3 Weeks!

      I can't believe it's already been three weeks! It feels like such a short time since I arrived here in Taiwan until I think about how many things I've done and then it feels like I've been here for months! As most of you probably don't know, this past weekend was the Moon Festival which is the second biggest holiday in Taiwan(first is Chinese New Year).
     So in celebration my family and three other families went down to Kenting for two days. Kenting is known for it's beaches, warm weather, and great national park. Our first day there we went to the national park where we saw some incredible scenery. After that, we went to a huge night market right outside our hotel, and the other two exchange students walked around for hours playing games and trying really weird food. I got to try stinky tofu which is notoriously the worst food Taiwan has to offer..... I really liked it! While my fellow exchangers were trying not to throw it up, I was thoroughly enjoying that smelly snack.
     We spent the entire next day at the beach just chillin in the ocean and looking at the beautiful scenery as they walked by. I also attempted to teach the others how to body surf. I failed.
     In all it was another great week here in this scorching hot country! I swear it's always 100 degrees F here. If you want to see pictures of my Kenting excursion and of my trip overall check out my Facebook photos. They are just under my photos.
  再見!,
           Tom/李東誠

Oops! I ment to post this last week, my apologies

It's official! I'm here to stay. I have completed the first week of the exchange, I've unpack, and my room is organized and clean for now. So as some of you may know I started school on Tuesday. Technically it was supposed to start Monday but it was cancelled. I was curious as to why it was cancelled so I asked my host sister. This was her response: "oh just cause of typhoon." Pshh just a typhoon? Please, in Illinois we only cancel school because of serious things like snow. Anyway the typhoon wasn't that bad it was just a hard rain that lasted for two days.
              The first day of school was okay. It started by Julian (German), Johanna (German), Margaux (French), Cosette (American), and I (American) introducing ourselves to thirty very nice but shy Taiwanese kids. Of course we had to say our introductions in Chinese which all-in-all I think we were fairly successful at. Then Cosette and I went to our home room class while the Europeans went to the one next door, and we sat and listened for four hours while the teacher gave a speech. Of course I didn't understand any of it but she sounded very enthusiastic. I left later that day feeling confused and challenged by how hard of a journey learning Chinese is going to be.
              The next day, however, was amazing. It started out with a very easy English class. Afterwards Julian and I made some new friends while kicking ass in a competitive basketball game  during gym. Then we went upstairs for lunch and the customary hour nap which I think I can get used to. I ended the day with three hours of rigorous, but rewarding, Chinese lessons. Thursday and Friday were also very rewarding in that my Chinese has gotten exponentially better and my English is thus getting progressively worse (as you might be able to tell from the very short and simple sentences in this blog).
               My school schedule is arguably the coolest schedule anyone has ever had it is as follows:
                   Monday             Tuesday            Wednesday            Thursday                Friday
8:10-           Creative              Taekwondo          English                 Cake Making            Chinese Writing
9:00               Painting

9:10-                  ""                          ""                     ""                         ""                      Chinese
10:00

10:10-             English             Acupressure             PE                        ""                             ""
11:00

11:10-                   ""                    ""                         PE                          ""                            ""
12:00

Lunch/nap

13:20-             Group                   Japanese              Chinese                   Fine Arts                   Calligraphy
14:10                  Activity               Cooking

14:15-                    ""                         ""                        ""                     Basic Design               Calligraphy
15:05

15:10-            Chinese                      ""                           ""                   Basic Design                 Chinese
16:00                Writing                                                                                                                 writing



Cool Right!? This is clearly not an academic exchange.

In other news I met my host father! I think he is very nice but it's very hard to communicate with him because he don't know any English. Also he is away on business most of the time.

(right to left)
sister, brother, mom, weird guy, grandpa,
 counselor

My House!

My New Room

Reina and Tahcoon!