove across the entire country and it only took an hour. Taiwan is so convenient. You can go anywhere in the country no problem, by bus or train or high-speed rail and it's so cheap and fast. anyway. We drove down last Friday after we had dinner with my host dad's family. My host family has a house in this tiny village where people only stay during Lunar New Year and they all have he same ancestors, but they have no idea who anyone is. On New Year's Eve morning, we had to get up early to burn paper, which apparently represented money, and incense and get our food blessed. We hung out with my host mom's family later on. All day and night people were setting fireworks and firecrackers off. Yes, during the day when no one can even see them. It was kind of annoying. At midnight, this bell was ringing and people set off even more explosives.
New Year's Day we went to the temple to burn more stuff and pray for luck and fortune. Then we went back to Ama's (Taiwanese grandmother) for the day. My host little brother (Didi) and one of my host cousins took me out to buy fireworks and frecrackers then me and Didi had fun setting them off. They had these stick like things that you put into a tube and you can hold it when you set it off. I told Didi he looked like Harry Potter and he laughed. Now, I'm learning some stuff about guys. One of them is that they have 2 different laughs. One they use when another man, possibly a superior, says something and they think 'oh, he thinks he's funny, I'd better laugh or I'll get pounded.' This laugh is usually lower pitched. The second laugh they use when they can't control it, in other words, when something actually is funny. This one is usually much higher pitched. Didi has this. The difference between the two is ridiculous. When I told him he looked like Harry Potter (in Chinese, of course!) I thought a cat just got run over. It was that high pitched. Other examples of this laugh include M. Breton and my own father. (the real one, that is)
We spent the rest of the week hanging out at Ama's. Activities included Karaoke, motorcycle riding, Bingo and playing the Sims 3. I think I'm addicted!
I also learned, in the words of the Arrogant Worms, everyone has an Uncle Lou. He's kind of crazy, a little annoying and always around! I met one of these guys in my host family. He kept singing the Mo-Li Hua song (the same Mo-Li as my name. If I knew my name came with a song, I would have picked something else) and he was saying he wants to come to Canada with me to sell stinky tofu. I told him good luck with that. People would smell it and run away. It's not called stinky tofu for nothing. But he was hooked on the idea, which is why I didn't tell him where in Canada I come from.
We were supposed to come back to Taipei last night, but there was too much traffic, so we ended up spending another night and leaving this morning.
I miss indoor heating. I never though I'd say this, but Taiwan is cold in the winter! I guess the no indoor heating thing is a huge contribting factor. It's actually colder in the apartment then it is outside. Maybe some of it is because I'm now on the 27th floor of an apartment building. Speaking of which, I'll give you my new address:
Jasmine Haemel (or 茉莉 if you're feeling brave)
27F-1 No. 251 ZhongQing Rd.
Banciao City, Taipei County
Taiwan R.O.C. 220
Well, I think that all I wanted to say, until next time!
Ah!!! Tomorrow is my 6-monthiversary!!!!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
The Big Switch
Hey, so as some of you might know, I finally swithed host families today. I was away last week and got home yesterday afternoon, so I had to do laundry really quickly and try to fit all my stuff into 2 suitcases. I ended up filling both of them to their expanded size, my IKEA bag, my backpack and my carry-on. As I was packing, I was fiding all this stuff that I brought and have no idea why. I'll be sending stuff home for sure! I still have 5 onths left and there's no way I'll be able to bring everything home otherwise.
Anyway, y new host dad came to pick my up this morning with my new host BROTHER!! Finally, I have an older brother! I also have a younger brother and a sister who's the same age as me. On the ride over here, my host brother said more to me than my old host sister ever said in the 5 months I lived wth her. So I'm really happy! My new host sister kept offering to help me unpack, but after a while she realized that I was okay by myself and brought me water instead. The younger brother is a little shy, but he's so cute! I hope he'll open up a bit after a while. The older brother went to USA a few years ago, sorry, I don't know any names yet, they haven't told me. I guess I never knew my old sister's Chinese name. anyway, he went to Indiana and they showed me pictures of when they went to visit him.
At lunch, we were watching this documentary about this french guy who went to Japan and ate lots of food, it was kind of funny, but I don't think it was supposed to be. It was in French with Chinese subtitles, so we could all understand, or not understand. he spent a lot of time laughing and we had no idea why most of the time. Anyway, my host dad told me that everything's very relaxed in this house and everyone has lots of freedom, which is great! I think i'm going to like it here, it's just too bad I won't have a whole lot of time.
I don't know my new address yet, all I know is that I'm in Banqiao (used to be Yonghe) and on the 27th floor of an apartment building. But I'll let you know as soon as I do! And I'll try to get it right the first time.
Well, I have a Rotary thing in 3 hours, so I'd better get started on my speech. maybe they'll increase my allowance if it's any good! Then again, the probably shouldn't because then I'll buy more stuff.
Anyway, y new host dad came to pick my up this morning with my new host BROTHER!! Finally, I have an older brother! I also have a younger brother and a sister who's the same age as me. On the ride over here, my host brother said more to me than my old host sister ever said in the 5 months I lived wth her. So I'm really happy! My new host sister kept offering to help me unpack, but after a while she realized that I was okay by myself and brought me water instead. The younger brother is a little shy, but he's so cute! I hope he'll open up a bit after a while. The older brother went to USA a few years ago, sorry, I don't know any names yet, they haven't told me. I guess I never knew my old sister's Chinese name. anyway, he went to Indiana and they showed me pictures of when they went to visit him.
At lunch, we were watching this documentary about this french guy who went to Japan and ate lots of food, it was kind of funny, but I don't think it was supposed to be. It was in French with Chinese subtitles, so we could all understand, or not understand. he spent a lot of time laughing and we had no idea why most of the time. Anyway, my host dad told me that everything's very relaxed in this house and everyone has lots of freedom, which is great! I think i'm going to like it here, it's just too bad I won't have a whole lot of time.
I don't know my new address yet, all I know is that I'm in Banqiao (used to be Yonghe) and on the 27th floor of an apartment building. But I'll let you know as soon as I do! And I'll try to get it right the first time.
Well, I have a Rotary thing in 3 hours, so I'd better get started on my speech. maybe they'll increase my allowance if it's any good! Then again, the probably shouldn't because then I'll buy more stuff.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
This Weekend
Hey, so this weekend was pretty... exciting. I thought you might like to hear about it.
So yesterday, I had planned to go shopping with Aurelia from France, but then Josette, from USA, called an asked if i could hang out with her and the Korean exchange students staying at her house. I've wanted to meet these boys, so I arranged with Aurelia to have lunch with Josette, some other exchange students and the Korean boys at IKEA then we'd go to Xi-Men.
That went okay until during lunch, I got a phone call, from my teacher's number, from someone who wasn't my teacher telling me that I left my wallet at a hotel that I had never heard of before in my life. While the guy was trying to explain the situation to me, the phone went dead, so I hung up and forgot about it, probably a prank, but why from my teacher's phone?
I went into my bag to look for my wallet and realized I didn't have it! So that guy was telling the truth! He called back twice and Cory, from USA, helped me find the hotel, where, sure enough, they had my wallet.
Okay, weird, so we all headed off to Xi-Men. When we got outside of the subway station, we realized we were short a Korean. Josette went back inside to look for him and Aurelia and I went shopping. About 20 minutes later, we got a phone call from Josette. She still hadn't found Kimdayhuan and she wanted us to come back and help her look. When we got there, we found out our only clue was that the other Korean thought he sa him get off the train. Josette had been to the stations before and after Xi-Men and all over the station and all the exits. We had 6 people looking for him and she called her host mom and got in really big trouble for losing him. About an hour later, her host mom called back and told her he had come home and she wanted Josette and the other Korean boy to come home. I still don't know what happened, Josette was worried she'd get sent home, but I don't think that'll happen.
Today, I got on a bus that cost me just over $4 Canadian that took me to Taoyuan Airport where I met one of my mom's old coworker's husband who was in Taiwan on business. I gave him stuff to bring home to my family then proceeded to meet some more Canadians who had an 11 hour layover until their flight to Malaysia. I was proud to suggest some places to go in Taipei and help them order bus tickets in Chinese. I don't know who was more surprised that I could speak Chinese, the Asian Canadians, or the Taiwanese lady behind the counter. Getting home was under $3 Canadian, so that wasn't bad.
I'm pretty tired now, back to school tomorrow. But at least our 1 MONTH VACATION starts on Wednesday!
So yesterday, I had planned to go shopping with Aurelia from France, but then Josette, from USA, called an asked if i could hang out with her and the Korean exchange students staying at her house. I've wanted to meet these boys, so I arranged with Aurelia to have lunch with Josette, some other exchange students and the Korean boys at IKEA then we'd go to Xi-Men.
That went okay until during lunch, I got a phone call, from my teacher's number, from someone who wasn't my teacher telling me that I left my wallet at a hotel that I had never heard of before in my life. While the guy was trying to explain the situation to me, the phone went dead, so I hung up and forgot about it, probably a prank, but why from my teacher's phone?
I went into my bag to look for my wallet and realized I didn't have it! So that guy was telling the truth! He called back twice and Cory, from USA, helped me find the hotel, where, sure enough, they had my wallet.
Okay, weird, so we all headed off to Xi-Men. When we got outside of the subway station, we realized we were short a Korean. Josette went back inside to look for him and Aurelia and I went shopping. About 20 minutes later, we got a phone call from Josette. She still hadn't found Kimdayhuan and she wanted us to come back and help her look. When we got there, we found out our only clue was that the other Korean thought he sa him get off the train. Josette had been to the stations before and after Xi-Men and all over the station and all the exits. We had 6 people looking for him and she called her host mom and got in really big trouble for losing him. About an hour later, her host mom called back and told her he had come home and she wanted Josette and the other Korean boy to come home. I still don't know what happened, Josette was worried she'd get sent home, but I don't think that'll happen.
Today, I got on a bus that cost me just over $4 Canadian that took me to Taoyuan Airport where I met one of my mom's old coworker's husband who was in Taiwan on business. I gave him stuff to bring home to my family then proceeded to meet some more Canadians who had an 11 hour layover until their flight to Malaysia. I was proud to suggest some places to go in Taipei and help them order bus tickets in Chinese. I don't know who was more surprised that I could speak Chinese, the Asian Canadians, or the Taiwanese lady behind the counter. Getting home was under $3 Canadian, so that wasn't bad.
I'm pretty tired now, back to school tomorrow. But at least our 1 MONTH VACATION starts on Wednesday!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Haircut
haha, got a sort of funny story for you. So these past few weeks, I've been having trouble keeping my hair under control, which is pretty bad because it's winter and my hair is still frizzing out at me. Last night, I was looking at the mirror and wondering if anyone would understand 'thinning out' so I asked my host mom if anyone could make my hair 不太胖, which means not so fat. Then she asked if I wanted it cut and I said sure, then she got her coat and said let's go. Um, okay, sure, we cxan get my hair cut this very minute. In Canada you sort of have to make an appointment, but I guess this is Taiwan.
Now, it was a about 6:30 at night, but a lot of places here are open until at least 9:00, except the post office, which closes at 5:00 which is when i get out of school and this really bugs me! Anyway, the place we ended up at was playing Poker Face, which was my first sign that this couldn't end well. When we walked in, people were freaking out because there was a 白人 or a foreigner, that wanted to ge her hair cut. Everyone was asking everyone else if they spoke English, but in Chinese and the girl who ended up washing my hair kept asking what the word for hair was in English, but in Chinese, to the girl cutting hair next to her. It was pretty funny, I like playing dumb, I could understand them and they had no idea that I could!
A different lady cut my hair, she kept saying to my host mom that it was 很漂亮 which means very pretty. She actually did sort of thin it out, at least I can deal with it now, then she cut it. Then she pulled out a hairdryer and I wanted to say 'you really don't want to do that' but I didn't know how to in Chinese, so I let her find out that hard way that my hair isn't so 漂亮 when it's blowdried. She ended up wetting it again, then someone else found a diffuser (I was so surprised to find that they even have diffusers in Taiwan) and they managed to make it look a little better.
On th way home, my host mom was freaking out because my hair still looked fat. When I got home, I fixed it up a bit and assured her that it was a lot better now. I certainly gave those hairdressers an experience they won't forget. I'll probably end up getting it cut again before summer, then I'll run back to Janice as soon as I get home.
Now, it was a about 6:30 at night, but a lot of places here are open until at least 9:00, except the post office, which closes at 5:00 which is when i get out of school and this really bugs me! Anyway, the place we ended up at was playing Poker Face, which was my first sign that this couldn't end well. When we walked in, people were freaking out because there was a 白人 or a foreigner, that wanted to ge her hair cut. Everyone was asking everyone else if they spoke English, but in Chinese and the girl who ended up washing my hair kept asking what the word for hair was in English, but in Chinese, to the girl cutting hair next to her. It was pretty funny, I like playing dumb, I could understand them and they had no idea that I could!
A different lady cut my hair, she kept saying to my host mom that it was 很漂亮 which means very pretty. She actually did sort of thin it out, at least I can deal with it now, then she cut it. Then she pulled out a hairdryer and I wanted to say 'you really don't want to do that' but I didn't know how to in Chinese, so I let her find out that hard way that my hair isn't so 漂亮 when it's blowdried. She ended up wetting it again, then someone else found a diffuser (I was so surprised to find that they even have diffusers in Taiwan) and they managed to make it look a little better.
On th way home, my host mom was freaking out because my hair still looked fat. When I got home, I fixed it up a bit and assured her that it was a lot better now. I certainly gave those hairdressers an experience they won't forget. I'll probably end up getting it cut again before summer, then I'll run back to Janice as soon as I get home.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
New Year's Eve
My New Year's was a bit different from what I'm used to this year... of course. For one, again, I had to go to school, but that wasn't so bad because I only had 4 classes, one of which was spent in the library, one in actual class and two in a yoga class. That was pretty interesting apart from the teacher yelling at me, Julie and Imme in Chinese. My legs hurt from that. One of the last moves she made us do was laying on our backs and placing our feet above our heads. She said if we couldn't do all the way to our heads, it was okay, but we were doing it and we weren't hurting, so we ended up surprising everyone with doing it the whole way! I had no idea I was so good at yoga.
After school I had Chinese class, which ws weird because we had already taken our exam and we were back in our old classes yesterday. Turns out Rotary thinks we cheated so we had to retake the exam. Well, I can say honestly that I didn't cheat, but there were some languages going around the classroom that could have been sharing answers. Unfortunately, we didn't get to redo the speaking part. But this exam was a lot better than the first one, I actually knew most of the answers.
After that, I went to Taipei 101 to get a good seat to watch the fireworks with my friends Alyssa (USA), Josette (USA), Boyce (USA), Miguel (Mexico), Corinna (Germany), Rebekka (USA) and Aurelia (France). the MRTs were already packed and it was only about 5:30! We managed to find a good space and kill 6 1/2 hours of time until the fireworks started at midnight. I think someone told me it was the biggest fireworks display in the world, they used 22 000 fireworks, it was pretty impressive! I have a video that isn't on my computer yet, but hopefully I'll get my facebook videos and pictures updated this weekend. We have today off school which is great because I didn't get home until 3:00 this morning. Miguel took us to the bus stop, but the streets were so packed that no busses were coming so me and Rebekka took a map and tried to walk to an MRT station closer to our homes. Ugh! It was like arguing with Chelsea! We found one on the brown line which is like an hour ride from where we live and we didn't want to experience Zhongxiao Fuxing and Taipei Main Station, which are the busiest stations anyway, on the most crowded night of the year! So we found a bus stop where our bus stops, but the bus never came and after some arguging, I told her we ahd 3 options: 1) We wait for the bus 2) We go back to the MRT station and brave the transfer stops or 3) We find a taxi to take us home. After about 5 minutes, she finally decided to try to find a taxi, but most of them were full and even when we found empty ones, greedy Asians jumped into them before we could reach for the door.
In the end, we decided to go to the MRT, by then it was almost 2:00. In the end, it was a bit later after the fireworks so it wasn't as busy, but Zhongxiao Fuxing was pretty bad. We ended up meeting Dan (USA) at Taipei Main, he lives at the same stop that I live at, so he made sur we got on the train and off at our stop. Like I said, It was about 3:00 by the time I came home. My host mom left a little nightlight plugged in at the door because all the lights were turned off so I could see my way to my room. My host dad came out of his room to make sure it was me and that I had a good time. I have to say, I only have 1 year in Taiwan, I don't regret going to 101 at all. I think I would have regretted it if I didn't! My first New Year's in a big city! Haha, when it's midnight back home they might show the other New Year's celebrations in different countries, look out for Taiwan!
After school I had Chinese class, which ws weird because we had already taken our exam and we were back in our old classes yesterday. Turns out Rotary thinks we cheated so we had to retake the exam. Well, I can say honestly that I didn't cheat, but there were some languages going around the classroom that could have been sharing answers. Unfortunately, we didn't get to redo the speaking part. But this exam was a lot better than the first one, I actually knew most of the answers.
After that, I went to Taipei 101 to get a good seat to watch the fireworks with my friends Alyssa (USA), Josette (USA), Boyce (USA), Miguel (Mexico), Corinna (Germany), Rebekka (USA) and Aurelia (France). the MRTs were already packed and it was only about 5:30! We managed to find a good space and kill 6 1/2 hours of time until the fireworks started at midnight. I think someone told me it was the biggest fireworks display in the world, they used 22 000 fireworks, it was pretty impressive! I have a video that isn't on my computer yet, but hopefully I'll get my facebook videos and pictures updated this weekend. We have today off school which is great because I didn't get home until 3:00 this morning. Miguel took us to the bus stop, but the streets were so packed that no busses were coming so me and Rebekka took a map and tried to walk to an MRT station closer to our homes. Ugh! It was like arguing with Chelsea! We found one on the brown line which is like an hour ride from where we live and we didn't want to experience Zhongxiao Fuxing and Taipei Main Station, which are the busiest stations anyway, on the most crowded night of the year! So we found a bus stop where our bus stops, but the bus never came and after some arguging, I told her we ahd 3 options: 1) We wait for the bus 2) We go back to the MRT station and brave the transfer stops or 3) We find a taxi to take us home. After about 5 minutes, she finally decided to try to find a taxi, but most of them were full and even when we found empty ones, greedy Asians jumped into them before we could reach for the door.
In the end, we decided to go to the MRT, by then it was almost 2:00. In the end, it was a bit later after the fireworks so it wasn't as busy, but Zhongxiao Fuxing was pretty bad. We ended up meeting Dan (USA) at Taipei Main, he lives at the same stop that I live at, so he made sur we got on the train and off at our stop. Like I said, It was about 3:00 by the time I came home. My host mom left a little nightlight plugged in at the door because all the lights were turned off so I could see my way to my room. My host dad came out of his room to make sure it was me and that I had a good time. I have to say, I only have 1 year in Taiwan, I don't regret going to 101 at all. I think I would have regretted it if I didn't! My first New Year's in a big city! Haha, when it's midnight back home they might show the other New Year's celebrations in different countries, look out for Taiwan!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Christmas/School Birthday/Exam
Hello again. So, I promised I'd write a little about Christmas, so here it is: Christmas Eve was pretty uneventful. I went to school, as usual, then went to Chinese class after. We only spent half the time actually learning Chinese and we had a party for the other half complete with bubble tea and secret Santa. We drew names about a month ago and I got Chris, from Germany. I had absolutely no idea what to get him, so the day before, I ended up going to Carrefour and getting him a nightlight, erasers shaped like peanuts with smiley faces, candy and a bar of soap. Oh, and he said he wanted a bracelet, so I got him one of those too. I used what German still remains in my brain to write him a card. He actually liked it, so that was a nice surprise. My secret Santa was a USer named Dan. He got me a notebook and a pen. As if I don't have 8 other notebooks. Oh well. He explained later that he had no idea what to get me, so he asked another American, Cory, for ideas and Cory said I was the only person in the class harder to buy something for than Myles, who is the Hawaiian. Enough said. Then he suggested he get me a notebook because I like to write. Sheesh. I write them one play and all of a sudden I can't stop writing. So I lied and said I loved it. But let this be a lesson to you all. I don't need anymore notebooks!! I also got to talk to my real parents, sisters and Taiwanese girl, Lisa, that my family's hosting back home.
Again, I had school on Christmas Day. We were supposed to have a sports competition, but it was raining, so that was cancelled. I was allowed to hang out in the library with Julie and Imme, then we all brought chocolate from our countries to bribe the head librarian to let us go home early. It worked and we were allowed to leave at 3:00. I watched Vicar of Dibley Christmas specials until my host dad came home. It's kind of funny. I always know when my host mom's away when I see what's for breakfast. For instance, Christmas morning there was cake on the breakfast table when I woke up. When I got home from school, I ate some chocolate, then got full and my host dad came and told me it was time to eat and I told him I was full, but he said that he made hot dogs especially for me. Which is so cool because back home when my dad's in charge of dinner, it's hot dogs or KD. So I ate one to humour him. That was my Christmas dinner.
The next day was my school birthday. My class was selling waffles, chow mein, dongwa tea and pop. They also had a game which was a big piece of cardboard covered in big hole and supported by some desks that my classmates went under and stuck their heads through and the person had a whack them with an inflatable baseball bat. Kind of like mole whacker, but with people. It was kind of funny, I got a video that I still have to put up on facebook. I helped make the chow mein and sell waffles. It was a lot of fun, but I was so tired by the time I got home at 3:00 (I had been there since 7:30am) I was so tired and I fell asleep. I woke up at 6:00 because my phone was ringing, I felt bad because it was my friend Yuen who wanted me to come to the church for their Christmas service that started at 6:00 and it takes me about an hour to get to the church, so I had to say no. I ended up staying at home and watching Hairspray with my host mom.
Monday was the Chinese exam. This determines which class we'll be in for the second semester. But what bugged me was that the exam wasn't written by our teachers, it was written by the university. So I assumed they would stick with the first 6 units, like they said they would. They didn't. There was a comprehension part and a writing part and they both had words I had never seen before. So that was hard. Then there was a listening part that went completely over my head and an oral part. The teacher I was talking to obviously didn't like me. She kept telling me to say more. We had to read a sentence in Chinese, then say what we like and why and she kept telling me to say more and then we had to describe a picture and I must of told her my life story in Chinese and she still wasn't satisfied. She said my pronounciation was very good than gave me 7 points. Out of 15. Not even a pass. We don't find out the results until Thursday. I was talking to other exchange students and they all thought it was ridiculous too. So maybe there's hope I won't be in the dumb class yet. Ugh, I'm freaking out a bit. I'll be glad when I know which class I'm in. The first exam we took, we knew the results by 8:00 that same night.
Oh a happier note, I'm really bonding with my classmates. There was a situation with some Japanese students that visited and they were paired with everyone in our class except me and this other girl, Se-Ming. She was upset because she wouldn't get to know any of the Japanese students and I said it was okay because I'm from 10 times as far as the Japanese and I'd hang out with her and we had a lot of fun! She sits next to me in class and she's one of the only ones who talks to me in Chinese which I like because I'm tired of being treated like a baby and being spoken to in English all the time by my classmates. Also, when I leave the class to go to the library for my free classes, they all say 'Bye, Mo-Li!' and today one of the guys said 'Don't miss me too much!' I just smiled and waved. And also today during naptime, one guy started belching and then someone else did and we were all laughing, it was so much fun! Because they wouldn't stop until the teacher came in to start class!
Anyway, that's about all I have to report. I'll let you know of my test scores when they arrive. Fingers crossed!
Again, I had school on Christmas Day. We were supposed to have a sports competition, but it was raining, so that was cancelled. I was allowed to hang out in the library with Julie and Imme, then we all brought chocolate from our countries to bribe the head librarian to let us go home early. It worked and we were allowed to leave at 3:00. I watched Vicar of Dibley Christmas specials until my host dad came home. It's kind of funny. I always know when my host mom's away when I see what's for breakfast. For instance, Christmas morning there was cake on the breakfast table when I woke up. When I got home from school, I ate some chocolate, then got full and my host dad came and told me it was time to eat and I told him I was full, but he said that he made hot dogs especially for me. Which is so cool because back home when my dad's in charge of dinner, it's hot dogs or KD. So I ate one to humour him. That was my Christmas dinner.
The next day was my school birthday. My class was selling waffles, chow mein, dongwa tea and pop. They also had a game which was a big piece of cardboard covered in big hole and supported by some desks that my classmates went under and stuck their heads through and the person had a whack them with an inflatable baseball bat. Kind of like mole whacker, but with people. It was kind of funny, I got a video that I still have to put up on facebook. I helped make the chow mein and sell waffles. It was a lot of fun, but I was so tired by the time I got home at 3:00 (I had been there since 7:30am) I was so tired and I fell asleep. I woke up at 6:00 because my phone was ringing, I felt bad because it was my friend Yuen who wanted me to come to the church for their Christmas service that started at 6:00 and it takes me about an hour to get to the church, so I had to say no. I ended up staying at home and watching Hairspray with my host mom.
Monday was the Chinese exam. This determines which class we'll be in for the second semester. But what bugged me was that the exam wasn't written by our teachers, it was written by the university. So I assumed they would stick with the first 6 units, like they said they would. They didn't. There was a comprehension part and a writing part and they both had words I had never seen before. So that was hard. Then there was a listening part that went completely over my head and an oral part. The teacher I was talking to obviously didn't like me. She kept telling me to say more. We had to read a sentence in Chinese, then say what we like and why and she kept telling me to say more and then we had to describe a picture and I must of told her my life story in Chinese and she still wasn't satisfied. She said my pronounciation was very good than gave me 7 points. Out of 15. Not even a pass. We don't find out the results until Thursday. I was talking to other exchange students and they all thought it was ridiculous too. So maybe there's hope I won't be in the dumb class yet. Ugh, I'm freaking out a bit. I'll be glad when I know which class I'm in. The first exam we took, we knew the results by 8:00 that same night.
Oh a happier note, I'm really bonding with my classmates. There was a situation with some Japanese students that visited and they were paired with everyone in our class except me and this other girl, Se-Ming. She was upset because she wouldn't get to know any of the Japanese students and I said it was okay because I'm from 10 times as far as the Japanese and I'd hang out with her and we had a lot of fun! She sits next to me in class and she's one of the only ones who talks to me in Chinese which I like because I'm tired of being treated like a baby and being spoken to in English all the time by my classmates. Also, when I leave the class to go to the library for my free classes, they all say 'Bye, Mo-Li!' and today one of the guys said 'Don't miss me too much!' I just smiled and waved. And also today during naptime, one guy started belching and then someone else did and we were all laughing, it was so much fun! Because they wouldn't stop until the teacher came in to start class!
Anyway, that's about all I have to report. I'll let you know of my test scores when they arrive. Fingers crossed!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Chinese Talent Contest
Hello, it's been a while! but I've been super busy. Life as an exchange student, it's kind of ridiculous. So, as some of you might know, this past Saturday was the Mandarin Speech Contest and I wrote and helped translate a play abou a Taiwanese exchange student at Hogwarts. I have to admit, I was glad when Satuday finally came! I was tired of bribing everyone to come to practice and having them treat me like I was pulling their fingernails out. I got to the theatre and found out that, against their promise, there was not a projector to project the English version so the exchange students could understand what we were saying. So that was frustrating.
So, imagine my... shock when 9:00, starting time, comes and my Dumbledore, who has the first lines in the entire play isn't there. The first act was the girls from, my class, we were singing the Chinese alphabet and dancing. Luckily, we managed to switch with Imme, the Dutch girl, and ended up going later. Harry Potter: Act 1 was the 5th act and the dance was now the 7th. By the time we had to get ready to go, Mari (Dumbledore) was still not there! So I ended up being Dumbledore. Luckily, she showed up in time for the alphabet and I restrained myself from strangling her. I mean, c'mon! That was the only scene she was in and she blew it! You know what her excuse was? She slept in!
The second act went okay, until we the scene with bubble tea where Ron tries to puncture it and it explodes, but we couldn't do that because it would make a mess. So we changed it and he ended up stabbing his arm. But the guy, Andrew, who played Ron has acted before so he got all into it and fell on the floor and dropped the tea and it ended up exploding anyway. Me and Dan ended up cleaning it all up while they kept acting.
The third act went better. Beforehand, I covered Chris's, the German playing Voldemort, face with talcum powder so he looked a little like Voldemort. It actually worked better than I thought, he looked really scary! I was in this act as a Super Junior guy. It went pretty well. I ran out of memory on both memory cards, so I couldn't film the whole thing. But other people did, so I'll try to get it from them and put it up on facebook.
At the end of the show, they gave out awards, which was pretty disappointing. Instead of giving awards out to entire acts, they gave them to individual people. We all had to wear numbers and they picked who was best. Malfoy and Ron from Harry Potter got an award each. They gave 5 of them out. And awards to the 2 best acts. The boys from our class did a song and dance and they won first place for best act. The other awards went to the people from the top class. Still, it was a little disappointing. I don't mean to sound selfish, but I put a LOT of work into that play, and the only mention of me was when an American girl was introducing our play and said it was written by a Canadian and sort of gestured to the Canadian girl standing next to her, which was not me. Another American girl, Josette, did a dance to a Chinese song by Super Junior and sang along with 3 of her classmates. They put a lot of work into memorizing the lyrics and doing the dance and they didn't win anything. Rotary told us there would be an award for fluency, best costume and creativity plus best 5 acts would get awards. Josette mentioned to me yesterday that they top 5 awards went out to the best looking people. I don't really agree with that, but it's true that the Taiwanese people are pretty shallow and all the judges were girls. Oh well, I did my best and it obviously wasn't good enough. I'm over it. Until next Speech Contest!
We have to take out Mandarin exam next week. This will determine if we stay in our current class or get either promoted or demoted to another class. I'm in the middle level class. I like it, but there are an excess of Americans. Christmas is also this week. I can't believe it. It doesn't feel like Christmas, but I have to say that the temperature has dropped considerably. Yesterday was really cold and I had to go mountain climbing with my Rotary club. Then I went out with Josette, Aurelia and Quentin, both from France and Miguel from Mexico for dinner. It was a lot of fun! I'm actually wearing a scarf and jacket now and my hands are freezing! I should have brought gloves. And I'm inside! The thing with schools in Taiwan is that they're practically outdoors. There are windows surrounding the class and the halls are a floor, a roof and open space. I'll have to take more pictures I don't really know how to describe it. My fingers are so cold, I'm sure I've made a typo somewhere in here. Also, the apartments here have tons of AC, but no heat! So I'm pretty cold at night and it's hard to get out of bed in the morning. Aurelia said last night that you know it's cold when the Canadians are feeling cold. Surprisingly, I'm the last Canadian to feel cold, and I'm from the most southern part of the country!
When I meet Taiwanese people, they always ask either one of 2 questions: 1) Where do you come from? and 2) Did it hurt? (pointing at my nose) I've also had, Is it real? (also about my nose) then they scream when I pull it out and show them. But when I tell them I'm from Canada, they answer with 'Vancouver? I've been to Vancouver before!' or 'My (insert relative here) lives in Vancouver!' and then I say no, I'm from the other side of the country, I've actually never been to Vancouver. I actually had one lady that asked where I came from, I answered Canada and she said 'Montreal?' and I said no, it's closer to Toronto and she said 'Montreal?' and I said no, it's sort of close to Montreal, kind of close to Ottawa. And she said 'Montreal?' and I said yeah, I'm from Montreal.
So, going back to Christmas, I'll be at school for Christmas. Christmas Day is my school's sports competition because Boxing Day is the school's birthday. So I need to be at school early on Saturday. I haven't had a proper sleep in so long. Since over a week ago, I've been going to bed at 11:00ish and waking up at 6:00. I couldn't sleep in this weekend either because of the Speech Contest and mountain climbing. And next weekend is my school's birthday. I'm not sure what my class if doing. I think we're selling food and they want me to help them out, which I'm happy to do. Thankfully, I don't start until 11:00. I'm also making them cards that say Merry Christmas in both Chinese and English and taping some hershey's kisses and hugs that my parents sent me to them and some candy canes whichI found here for really cheap. I'll distribute those on Friday.
Well, it's almost time to head back to class. Sorry this took so long. I'll write again to tell about Christmas and my school birthday. Happy first day of winter!
So, imagine my... shock when 9:00, starting time, comes and my Dumbledore, who has the first lines in the entire play isn't there. The first act was the girls from, my class, we were singing the Chinese alphabet and dancing. Luckily, we managed to switch with Imme, the Dutch girl, and ended up going later. Harry Potter: Act 1 was the 5th act and the dance was now the 7th. By the time we had to get ready to go, Mari (Dumbledore) was still not there! So I ended up being Dumbledore. Luckily, she showed up in time for the alphabet and I restrained myself from strangling her. I mean, c'mon! That was the only scene she was in and she blew it! You know what her excuse was? She slept in!
The second act went okay, until we the scene with bubble tea where Ron tries to puncture it and it explodes, but we couldn't do that because it would make a mess. So we changed it and he ended up stabbing his arm. But the guy, Andrew, who played Ron has acted before so he got all into it and fell on the floor and dropped the tea and it ended up exploding anyway. Me and Dan ended up cleaning it all up while they kept acting.
The third act went better. Beforehand, I covered Chris's, the German playing Voldemort, face with talcum powder so he looked a little like Voldemort. It actually worked better than I thought, he looked really scary! I was in this act as a Super Junior guy. It went pretty well. I ran out of memory on both memory cards, so I couldn't film the whole thing. But other people did, so I'll try to get it from them and put it up on facebook.
At the end of the show, they gave out awards, which was pretty disappointing. Instead of giving awards out to entire acts, they gave them to individual people. We all had to wear numbers and they picked who was best. Malfoy and Ron from Harry Potter got an award each. They gave 5 of them out. And awards to the 2 best acts. The boys from our class did a song and dance and they won first place for best act. The other awards went to the people from the top class. Still, it was a little disappointing. I don't mean to sound selfish, but I put a LOT of work into that play, and the only mention of me was when an American girl was introducing our play and said it was written by a Canadian and sort of gestured to the Canadian girl standing next to her, which was not me. Another American girl, Josette, did a dance to a Chinese song by Super Junior and sang along with 3 of her classmates. They put a lot of work into memorizing the lyrics and doing the dance and they didn't win anything. Rotary told us there would be an award for fluency, best costume and creativity plus best 5 acts would get awards. Josette mentioned to me yesterday that they top 5 awards went out to the best looking people. I don't really agree with that, but it's true that the Taiwanese people are pretty shallow and all the judges were girls. Oh well, I did my best and it obviously wasn't good enough. I'm over it. Until next Speech Contest!
We have to take out Mandarin exam next week. This will determine if we stay in our current class or get either promoted or demoted to another class. I'm in the middle level class. I like it, but there are an excess of Americans. Christmas is also this week. I can't believe it. It doesn't feel like Christmas, but I have to say that the temperature has dropped considerably. Yesterday was really cold and I had to go mountain climbing with my Rotary club. Then I went out with Josette, Aurelia and Quentin, both from France and Miguel from Mexico for dinner. It was a lot of fun! I'm actually wearing a scarf and jacket now and my hands are freezing! I should have brought gloves. And I'm inside! The thing with schools in Taiwan is that they're practically outdoors. There are windows surrounding the class and the halls are a floor, a roof and open space. I'll have to take more pictures I don't really know how to describe it. My fingers are so cold, I'm sure I've made a typo somewhere in here. Also, the apartments here have tons of AC, but no heat! So I'm pretty cold at night and it's hard to get out of bed in the morning. Aurelia said last night that you know it's cold when the Canadians are feeling cold. Surprisingly, I'm the last Canadian to feel cold, and I'm from the most southern part of the country!
When I meet Taiwanese people, they always ask either one of 2 questions: 1) Where do you come from? and 2) Did it hurt? (pointing at my nose) I've also had, Is it real? (also about my nose) then they scream when I pull it out and show them. But when I tell them I'm from Canada, they answer with 'Vancouver? I've been to Vancouver before!' or 'My (insert relative here) lives in Vancouver!' and then I say no, I'm from the other side of the country, I've actually never been to Vancouver. I actually had one lady that asked where I came from, I answered Canada and she said 'Montreal?' and I said no, it's closer to Toronto and she said 'Montreal?' and I said no, it's sort of close to Montreal, kind of close to Ottawa. And she said 'Montreal?' and I said yeah, I'm from Montreal.
So, going back to Christmas, I'll be at school for Christmas. Christmas Day is my school's sports competition because Boxing Day is the school's birthday. So I need to be at school early on Saturday. I haven't had a proper sleep in so long. Since over a week ago, I've been going to bed at 11:00ish and waking up at 6:00. I couldn't sleep in this weekend either because of the Speech Contest and mountain climbing. And next weekend is my school's birthday. I'm not sure what my class if doing. I think we're selling food and they want me to help them out, which I'm happy to do. Thankfully, I don't start until 11:00. I'm also making them cards that say Merry Christmas in both Chinese and English and taping some hershey's kisses and hugs that my parents sent me to them and some candy canes whichI found here for really cheap. I'll distribute those on Friday.
Well, it's almost time to head back to class. Sorry this took so long. I'll write again to tell about Christmas and my school birthday. Happy first day of winter!
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