Volunteering and the Taipei Speech Competition
On Monday morning, my stomach was bothering me so I went to see the doctor. The doctor said that it is pretty routine for foreigners to have stomach pains after about two months of living abroad. They gave me some medicine and put me on a simple diet for a week. After eating nothing but bread for a few days, I am back to normal and again enjoying the amazing Taiwanese food!
Monday evening, I volunteered tutoring children with learning disabilities. I went with two other girls from Wenzao who are also in Serviam. I really enjoyed getting to know those two girls more and working with the students. I was assigned to help one student with his math homework. It was very rewarding to discover that I had the right combination of math and Chinese skills to walk him through simplifying radicals!
On Tuesday, I attended morning class as usual. In the afternoon, I worked in the school Campus Ministry office for an hour as part of Serviam. When I walked into the office, I was told that my responsibility was to answer the phone and take messages. Luckily no one called! In the afternoon, I met up with Katie and Brandon at the library to study. Then Katie and I went to class. In class, we learned about the difference between linguistics and 文字學 which roughly translates into the study of Chinese characters.
On Wednesday morning, I went to class as usual. In the afternoon, I met with a teacher to work on my speech. She helped me rewrite the ending and then had me practice my tones. After meeting with my tutors, I went home.
On Thursday, I stayed home from morning tutoring to practice my speech. In the afternoon, Brandon, Scotty and I rehearsed our speeches. Then, I met with Hueyin to practice my speech some more. After going to drama class, I went home and practiced my speech some more!
On Friday morning, Jenny picked me up super early to catch the train to Taipei. Brandon and Scotty met us at the station as well as a teacher from Wenzao and another Wenzao student from Vietnam. The speech competition was awesome! There were competitors from 14 different countries and we were very much so the youngest people there. Apparently the judges we presented to are incredibly renowned Chinese linguistics! I am glad I only discovered that after I gave my presentation.
The Speech Competition
My Speech (With English Subtitles!)
After we presented, we went out to a famous Thai restaurant in Taipei. The food was delicious! In the afternoon, we listened to more speeches and walked around the Sun Yet Sen Memorial Hall where the competition was held. We saw some art exhibits and the changing of the guard.
I placed somewhere between 5th and 16th out of about 70 competitors so I received a certificate and a cash prize! I was very excited!
Award Ceremony
After the award ceremony, we took the train home. Unfortunately, Brandon, Scotty and I unknowingly bought (and subsequently ate) eel for dinner. It was pretty terrible even when we thought it was fish! Kripa, Kate, Katie and Alisa met us at the train station to congratulate us! We had Krispy Kream donuts.
Welcome Home!
Then, Jenny drove me home. It was quite an exciting, busy week!