Three 三 months have passed since I first arrived! The shock never wears. Just the fact that I’m in Taiwan is still a dream. I feel completely at home, but every once in a while I have to remind myself that I have another life on the other side of the world. It’s a strange feeling- having two lives :)
Nothing turns out how you expect it to be. I’m so comfortable here, but then again at times… It’s hard to explain. Sometimes I just wish I could fit in with everyone. But I don’t blame people for starting at me or being curious when a group of teenage foreigners walk by. I stare a bit too when I see a “foreigner” –anybody other than Taiwanese. It’s so different from the U.S., where we’re so diverse and yet I never really noticed before.
Last month we had a Culture Fair! All the inbounds represented their counties and we talked to the future outbounds. I’d say the U.S. did well. :) We handed out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. mmm. I think I convinced some people to come to Florida too. The Canadians (including Mariah of course) built an igloo out of Styrofoam and handed out hot chocolate! Germany won though, but I think it’s just because they had Kinder Chocolate. Everyone loves chocolate!
I changed host families last week. Leaving my first host family was the hardest thing I’ve had to do since saying goodbye to my parents four months ago. 四個月! I’ve become so attached to my host parents, and starting over is so difficult. Yet again, I’m on an emotional roller coaster. haha. But overall, I understand why Rotary has us change families. Every family is different, special in its own way. And I think by my next journal, I’ll feel completely at home here. It just takes time…
But anyway, I do like my new host family :) On the first day of the new year, we went bike riding in a park off of Xindian 新店 River. It was wonderful. I love the park!
新年快樂! (Xin nian kuai le) Happy New Year! My New Years Eve was amazing. After dinner with my family, I met up with some of my friends at Taipei 101. There were so many people there! It was chaotic. But my friends were there all day so they had a great spot near an ongoing concert and with the perfect view of 101! I got to spend my first minute of the new year watching fireworks burst out of the tallest building in the world! Incredible. 太好了! Getting home was a nightmare though, haha. Squishing yourself on the subway with about a million other people is an interesting experience. I even witnessed a guard pushing some extra people in so they wouldn’t get hit by the MRT doors! I thought that only happened in Japanese movies!
Christmas was a few weeks ago! I actually wasn’t too homesick. Near the beginning of December I was, but well I felt that there was no sense in being nostalgic. And I did have a good Christmas in Taiwan. Mariah came to my house and we made my favorite gingerbread cookies and watched basketball movies (I think we both miss being around people other than Taiwanese =P and I miss my melting pot country). But anyway, although my host parents don’t really celebrate Christmas, we had a little tree and to my surprise they gave me presents! I got a few lovely packages from home too. I love getting mail!
At school (CK) we had so many decorations! It was beatiful. Ten Christmas trees in every hallway! Happy Holidays!
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