A Trip to Cijin Island
On Monday, my morning routine was the same. In the afternoon, I attended my reading class. After class, I went to the library with Katie and Tyler to study. Then I attended my first club meeting! Most of the students there were in high school but I had a great time. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. The club is a movie making club so hopefully I’ll have time to become involved!
After the meeting, I went to Mass at Wenzao. I had not brought my Mass books along with me so I had nothing to follow along with. I was impressed with how many of the responses I knew by memory. I’ve learned a lot this past month!
Tuesday morning was the same. In the afternoon, I went to the library with Katie and Alisa to study. Katie and I worked on translating the power points for our Study of Chinese Characters class. While we were at the library, there was a massive storm. I’ve never heard thunder louder in my life! Study of Chinese Characters went significantly better than last week. Because we had translated all the powerpoints, I was able to follow along with the lecture this time around.
On Wednesday, we didn’t have class in celebration of 中秋節 (Zhōngqiū jié), or Mid-Autumn Festival. This holiday is somewhat similar to Thanksgiving. In the morning, I went to a picnic with all the other NSLI-Y kids and their host families (minus Lina). It was incredibly hot but we had a great time! I ate lots of great food, played badminton with my host brother, and learned a new card game.
The Picnic
In the evening, my host family and I went to a tennis tournament. Sadly, the Taiwanese player we were rooting for lost but we still had a great time!
The Tennis Tournament
Thursday morning was again the same. In the afternoon, I went to the library with Katie (this is becoming a routine). After studying for a bit, I had tutoring with a teacher from the Chinese Language Center. She helped me correct the first part of my speech for the Taipei Speech Competition. Next, I met with Huiyin, one of our morning teachers. She helped me study some idioms. Then, I went to Drama Appreciation. I almost finished the movie I was watching.
I went home for dinner and then came back to school to meet up with Brandon, Scotty, Alisa, Kate and Katie. We went to a play put on by seniors at Wenzao. They performed an adaptation Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The play was in English but the dialogue was displayed in Chinese on screens around the theater so everyone could understand.
The Theater
On Friday, my morning was the same. After lunch, I went to a middle school to volunteer. We presented in three different fifth grade classes. I talked about my family, hometown, clubs, favorite class, and typical American breakfast and dinner. Then we played games with the students where we had to memorize their names and they had to answer questions about us. I really enjoyed volunteering and am excited to have the opportunity to go back next month!
Volunteering
After volunteering, we went to the art museum quickly to see an artist who a few of my classmates had helped set up his exhibit. Then we went to 西子灣 (Xīzǐwān), a district right by the ocean, to celebrate Scotty’s birthday. We ordered a mango ice for 10 people and weren’t able to finish it!
Mango Ice
Then, we took a ferry to Cijin District (旗津區) which is an island right next to Kaohsiung. We walked on the beach and climbed up a mountain to an old fort.
Cijin Island
It took me over an hour to get home! When I arrived, I ate dinner with my host parents. Then, I spent the evening talking with my host family. We had an interesting discussion about special foods at holidays. With the help of pleco, I was able to describe the foods my family eats during the Seder meal before Easter.
I don’t have school on Monday and Tuesday in celebration of Taiwanese Independence Day. I’m very excited for the long weekend!