2nd Host Family Beginning!

Thursday November 15^th, 2012

It’s a neeeeeew world. It’s a neeeeeew start. It’s a random Taffy intro of singing lyrics that much the scenario. Today was indeed a new world in the new host family’s house and a new start in crafting good relationships. Whoo!

The first meal was a steamed meat bun and liquid yogurt. As usual, steamed buns are so delicious with their soft, fluffy goodness. Nummy nummy!

To help me learn the roots of transportation to school, my host Dad accompanied me in the morning. First was showing me the bus stop at the terminal station and waiting for number 212. We took the bus for about twenty minutes to the ‘Kunyang’ MRT station and then parted ways since I know very well how to use the subway. I’m very glad my host Dad came with me and explained how to get to school so well. Combining the bus and subway, it does take more time and is a bit more expensive but that’s just how things are.

The subway line I had to take was the blue one, otherwise known as ‘Bannan Line.’ I’ve never really used the blue line except for two transfer stations. The environment felt kinda cozy for some reason compared to other lines I’ve ridden on. I can’t explain why but Harry Potter comes into mind when waiting for the MRT. Strange but cool.

Time to visually explain my MRT experience! Before you is the MRT map layout in Taipei/New Taipei City. I'll break it down nice and easy for ya. ;)

The purple dots are my school locations:

-University: Lower purple dot

-Tatung High School: Upper purple dot

The blue dots are all my past/current homes:

-First host family's house: Far left blue dot

-Temporary host family's house: Middle blue dot

-Second host family's house: Far right blue dot (actually that's just the station I go to. The house is farther right, hence the need to take the bus)

After University class and lunch, Brittany and I stopped by the General Merchandise store for a visit (you have seen pictures before with Christmas decorations). I did window-shopping, curious to see what new holiday stuff they had in stock. Twas a happy time since that’s the only source of Christmas I can find currently. Every year, I begin to feel the holiday spirit a month or two before the actual day and it’s no different in Taiwan. It’s just I can’t do many of the usual traditions. So I make up for it with songs and Christmas-y store visits like today. ^_^ *sings* Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh, etc.

School was uneventful so the Taffy shall skip ahead to the MRT/bus home. I managed to find the correct stop to get off of and the street to go down. Buuuuuut I couldn’t see any sign of the correct building door. Oh snap snapidy SNAP! I paced down the street several times, retracing and remapping yet always managing to stay lost. I just could not find the house. Taking out my host father’s business card, I tried calling him. But the phone was not working and Andrea was really starting to panic. No matter how many times I called, his phone was not connecting. Next backup plan was calling my district counselor for help who thankfully had another phone number I could try. One phone call later and my host Dad was on his way.

A face palm was in order. See, I found the correct street to the house but what I neglected to know was the need to go on a side street FROM the main street to find the door. Ohhhhhhhh. What a small thing yet so essential. Well I got home in the end and didn’t cry or anything…though I came close when lost. XD

The Grandmother cooked a nice Taiwanese family meal that I ate with her. Host Dad had to go to a meeting and host Mother was still working so they could not join us. It was all good food and we watched a Taiwanese TV drama show during the meal. The father told me that the family all likes to watch TV, which so far is no lie. As far as I know, there are at least three good quality televisions in the house and all of them are used frequently.

A shot of my room!

I gave the TV in my room a shot and turned it on while unpacking. There are some interesting channels to choose from. I found anime, Disney and to my pleasant surprise, K-Pop! All have Chinese subtitles but some speak English like the Disney channel. Watching TV felt both refreshing and slightly mind numbing. I can’t remember the last time I just sat down for a while and enjoyed TV relaxation. A good feeling to have now and then.

Randomly I was called over by my host Dad to his computer. The screen was filled with 10+ people in a live chat. He explained that it was a Rotary meeting with his club, as this particular club has online meetings instead of the types I go to (meet at a location, have lunch, etc.). So I said hi to everybody and was introduced to the members. Frankly I don’t remember any of them because it was all very quick and late at night. But hey I tried and it was cool seeing how they conduct online Rotary meetings. Saves times and it eliminates the problem of not attending due to a business trip or something. Useful stuff.

That’s all I got for today. Sorry it’s not very interesting but I’m still getting settled into the new family and house. Until next time, bye! :)

P.S. Ok so between the three exchange students (Pennsylvania boy, Canadian girl and me) we were supposed to rotate. I was supposed to go to the Canadian girl's family, she was to go to the boy's family and the boy to mine. If the Canadian girl was to change families she would be really far away from her school which would cost a lot of time and money. So she was taken out of the rotation. Instead, the guy and I switched host families (though both of us now live further away from our schools, oh well). So I have no idea who or where my third host family will be. But that's a basic summary of the host family rotation change. Hope that all makes sense. :)