5 Month Report!

Five Months. I still cannot believe I have actually been living in Taiwan for five months. My exchange has officially passed the halfway mark, and I have such mixed feelings about this! I am happy because I actually made it this long and I do miss my family very much and cannot wait to see them. However, it is also quite sad to think about the fact that I will be home in five months. This amazing adventure will eventually come to an end. I remind myself this everyday. That each minute is precious and I should make the most of it! This month has been yet another incredible one. Finally, I got my winter vacation! I was actually a little bit worried because as much as I love Kinmen there isn't a whole lot to do here. I didn't know how it would be with my host family either because we had never spent long periods of time together. But it turned out wonderfully! My Chinese teacher offered Naima and I calligraphy lessons, my host brothers and I played lots of Mario bros, I went out with my classmates (not often because they still have cram school and studying), and the Rotary Club kept us busy. In mid January I went to Taipei for the second inbound orientation and a culture class. For the most part we listened to the Rotarians talk about safety and rules for the Eastern Taiwan trip. Then we had to get up and talk about the first half of our year in Taiwan. For the culture class we learned Chinese calligraphy. It was so beautiful, and so much harder than it looked! We wrote on the red paper that is hung outside of doors for Chinese New Year. The Chinese characters often symbolize the welcoming of spring, or good wishes for the new year. Although most of the exchange students red paper was not the most beautiful, we still had fun with it. In Taipei we also got to go out with the other exchange students which is always memorable. Back in Kinmen the weather is amazing so I have been spending almost everyday outside. I went biking with Naima out into the countryside and we found this old traditional village to walk through. My host brothers also took me to Zhongshan Lin, a biking park with trails. I went into Jincheng with a couple of my classmates where i tried coconut nai cha for the first time. It's times like these that make my exchange special. I feel so fortunate to have these people in my life in this beautiful place. The five unbelievable months I have been here have been life changing. I feel so lucky to still have five more to go!