The successful exchange

First of all: sorry that I have not been updating my Blog for years… My excuses are many. Basically I have just been busy…

I wonder if any of you saw the article about me in Horsens Folkeblad last Tuesday (I think). It tells about how my Christmas here in Taiwan is going to be different from the one in Denmark. The thing is that it is going to be very different as Christmas not really is a big deal here, but that does not mean that it is going to be bad. Actually I am having my best time in Taiwan so far. And my time here in Taiwan has always been good, so now it is just brilliant!

I think the reason, why I am having such a good time, is that I am doing stuff I like to do. One of my really good friends from America has had a hard time recently. She has been working unnecessarily hard on improving her Chinese (which was already really good), because she thought mastering the language would make her stay here more successful. And of course being able to communicate with people is necessary for making friends, but being able to communicate is not useful if you have nothing to communicate about. And that is what happens if you spend too much time by your self or with foreigners studying the language.

    A lot of the exchange students want extra lessons at our language school, and most of them are willing to pay a big amount of money to get them. I don’t want more lessons. I don’t want them, because that it not why I am here. If I was here to study Chinese I should have tried to get into some kind of university instead. I shouldn’t have gone to a High School where I have more cooking than Chinese classes, I shouldn’t have stayed at host families and I shouldn’t have spend energy taking dance classes twice a week. But that is what I do – because I am here on cultural exchange. And of course the language is important to get close to the culture, and some of the exchange students definitely should work harder on improving it, but the important thing is, that you do stuff whit the Taiwanese people, and best of all stuff that you enjoy doing yourself, because that it what makes you happy. And it is when you are happy, that you are having a successful exchange year.

So back to the Christmas issue I just want you to know, that I have all I could possibly whish for this Christmas, because I am doing stuff I enjoy with people I like.

Last weekend my dance club had a performance, and it was great, because I actually was a part of it. And when I use the word actually it is because I was not just a foreigner who danced along at the corner of the stage, but a person equal to the other dancers. The other dancers would ask me questions about the choreography and I had some very good positions (like whether you are center front or corner back), so I definitely was a part of this as much as everyone else, which was just great!

    On Saturday (and yes, I am talking about the 25. of December), my school has its anniversary, so we all have to go to school, but that really doesn’t bother me as I am going to play a little concert with my school band. I play the keyboard and sing the second voice (yap yap: in Chinese!), so here I am really a part of something as well. Furthermore my classmates and I are going to sell some food together, and it is just going to be very cosy!

    Even on Christmas Eve I am going to really be a part of something. And yeah, you might think that I have “bing” as they say here (which means that you are crazy), but on the very 24^th of December I am going to run a stafett whith my classmates agingst the other classes! I know it is crazy, but don’t worry: afterwards I will go to my Rotary Clubs Christmas Party which will probably be more or less about food, so I am not going to miss anything.

And remember: it is not bad, it is not good – it is just different!

Merry Christmas!

Julia            

Changing families

So changing host family is weird – like really weird. Cause after three months in your host country you feel like you know a lot. You know your school, you know the busses, you know your Rotary club and you might even have gotten some new habits or routines that you did not have back in your own country. But just as everything feels familiar: BAM, you are put into a new family. A family you might have met, but definitely haven not lived with before.

I am not saying that changing host family is a bad thing. Even though I got really close to my former family, I might get even closer to this one. Only time can tell. But when I said goodbye to my family I realized how much they mean to me. They ARE Taiwan for me. Cause they were the ones that introduced this foreign country and culture to me: went with me on my first busride, took me to Taiwan’s nightmarkets for the first time, gave me my first bowl of rice and taught me the first word (which to your information was 山 shan, meaning mountain, because the first thing a saw when I got out of the airport were Taiwan’s majestic mountains in the panorama of the crowded city). Now it has been time to let go of my teachers – my family.
    It does not mean that I am on my own though. I have gotten a new family, who will definitely show me new sites of Taiwan. But it is always difficult in the beginning when everything is new. Well, actually it is even harder than in the beginning, cause when I came to Taiwan I was totally prepared for something new to happen: Taiwan! Here I come! Now I feel like I now Taiwan – and yet I don’t.

My last host family pretty much lived in the ghetto of Taipei. The streets were broken and dirty, the stores were unorganized and wild dogs constantly passed me at my way home from school. But I loved it anyway. Because my family cared about me and wanted the best for me.

    Now I live in a penthouse apartment on the 15th floor in the pretty part of Taipei. When I walk out my door I get to a nice breakfast store with clean plates, and if I turn a corner I reach a little park with benches, a playground and gym facilities. This is where I’ll live from Monday to Friday, cause in the weekend my family and I will go to their 4 stories house in another part of the city. A house with garden (everything in Taipei are small apartments) is a big change from a first floor apartment without windows.

So in many ways I really look forward to the upcoming months, and my new family definitely seems lovely. But on the other hand I really miss my former family. You know just coming home after school, drop your bag and then surch for some cookies in the candy drawer. But hopefully, after some time, I’ll know how to find the candy in my new house as well.

New address

The time flies here in Taiwan, and Wednesday I was told, that I have to change hostfamily this weekend. I don't have time to write a lot about it right now, as I am on my was to dance-class, but I want to give all of you my new address. The address goes to my new hostparents office, which they visit every day:

Cheng Mei Machine Co., LTD.
No. 1619, Daying Road, Dasi Township, Taoyuan County 33553, Taiwan


or
承美機械有限公司
33553桃園縣大溪鎮大鶯路1619號
Taiwan


I promise to write you soon!


Julia :)