So...

I haven't done an actual post here yet. Well I have, but they haven't really said anything about what I've been doing or anything. So, I'll write a really long one about my first 5 and a half weeks on the island of Taiwan.

When I first got off the plane with A'lena, another girl from Alaska, the first thing I noticed was that the airport didn't look foreign. I mean, I don't know, I guess I expected it to look WAY different than Alaska's airport, I have no idea why. But yeah. Then, we went through customs just fine, even though I was terrified something would go wrong and I would have to live in the airport all of my life. We walked through the gate, and A'lena was immediatley surrounded my tons of family, all screaming and cheering, with a huge banner for her. I stood there, really confused, until a group of three people walked up with a sign in Spanish that had my picture on it, and they said "you look different than your picture." The group of people was my host mom, Serena, my host dad, Eddie, and Serena's dad...I call him Agong (Grandpa. He's so cool. I watch baseball with him).

We took all my stuff, which included a longboard that everyone kept staring at, outside. I thought, wow, the temperature isn't that bad. I was only outside for around 3 seconds, though, before I got into a nice, air conditioned van, so I had no idea what 10 minutes outside could do.

I slept the entire car ride home, and when we got home we went to a nice dinner. The next week we just went around Taichung, and I got to know my family. They are soooo cool. I love them so much. But, more about them later. The second weekend I was there I went to a kid named Johno's house. He's American too. Then some Brazillians came over, and we went bowling with them and one of their host brothers, and the brothers friends. It was super fun! I started school the second week I was here. My first week of school was just a huge waste of time. I sat in the library four hours a day, because the rest of the students were taking back to school exams (OH MY GOD). Then that weekend I went out with my host parents. Then next wek school was a little better, I actually had some classes, but I was still spending a lot of time in the library. That weekend I went to my host mom's sisters house for a barbeque. She had two kids, and they were so cute. We got back on Sunday, and then I went to an indie festival with Jordan, from Canada. That was really fun, and the music was awesome!

The next couple of weeks I just got adjusted to school, and the routine of things. Some things are the same, and some things are VERY different. Like the mopeds. There are about 45728579234895723489 mopeds on every street, and they are completely crazy when they drive. Also, the food is really different. And, the night markets are amazing. Someone bought me a dress at one for NT$100, which is around US$3.

Last week, it was the Moon Festival, or the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was on a Wednesday, so we didn't have school. That week I was staying at my mom's friends house with a girl from Mexico, Jenny, because Jenny's parents had to go to America, and she didn't want to stay at some strangers house alone. But, anyways, my mom picked us up from their house, took us to a resort for the day, and then that night we went to my host dad's Rotary club (not my sponsoring Rotary) and had a barbeque with everyone. Barbeques here are not hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken, but instead squid, chicken neck, and shellfish. I kind of prefer American barbeques better...but it was really fun. That night we went back to my mom's friends house, and I stayed there the rest of the week. On Sunday, it was fall orientation! We were supposed to have it the weekend before, for two days, and with a TON of exchange students, but because of the typhoon, it was delayed, and only the exchange students from Taichung and the surrounding areas came. It was still SUPER fun. I met so many new people. There were 37 exchange students, from soooo many different countries, like: America, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Equador, Colombia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Korea, and Russia. There are probably more, but I don't rememeber. Everyone is really nice! I love exchange students!

So this week I've been playing basketball after school with 4 kids from my homeroom class. I'm finally starting to become friends with them. The first month of school I was kind of just a zoo animal to them. They would say hi, and talk to me, but only because I looked different. I would try and talk to them, and they would just be baffled and stare. Now, some of them are actually trying to be friends with me, which is nice. I'm glad to have some local friends. Tonight, I'm going to the biggest night market in Taichung (it's called Fung Jiao) with one of my school friends, Hebe. I hope it will be fun!

So more about my host parents: My mom, Serena, works for my sponsoring Rotary club, I think. At least, she spends her work day in an office with the Rotary logo on the door, and she's always doing things for Rotary. My dad, Eddie, works for a company that makes power tools, I think. Or maybe I'm just getting that confused with Harry Potter. But, it doesn't really matter. They have on son, named Johnson, but he's in New Mexico right now, so I'm an only child. I don't mind it though, Serena and Eddie are great company. I don't spend a lot of time at home with them, but that's because we're hardly ever at home. We go out to dinner almost every night, and they are always taking me random places. I love it! Being busy all the time doesn't give me a lot of time to get homesick.

Now, a little more about school. My classes are awesome, and easy. It's really nice. I'm taking sewing, Chinese, art, swimming, PE, desert cooking, Chinese cooking, felting (?), caligraphy, and piano. I understand very little of what the teachers are saying, but these classes are kind of easy to understand if you watch what everybody else is doing. I'm actually learning a lot. My Chinese gets better everyday, and I'm starting to be able to form sentances, like "Can I go to (blank)" and "I want (blank)" and "where is the (blank)". It's pretty cool!

So, that's all for now! I hope I'll actually keep this up, but I don't know. Bye!