Olympic Rotaract Event

Saturday November 10^th, 2012

One great thing about weekend mornings at this home is having time to make breakfast and Yi Na being kind enough to cook something. She prepared a fried egg while I made PB toast and fetched soymilk and an apple. Simple but effective stuff.

Today included what was called a Rotaract Olympic event that I was invited to. The activity was exciting but the transportation not so much. I had an English address and looked it up in Google maps but still didn’t have a clear idea of where it was, not even the name of the place. Just screen shots on my phone of where to turn and how many streets to cross.

The MRT ride resulted in “Iiiiiiiit’s a small world after alllllll,” the 3^rd installment. I came across a Rotaract member that couldn’t come to the event but instead had to go to work. The sheer fact of running into her was so surprising! I guess that’s what happens in a condensed city.

Following my Google map directions I arrived at a college campus for the hearing impaired. Great! I found the place! Now…where IN this place is it?! Soon I realized that I was screwed because I didn’t get any sign of the Rotary/Rotaract or any familiar person. Finally an older man walked up, entering the campus with the Rotary symbol on his shirt. I immediately fled to him for help and we walked together. Thank goodness he came because I would’ve never been able to find the location. It was quite hidden like a needle in a haystack. But we got there and everything was dandy.

The Olympic event was comprised of small games and a few bigger activities. The big activities were basketball (3 vs. 3), three-legged race and dodge ball. The small games ranged from jump rope to throw a ping-pong ball in a cup. Allow me to use pictures to help explain.

3 versus 3 basketball competition

Jump rope! My favorite activity of the day! With a long rubber string, four team members must enter the spinning rope one at a time and successfully complete at least ten rotations without stopping. Great, great fun! :D

This game begins with doing the spin around on a bat thing to make yourself dizzy (either five or ten times). Then you go over to pick up a bean with chopsticks and must kick a ball down a path, around a bottle and back up the alley, without dropping the bean of course. First try success for me! :D

A throwing ball game at a board with numbers on it. You draw three cards (between 1-9) and must try to hit the assigned squares with some sticky balls.

This was an extremely difficult activity! You have to bounce some ping-pong balls into cups with water. It was super difficult! You have to get at least five balls in but people could barely get three in!

Dodge ball was the activity my Rotaract signed me up for. I was pretty darn good at it in elementary school and wanted to try again. But when it was time to play I froze for a second. It was so not the same dodge ball I played before. I struggled to understand the layout and rules by what was happening around me. I knew one thing though…dodge. And that’s what I did. I may have not gotten any of the opposing team’s members but I could at least make sure myself wasn’t hit by the ball. So there was a small personal triumph for not getting tagged by the ball but our team lost in the end. All good fun though!

During the event water and small boxes of assorted bread was provided for snacks. Because I didn’t have lunch, those breadboxes were addicting in the way that they became my lunch. Four types of bread in total, one was garlic based, another garlic with a sausage in the middle, bread with some sort of filling in the middle and a sweet cake lightly topped with strawberry flavor. I had three boxes, probably one too many. Whoops. It’s just there was no other solution for lunch.

After the Olympic event ended with a reward ceremony and closing thoughts (none of which I understood), all twelve Rotaract clubs present took a ginormous photo and cleaned up the gym we used. Furthermore we went out for dinner at a place I struggle to describe. It had Asian food to share between your table but also had a bar vibe with alcohol readily available. So maybe it was an Asian style bar? I don’t know. At first I wasn’t comfortable being in that kind of environment but I didn’t have the option of leaving and I trusted Rotaract well enough to be responsible. They were indeed responsible with their drinking. I just find it strange being so closely exposed to alcohol two days in a row. And no I didn’t drink any. Instead my table got a barley beverage (non-alcoholic) for people who didn’t want beer.

A whole bunch of dishes were ordered from meat to tofu to beggies to fish, lots and lots! I went to town on a plate that had peanuts as one of the things to give the main part (fried oysters I think) some flavor. No one was wanting the peanuts so I ate my daily protein of nuts with chopsticks. Intersting feat. ;P

Food and company, a big part of Taiwanese culture, was filled in the evening with Rotaract. I was kindly driven home by my club’s president and soon after oozy-snoozed away.

And that’s it! I realized my Taffys are really boring and poorly written lately. I apologize. Right now it just seems to be a documentation for my own personal memories and not something entertaining for others. Hopefully it’ll get better. Until next time, bye. :)

P.S. My history teacher gave me a unique fruit on Friday and I shared it with my family today. The outer, hard green lumpy skin is said to look like the head of Buddha (not the fat one but the one with black lumpy looking hair). It was a very sweet fruit and very tasty. Has anyone seen these in Texas at an Asian market or something? You should try it! Just don't eat the green part. XD

Family Dinner Goodness!

Friday November 9^th, 2012

Well, my morning started off on the right foot. Instead of coffee, I bought some fruit milk for a healthier morning breakfast. Whoo! See? I’m not getting addicted to coffee! *cough cough* to be continued…

My free time in class was spent writing more Taffys. Not exactly eventful. It was after lunch where it got eventful. But not in a good way. More in a ‘I really don’t want to do it’ way. I had the global news report in civics class and wasn’t looking forward to it. There wasn’t any good news to talk about and I’m pretty sure it’s extremely boring to my classmates despite my efforts to liven it up. What I really dreaded was the subject of the U.S.A. presidential election results. I’ve heard from two other exchange students who supported Romney that they got criticized for it to the point where a girl literally got booed for being Republican. At all costs I did not want to enter a discussion about politics with people who have the outlook of republicans are evil. It seems that they had a democratic biased briefing from the media that based their view. I miss the educated socratic seminars in high school where they had a more open outlook to understandingly discuss academic things between history, English, etc.

Anyway, the global news wasn’t good. The classroom was chattering away throughout my whole talk and I had an awkward time trying to explain to the teacher what the news told me. No me gusta.

*twiddles thumbs* I…I…I…I ordered a latte at school. CURSES! I was so tired and wanted energy for tonight’s planned family dinner that I just had to. It’s not at the point to be called ‘addicted’ but I’m at the point of ‘guilty pleasure.’ Not bad but not particularly good. :P

Speaking of a family dinner, that’s exactly what happened. Right after I got home and changed into nicer clothes than my school uniform, we left for a traditional Chinese restaurant. Our party included Auntie Jenny, Pi Nan, Yavanna, Yavanna’s parents, Xiao Di, Allen and me. Allen only stayed for the first half of the meal because he had University class to attend. Uncle Eric couldn’t attend because he was on a business trip in China. But the company that was present was wonderful and the food delicious as always.

The various dishes ranged from beef, eggplant, peanuts, veggies and a big hot pot. The hot pot had so many ingredients that I can’t remember them all, plus I don’t know half of the food’s names. XD But a few included foods were fish, cabbage, egg, meatball and more. Seriously there are so many different foods in a hot pot that it mimics Christmas. Just like opening your presents, in hot pots you never know what’s all inside. ;)

Back at the house, conversation and food continued with the add on of pleasure drinking. Wine for the ladies and beer for the men with soymilk for me. XD No alcohol for Andrea thank you very much! Both wanting to be with the merry company and to wait for Allen to return home, I stayed up a bit late but eventually went upstairs after I started feeling uncomfortable with all the alcohol around me. No they weren’t wasted but I’m just not a fan of watching the consumption of alcohol so closely. Plus I had to do work on my laptop a little before beddy-bye.

And that concludes my Friday! Thanks for reading. Bye-bye.

GYM And Breakfast At Night!

Thursday November 8^th, 2012

Iiiit’s a small world after alllll, Part 2! This time I ran into my history teacher on the MRT. I’m waiting to run into a favorite singer of mine, my husband or perhaps a classmate from KC. None of y’all would happen to be in Taipei right now, huh? :P

I was prepared this time! I arrived to University earlier! I had time for breakfast! Whoopie! What better way to celebrate than to get a fruit-vegetable #8 sandwich?! ;D This time I took it up to the classroom and ate it there because I didn’t want to play ‘beat the clock’ when it comes to savoring a meal. I could leave earlier to eat breakfast outside on the Cafe8’s patio but I already get up early enough and there’s no need for me to frantically access Wi-Fi now that Internet is at the house. (Halleluiah!)

In University class we did a small presentation over our biological families with the new family vocabulary we learned recently. It was fun to see our fellow exchange students’ families and hear about their likes. A great majority commented that their family liked drinking tea or coffee. Always 他們喜歡喝咖啡／茶. (They like to drink coffee/tea) Laughs were had, smiles exchanged and my Chinese skills reassured. When it comes to stuff we’ve learned at University, I know it very well. Stuff outside, not as hot. So if we’re talking about likes and dislikes, LOOKOUT because I know my vocabulary and grammar! If we’re talking about politics, prepare to mime awkwardly a lot. XD

When waiting for my #8 sandwich, my interest was sparked as I watched different orders being delivered. I concluded that I would try something new next time though not as healthy. That experiment got pushed forward from Monday to today because lunch was eaten at the University cafeteria with three other friends. So this time it was #9 combo time! It included chicken nuggets and an Asian corn-egg pancake thing with a side drink. Normally I get milk tea but I expanded my experiment by getting black tea instead. All was very tasty. To me the meal seemed half Asian with the corn-egg pancake & half American with chicken nuggets. I haven’t had chicken nuggets for at least 1-2 years! I felt like a kid again when eating them, especially when the shop had ketchup sauce! Whoo ketchup!

In high school land we had club today. Fun yet not so fun. Apparently the club has been having some afterschool practices that teach them stuff outside of what we learn in the allotted club time. The one time I made it to a practice, it so happened that they didn’t have it that day. FML. So I’m behind on our routine and don’t know how to catch up at this rate. I’m thinking of asking to film someone doing it to practice at home but there’s no knowing if I can. We’ll see. We did more of the lion dance, which one part confused not only me, but many other people because there wasn’t a recognizable pattern…yet there should have been. I don’t know. That’s another thing that was difficult in club today.

I’ve concluded that the kung-fu teacher is dedicated to only preying mantis style. The routine we are learning has the preying mantis stance several times and the fact that a picture of the animal was on the teacher’s robes today sealed the deal. Let’s have a fun little survey! What style of kung-fu would you pick to learn?

-Tiger

-Monkey

-Crane

-Snake

-Preying Mantis

Refer to Kung-Fu Panda if you need reference. ;)

On the way back home I received a text from my counselor saying that I will stay one more day than originally planned with my temporary family and afterward move to my second host family. Even though I know leaving my current family was inevitable, I couldn’t help but feel greatly saddened. I thought I would stay with them until mid or late December with the rumors of a delayed switch but it ended up being a premature switch. This is where I say my biological family’s famous quote, “I have tears.” With only five days of being with this host family, I’ve birthed feelings as if I’ve lived there for the whole three-month period. That is how wonderful they are and that is why I must savor every minute with them since I’ll change before I know it.

Since club extends my stay at school an hour extra, I arrived home just before dinner was ready compared to getting home an hour before. Uncle Eric is on a business trip to China and Pi Nan, Yavanna and Xiao Di were out of the house. So Auntie Jenny, Allen and I had dinner together. One dish was fascinating and a highlight of the meal. Asian meatballs! Whoo they were good! I dare say that they may even surpass the meatballs I’ve had in America! Both are good, don’t get me wrong, but the pure idea of Asian meatballs is interesting as heck! I had to rein myself back because I didn’t want a heavy stomach to the place Allen took me today.

THE GYM! HAAAAALLELUJAH!! *sparkles twinkle in my eyes with an idiotic smile plastered on my face* It’s been too long my friend! How I craved the feeling of exercise and sweat, especially recently because a realization dawned upon me. My stomach is getting bigger. Nooooooooo! I WON’T ALLOW THIS TO CONTINUE! IT SHALL BE STOPPED! It is my solemn goal to not necessarily lose weight but to remain fairly the same. I refuse to go back to being pudgy! That characteristic is reserved for my bun-buns back in America because the bigger they get, the cuddlier they get. ^_^

And no, Allen wasn’t suggesting anything about my weight by inviting me to the gym. He’s an extremely nice guy and would never mean anything like that. He just knew I was interested in going to workout and was thoughtful enough to treat me with a visit.

Located at Xindian High School, he drove us by scooter. Without even stepping into the building, we immediately went back to the house. Why? It’s because Allen forgot the coupons for a free entrance to the gym and had to go back for them. It was cute. ;P It gave me the opportunity to ride on the scooter even more, which I really enjoy. Scooters are a lovely mix of horseback riding and roller coaster stimulation (two things I love). You must balance, the whooshing wind gracing your face and you speed down roads that would’ve taken a lot longer to walk. When I say ‘speed’, I don’t mean a speed devil but rather a normal, calm pace for a scooter. One thing that is commendable with Allen is his safe and legal driving. Many people in Taiwan don’t always follow the driving laws or are too reckless, which can be quite intimidating. Allen is thankfully different, for example, he actually stops at neighborhood stop signs. While walking, I have to be careful when crossing the street because cars will ignore the stop sign completely and mow me over. XD

Oh wonderful gym how I love thee! It was a small school gym but still have a good variety of equipment and working employees. For one visit it costs about $1-2US which I think is relatively cheap in comparison to others. The people working there were friendly and helpful, one coming up to me and talking in Chinese for a bit. All the lovable cardio machines were there like treadmill, elliptical, bicycle, etc. I did a bit of them all. ;)

First was the treadmill, side-by-side with Allen exchanging pleasant conversation. Then he went off to lift weights while I continued cardio stuff. Gotta lose my stomach! ;D But during the entire workout, I kept smiling like an idiot. My K-Pop friends will understand (SHOUTOUT!). The speakers were playing a certain artist over and over again. Can you guess which one? It’s a boy group…one of the biggest known and standing names…its name rhymes with “Juper Sunior.” This gym played 10-14 songs of Su-Ju while I was there. It was a Super Junior gym! Allie, Collen, you jelly? ;P It was really hard not to sing along or feel energized when songs like ‘Gulliver’ or ‘Pappillon’ were played. I was working on the bicycle machine when ‘Sorry Sorry’ was played and just had to do the dance hands during the song. One employee came by and looked at me strange and I protested not being crazy by saying in Chinese that I knew the song. He just walked away smiling which I can’t tell if I was successful or not explaining my sanity. Or perhaps I am insane. If I am, it sure is fun! ;D

When Allen finished his workout he asked a question to a worker before we left. It involved an exercise to help straighten your back posture. You stand straight with your buttocks and back touching a wall with your hands above the head. Then you bring your arms down forming a 90 degree angle with your bent arm and push it as far down as possible in a straight path by your sides. The goal is to push your shoulder blades together while doing this. I don’t know if it works but it was cool to learn an at-home exercise that doesn’t involve equipment.

The guy teaching us was pretty cool. He was from an aboriginal tribe in Taiwan! That’s a first for me! His name and his tribe’s language was kinda hard to learn because it’s more difficult than Chinese maybe more difficult than Taiwanese (meaning it’s really hard). He told us how to say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ but they were too complicated to remember after only being told once. It was really interesting to meet him and who knows, I may see him again if I can go back to this particular gym. Yo quiero! ;D

The next best feeling other than getting a good workout, is having a fresh shower to clean up. How I missed this! I need more! No seriously I need more. My stomach proves it. I’ll handle fixing it though. ;) When there’s a will, there’s a way! >:D

Tonight had a trip to a breakfast shop (move like breakfast and midnight snack shop XD) with Pi Nan and Allen. We bought several different Taiwanese foods along with soymilk.

<--The Shop

One was what I refer to as an Asian churro. Less sweet and more soft, this creation’s name sounds like “sao-bing-yo-tee-ow.” Another was a small ball that translates to “green onion crunch cake.” Our friend the Asian churro appeared again but this time holding hands together with an egg. The last food was called “fan tuan” which can be called in English “rice___(roll/ball/together). Take your pick. ;)

They were all very tasty. It sure was a good thing that I was able to go to the gym today!

Feeling 10x better after working out, I bid y’all a very energized “BYE-BYE!” :D

P.S. Guess what made a first appearance today. Christmas stuff! It went from Halloween to Christmas with no Thanksgiving is the middle. Poor Thanksgiving. Just thinking about it makes me want to bake a pumpkin pie. But I rejoice in the fact that I saw some Christmas traces in Taiwan. If I'm not careful, I'll go crazy on purchasing Christmasy stuff to create my own take on the holiday while abroad. XD