Double Rotary Meeting All the Way!!

Wow! In one day I went to TWO rotary meetings! I knew about the first one, which was the particular club of the district I belong to, that being Taipei West. (FYI, there’s many clubs in one district) In Taipei West Club I am the only exchange student and the only female except for my host mother who went with me to lunch. My host parents told me that later the same day I would have dinner with my second and third host families at a restaurant. So we roll into the “Caf’e Grazi” and ask for the reservation already made. We were shocked because the man said the reservation was for forty people. Forty people?! That made me think they brought all of their relations! But it ended up being a forty people reservation for a Rotary meeting. My family and I had no idea it was a Rotary meeting! I felt so bad because I didn’t bring my Rotary blazer, Rotary banner, business cards or pins, which you should bring when you go to Rotary meetings or meet other exchange students.

Which, yes, I met three other exchange students! One girl was from Germany, another from Canada and a boy from Pennsylvania. It was really fun to speak with them and see what their first couple of days in Taiwan were like, what their culture is back in their respective origins, motives for coming to Taiwan, etc. As always, all the Rotary members were super sweet and very pleasant to talk to. I’m having a blast learning new words and phrases from everyone. I am so blessed to have my first family know English so well because they can teach me Chinese/Taiwanese a lot easier. And they are so patient with me as I have to ask several times throughout the day what a particular word/phrase was. Bit by bit progress is occurring. ^_^

(My mother and I)

But if you read my previous blog entry, I mentioned a Japanese style restaurant with an explosion of food. I now know the name of the type of food, which is called “shabu shabu.” Tonight at the Italian restaurant, it was about 5 times the size of shabu shabu. OH MY GOSH THERE WAS SO MUCH FOOD!!! Let me see if I can attempt to remember it all. For 3-4 people there was:

-Soup

-Cheese, milk, potato, mushroom and bread thing

-Drumsticks

-Potato fries

-Pizza

-Salad

-Pastaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

-Paella

-More pasta

-A cheesecake looking dessert

-Something with the appearance of Tiramasu

-A brownie dessert

-Yogurt with fruit

-Cappucino with a cookie

OH MY GOODNESS! Even my host family was saying how enormous this meal was. But it was all soooo yummy! There goes my diet. :P

But the entire evening was fantastic. I really love being in the Taiwan Rotary Youth Exchange and am so thankful for this opportunity! I absolutely adore it here! I wouldn’t change anything about my exchange in the slightest. Everything is perfect! So, as it is 1:15 in the morning (12:15 PM in Texas with the 13 hour time difference) I shall bid y’all a good night/afternoon.