Teacher's Day Aftermath

Friday, September 2012

Preeeeeeeeetty bland day. I’m still just so dang tired. Last night I went to bed around 8:00 and still didn’t get enough sleep. Either that or I got too much sleep. I doubt the second option because I woke up several times during the night due to the hot weather and THE DOOR OF LET’S-KEEP-ANDREA-FROM-SLEEPING!! It opened twice! Twice! And I immediately closed them each time but I in the process, I swear, my family thinks I’m the one suddenly opening and closing the door because my host brother gives me this confused look when he sees me. XD After the second time the door opened, I placed my laundry basket/bag in front of it hoping that would keep it shut. More on that technique later.

My host father gave me an apple and moon cake to take to school. The moon cake was quite peculiar. The best I could guess flavor-wise was perhaps a harder egg custard with chocolate or bean paste above it. I really couldn’t tell the flavor but overall it was tasty.

The apple created a funny time because my classmates asked what I was going to eat for lunch. I replied “ping guo” (apple) and they all were like ‘That’s not enough! You’ll be hungry!’ It’s so sweet of them that they think about my health. I found it ironic how one guy said the same thing but when the question of “Are you going to eat anything?” came upon him, he answered “Air. Air and water.” Pfft, the irony! On another note, gosh I LOVE FRUIT! That apple was way too satisfying. XD

Remnants of Teacher’s Day covered the black board with bits of Chinese characters and hearts around what I guessed was our teacher’s remainders of an English lesson. The artwork sure gave our homeroom teacher a happy surprise. The other teachers we had later, all hesitated to erase it. But then they suffered not being able to write on the board like they usually do. Eventually our Civics teacher just made two male students erase the board so she could continue the lesson. The class watched as their art was obliterated. To me, it was kind of sad. But it was all good as the teacher later played some “Ally McBeal” during the last half of class. We’re watching that show in order to demonstrate civics and law (if I’m correct) while getting in some laughter in the process. Though some parts are like “…woah. Awkwaaaaard…” XD

FYI, this is my homeroom teacher. Ain't she a sight for sore eyes! ;D Apart from being our homeroom teacher, she is an English teacher so we have her for English class. She is also the one who organized the culture exchange I have with my classmates on Monday and the presentation on Tuesday during her class. She an amazing person! :D

Today was filled with many battles against sleep. My eyes began to hurt so much from attempting to stare down my notebook in order to focus and study some Chinese. I probably looked like I was glaring or something. XD My classmates commented that the entire week I’ve looked tired and said that it’s alright if I go to sleep. In broken Chinese, I explained that in America we would get it trouble if we fall asleep during class.  (Also Rotary doesn’t want us sleeping in class either but I didn’t go that far in my explanation) Soon after, the teacher asked a fellow student to wake an unconscious one and I pointed out this act to a girl who said it was ok for me to sleep in class, in order to back my mindset that sleeping in class is bad (in a fun, joking way mind you). She was just surprised that I understood the teacher. It wasn’t really hard to piece together when I heard “shui jiao” (sleep) and saw the teacher point to an unconscious student in the back.

On top of constantly being bogged down my tiredness, my stomach decides to mimic the feeling of being kicked by a horse. Holy crud it hurt so much. I could barely drink water much less eat anything. So…that was fun (notice the sarcasm).

Back to my door…WHAT THE HECK?!!! Today not only did it continue to open on its own but it decided to take its meanness to a whole new level. Occurring in only a couple seconds, it opens and then immediately slams shut. I hate that! Why do I hate it? Because I’m sure it makes my host family think I’m having a temper tantrum or something. So when my door did that and my host father looked back I tried to explain but I don’t know if I was successful or not. The reason for my door behaving like that must be the wind from my window but I just don’t understand how it could open and shut so quickly with such force! The wind is having a temper tantrum, that’s what!

Would you like to know a random fact? The famous sandwich shop “Subway” is what, about five bucks in the USA for a foot-long? According to Erik, it’s a bit more expensive in Taiwan but only by a buck or so. What is interesting is that Erik said in Sweden, for the same sandwich, it would cost twice as much. Dang! So the saying that food is cheaper in Taiwan, does apply to Erik but not as much for me. Food is normally cheaper at school or street vendors, but not really for famous restaurants like Subway, McDonald’s or Starbucks.

I believe it is sleepy time now. Wait, scratch that, sleepy time was all of today. NOW, it’s actual sleep time. Wan an! (Good night)

Teacher's Day

Thursday September 27 2012

Sleeeeeepy. Sleeeeeeeepy. Sleeeeeeepy! Wo mei you jingli (I don’t have energy)! Slept terribly. End of story.

University class was quite educational because the teacher, from a student’s request, taught us how to order drinks in Chinese. I recognize the material from when my classmates were teaching me some weeks ago when ordering bubble tea. At that time, I vaguely understood what they said but I couldn’t remember all of it. Now, seeing it on paper in pinyin, everything clicks together and it stays in my memory. So now I can order drinks no problem whatsoever. Tis a good thing indeed!

For lunch, if not all, at least half of the exchange students went to have lunch at a local restaurant near the university. At first it was just four of us. Then it turned into ten of us. Then twelve. Then twenty-five plus students! And know that this was in a small restaurant so it became quite crowded very quickly. I’m sure we slightly stressed out the owner with our sheer numbers but at least they got some good business. ;) As a recommendation from a fellow peep, I ordered fried rice. I’m glad I did. Not only was it a good deal, value-wise but also it was quite satisfying since its large volume somewhat settled my grumbling tum-tum. I can’t remember if I got the beef or pork fried rice, but regardless it was delicious. I could’ve gone for seconds!

Deciding to take it easy and not rush to school in order to make it in time for the school’s nap, I strolled for awhile with Brittany (Australia), Eric (Sweden) and Hazel (Denmark). Brittany later had to get ready for her Rotary meeting so we bid each other farewell and the rest of us went to grab some coffee. Much to my dismay, we went to ‘Artco de Café.’ * sigh * I didn’t look. I swear I didn’t. But remember how last time I sat at the table farthest way from ‘it?’ Well due to the lack of seats, we had to sit at the table closest to it. WHY?! XD Ah, it was a good laugh. At the café, I had a ‘fun’ (sarcasm) time trying to sort out my order. I wanted a piece of Hazelnut Chocolate Cake that looked scrumptious. Unfortunately, the café misunderstood my Chinese ordering (lack of) skills and charged me for both a piece of cake and a cup of coffee. Not wanting to pay that much, I had to explain the misunderstanding. But it was all good as they refunded my money. I still felt terrible for the mix up. The cake made it better because its mouth-watering chocolaty-ness accompanied with a slight nutty crunch just melted me to happiness. I am so going back there another time to have another piece. That stuff was heavenly!

Afterwards, Eric and I headed off to Tatung in a feisty downpour of rain, sharing my umbrella. We tried our best to fight off the water but both of us still got wet, predominately on our backs. Nothing life threatening of course. :P The rain would be extremely sporadic and just fall down in sheets but soon after let up and then went back to pouring, etc. It’s probably from the typhoon. The humidity following the rain made me think of Texas. XD

The first class we attended of the day was Math. According to my classmate, the teacher gave us half the class for free time. Confirming this was true, I gave in and just put my head on the desk. Inwardly I absolutely do not want to ever sleep at school, but I just couldn’t resist the opportunity for some shut-eye when the teacher wasn’t lecturing or anything. It always shocks me how many students go to sleep in class but most teachers don’t do anything about it.

Once the day’s classes ended, all of the high school travelled to the auditorium on the ninth floor for the Teacher’s Day celebration. Just as a note, our classroom is on the first floor. As a class, we walked up all nine sets of stairs to get to the auditorium. Doing this when you are dead tired is not exactly an easy task. XD But entering the doors I perked up a bit because I recognized the song they were playing on the speakers. Not only did I recognize it, but I was temporarily obsessed with it at one point, loving the music and the dance. The song was in Korean, titled “You know me” by Tasty. Wo xi huan! (I like!) When the teachers had their entrance/introductions, one of the songs they played was “Gangnam Style” by Psy. All the students went crazy, dancing and singing along to the intriguingly, internationally popular song.

The performances of the celebration were mainly karaoke with some teachers and students dancing in a huge group. It gave me more evidence that karaoke is way more popular than dancing in Taipei because singing was about 90% of the acts. The exchange students were a part of that percentage as our bit was a song we created, dedicated to thanking the teachers. Sorry, I don’t have a video or anything but here’s a basic description.

We walk on stage, holding our country’s flag in our hands. I was a bit of an exception since I didn’t have a big flag of my country like the other students. They all had flags the length of their arm-span when I just have an American flag that’s barely a foot long. It was itsy-bitsy in comparison. To make up for this, I carried a big Taiwanese flag with my little American flag in my hand. The song, as far as I know, went alright. I couldn’t hear any of our voices at all, only the guitar (Erik) and piano (Rike). So hopefully we were heard and even better, hopefully people could understand a bit of what we said. The song was written in English with each of our countries way of saying “Thank you,” ending in the Chinese “Xie xie ni men!” When we sang our small bit in Mandarin, the crowd went wild. My guess is, we said our Mandarin bit about four or five times, so that means the crowd exploded four or five times. :P

Overall, I would say our performance was successful as the audience seemed to enjoy it. I hope at least our message of thanks was understood by the teachers since it is originally for just them. ;) As a part of Teacher’s Day, the students make a class card for their homeroom teacher. The exchange students made a card for our respective homeroom teachers, the principal, the lady in charge of us and another lady that is like second-in-command of us. We worked hard on creating all of them and I believe it showed, as all the respective recipients seemed to really love the cards. As a side project, I made small cards for every teacher, just to say thank you in general. Since I didn’t see most of them today, I’ll give the cards to them next week during each of their classes. It’ll be late but at least they’ll get the card in the end, which is what matters, right? ^_^

Exchange students plus Redy picture love! The chica in the middle is the second-in-command lady (whom I’ve mentioned before in another post) named Redy. She is the one who looks after us so tenderly and helps us with any questions or problems. Without her, we wouldn’t have survived! She is amazing and deserves a million Teacher’s Days! We all really do love and appreciate her.

At the end of the day, we were all so pooped. Once in my bedroom, I immediately went to sleep.

Yeah I realize my tenses are getting jumbled between present and past tense. My grammar, English friends are probably wanting to struggle me right now. Sorry guys. :P I try to write all my posts the day-of but when things go askew and I can’t, I attempt to write the posts in the same format but it doesn’t always work out. Get my drift?

Actually I don’t know if that made sense but I’m too tired to figure it out. And with that, I bid you a good night! ^_^

Moon Festival Rotary Gathering

Wednesday September 26, 2012

AAAAAAAHH! NO TIME! QUICK! SPEED BLOG GO!

BREAKFAST! Home parents set out two round roll things with some seed or nut in the bread. Yummy.

Breakfast part 2! This so far is my favorite breakfast at school. One of these triangular breakfast sandwiches accompanied with a tall cup of soymilk. This particular sandwich was composed of white bread, lettuce, egg, a yummy unknown sauce, and two different types of meat, which my guess is sausage and ham. The best part is that the whole meal totals up to a little more than $1US. Score! Unfortunately, they are only available in the morning, which is sad because I think it’s a better value than the lunch food choices. But then again, I’ve grown to love this delicious, healthy combo!

Andrea was unconsciously a bad girl today. No really, I was unconscious. During the break between a morning class, I just had to rest my head on the desk just as other students sometimes do. Problem is, I didn’t exactly hear the bell that signaled the end of break. So I accidently slept through the first ten minutes of the next class. Whoops. Is that my fault? Since I wasn’t conscious, I say no. :P Except for that little slip up, I haven’t slept in class while in Taiwan yet. That’s an accomplishment! :D

LUNCH! Meh, got an average corn and egg sandwich with some other veggies inside. Iced tea included in the meal. Wasn’t really that fascinating to require a picture. Maybe next time. But a fellow classmate to the left of my desk was a sweetheart because she gave me a chocolate cookie/biscuit. Gosh darn it I wish I could do more for my classmates! Little acts like these just brighten up my day! And yes it was tasty. It reminded me of teatime with tea and biscuits but without the tea. :P

Another chica in my class has developed an interest in learning some basic Spanish. Somewhat missing learning and speaking Spanish, I happily oblige. I taught her the basics of “hello” “how are you?” “I’m fine, and you?” “Thank you” and other stuff. It ended today with a fun greeting enactment with toy dinosaurs. She later wrote on my desk a part of the conversation which made me smile up a storm. Of course I had to go reply on her desk but I don’t want to erase what she wrote on mine. It’s just way too cute!

After school I went to kill some time at a café nearby that Eric recommended. I’m currently looking for a café near my daily life that has free Wi-Fi and good, well-priced drinks. So the place was called “Artco de Café.” Andrea is not going there again. Why? It’s a wee bit expensive, iced coffee wasn’t that great and I nearly lost my eyes’ virginity. As I trucked up to the second floor with my drink, I noticed a statue of a non-clothed man. Thank gosh my eyes didn’t fall upon…you know…’it.’ Running away in fear, I go to the third floor. AND THERE’S ANOTHER ONE! Creeped out like heck, I fled to the farthest corner I could find to escape the thing’s presence. It was uncomfortable just knowing it was there. I get it, it’s an art café and that can be considered art but Andrea doesn’t like that kind of art. I like my eyes’ virginity, thank you! The upside to the place was a nice bathroom that allowed me plenty of time and room to change into formal clothing for my upcoming Rotary meeting.

Onto a blister, fun trip. The place the meeting was held at was called the “Ambassador’s Hotel.” Quite fitting since I am an ambassador! I’ve been there once before and knew what MTR station to get off at, but this was still my first time going completely alone.  Getting off the subway, I follow a sign that conveniently says “Ambassador Hotel” leading to Exit 1. So I go out of Shuanglian Station Exit 1 and start walking in the direction I remembered from last time (a month ago). After two or three blocks I come to the conclusion that this was not the correct way at all. Going back to the MTR station, I found a map that showed directions to my destination (below). So what I deciphered on the map was that I come out from Exit 1, go behind the station, continue down a main road, looking for the landmark of Starbucks and at a major intersection, turn left.

NO! Whatever happened, I walked through a dark alley that was not a main road at all. And instead of finding a Starbucks, I found a McDonald’s! Not only that but I ended up at a different MTR station (Zhongshan)! Confused as heck, I find a police officer to ask directions from.  I didn’t really understand what he said but I concluded, go straight, then turn left from where we were. Problem was, that lead straight back to where I was in the first place! So walking allllllll the way back to Shuanglian MTR station. Take note I was in heels with some fresh blisters developing. Lovely. Hot, tired, late and flustered, I called Uncle Kaiser (a Rotary member) for some desperate help. After a confused conversation he was sweet enough to come and find me at Zhongshan station and walk me to the hotel. Notice how that meant to walk allllll the way back to the other MTR station. My feet hurt. But thankfully, Uncle Kaiser found me and we walked together to the safe haven of my Rotary club.

We entered during a wonderful choir performance with songs dedicated to Taiwan. I may not understand a lot in Chinese, but I can tell when people are singing about their love for Taiwan.  I didn’t take many pictures because I was afraid it would seem impolite plus the lighting wasn’t that good. But just imagine all kinds of small, delicious, fancy courses from beans to sticky rice to all sorts of mushrooms. It was soooooooo yummy! A Rotary member sitting next to me gave an appreciated comment on how I tried and loved every food at the table. That means a lot that someone notices my efforts, or lack of since the food was delicious in the first place! But then again, I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t try it. Really though, I could’ve gone for seconds in each course if I had a bigger stomach. XD I just hope they didn’t mind me saying “Bu yong xie xie” (No thank you: polite version) to wine. A Rotary member knew that the drinking age in Texas was 21 so I think it isn’t impolite to turn it down. Plus I don’t think turning down wine is considered rude…at least I hope not since I don’t like it.

I did brave out of my comfort box twice. First was to recite a famous Chinese speech that is ultra famous in Taiwan. Second was to accept the request to sing a song for the Rotary club. The poem I knew of ahead of time, the singing was a surprise. Thankfully I was able to choose an English song, which I picked out carefully and dedicated it to Taiwan. This particular song, I believe fits my exchange/Taiwan perfectly. Sometime I’ll have to write a paper explaining in depth my comparisons. But the song was “You’ll be in my heart” by Phil Collins. Anyone seen Tarzan? Yep, it’s that song. I’m not confident at all in my singing and don’t even know how to properly sing but I still went up and let my heart do the talking.

This meeting was actually a party for the Moon Festival. All the members brought their wives and Roteract came along too. So a Moon Festival celebration isn’t a party without moon cakes! I have a confession to make. When I was a little girl, I watched a Chinese cat cartoon called ‘Sagwa’ that had an episode including moon cakes and how delicious they were. Ever since then, I’ve always wanted to try a traditional moon cake. Yes, I’ve had modern types of moon cakes before, but I wanted a true traditional moon cake with the beautiful designs onto the pastry with traditional filling. MY WISH CAME TRUE! Not only did it come true but it was fulfilled 700%. When I told some Rotarians of my desire since a child to try moon cakes and how scrumptious they were now that I tasted one, they encouraged me to try more flavors. I eagerly did just that. But then my sweet uncles went on to grabbing other tables unfinished moon cakes and asking the hotel workers to pack a take away box full of them. So I ended up bringing home a container of 21 slices of moon cake. XD Oh lord, my mouth is watering just thinking about it again! I LOVE MOON CAKES! Both in name and flavor. :P

All the guests also received a bag from “Way Fong.” Once home I opened up the strange package, only to be confused to what it was. My guess is either food or that smelly stuff which I can’t remember how it’s spelled. (Roughly pronounced ‘pope-er-e’) My guess a type of food because it has what looks like an expiration date and charts on the back that mimic a nutrition chart. I’m really not sure at all. Anyone have an idea what it is? If not, I might just have to ask a classmate at school. XD

I had a little too much fun with the camera and gifts from Rotary. Here’s the proof…

I CAN’T HELP MYSELF OK?! XD

Fin! * dives into la-la-land *

Teacher's Day Preparation + Being Tired

*snoooooze* OH??! Is it time for Taffy already? Ok…I will *yaaaawn* get to it right away. :P

So as you may have guessed it, sleep was not good last night either. Joy. Lack of sleep seems to be spreading around the whole school population and not just among the exchange students. If it wasn’t for the fact that the exchange students got out of class to prepare for Teacher’s Day, I might have oozy-snoozed throughout the day.

This blog installment probably will be short and lackluster due to the fact I was in a daze through the whole day. I apologize.

English class begins school, every Tuesday, for two hours. Remember the culture exchange session? As a reminder, Monday afterschool four students and I get together to discuss a topic. The following Tuesday is when we present a summary of the talk. Afterwards, I write a written report and send it to my teacher. The two cool dudes gave their part in all Chinese but I could understand the gist of what they were saying. Yes, I know the idea of what they were talking about since it obviously was from yesterday but I was trying to understand finer details. Like at first I didn’t comprehend what they said until the reactions of my classmates clued me in that it wasn’t something clean…and involved a hotel. That’s what I mean.

My little speech consisted of the fact that the nightlife Taiwanese and American are basically the same when comparing discos and bars. If branching off from that small part of nightlife, Taiwan has things like night markets and later department store shopping than America does. For example, my teacher said Taiwanese primarily do their department store shopping around nine or ten at night. America majorly has their shopping earlier in the evening. For just a little fun survey, I asked my classmates what they preferred more, dancing or singing? The results were that singing kicked butt, outnumbering dancing 13:2 roughly. I think that could be considered a culture difference because in America, the comparison is more evenly matched. Don’t quote me on this though. This is only an observation based on my Taiwanese classmates and peeps I know back in America. I notice I also hear more about KTV (karaoke places) in Taiwan than actual dancing. In America, I think (THINK) it was more common to go dancing than a karaoke place. That could do with the number of karaoke and dancing places in each respective country. That’s my guess anyway. :P Moving on!

The six of us worked on our Teacher’s Day cards and song we are close to finalizing. That was basically the whole time at high school. Cards. I liked the craft making aspect to pretty-up the cards but didn’t really have the supplies, sanity or time to plan out something super nice. What Eric and I made for our home teacher, I’m quite proud of. It’s quite beautiful, no? It is! SAY IT IS! IT’S BEAUTIFUL! :P

Meh, I’ll include my boring lunch because I have a picture. Lunch was a delicious breakfast sandwich I bought in the morning, tuna flavor would be my guess. I think it’s the healthiest choice and gives me the most bang for my buck. My pool of monthly allowance has run nearly dry and I am super conserving every NT I can save.  It should be remedied tomorrow when I attend the Rotary meeting and receive my next month’s allowance. So it’s all good.

So cards…song…random appearance of Eric the tattoo artist. All of a sudden, Eric (Swedish exchange student) picks up a pen and draws on Rike’s arm (German chica) while making a buzzing sound. It seemed legit and caused a lovely round of laughter spread through the room. The hard work ended up creating “Taiwan 2012-2013” posted across her upper elbow. It was a welcomed bit of light-hearted fun to my exhausted state of mind.

We attended the very last class of the day which I fit right in since the Taiwanese students were dead tired as well. As a surprise act of help, the teacher had the class walk around the campus in attempt to wake them up. It was nice walking around…but I think it make me even sleepier. The last ten minutes of class, my head majorly bobbed up and down, threatening to give in and rest on the desk. I fought to stay awake but I don’ t know how successful I was. I couldn’t tell nor could remember. After school I had the option of getting together with some kung-fu club students to practice for fifteen minutes but I just couldn’t. I might have fallen asleep half-way through the routine and face-planted in some gravel.

Instead, I left school at the usual time but to a pleasant difference, walked to the MTR with Eric. He helped me find an ATM, which ended in a fail attempt to withdraw money due to confusion. Nonetheless, I appreciate having another person with me when trying to figure out potentially dangerous stuff like banks. Eric also showed me a café on the way that had free Wi-Fi. Hopefully I will be able to try out the little place for the Wi-Fi, drink and food. The food has one thing in particular that makes me curious. Eric says the have a traditional American breakfast of eggs and bacon. Sold! I’m interested to see how authentic it may be. ;P I think the “Is Coffee” from Sunday would win on authenticity since they advertised that they import the chicken and eggs from America. But who knows? Actually, my stomach will know if I give them a taste test in the future. :P

Let’s see what else happened today? I had the pear looking grapefruit roughly pronounced “yo zi.” It nearly made my upper lip begin to burn again like it did last week when eating an orange. What the heck is going on? Never have I had such problems like this before. My guess is that it’s some reaction with the fruit’s citric acid but I don’t exactly know what to do about it other than avoid the citric fruit for awhile. Anyone know anything? But at least in this picture, you can somewhat see the stringy texture it has. It's like many, many small tubes that make of this fruit. Don't eat the white stuff though. Tis not tasty at all!

So! …*looks over at bed* Good night! *leaps across the room*

Note: Last Sunday's and Monday's post has been added so check them out if you want. Pictures will be added soon. In concern to Supplement Sunday, I'm just going to debut this coming up Sunday instead. I'm sorry but I think this will be for the best.