Wednesdays

I just got back from school today. I forgot to post yesterday, but I think I'm still okay because of the time difference. I like Wed. because I have cooking class and guitar club. In cooking today, we made dumplings. They were really good, and they made a perfect lunch. Guitar club was good. We have a new teacher, and he is very good. One of the girls from another class I'm i n joined guitar club, so now I know another person in the club. Nothing very exciting has come up recently, so this post is very short. Thanks for all of your support and love!

Zai Jian!

School

I had my second day back at school today. It was fun. It is great to see my friends again. I like my classes, and working in the kindergarten is a blast. Today I battled 6 kindergarteners is an epic war. I ended up dying a few times, and of course the kids won. It was fun, and it helped the rowdy kids release a lot of energy. I also had sewing class today. We are making miniaures of a dress design, and then we will sew them full size. It should be fun. My final, non self-study, class was P.E. We played badmiton today. My P.E. class is with the English majors, so I get asked lots of questions. Today one of the girls asked if the the high school in the movie Mean Girls was how all American high schools are. I said no, and I was wondering if anyone knew any movies that were acurate. Thanks for all of your love and support!

Zai Jian!

Pictures!

These are most of the pictures I took so far. My host family went to Taidong. It is on the other side of the island, so the car ride around the lower tip was quite long. It is weird to think of this place as an island. It was the first time I saw the ocean since my plane landed, I wish I could have stayed longer. The other pictures are from a dinner with my host dad's family (The trip to Taidong was my host mom's family). The Jeeps are included because we rode around the sand dunes in them. We had a profesional driver, and it felt a lot like what I imagine those poor people in Josh's racing games must feel like. It was fun, wild, and exciting, and I would definitley do it again. Love you! Thanks for everything!

Zai Jian!

Rabbit Rabbit (everywhere)

It is the day before Chinese New Year. Tomorow will be the first day in the Year of the rabbit. This means that for the past month rabbits have been popping up everywhere. They are in decorations, on T.V., on clothing, and probably a few plates. It is impossible to go outside without seeing some version of a rabbit somewhere. Today I got to see a rabbit made out of flowers in front of the local train station. I have yet to see a live rabbit, but I haven't seen any being eaten either. I changed host families and I am now back with my first family for a month. Everything is going well. Thank you for all of your love and support! Love you!

Zai Jian!

Happy (Chinese) New Year!

It has been a great first four days of vacation, and almost every day has been full. Friday was mostly full of sleeping, but that was very good. Saturday I had to go to a short Rotary thing. It turns out that we have to model a countrie's clothes. So this was the 'learning how to walk down a runway' day. Two of the other exchange students actualy are models, so we had some experienced teachers. It was not very exciting or pleasesnt, but I survived. After that, everyone went to Chilies and ate massive bacon burgers. That was quite enjoyable. On Sunday, my Rotary club had a lantern painting thing. It was fun, and I got to paint my own lantern. I don't know if I'll get it, but I did get a few pictures. I am going to Taipei tomorow, so I won't have time to make a post. Thank you for all of your love and support!

Zai Jian!

Vacation!

It is the final countdown until winter vacation! Only two more days of school until three weeks of getting up after seven. I am not sure what exactly I am doing, but it should be fun! The last two days, and the next two days, everyone in school is taking the final tests for this semester. Since I don't have any tests, I help out in the kindergarten during morning classes, and recover/study after lunch. School gets out an hour early because of the tests, so I get to go home at 4 o'clock. School in Taiwan doesn't normally get out until 5, that took some getting used to. The kids in the classes I help out in are great. They don't speak any English, so I am forced to only speak and hear Chinese. Their very nice, and often a bit crazier then I would like. Yesterday during recess, I played with two boys. All of the teachers are girls, and not much for wrestling. On Saturday I went to a gym with my host parents, and I lifted some weights. Wrestling for a bit did not help out my sore arms. I don't think I will every be able to lift a water bottle again. Life has been good, and I really like my host family. The rally was interesting, and it was definatly from Placer. It was weird to have the camera on the different side of the gym. I love you all, and thank you for everything. I still haven't found my stamps, sorry.

Zai Jian!

Oops.

So I'm a few days late on the post, sorry. My new family is awsome. They are very nice, and very helpful. Every problem I have, they seem to have a solution. I only have one more week of school until a three week vacation. These will be the first vacation days of the school year. I have no clue what I will be doing, but I imagine lots of Rotary and family activities. i finaly watched the video from Liz, it was wonderful. I tried to e-mail Mr.Schroder, but it didn't work. Could someone tell him about the blog, I would like to keep in touch with him a little. I am having a wonderful time, and I can't belive how long I've been here. I got th e-mail about figuring out my return date the other day. I don't need to figure that out for a while, but I already told my Rotary club here in Taiwan. Thanks for all of your love and support. It means the world to me that you want to keep up to date on my happenings. I love you!

Zai Jian!

Also, I can't find my stamps, so it might be a bit before I get any mail sent out.