In some ways, summer in Taiwan is cruel. In June, it rains practically every day. The worst part is, on some days it starts off extremely nice and sunny, and by the time we get out of class it immediately starts pouring rain, as if it is deliberately feeding off our hopes and expectations and using them against us. Taiwan weather can be quite a tease.
Starting in July, things heated up, quite literally, without much warning. I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've been able to sleep at night without turning on my air conditioner. Ideally, I'd like to save on my electric bill, especially since I'm not working right now, but it's just not possible with this kind of humidity.
Not to mention, 90% of the people I know have found one or more cockroaches in their bedroom and/or apartment. Taiwanese cockroaches are no joke, man. They're twice as big as any cockroach I've seen in the States (and this is on AVERAGE), and the worst part is, some of them can fly, thereby making them that much harder to kill (as if they really needed that extra boost of immunity). I know this firsthand because I saw one fly from my desk to the spot on my wall right above my bed. It was freaking terrifying, mostly because this cockroach was gigantic and had alien-looking antenna. I feel a little sick just thinking about it. Needless to say, I was so traumatized for the rest of the night that I couldn't fall asleep, thus starting another vicious cycle of being really tired during the day, unable to resist the innocuous daytime nap, and then not being able to sleep at night...which has done wonders for my studies, let me tell you.
Taiwan has more cockroaches than any country I've been to. I swear, I never once saw one while living in Japan. My Japanese friends doubt this claim, but really, other than the annoyingly loud cicadas that always seemed to be floating above your head, there wasn't that much to fear in Japan bug-wise. I think it's because Taiwan is so hot during summer. Even if you live on the 7th floor and don't have much food in your room, cockroaches make their way in, man. And once you see one in your bedroom you kind of can't forget the sight, even if you've managed to eradicate it. Hence the insomnia and late nights and being so tired in class that 3 hours feels like eternity...
In some ways I'm glad that summer in Taiwan, and therefore my time in Taiwan, is ending, but of course deep inside I know I'm sad as well. If not sad, then at least nostalgic. Was one year enough? When I first arrived, I would have said no, one year is way too short, for both my language and personal goals. But now I have an inkling that maybe one year was just right. Around the 9-month mark I started getting a little antsy about staying. Which is not to say that my Chinese has reached the level of fluency that I was originally aiming for, but hey, how accurately can we judge fluency anyway? I would say that my Chinese now is pretty good. Compared to what it was 11 months ago, I would say it's more than pretty good. Of course it could always be better, I could have done better in a lot of ways, but all in all, not bad for a year's worth of study. To someone who has never studied Chinese before, I'm pretty sure I can sound fluent (or at least that's what I like to tell myself).
I used to think that everything in life happened for a reason, because it was easier to believe that than to believe that shitty things sometimes happen to good people for no real reason at all. From the way that things are progressing now (a poor choice of words, in many a sense), it seems like shitty things often happen to good people, which serves no higher purpose than to put life into perspective for the living. Too many lives cut short for no reason at all. So I've revised my thinking a bit. Or should I say, my thinking has revised itself. I am the passive bystander in a mountain of quicksand, not sure whether I should be looking up at the sky or down at the ground, not even sure if it really matters.
Not everything in life happens for a reason. Sometimes things just happen. Good things, bad things...when I read the news now, it seems to be overflowing with the deaths of people I'll never know, in every corner of the world. I hate to admit it, but this is having more of an effect on me and my mental state than ever before. I know they're isolated events, I know that shit happens, I know that death is inevitable, but these stories, for whatever reason, sink into my consciousness and refuse to let go. As they should, because as much as it scares me sometimes, I am part of humanity. I am also capable of doing the same atrocious things that I often read about. They ('they' being the writers and reporters, the deliverers of bad news) like to call these acts "inhumane," but in some ways they're very humane, perhaps more humane than anything we could dream of, since only humans are capable of doing them.
I don't want to lose hope. I don't want to spend so many hours every day being sad about things I have no control over. But every time I turn on the computer, there's something horrible waiting to be acknowledged. How are we supposed to deal with an overflow of information, most of it negative? Ignore it and be ignorant (but not blissful; I know, I've tried) or take it in and be satiated with emotion that is often more destructive than productive? I don't know how to channel information in a positive, or even neutral, way, anymore. It's as if everything I read immediately becomes a post-it that I can't tear off; even if I look another way, I know it's still there.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Not much to say.
Typhoon Matmo passed through Taipei yesterday. From around 11 p.m. to about 3 a.m., the wind was rattling the windows and doors so loudly that I couldn't fall asleep. By 10 a.m. the next morning though, it had stopped raining and the winds were mostly gone. Our classes were cancelled for the entire day, so I just stayed indoors and caught up on some housework and studying.
In light of all the recent plane crashes, I have to admit I'm a little nervous about flying home. I think most people are, even though we know that logically plane crashes are extremely rare. It's strange, looking outside the window right now, it's so sunny and clear that it's hard to believe the weather was so bad yesterday that it (most likely) caused Taiwan's first plane crash since 2002. I flew TransAsia just a couple months ago to Thailand.
We're about winding down to the last stretch of the semester, then most people are heading back to their respective countries. I don't have much to write at the moment, so I'll upload some pictures instead.
In light of all the recent plane crashes, I have to admit I'm a little nervous about flying home. I think most people are, even though we know that logically plane crashes are extremely rare. It's strange, looking outside the window right now, it's so sunny and clear that it's hard to believe the weather was so bad yesterday that it (most likely) caused Taiwan's first plane crash since 2002. I flew TransAsia just a couple months ago to Thailand.
We're about winding down to the last stretch of the semester, then most people are heading back to their respective countries. I don't have much to write at the moment, so I'll upload some pictures instead.
 |
| Celebrating the 4th of July, with a cake and everything. |
 |
| The only 2 Americans out of the bunch. |
 |
| Food From Around the World party. I just made that name up. |
 |
| Homemade taco shells, courtesy of our Texan friend. |
 |
| Dinner is served. |
 |
| One of many good-bye dinners |
 |
| The southernmost point of Taiwan, pretty much. |
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Happy July 4th (Almost)
這個星期五是美國的(獨立)生日！說到這天，我就開始想起來美國在我的心裡到底有什麼影響呢？
我在台灣認識了很多不同國家的人，可是認識的美國人有點少，所以常常跟別人討論美國的特點。不管我在什麼國家，很多人都會問我：＂妳是哪國人？＂ 我回答"美國"的時候，他們會直接地問我，＂那，妳的父母是哪國人？＂
我覺得對很多國家的人來說，一個人的國籍總是靠著父母跟祖先的起源。可是在美國的話，很少人會問我，＂你是哪國人？＂雖然美國對移民這方面很開放，可是在美國我們總以為大家都是同一個國家的人。不管你的父母跟祖先原來是哪國人，大家都是美國人。美國一個特色是沒有唯一種文化，美國文化是包括很多不同的文化。比如說，在我的家鄉裡,我常吃到很多不同國家的食物，聽到很多不同的語言，而且受到很多國家的影響。跟別的國家比起來，美國好像有很多不同的國家在裡面.
我在美國出生，長大，所以在我的心裡美國永遠是一個很特別的地方。從小到大，我的老師，家人，朋友, 連陌生人都告訴我： "既然妳是美國人，妳可以自己決定妳要往那一方面走。" 他們也跟我說，"妳很幸運，很厲害，想做什麼就可以做什麼. 只要妳努力，有決心，將來沒有不能發生的事!" 有時候我還是覺得這種觀念有點幼稚，說得到不一定說明會做得到, 可是每個人都想回到小時候，那種好像沒有不可能的事情。
難怪我一直覺得美國另外一個特色是自信。雖然我們有的時候會做錯事，可是還是要試試看。與其從來不做一件事不如做錯以後還是學了一點。有的人喜歡問，＂你為什麼做這樣？＂可是美國人比較喜歡問,＂我為什麼不可以做這樣？＂美國當然也有很多問題，可是說真的,我們很有自信啊！
有的人覺得美國很開放。有些覺得美國人很有錢。我也聽過美國人很笨或是很胖。因為美國是很大的國家，還有包括很多種類的文化，要有一個刻板印象算是不容易的！我不知道我自己對美國最大的印象是什麼，可是我知道我在美國可以問很多問題，討論很多事情，好像什麼想法都有。在很多不同的想法上,可以創建創新，改變比較弱的地方，有所作為。有些朋友告訴我，＂妳真的喜歡爭論阿！＂那當然,我在美國長大麻！
我最感謝美國給我這個特色。美國的電影，書，和 音樂常常有這種想法：別盲目聽從別人，靠自己的力量學習.自己找到的夢想和相反，才能對生命產生力量。獨立對美國人來說很重要。
今天我要慶祝一下美國的獨立。一提到美國，我就想到很多重要的事, 像我家人，朋友，背景，夢想，個性, 等等。在我心裡所有這些東西都能代表美國對我來說到底是什麼樣的國家。
我在台灣認識了很多不同國家的人，可是認識的美國人有點少，所以常常跟別人討論美國的特點。不管我在什麼國家，很多人都會問我：＂妳是哪國人？＂ 我回答"美國"的時候，他們會直接地問我，＂那，妳的父母是哪國人？＂
我覺得對很多國家的人來說，一個人的國籍總是靠著父母跟祖先的起源。可是在美國的話，很少人會問我，＂你是哪國人？＂雖然美國對移民這方面很開放，可是在美國我們總以為大家都是同一個國家的人。不管你的父母跟祖先原來是哪國人，大家都是美國人。美國一個特色是沒有唯一種文化，美國文化是包括很多不同的文化。比如說，在我的家鄉裡,我常吃到很多不同國家的食物，聽到很多不同的語言，而且受到很多國家的影響。跟別的國家比起來，美國好像有很多不同的國家在裡面.
我在美國出生，長大，所以在我的心裡美國永遠是一個很特別的地方。從小到大，我的老師，家人，朋友, 連陌生人都告訴我： "既然妳是美國人，妳可以自己決定妳要往那一方面走。" 他們也跟我說，"妳很幸運，很厲害，想做什麼就可以做什麼. 只要妳努力，有決心，將來沒有不能發生的事!" 有時候我還是覺得這種觀念有點幼稚，說得到不一定說明會做得到, 可是每個人都想回到小時候，那種好像沒有不可能的事情。
難怪我一直覺得美國另外一個特色是自信。雖然我們有的時候會做錯事，可是還是要試試看。與其從來不做一件事不如做錯以後還是學了一點。有的人喜歡問，＂你為什麼做這樣？＂可是美國人比較喜歡問,＂我為什麼不可以做這樣？＂美國當然也有很多問題，可是說真的,我們很有自信啊！
有的人覺得美國很開放。有些覺得美國人很有錢。我也聽過美國人很笨或是很胖。因為美國是很大的國家，還有包括很多種類的文化，要有一個刻板印象算是不容易的！我不知道我自己對美國最大的印象是什麼，可是我知道我在美國可以問很多問題，討論很多事情，好像什麼想法都有。在很多不同的想法上,可以創建創新，改變比較弱的地方，有所作為。有些朋友告訴我，＂妳真的喜歡爭論阿！＂那當然,我在美國長大麻！
我最感謝美國給我這個特色。美國的電影，書，和 音樂常常有這種想法：別盲目聽從別人，靠自己的力量學習.自己找到的夢想和相反，才能對生命產生力量。獨立對美國人來說很重要。
今天我要慶祝一下美國的獨立。一提到美國，我就想到很多重要的事, 像我家人，朋友，背景，夢想，個性, 等等。在我心裡所有這些東西都能代表美國對我來說到底是什麼樣的國家。
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
That Time I Ran With Wet Shoes
This past Sunday I ran the Nike Women's Half-Marathon in Taipei, which was a 21K race (about 13 miles). This was the third time I've run a half-marathon, the first two times both being in Saitama, Japan. I think my best performance has still been my first run, because that's the one I trained the longest for. I would run 3-4 times every week for about 3 months with my friend Noah (who used to play football professionally, but is not really a fan of long-distance running). The second time I ran in Japan, I barely trained for it and made the mistake of not eating enough in the morning so by 5K my stomach was already grumbling and I barely had enough energy to finish the race. That was probably my worst performance out of all the races I've done. So if you're going to run 21K, please make sure you eat more than just a banana before the race!
This time the gap between the recent 10K race I did and the 21K I was going to do was only about 5 weeks, so I didn't have much time to train, especially since I spent a week in Thailand the week before the race. The only running I did while in Thailand was sprinting from one terminal in Taoyuan to the next because we were cutting it close for our flight from Taipei to Bangkok. I think that was one of the few times I was legitimately a little worried that we might miss our flight, but luckily everything worked out. Thailand is actually hotter than Taiwan, but there's no humidity, so if I covered myself in sunblock I could probably run without collapsing. On the contrary, I pretty much just ate and got massages while in Thailand (though there were 2 days involving outdoor activities - hiking, rafting, and the like - but pretty minimal considering the circumstances).
Anyway, once I got back from Thailand my friend and I at most ran 10K in one go a few days before the race. So I was a little worried I might be able to finish the race in time (I think we had 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete it. Or maybe it was 2 hours and a half?).
Taiwan's summer weather is the worst. If it's not raining, then it's freaking humid, and sometimes it'll seem perfectly sunny and then start raining hours on end with seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel. This is pretty much what happened the day before the race. Because the race started at 5 a.m. and we had to arrive at the starting point by 4:30 am (ridiculous right? I thought so too), my two friends and I planned to sleepover at one friend's place and cab it to the start location early in the morning (since no public transportation would be open at that time). I stupidly wore my running shoes to go to to my friend's place that night because I didn't want to carry an extra pair of shoes to the race. Unfortunately, they got pretty wet and were definitely not dry the next morning. So I ran the entire race wearing my friend's socks and semi-soaked shoes. As a result: I got one big giant blister on the bottom of my left foot. A whole patch of skin got rubbed off around 10K, and for awhile I thought I had a rock in my shoe because every time my left foot would touch down, there would be a sting of pain at the center of my foot. But when I took off my shoe to investigate, there was nothing. So I ran the remaining 10K with my foot throbbing. It was after the race that I discovered the quarter-sized blister - no blood, just a bright pink area where you can start to see the insides of my foot.
I've kind of been limping everywhere since then, which has prompted questions from my friends and stares from strangers. That was fine. But then yesterday my index (?) toe on my left foot start hurting like mad. It's not broken, but it was a little swollen and totally tender to the touch the whole day. It was more of a dull pain than the sharp kind resulting from walking around on my blister. But then, around the time I was planning to go to sleep, the pain suddenly magnified. I can't really describe what this kind of pain felt like, but I basically couldn't even touch the toe without waves of pain instantly shooting to the corners of my skull. When I propped my leg up on some cushions, the pain lessened a little bit. But only for a few minutes before it would come back. So I spent the entire night changing positions trying to fall asleep while ignoring the pain in my toe. Around 5 a.m. I eventually drifted off and when I woke up the piercing pain was gone but it still throbs a bit whenever I touch my toe. And of course there is still the blister.
Probably my worst post-race experience to date, as I pride myself on being able to recover quickly. A couple days after my last half-marathon, I could go running again, 3-4 miles at a time, no problem. But this time I can barely walk without wincing. I'm planning to see a doctor if the pain in my toe returns again tonight. I really don't know what that was about. (My right foot is completely fine so if I hop around on one leg, I feel no pain at all!)
This time the gap between the recent 10K race I did and the 21K I was going to do was only about 5 weeks, so I didn't have much time to train, especially since I spent a week in Thailand the week before the race. The only running I did while in Thailand was sprinting from one terminal in Taoyuan to the next because we were cutting it close for our flight from Taipei to Bangkok. I think that was one of the few times I was legitimately a little worried that we might miss our flight, but luckily everything worked out. Thailand is actually hotter than Taiwan, but there's no humidity, so if I covered myself in sunblock I could probably run without collapsing. On the contrary, I pretty much just ate and got massages while in Thailand (though there were 2 days involving outdoor activities - hiking, rafting, and the like - but pretty minimal considering the circumstances).
Anyway, once I got back from Thailand my friend and I at most ran 10K in one go a few days before the race. So I was a little worried I might be able to finish the race in time (I think we had 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete it. Or maybe it was 2 hours and a half?).
Taiwan's summer weather is the worst. If it's not raining, then it's freaking humid, and sometimes it'll seem perfectly sunny and then start raining hours on end with seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel. This is pretty much what happened the day before the race. Because the race started at 5 a.m. and we had to arrive at the starting point by 4:30 am (ridiculous right? I thought so too), my two friends and I planned to sleepover at one friend's place and cab it to the start location early in the morning (since no public transportation would be open at that time). I stupidly wore my running shoes to go to to my friend's place that night because I didn't want to carry an extra pair of shoes to the race. Unfortunately, they got pretty wet and were definitely not dry the next morning. So I ran the entire race wearing my friend's socks and semi-soaked shoes. As a result: I got one big giant blister on the bottom of my left foot. A whole patch of skin got rubbed off around 10K, and for awhile I thought I had a rock in my shoe because every time my left foot would touch down, there would be a sting of pain at the center of my foot. But when I took off my shoe to investigate, there was nothing. So I ran the remaining 10K with my foot throbbing. It was after the race that I discovered the quarter-sized blister - no blood, just a bright pink area where you can start to see the insides of my foot.
I've kind of been limping everywhere since then, which has prompted questions from my friends and stares from strangers. That was fine. But then yesterday my index (?) toe on my left foot start hurting like mad. It's not broken, but it was a little swollen and totally tender to the touch the whole day. It was more of a dull pain than the sharp kind resulting from walking around on my blister. But then, around the time I was planning to go to sleep, the pain suddenly magnified. I can't really describe what this kind of pain felt like, but I basically couldn't even touch the toe without waves of pain instantly shooting to the corners of my skull. When I propped my leg up on some cushions, the pain lessened a little bit. But only for a few minutes before it would come back. So I spent the entire night changing positions trying to fall asleep while ignoring the pain in my toe. Around 5 a.m. I eventually drifted off and when I woke up the piercing pain was gone but it still throbs a bit whenever I touch my toe. And of course there is still the blister.
Probably my worst post-race experience to date, as I pride myself on being able to recover quickly. A couple days after my last half-marathon, I could go running again, 3-4 miles at a time, no problem. But this time I can barely walk without wincing. I'm planning to see a doctor if the pain in my toe returns again tonight. I really don't know what that was about. (My right foot is completely fine so if I hop around on one leg, I feel no pain at all!)
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Good Things to Come
Things have improved a lot since my last post. Part of it came from realizing that I sometimes harbor a not-too-positive attitude towards my studies, particularly in regards to my language skills, not to mention being too hard on myself in general. There will always be areas where I could improve, but there's a time and place for everything...
On a positive note, some accomplishments from the past few months:
1. I passed Level 4 (out of 6) Listening and Level 3 (also out of 6) for the TOCFL (Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language test) this month! This to me is a pretty satisfying accomplishment considering that I didn't really have time to study for it and we're only expected to pass Level 3 based on our current class level.
2. I finished my second 10K race in Taiwan! I wish I had trained more, but it was an accomplishment just to get up at 4 in the morning to head to the race site. I don't know why, but Taiwanese like running their races *very* early in the morning.
3. I entered a school essay contest and my submission won a prize! All winning submissions will be published in a collection of essays this month, and I'm excited to see the result. The topic was "NCCU and Me." I'm still waiting to hear back from another essay contest I entered. Good thing the contest guidelines only require essays to be written in English, which is still my strong point...
4. I realized that I can successfully hold conversations in Chinese now with native Taiwanese. Over the past 2 weeks I had a conversation with a taxi driver, a random guy riding a motorcycle, and a surfer only using Mandarin. Most Taiwanese people I talk to also comment on the fact that I speak pretty well considering that I've been in Taiwan less than a year. At first I thought they were just being polite, but then I thought, hey if I can successfully communicate with them without using English, I must be doing something right.
5. My writing has improved too. My teacher says I do pretty well on our writing assignments, and there was one time where I wrote two short essays with no mistakes. This is pretty amazing considering that characters are my weakness, and for me at least, it's so easy to get them mixed up (if you even miss one stroke, it often becomes another character altogether). Not to mention learning traditional characters is no piece of cake.
6. I've gotten closer to a couple of people I didn't know too well before...when I'm with them, I can laugh a lot and learn about different cultures (the majority of them are not from Western countries). We talk about differences between American culture and Asian cultures a lot. The cool thing about studying in an international environment is that you can meet people from all over the world...I think my current class also represents a good mix of nationalities. At first I was a little worried about the fact that there are 3 Americans in class, including me, but we're all from different areas so I can learn a bit about those places too.
On a positive note, some accomplishments from the past few months:
1. I passed Level 4 (out of 6) Listening and Level 3 (also out of 6) for the TOCFL (Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language test) this month! This to me is a pretty satisfying accomplishment considering that I didn't really have time to study for it and we're only expected to pass Level 3 based on our current class level.
2. I finished my second 10K race in Taiwan! I wish I had trained more, but it was an accomplishment just to get up at 4 in the morning to head to the race site. I don't know why, but Taiwanese like running their races *very* early in the morning.
3. I entered a school essay contest and my submission won a prize! All winning submissions will be published in a collection of essays this month, and I'm excited to see the result. The topic was "NCCU and Me." I'm still waiting to hear back from another essay contest I entered. Good thing the contest guidelines only require essays to be written in English, which is still my strong point...
4. I realized that I can successfully hold conversations in Chinese now with native Taiwanese. Over the past 2 weeks I had a conversation with a taxi driver, a random guy riding a motorcycle, and a surfer only using Mandarin. Most Taiwanese people I talk to also comment on the fact that I speak pretty well considering that I've been in Taiwan less than a year. At first I thought they were just being polite, but then I thought, hey if I can successfully communicate with them without using English, I must be doing something right.
5. My writing has improved too. My teacher says I do pretty well on our writing assignments, and there was one time where I wrote two short essays with no mistakes. This is pretty amazing considering that characters are my weakness, and for me at least, it's so easy to get them mixed up (if you even miss one stroke, it often becomes another character altogether). Not to mention learning traditional characters is no piece of cake.
6. I've gotten closer to a couple of people I didn't know too well before...when I'm with them, I can laugh a lot and learn about different cultures (the majority of them are not from Western countries). We talk about differences between American culture and Asian cultures a lot. The cool thing about studying in an international environment is that you can meet people from all over the world...I think my current class also represents a good mix of nationalities. At first I was a little worried about the fact that there are 3 Americans in class, including me, but we're all from different areas so I can learn a bit about those places too.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Today I walked from my apartment to my school. What usually takes a 15-minute ride by bus took an hour on foot. I'm not sure why I did it, other than the fact that I've been feeling a bit low lately and I was tired of staying holed up in my room studying for yet another Chinese test (I'm now in my third quarter of Chinese classes, and we have a test pretty much every other day).
I've been terrible about updating this blog, as well as keeping in touch with people back home in general. Half-written letters sit unsent in my desk, and there's the stack of Christmas cards that I meant to write but never got to. I'm not sure why I've been so averse to delivering snail mail and answering e-mail lately, but there it is.
All anyone's been talking about these past few days are the student demonstrations against the trade pact with China that Taiwan's president is trying to pass. They only recently got violent, with some students getting hurt and handcuffed. My current teacher is not only very interested in politics but in this issue in particular, so we've been discussing it pretty much in every single class last week and this week. I can now talk about politics in Chinese, which is pretty mind-blowing when I realize that I can't even really talk about politics in English. But I now have the vocabulary at least to deliver some sort of opinion.
It is also ironic that these demonstrations are taking place during the same week that we're learning about Taiwan's history in our textbook. I must admit that I don't know much about the whole Taiwan-China situation at all, and now that I have all these names and dates floating about in my head, I feel even more mixed up than before. For one of our homework assignments, we had to watch a two-hour movie (in Mandarin, with no English subtitles) about how the two parties in China separated during the wars and how one of them eventually migrated to Taiwan and transformed into the democratic system that governs the country today.
Honestly after watching the movie I just felt really depressed. The movie centers on the three sisters (real people) who married the three most powerful men in China at the time. However, after Chiang Kai-Shek's party started killing off members of the opposing Communist party, two of the sisters found themselves against each other and didn't speak for 10 years. The movie ends with both of them dying alone. I don't know how accurately the historic events and figures are portrayed in this movie, but I was so surprised to discover that I had never heard of the three Soong sisters before in my life. I really am ignorant about the role that women have played in history throughout the world, and no wonder. How often are we taught women's lives in history classes?
My current Chinese class is the hardest one I've had yet. The tests are particularly difficult, not just because of the amount of vocabulary that we're required to know, but because the listening part, which I am normally best at, requires us to write at lightning speed what we hear the teacher say. This has always been the most difficult part of learning Chinese for me (learning traditional characters is no piece of cake, especially since I never had to learn so many in such a short time), and I was shocked to discover that my listening skills (on these tests, at least) have progressed from being my strongest point in class to my weakest. On the bright side, we have presentations every week, and I've been successfully breezing my way through those. We're allowed to look at our notes, but we have to write our own speeches, of course. I think I am one of the stronger speakers in class, mainly because my previous teacher really emphasized learning grammar structures and I've always been good at constructing sentences, which has carried over from English. Also, I enjoy saying whatever I feel like saying; being afraid of making a mistake is no longer an issue.
I've been terrible about updating this blog, as well as keeping in touch with people back home in general. Half-written letters sit unsent in my desk, and there's the stack of Christmas cards that I meant to write but never got to. I'm not sure why I've been so averse to delivering snail mail and answering e-mail lately, but there it is.
All anyone's been talking about these past few days are the student demonstrations against the trade pact with China that Taiwan's president is trying to pass. They only recently got violent, with some students getting hurt and handcuffed. My current teacher is not only very interested in politics but in this issue in particular, so we've been discussing it pretty much in every single class last week and this week. I can now talk about politics in Chinese, which is pretty mind-blowing when I realize that I can't even really talk about politics in English. But I now have the vocabulary at least to deliver some sort of opinion.
It is also ironic that these demonstrations are taking place during the same week that we're learning about Taiwan's history in our textbook. I must admit that I don't know much about the whole Taiwan-China situation at all, and now that I have all these names and dates floating about in my head, I feel even more mixed up than before. For one of our homework assignments, we had to watch a two-hour movie (in Mandarin, with no English subtitles) about how the two parties in China separated during the wars and how one of them eventually migrated to Taiwan and transformed into the democratic system that governs the country today.
Honestly after watching the movie I just felt really depressed. The movie centers on the three sisters (real people) who married the three most powerful men in China at the time. However, after Chiang Kai-Shek's party started killing off members of the opposing Communist party, two of the sisters found themselves against each other and didn't speak for 10 years. The movie ends with both of them dying alone. I don't know how accurately the historic events and figures are portrayed in this movie, but I was so surprised to discover that I had never heard of the three Soong sisters before in my life. I really am ignorant about the role that women have played in history throughout the world, and no wonder. How often are we taught women's lives in history classes?
My current Chinese class is the hardest one I've had yet. The tests are particularly difficult, not just because of the amount of vocabulary that we're required to know, but because the listening part, which I am normally best at, requires us to write at lightning speed what we hear the teacher say. This has always been the most difficult part of learning Chinese for me (learning traditional characters is no piece of cake, especially since I never had to learn so many in such a short time), and I was shocked to discover that my listening skills (on these tests, at least) have progressed from being my strongest point in class to my weakest. On the bright side, we have presentations every week, and I've been successfully breezing my way through those. We're allowed to look at our notes, but we have to write our own speeches, of course. I think I am one of the stronger speakers in class, mainly because my previous teacher really emphasized learning grammar structures and I've always been good at constructing sentences, which has carried over from English. Also, I enjoy saying whatever I feel like saying; being afraid of making a mistake is no longer an issue.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving
This past week has been a rather frantic whirlwind of emotions.
November was an especially busy month to be a student, because we had a speech contest, a final, and good-byes to prepare for. I also had friends visiting from Japan the week before the speech.
I must admit I'm not the best at maintaining balance in my life. Over the years I've definitely learned that when I'm really passionate about something, I tend to work my butt off, regardless of the consequences. My passion is something I've always taken pride in (why do something if you're not going to go all the way?), but it's also something that has consumed me as much as it has helped me.
Case in point: I really wanted to do well in my speech and my final. It's true that I'm generally a pretty competitive person (those who have had the misfortune of playing board games with me know this firsthand), but mainly I wanted to do well for my own sake. I came to Taiwan to study Chinese seriously, so doing well at the speech (even though I was terrified) and doing well in my final (also terrifying, but in a different way) were two big priorities for me.
I think during the whole month of November I slept maybe an average of 5 hours every night - when I wasn't studying Chinese, doing language exchange, or teaching English, I was busy trying to memorize the speech, which took even longer than expected due to the numerous corrections my teacher, exchange partners, and friends helped me make. But in the end, it was worth it, because I knew that speech backwards and forwards. I can still probably recite it from memory now. Maybe I can't pronounce every phrase correctly (Chinese tones are so hard to get down!), but I come pretty close.
Unfortunately, in the mist of everything that made up the busyness of November, I forgot to take care of one crucial issue, something that resulted in some serious consequences: I forgot to extend my visitor's visa. In Taiwan, you can extend your visitor's visa up to one month if you're a full-time student at an accredited university Chinese Language Center; after 4 months of continuous study you can apply for a resident's visa. However, the catch is that you have to go to the immigration office about 5-7 days before the visa actually expires; otherwise, it's a no-go. I didn't do that. As a result, by the time I discovered my mistake, I had already overstayed my visa by 2 days.
I never had to worry about extending a visa abroad before because 1) I either didn't stay long enough to warrant needing an extension or 2) someone else took care of it for me (as was the case in Japan, where I could pretty much stay for 3 years without ever visiting the immigration office). I remember during NCCU's orientation, they put a lot of stress on remembering to extend your visa, because the immigration office is not at all lenient when it comes to visa infractions, no matter how desperately you plead your case.
Once I realized my mistake (which, in a cruel twist of fate, happened to be right after I took my final), I had one choice and one choice only: to leave Taiwan and come back. Moreover, I had 8 days to get out or my fine for overstaying would increase at least ten-fold. Luckily, my discovery of my mistake coincided with our one-week break between semesters, so getting time off wasn't an issue. Financially, I probably could have done without the spontaneous round-trip ticket to Hong Kong, but plane tickets were not as expensive as I imagined, considering that I had booked it 2 days prior. And of course, I had good friends to stay with in Hong Kong, something for which I cannot express my gratitude enough. They made my stay as seamless as possible - if it weren't for them, the situation would have been significantly more stressful than it already was.
Going through the immigration office at the airport was the only time as of yet that I've seen Taiwanese officials look truly unfriendly. They don't take visa overstays lightly - even for students such as myself. Even though I had only overstayed about 5 days up until that point, I had to pay a fine and got a scary-looking stamp in my passport that basically says I can't enter Taiwan without a visa for one year. Unfortunately, this means my visa saga is not yet over, as I am planning to travel outside of Taiwan before my 90 days is up. Which means...I need to get another visa, in another country, if I want to go back into Taiwan. This obviously takes time and money.
When this first happened, I felt pretty miserable and stupid about it. Sure, I may have done well in the speech (with the help of numerous individuals) and on the final (also with others' help), but how could I have been so stupid to make such a costly mistake? The whole situation would have been easily avoidable if I had just remembered to stop by the immigration office the second week of November and applied, free of charge, for that initial visa extension.
However, I realize that lamenting over my stupidity and carelessness is rather pointless, as it doesn't really change anything, much less make the situation more bearable. On the contrary, I should really focus on the positive things that came out of this situation. Were it not for everyone who helped me - my friend who let me stay at her place and even came to the airport early Sunday morning to meet me, her boyfriend who cooked us dinner nearly every night and let me crash on their couch, my classmates who consoled me in my throes of misery, the office ladies at the CLC who helped me call immigration several times, my friends who told me what I would need to do to get this issue sorted out, even the immigration officers who let me back into Taiwan - this situation would have ended up much, much worse. I lost time and money, but I also realized that there are a considerable amount of people in this world that I am truly grateful for.
Ultimately, striving to do your best at any one endeavor should not overshadow other necessities in life, the most important being your health and peace of mind. While diligently preparing for my studies, I repeatedly neglected these two areas to no avail and as a result paid the price in more ways than one. What's the point of being a good student (or good anything, really) if it means you lose out on yourself as a whole? This is a lesson I continually forget, no matter how old I get. But I'm not a child anymore; I need to take better care of myself, for my own sake and that of others.
Today, I want to give thanks to the many people in my life who have helped me out in tough situations. I am so grateful for my family, the friends I've met, the people I've encountered, and the good times I've had. I am fortunate to have each and every one of them in my life. Adversity, big or small, only makes this that much more clear.
November was an especially busy month to be a student, because we had a speech contest, a final, and good-byes to prepare for. I also had friends visiting from Japan the week before the speech.
I must admit I'm not the best at maintaining balance in my life. Over the years I've definitely learned that when I'm really passionate about something, I tend to work my butt off, regardless of the consequences. My passion is something I've always taken pride in (why do something if you're not going to go all the way?), but it's also something that has consumed me as much as it has helped me.
Case in point: I really wanted to do well in my speech and my final. It's true that I'm generally a pretty competitive person (those who have had the misfortune of playing board games with me know this firsthand), but mainly I wanted to do well for my own sake. I came to Taiwan to study Chinese seriously, so doing well at the speech (even though I was terrified) and doing well in my final (also terrifying, but in a different way) were two big priorities for me.
I think during the whole month of November I slept maybe an average of 5 hours every night - when I wasn't studying Chinese, doing language exchange, or teaching English, I was busy trying to memorize the speech, which took even longer than expected due to the numerous corrections my teacher, exchange partners, and friends helped me make. But in the end, it was worth it, because I knew that speech backwards and forwards. I can still probably recite it from memory now. Maybe I can't pronounce every phrase correctly (Chinese tones are so hard to get down!), but I come pretty close.
Unfortunately, in the mist of everything that made up the busyness of November, I forgot to take care of one crucial issue, something that resulted in some serious consequences: I forgot to extend my visitor's visa. In Taiwan, you can extend your visitor's visa up to one month if you're a full-time student at an accredited university Chinese Language Center; after 4 months of continuous study you can apply for a resident's visa. However, the catch is that you have to go to the immigration office about 5-7 days before the visa actually expires; otherwise, it's a no-go. I didn't do that. As a result, by the time I discovered my mistake, I had already overstayed my visa by 2 days.
I never had to worry about extending a visa abroad before because 1) I either didn't stay long enough to warrant needing an extension or 2) someone else took care of it for me (as was the case in Japan, where I could pretty much stay for 3 years without ever visiting the immigration office). I remember during NCCU's orientation, they put a lot of stress on remembering to extend your visa, because the immigration office is not at all lenient when it comes to visa infractions, no matter how desperately you plead your case.
Once I realized my mistake (which, in a cruel twist of fate, happened to be right after I took my final), I had one choice and one choice only: to leave Taiwan and come back. Moreover, I had 8 days to get out or my fine for overstaying would increase at least ten-fold. Luckily, my discovery of my mistake coincided with our one-week break between semesters, so getting time off wasn't an issue. Financially, I probably could have done without the spontaneous round-trip ticket to Hong Kong, but plane tickets were not as expensive as I imagined, considering that I had booked it 2 days prior. And of course, I had good friends to stay with in Hong Kong, something for which I cannot express my gratitude enough. They made my stay as seamless as possible - if it weren't for them, the situation would have been significantly more stressful than it already was.
Going through the immigration office at the airport was the only time as of yet that I've seen Taiwanese officials look truly unfriendly. They don't take visa overstays lightly - even for students such as myself. Even though I had only overstayed about 5 days up until that point, I had to pay a fine and got a scary-looking stamp in my passport that basically says I can't enter Taiwan without a visa for one year. Unfortunately, this means my visa saga is not yet over, as I am planning to travel outside of Taiwan before my 90 days is up. Which means...I need to get another visa, in another country, if I want to go back into Taiwan. This obviously takes time and money.
When this first happened, I felt pretty miserable and stupid about it. Sure, I may have done well in the speech (with the help of numerous individuals) and on the final (also with others' help), but how could I have been so stupid to make such a costly mistake? The whole situation would have been easily avoidable if I had just remembered to stop by the immigration office the second week of November and applied, free of charge, for that initial visa extension.
However, I realize that lamenting over my stupidity and carelessness is rather pointless, as it doesn't really change anything, much less make the situation more bearable. On the contrary, I should really focus on the positive things that came out of this situation. Were it not for everyone who helped me - my friend who let me stay at her place and even came to the airport early Sunday morning to meet me, her boyfriend who cooked us dinner nearly every night and let me crash on their couch, my classmates who consoled me in my throes of misery, the office ladies at the CLC who helped me call immigration several times, my friends who told me what I would need to do to get this issue sorted out, even the immigration officers who let me back into Taiwan - this situation would have ended up much, much worse. I lost time and money, but I also realized that there are a considerable amount of people in this world that I am truly grateful for.
Ultimately, striving to do your best at any one endeavor should not overshadow other necessities in life, the most important being your health and peace of mind. While diligently preparing for my studies, I repeatedly neglected these two areas to no avail and as a result paid the price in more ways than one. What's the point of being a good student (or good anything, really) if it means you lose out on yourself as a whole? This is a lesson I continually forget, no matter how old I get. But I'm not a child anymore; I need to take better care of myself, for my own sake and that of others.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)