Saturday, June 12, 2009
Today was a much more relaxing day than all of the others. I got to sleep in a little bit because I didn’t have anywhere to be until 9:00. I woke up around 8:00 to do my morning stuff, and went downstairs. Vanessa had already left for school (yes, school on a Saturday…) so I went with her parents to get breakfast. They took me to a neighborhood small eatery where I had some scrambled eggs and a type of pork breakfast burger; they were both delicious. They wanted me to see the inner-markets of Hsinchu, so we went there next. We walked around the insides of some alleyways and buildings; places I never would’ve known existed. They were selling some of the strangest foods and items I’d ever seen, it was truly a sight.
I was then dropped off at Vanessa’s school to sit in on some of her classes with Malcolm and his host, John, who already graduated. I open the door, and the whole class screamed with excitement, all because I was there! I walked to the back of the room to sit with Malcolm, John, and Vanessa, I was then explained that the students were practicing their English by introducing themselves to us, oh what a sight. Soon enough, the bell rang and it was time for “break”, a 30-minute session where the students go outside and play sports like basketball and volleyball. Malcolm and I walk down to the courtyard to be challenged to a game of basketball, the greatest game I’ve ever played. It was Malcolm, John, and I against three students from the high school. It started with just some of our class watching the game, which we won, but by the end, at least three fourths of the 4,000-student school was watching, that’s 3,000 people witnessing a pickup game! Every time we would score, the crowd would erupt with applause and take pictures to document it, oh what a game! The next game we played against kids who actually knew what they were doing, on kid (of course whom I had to guard) was a mini version of Shaq. We were worn out, and lost this one, but decided it was worth a Saturday morning to come back next week and earn redemption. We got back to class sweating profusely, dripping as we attempted to down water bottles and cool off with shamwows and fans. When they say that it is hot and humid, they were not kidding, the air is stale and 90 degrees before it storms, how crazy! We sat through Chinese class where we were taught to write some crazy ridiculous Chinese words that mean “turtle”, “dig”, and something else. Right after school, I went back to Vanessa’s house to take a shower before “cram school”.
One of the many things I’ve noticed during my short stay in Taiwan is how much harder they work at their studies than we do. After a conversation with my host, I came to an epiphany; Americans truly are lazy! We go to school Monday thru Thursday and don’t think of it on the weekends, but they think about it all day, every day. Even during her summer she will be at school almost everyday! Honestly, I don’t know how they survive, but they seem content, I know that if I tried to truly live a year in their life, with all the academic work they do, I would not be half as successful, so hats of to you.
Back to the story, I went with her to English cram school at her tutor’s classroom. There we sat and talked about my stay in Taiwan, America, and various other things (all in English) as part of their class, it was pretty fun! After about an hour, we went to her teacher’s house where they would do English work and I would play Wii with her son, Mickey. He whooped me in tennis and bowling, but I returned in baseball and boxing, a very enjoyable schooling.
We left cram school to meet up with some of the other exchange students and hosts at the Flower Marker, why it is called that, I still do not know. It somewhat reminded me of the State Fair, we walked around, played some silly games and eating weird food. Throughout the time there, we had tried Watermelon juice, grilled squid, red beans (very sweet), and a strange pancake, all of which were really good. We also played a game where you have to catch a fish with a little paper thing; if you move too fast, or leave it in the water too long, it will break. Of course none of us caught it, which is depressing because we could’ve won a pet turtle!
At night we walked around downtown and played some videogames in an arcade, it was pretty fun! But as always, I’m exhausted, primarily from the basketball game, so I’m going to get some sleep, good night!
Song Description: “Rock Star”-R. Kelly
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