Taipei for a short stay.

Well, the Round Island Tour went by at least as fast as the trip with my schoolmates, if not faster.

So now I'm back in Taipei for the next eleven days. Tina Mama is down in Kaosiung until the 31st, so I'm back next to Taipei 101 at Ellen's house.

I'm very eager to get back home, but I don't know what I'll find there. I know it will be the same as it was when I left, but I'll be looking at it with a very different perspective. I'm sure I will even revert to how I was pre-flight, in some sense, even though I would really like to hold on to my current state of mind.

I think that the most difficult thing to adjust to will be the way that most people will look at me and talk to me as the same person that left a little over nine months ago, and I can't be sure of what will happen when they see what I've come back as. Not that I've completely transformed into something that can't be recognized as Nigel Ulysses Hieronymus, it's just Nigel Ulysses Hieronymus as filtered through nine months of Taiwan and all of the circumstances he encountered there.

Another sort of scary thing is that this whole exchange was the start of a life of movement. The summer brings a sort of distant job, and then I'll be starting a life at school out close to Philidelphia, and after that I don't see myself sticking around for too long as I want to see the rest of America at some point and head over to Europe to visit all my friends over there. I want to sail a sea and climb a mountain, and if none of these things ever happen, I want to be okay with that.

There's not much left for me to say anymore here. I think that these next days before I leave will be either really slow or really fast, but either way I'm probably not going to blog at all, we'll see.

If I don't write again, thanks for supporting me over here. I love you all and I'll see everyone soon enough.
Good luck,
Love,
Nigel

Big Trip

I'll be gone for 10 days starting next Monday. Not sure how I feel about it just cause of some of the random regulations we're supposed to stick. I think everyone will be more relaxed when we're finally on the trip, though.

Different Style

So, I just changed families last Sunday for the final time. I feel pretty good about the move, I think that I'll have a pleasant last month here. Actually, there are a couple things that have made this host family a little better to adapt to, like the place is smaller, Tina MaMa moms me a lot more (she's even an insurance agent like my Mom), the room I'm in is about the size of my room in our house in Dallastown (except my actual "space" is much smaller due to big plastic boxes, bookshelves, and a computer on a big desk. So, I'm sending three little boxes back sometime soon).

I actually have some of the wonder I had when I first arrived, except now I am a little more able to use that wonder instead of getting lost in how much I don't know. I've been writing in my journal lately about the way that my experience has turned out, how even when I thought nothing was going on I ended up learning and being involved wih things that other exchange students didn't have an opportunity or interest to pursue. I feel pretty lucky in that respect, that out of all the randomness of life and the trivial anxieties and seemigly wasted days I've had here something good would come out of it.

I've decided to be more like water for the rest of my time here and perhaps in the future. I'll just go where I'm taken and see what happens. This Thursday I'm performing some songs on my mandolin in a Mother's Day concert at school. "Tree Hugger" by Kimya Dawson and "You're My Mom" which I have yet to write, but it's going to be about how, after calling four other people "Mama" this year, I still really only have one Mom.

Anyway, I'll be back soon, starting n some more domestic adventures. Ths summer camp job will be fun, although I won't have a lot of time for anything else which is a bummer (The summer bummer). After that, I'll be headed off to Near-Phillie to work on my future. I really just want to jam for the rest of my life. People do that, right?

Obvious Improvement

Here's some classmates.

This is my art teacher's home. He's sitting next to me and his two daughter's are on either side. I think that's Samantha on his right and Cassie on my left.

Now his wife is sitting on his right and Cassie's got her Gundam flying around.

Today was my weekly "Chinese painting day". I worked it out so that Wednesdays I can just sit in one of the empty art rooms and paint all day. Lately, I've been perfecting my Chinese dragon. I've made five attempts and with each successive attempt I've made obvious improvent on the previous. The fifth on is the best one yet, although I've just started, so there's still time to screw it up.

My first attempt was big and cute, like the luck dragon from the Never Ending Story movie. Attempt two was something similar to a dragon, but all the important details were off, like the antlers were backwards and he was too fat. I think that was because I painted it from memory. Attempt three was better, but too big and the ink wasn't faded out very well. This is attempt four:

Still too big, but otherwise okay. The ink needs to fade more where parts of the dragon are hidden by clouds. This next one is attempt five, which I had to run over and show my teacher in the next room. I was pretty excited. My control of the brush has been improving with every painting and so that's one of the major reasons this one is so much better. The fading of the ink is really good with this one too.

Oh, that robot in the last post is the Gundam model I put together two days ago. Gundams are suits of robotic battle armor. Some of them transform into planes or starships. Mine's Gundam Throne Drei, which I don't know anything about. Some girl named Nena pilots the thing, but I just picked it cause it's red. I went with Cohen, my art teacher, today to a hobby shop and bought some paint pens so I can make the details stand out more. We were there for almost an hour looking through the model planes and figures. Question for Dad: What's the name of that plane that can take off and land vertically? It was at that one airshow we went to one or two years ago.

5

My Robot

"Your dragon looks American!" he said. Well, hmph!

So, there's my fat dragon. Next time I'll have to remember to make him lean and mean instead. I'm doing okay lately. Last night, my friends 呂淑珍 and 周文翔, a woman and her son who I met on the bus when I was staying at Joy媽媽's house, found me at my school (luckily, I had stayed after) and so we played basketball until about 6:30 and then they invited me for dinner at this sushi place in 臺北101. Then we went to the toy store and looked around. I had a good time.

I would like to start staying after school every day because I haven't had many opportunities to hang around with my classmates in a less studious atmosphere. I think that if I had stayed after I'm allowed to leave (4:00) this whole time I might now be a little closer to my class. I still have time though!

I going to have to send another box of things home before I leave. I just seem to be a magnet for things like books and toys and trinkets, and I'll have to pay extra for my luggage if I try to get it all home that way. This 二胡 probably won't be able to ride with me on the plane either and it doesn't really fit in my luggage anywhere either.

Blugga, blugga, blugga..

Hakuna Matata

It means no worries for the rest of your days.

We just watched some of the songs from The Lion King in music class last period, and I was in the back getting all emotional. I used to watch that movie every day, along with Aladdin, Toy Story, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. I just want to have a marathon and watch all of those movies one after the other and relive my early childhood.

Counting

Fifty-three(53)

That's today's number, right in there between 54 and 52.
It's another mark on the post, another line on the wall, twenty-four hours.
I counted down the days until I would leave to come here to this island, and now I'm counting down the days until I will leave to return home. I'm rather excited about it. Is that wrong?

I talked to my friend Chris Thomas yesterday on Skype (what would we do without Skype?). He's going to Temple University out in Philidelphia, which is where I'll be going once August rolls around. It was a good conversation, I found he's changed as well in his first year out of school. I suppose everyone does, given a little freedom and responsibility.

School is the same, Taipei is a little depressing, and I'm eager to go on that tour with Rotary and then come home. Sometimes I think I should just slip into a coma or some kind of futuristic time capsule and just sleep until it's time to leave, even if I miss a bunch of exciting things, I'm sure my dreams would more than make up for it.

Gonna see the school orchestra concert tomorow. If they would have given me a little more notice (and I hadn't been sick with the Common Cold), I might have been able to play with them. Oh well.

Blah, Blah, Blah

Not Serious

So, I'm back in school today, goofing around. The fun pack is working and thus, I feel goofy. And drowsy. I won't be operating any heavy machinery any time soon.
Music class just finished watching The Phantom of the Opera. It was cool, I had never seen it before. I thought of Lyle while I was watching it though. I bet he's seen it at least ten times.
I think I will be changing families in a couple weeks. I'm glad because the current situation can be a little tense at times (these kids). Plus, the next family I don't know what to expect, so it'll be an adventure.

Mom, I want the Fun Pack!

I hope everyone had a fine Easter over there. One thing about Jesus is that he doesn't ask that much of you, like, you don't have to burn things for him or give him your food.

I would have gone up to Leo's church for Easter, but I didn't feel well enough to travel all the way up to Beitou. I'm going to the doctor today. I feel like I'm getting better, but I want to be sure. I might need the "Fun Pack" (that's what we call the prescription the doctors give here, it's a bunch of different pills in a plastic wrapping).

I never know how to end these.

Why's it got to be like that?

I guess I overdid it on that trip last week cause now I'm sick. Being sick always puts me in a bad mood and I start to miss everything back home. The missing hasn't been so bad this time around, mainly I'm just sad because being sick had to occur at a time when not being sick would have been ten times better.

I'm supposed to tell my class about America tomorrow, but I don't think that's going to happen the way I would have liked. A girl from the strings club came up to me today cause she heard I could play some instruments and wondered if I wanted to join the strings club for their upcoming concert. I said I would and they have a practice tomorrow, but I might not make it.

Maybe being sick will lead to something good, I don't know.

I want to see this through to the end though, there's only 59 days left. I know my summer will be great and starting at college will be helpful in not feeling like I'm in limbo.

My Car's on Fire!

So in the last one I said I met my host dad's dad. Yeah, I forgot to mention that he's dead.

On Sunday, we took a really long drive up to a sort of graveyard, but you'd think it was more like an apartment complex for the dead. I was told that most religions were represented there, like Islam and Christianity, Buddhism and Daoism. It was raining when we arrived (I really need a new pair of sneakers), so that made it harder to light the incense and candles. I said hello to the earth god and then to my host grandpa. I told him I was an exchange student and that his descendants are treating me well and that I hoped he was doing well in the afterlife.
Some food was blessed as well: spring rolls, fruits, a bottle of tea. Then we set about burning some spirit money. You know that play money you can buy at the dollar store? That's spirit money. So, we burned New Taiwan Dollars (NT), Hong Kong Currency, Hundred Dollar Bills for traveling (USD), and some paper gold shaped in the ancient Chinese way (like a boat).
After we finished burning the money and some Buddhist blessings, we headed down to the temple where the monks were chanting. The were three big, gold Bhuddas sitting up front with Guang Gong on the left and that other guy on the right. So we said hello to them and had some more things blessed. Dad took me over to one side of the hall where there was a stand selling objects made out of paper that can be burned to give them to people in the afterlife. We're talking stuff like cars, money, credit cards, shirts, dresses, laptops, cellphones,and even a minature mansion (which I assume becomes normal sized in the afterlife, size probably doesn't matter there anyway). These paper offerings were selling for a pretty decent amount of money though and my dad told me that it's a big business over here.
Later we got some soup and started for home, stopping at this really creative coffee shop on the way. the shop reminded me that I want to have an awesome place like that too, like PeeWee's Playhouse.

That evening we went to see Sarah Brightman Symphony World Tour. I liked the visuals of the show, but I think her music is really over the top. Not that she's not good at what she does, apparently she's been making music for 25 years, but I never heard of her until I was here. Her "Da Jia Wan An!" was really funny to me for some reason, and there was some random part of the show that was supposed to represent Alice in Wonderland, but nothing came of it.

Yesterday, I went to the bookstore and bought some sheet music of songs from Juno and also a book of Chinese mythology (which I brought to school today and eveyone's like, "Wow, I haven't even read about that stuff,").

Skyped with Erin Mann last night. She's doing allright up in Finland, where there's snow on the ground, but everyone insists that it's springtime. I'm still feeling pretty amazing, it's been a sleepy day for everyone though.

I hope I can get to see Renaat's brother before he leaves.

Is it a crime to feel this awesome?

I hope not.

A lot happened last week, and it was so fast that I'm sure I did the Timewarp again. Let me see if I can collect all the memories together in a coherent paragraph for you.

Last last weekend, I was in Hua Lien with my Rotary club. It was really fun, we took the train down there and hopped on a tour bus. It was pretty relaxed, everyone took a lot of pictures. Saturday night was the best! We stayed at a Ranch Resort and I roomed with Adam (we had some guests over in the evening, some of the Aunties wanted to hangout). Adam and I went to the SPA for awhile, it was a good time. Sunday, we took a look at the Ranch part of the resort. They had a bazillion birds and some sweet dinosaur statues, but I was fond of the old billy goat (I want his beard). Later, we learned how the aboriginals make moa ji by mushing up rice in warm water with a big sort of mortar and pestle dealie. It was pretty tasty, tastier with brown sugar and peanuts, in my opinion. It was drizzley the whole time, but that was okay. We headed home Sunday night by train and I started getting excited for my trip with my classmates.

Monday was the orientation session at school, afterwhich, I went home and found out that I still hadn't taken care of all the right forms (okay, one, but it was important). Mom was really calm about it though and made a few phone calls (I made one, too) and things worked out.
So, the next day, I woke up at 5:30 and headed out with my luggage to wait for my friend from school to pick me up in front of 101 and head to SongShan Station. We got there and stood around for awhile, and our classes tour guide, Kiwi, handed out breakfast. Eventually, we headed down to the train and began a succession of events that was magical and enchanting, like accelerating through a snowstorm (but your not the one driving, that can be scary).

We arrived in Hua Lien (yay!) and started boarding the buses. Now I shoud mention that there were at least 400 kids on this trip, maybe more because at rest stops trying to get through the bathroom line it looked as though there were more kids than there were in my graduating class, and that's a lot. I thought about whether a class of American kids this size could handle a four-day bus tour, and I decided that no, they could not. At least, they would not be as into it or as cute about it as these kids, especially seniors.

Anyway, here's a list of the stuff that sticks out the most in my memory of the trip:

• Singing Karaoke on the bus
• The wind being so strong at the Eight Bridges that were we only allowed to go to the second one and never saw the island on the other side
• Rest stop bathroom lines and the patience that every seemed to have
• KenTing Beach Party and trying to drink a Coke really fast through a straw
• A huge spider
• Super cute girls doing super cute things
• Pillow fight
• UNO
• Hanging out at a pretty cool theme park
• Seeing Ayaka (another exchange student I know) at the aquarium cause her class was on their graduation trip, too
• Taking pictures everywhere
• Not feeling so incredibly on the outside, but rather very close to the middle of everything

So, that's the short version of the trip. Yesterday was really fun, too. Helped my family with a religious ceremony and got to say hello to BaBa's BaBa. Burned a bunch of spirit money. Later that evening, we went to see Sarah Brightman sing and she had like, four encores.

So, I feel really good lately and I'm trying not to question it, but rather to embrace it and replicate it. Thanks for sticking with me!

Visitors from the Outer Space

So, Adam's family from Idaho is in town. I met them last Sunday and I think it's safe to say we hit it off really well. His parents actually moved out to Idaho from Wilkes-Barre, PA and they go back to visit from time to time, so I might be able to see them this July, which would be cool. Adam has an older sister, who went to Italy as a Rotary exchange student, and a little brother, who's a freshman in highschool right now. They both came along, too, I guess it's spring break this week or something.

I think Anneke and I are just as excited as Adam is to see his family while we're over here in Taiwan. We three are really siblings in some sense and I felt like talking to Adam's brother was like talking to Jarik a little bit.

There's an interesting thing about exchange in Taiwan that I used to see as a negative, but now see as a positive. It's the fact that, as I've been here, it's been far easier to make fast and good friends with other "foriegn visitors" than it's been to have that type of friendship with my classmates. Like I just made a friend from Russia last Sunday. I was on the MRT, he walked on and stood across from me. That thing happened where glance at someone in such I way that you feel you should wave, and then he came over and we started talking. It was that easy. Same thing happened two weeks ago with a guy from Seattle in a restaurant. Wha-bam!

I don't think it has to do with cultural difference either, when it comes to my classmates. They goof around with eachother the same way I used to in highschool. I think it's the feeling that there should be a difference or a barrier that keeps them from playing along. Both sides don't want to do anything that wouldn't be right on the other side and thus, nothing occurs. However with the other "aliens", we're united by the commonality of our alien-ness, maybe even just the way we look on the outside. It's a reality of our world though and, although to a far less of a degree, I find myself identifying with the reasons for the Civil Rights Movement.

But the upside is truly having a lot of friends from all over the world. That couldn't be bad in the expanding global community and culture we live in.

St. Patrick's Day?

Seeing as Taiwan does not appear to have a very large population of Irish immigrants, it's no wonder that there is little mention of that magical day of green, St. Patrick's Day. I'm fine with that though. The only real excitement I ever got out of it was the knowledge that my birthday would be the next day.

And gosh, it is! Geewillickers!

I already recieved a gift from my friend Leo and I heard about a surprise in the works from an anonymous source.

When I was eight, I couldn't see myself past thirteen. When I turned thirteen, I couldn't see past seventeen. When I was seventeen, I thought I knew where I was going. Eighteen, I made educated guesses and decided to leave it all up in the air. I rather like not knowing exactly what my future holds.

Actually, the book Leo gave me is about allowing the mysteries of life to remain mysteries. It's a religious book only in that the writer redefines religion and I find myself identifying with this man's views.

So it'll be good to have another year of me. I have some responsibilities coming up, as well as some things I want to do. Happy St. Patty's Day over there!

Bi-Monthly Report Numbah Fo'

OUTBOUND STUDENT BI-MONTHLY REPORT FORM

Please use blue or black ink and write/print NEATLY - several copies are made!

MAIL REPORT NO LATER THAN THE 15TH OF MARCH WHILE ABROAD:

STUDENT NAME_Nigel Hieronymus_ DATE _March 16th 2009_

PRESENT HOST FAMILY __Aunty Ellen__ TILL WHEN _Mid-April__

PRESENT ADDRESS ___I'm still not quite sure, I know it's apartment A6 and it's close to XinYi Rd., I'll have to ask___ PHONE __I have it written down on a piece of paper in my wallet, but that's not helpful now__

EMAIL ADDRESS nigel.hieronymus@gmail.com

NEXT HOST FAMILY __Aunty Tina_ TILL WHEN _My June 8th departure__

NEXT ADDRESS ___Unknown____ PHONE Also Unknown

DISCUSS STAGE 6 OF THE HOMESTAY STAGES: That stage has to do with realizing there's not a lot of time left of my adventure and I have to get it together and make the last weeks really meaningful. It also turns out that I have a lot of friends that I didn't know I had and that even though I thought I was failing at this, I really made a great impression on the people that matter (school, host club, families). So, I'm going to title Stage 6, "Turning Point: The Lights Come Back On".

PUBLIC SPEAKING (ROTARY CHURCH, SCHOOL, ETC): My "Nigel Minute" in Military Class, I haven't been to a Rotary Meeting yet this month, but I'll surely be speaking there.

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCLUDE VISITS TO PRIVATE HOMES): Went to ShiLin Night Market with friends and yesterday took part in a Wedding party for a teacher I didn't know. Played games at an internet cafe.

PLACES OF INTEREST VISITED: National Palace Museum, Taipei Children's Park

CONTACT WITH OTHER EXCHANGE STUDENTS (YFU, AFS, ROTARY...): Met some girls from the "other" district on Saturday. Sometimes I hang out with The other exchange students from my club Adam and Anneke. I haven't seen Renaat in awhile. I guess in the past two months I have seen a bunch of other exchange students from my district and the "other" one.

MEDIA INTERVIEWS (ATTACH COPY): None

WHAT TYPE OF ADDITIONAL OR UNEXPECTED EXPENSES ARE YOU FINDING? HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO STICK TO YOUR MONTHLY BUDGET? Additional expenses are things like going to the movies or putting money on my cell phone or finding food when I'm out and about. I kept a budget in my first family because I wanted too know what was happening to the $4000NT that made up my Rotary allowance. Then I realized I wasn't getting any lunch money and that problem resolved itself in my second family and has yet to occur in my third. The other big thing was transportation costs, but after I moved to my second family those went way down because I was a lot closer to everything. Now the only place I really go is school and I can walk to and from so my current transportation cost approaches zero. In conclusion, I don't keep a budget right now.

HOW IS SCHOOL GOING? School is much better than before, and that's a very recent change. Back in January, I had it in my mind that going to school was worthless because nothing ever happened and I just sat around all day with no one to talk to. February continued this way and it wasn't until last Tuesday that things were made clear to me through the support of my friend Anneke and an email discussion I had with my US counselor Walt Tilley. In the past few days, I've been shown just what the school thinks of me and even been given some reasons as to why my classmates are reluctant to ask me out on the town. Actually, yesterday's wedding saw me at a table of Song Shan faculty, including the principal, and they all seemed very impressed with me. They even told me stories of a group of previous exchange students that resigned to speak only with eachother and not get in any way involved with the goings-on of the school. That made me feel lucky, once again, that I am the only exchange student attending my highschool. So, it's looking up on that front.

WHAT OTHER ACTIVITIES ARE YOU PARTICIPATING IN? (IN OR OUT OF SCHOOL) Still taking Chinese Painting class every Tuesday, tried to get involved in a Japanese class (missed it last week), I'd really like to join the climbing club at school because I want to start practicing for my summer camp job.

HOW MUCH ENGLISH DO YOU SPEAK DAILY? DO YOU FEEL FLUENT IN YOUR HOST COUNTRY'S LANGUAGE? I don't know how to judge that, but I will say that it is quite a bit between using the computer, the Taiwanese people that insist on english (including members of my current family), and other exchange students. People compliment me on my Chinese, but sometimes I feel that this is just custom and I really need to work on it. Between English and Chinese, I get by.

DESCRIBE TYPE & FREQUENCY OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN:

YOU & YOUR (USA) FAMILY AT HOME? Talked to my little brother the other day on the phone. Facebook and emails with Mom and Dad. Many forms of computerized communication with friends, although they just received a bunch of letters from me too. All of these often.

YOU & YOUR SPONSORING (USA) ROTARY CLUB? DISTRICT? This report and emails to Walt.

HOW IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP PROGRESSING WITH:

YOUR HOST FAMILY? It's been a week already. The kids are spoiled, my parents treat me as a guest, the housekeeper is, once again, more mommish than my supposed mom. All of this is fine with me if I continue to be able to stick to my discussed plans as it's been this past week. I'm not worried, it's only a month and half.

YOUR HOST (FOREIGN) CLUB? I think they're pleased with me.

YOUR ROTARY COUNSELOR (HOW OFTEN DO YOU MEET/TALK?) I saw her the other day at a benefit activity. I should call her.

SPECIFIC SHORT COMMENTS FOR A NEWSLETTER TO BE SENT TO ALL: Just your presence can be enough to make an impression.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: (USE OTHER PAPER AS NEEDED) - DESCRIBE PERFORMANCE AT SCHOOL, OPINION OF MULTI-HOST SET UP (IF YOU HAD MORE THAN ONE FAMILY). INCLUDE ADDITIONAL COMMENTS, COMPLAINTS, PROBLEMS, SUGGESTIONS, ETC. I don't have any homework assignments and tests are optional, so I guess I get an A. I like the multi-host set-up, but it can be a little daunting if two people have the same host family and the first one doesn't have a good time there.

NOTE: Your reports are important and very helpful in improving our program for those who will follow you. Your time and input is greatly appreciated. Thanks! REPTFRM4.OUT\WP6

Still workin' on that 'Stache!

This weekend turned out to be rather a fine one. I made plans and they didn't fall through and I think it proves that things are starting to warm up again.

Saturday, Anneke had invited me to go with her classmates, Ayaka Okubo from Japan, and herself to the National Palace Museum. It was a lot of fun and her classmates are really nice. Anneke goes to an all girls school by the way, and so it was me and the ladies yesterday. Eventually, the Museum got to be a bit of a bore, so we headed out to ShiLin Night Market. As we bummed around there we ran into a couple of exchange student girls from the other district. They were nice enough and we shared some stories. Everybody's having different experiences, sure, but there are a lot of things that remain the same.

Got home a little late last night, but it was okay cause mom and dad were out and I get the feeling that by taking the initiative to tell them where I am and what I'm doing they just might forgo fussing at me (which hasn't been a problem yet, but the thought crossed my mind).

Today, I woke up and chatted with Eric, Barb, and Vince on Facebook before heading across the street to Taipei 101 to meet my health teacher and go to this younger teacher's wedding/party. I think I was looking pretty 帥 today (my teacher got some pictures). There were thirteen courses at the meal and a little bit of toasting the health of everyone. It was altogether a pretty grand affair.

Afterwards, I was heading home and decided to go see a movie, called up Adam, but he was busy shopping for supplies to make Mexican food (not an easy task), so ended up buying a ticket for "Watchmen" 40 minutes before it started. Walked around, gave Renaat a call, but he was deep into the computer games over at ZhongXiaoDunHua and he's seen the movie already so I went alone. Worked out though. It was a single end seat so we wouldn't have been able to sit together.

I read the comic book of the same name and at first I was pleasantly surprised that things were almost exactly like the book, but as things went on, some of the "less important" details of the story were omitted and without those "less important" details, the conclusion had to be modified in a way that I felt didn't really reach the same point that the book had. Anyway.

Good weekend, lookin' for a good week. My birthday is Wednesday (your Tuesday). Hope you're all very well.

What's it called when your mood is greatly affected by the weather?

I think I have that. _________ ________ Syndrome.

Just 'cause today is really sunny and I feel really good and yesterday was rainy and I felt quite glum.

Cooked curry again today in "Home Ec.". It was really good, but it was right before lunch and so I didn't finish the box lunch that I bought.

I'm trying to grow a moustache "to boost morale". Eventually, I want to have it waxed up at the ends like Salvidor Dali.

A few weeks more until paradise.

I need something cuddly.

1:42 PM

Is it all right if I'm counting down days like people count down to Christmas?
Ten days to the Class trip, a month and a half after that to the Rotary trip, maybe twelve days after that until I leave for home.

"Now leaving Limbo," they'll say. "Get on with it!"

Maybe I was too old for this..

Wet feet done gon' dry up!

Last Friday, I was effectively whisked away to my new host family, which was a break in plan (the tradition it would seem).

I'll break it down:

Location:

A rather large apartment on the sixth floor of a building across the street from Taipei 101 (I have yet to ask about the address). The rooms are very open, on the larger side, which creates this effect where it feels as though every sound made is amplified so that the whole apartment can here.
My room is, once again, a study with books and a computer. A fairly public domain if I don't shut and lock the door (reasons for that later).
The whole place reminds me of my first host family, but on a larger scale. It has all of the relevant rooms, just greatly expanded. Plus, there's a Phillipino housekeeper, to top off the similarities.

Family:

Mom, Dad, Younger Sister and Brother (the bro is the youngest). They have dogs, but I have yet to see them take any interest in them.

* * * *
The change was a little rough for me (especially when Adeng mentioned that my little niece would miss me and said that I should come back for a visit if I have the time). It's been really rainy lately, which my current mom told me the Chinese see as good luck.

Looking back on my moves (not to mention the big move of getting here in the first place), I feel that it wass really difficult for me to adequately prepare for the realities I was to face with each place I moved to.
My arrival and first host family brought me into Taiwan and out of my expectations and fantasies. Family two was, on the whole, really tough. That time of the year, I mean. The family was great, but I had to work through a few ideas before I really felt at home there and by that time I found myself sitting in this new place with an almost completely different dynamic.

The plan is that I'll be here for a month and a half and then I'll be moved to my final family to finish out my year.

Looking forward to:

• Class trip (Counter-clockwise round the island)
• Rotary trip (Clockwise round the island)
• June 8th flight home
• Maybe seeing Eric graduate
• Working at Camp Rodney (I got the job, now I gotta fill out the paperwork)
• First year at Tyler School of Art

I really hope my life doesn't go by without me.

Rainy and Cold

So, I'm preparing for my move on Sunday and I have two bags of luggage and two boxes of things that I plan to send home with all haste. I decided to send home most of the clothing I brought with me because between my uniform and the nice things I bought to wear here, I'm set. Books and DVDs that I've already looked at also make up a majority of what went in the boxes, as well as some souvenir items and gifts. It cut the amount of stuff I have in half and I still feel pretty overwhelmed by what fit into my luggage.

Yesterday, I took a Japanese class. Just jumped in there and tried to get something out of it even though the other students were already talking about how to tell time. I'll have to hustle to catch up, but it would give me something to do. Anyway, the class was interesting and the teacher was fun, although, in typical Taiwanese language class style, there was a lot more Chinese flying around then Japanese, but I suppose it's a first year course so that's okay. I took their quiz and managed to put an answer for three questions before the time was up. Got a zero on it, but it was cool to be a part of the action and that just told me that there's nowhere to go but up.

I've been reading Alice in Wonderland lately. I remember wanting to read it since I was in third grade, but never finding the chance to pick it up. It's funny, I've been finding that whatever book I'm reading at a certain time seems to alter my thoughts on things for a little while until I change books. Where One Hundred Years of Solitude had me describing my own actions in my head as though I was writing my own story, Alice in Wonderland has me wondering at what point I fell down the rabbithole and how I'm supposed to get back.

The nearest upcoming adventure on the horizon is the class trip counter-clockwise around the island. I suppose my birthday is also fast-approaching, and as always, I have few ideas as to what I should be gifted with (although, I'm leaning towards a set of the traditional chinese office supplies). March 18th will see me at an elementary school on a Rotary outing. I'm not quite sure of the itinerary just yet.

I can feel the year wrapping up for me here and I'm a little dissapointed because, as always, things are suddenly working out the moment it's time for me to go. I'll enjoy it while it lasts though.

March Fourth

It's one of those genuinely beautiful day's in Taipei today. The kind where one steps out the door with annoyance at trollish people that soon dissipates in the pure light of the sun and the crisp air that seems almost unreasonably clean for the center of a bustling city.
I finished One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez today, between lunch and naptime. Reading that book was truly the passing of a hundred years.

I'm told that my move to my third and final family will take place this Sunday and I am both relieved and burdened by the plans. On one hand, the move marks the final stretch of the exchange experience and also another instance of long-awaited change. However the other hand holds the fear of, perhaps, less attractive circumstances.

Although my only complaint in my current home is the endless string of matronly mumblings issued from the mouth of the trollish housekeeper, it's true that I have been granted a great deal of privelidge by my current host parents, freedom that my first mom was wary to lend me in my Taiwanese "infancy". The trend that both me and my fellow exchange people have found is that parents who have raised their children beyond our own age (20->) have been less inclined to restrict exploration and encourage fruitless study.
So, my hope is that the following family will understand.

Enjoy the day, wherever, and whatever the weather may be.

Process of elimination.

Someday, I'll have my own run-down mansion to play with.

Nice Just Being "Around"

Well, I have yet to move to my third host family, which just means I have a little more time to figure out what I'm going to do with all this stuff I've accumulated. It's been relatively quiet around here of late and I'm quite allright with that.

School goes on. Sometimes I'm on time, sometimes I'm late, but it seems that the day is pretty much the same length either way. I've been reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and it's been rather thought-provoking stuff.

I've started using my camera again, trying to capture some more of my moments here before I go. I regret the absence of pictures during Chinese new year, but I remember most of those times fairly clearly. Today, I took about 16 pictures of street art and put the album on Facebook.

It's been nice just to hang around lately, even if there really isn't anything going on.

A Day in the Life

February 25, 2009 The complete story, in chronological order

00:00 Still awake playing Final Fantasy: Dissidia

01:45 Finish Destiny Odyssey VIII Decide it's time to sleep, but not before I check twitter and facebook, even though I know that nothing has occurred on either of them.

01:56 Trying to sleep, listening to the sounds of two different clocks (one ticks, one sort of grinds away the hours)

02:00-07:30 Mostly asleep, I only mention 07:30 because that's when my alarms were supposed to go off if I had remembered to set them

08:30 The housekeeper knocks on the door and informs me that the time is eight-thirty. I groan and roll over, deciding I need another hour of sleep. I grab the grindy clock and set the alarm for 09:30 and head back to dreamland.

09:20 I open my eyes and wonder why the alarm hasn't gone off yet. Oh..

09:30 The alarm goes off and I quickly disable it. I hear my cellphone vibrating in my bag and wonder what it could mean. I pull it out and realize that it was set to silent and hence did not play the annoying yet wakefulness inspiring tune that I programmed it with. I decide that I should move myself out of the bed and stand up and yawn. I think about what Stephanie Holmes told me about keeping good thoughts rolling through my head. It cheers me up a bit. I find my uniform strewn about the room and put it on while counting out the $8583 I need to pay the school for the upcoming trip and also my books (I hope that the Rotary Club will reimburse me for the books). I collect some useful items into my school bag and go to the sink to wash my face (which could potentially solve the world's enegy crisis with the amount of oil it's been producing lately). I use a plastic yellow shoehorn to put on my well-worn Sketchers (which don't really hold up aganist the rainy days) and I head out the door of the fifth floor apartment locking it behind me.

09:50 I walk down the five flights of stairs because I've decided that if I can't bring myself to run every morning then I can at least walk up and down all the stairs I can. I head out the bottom door and press the call button on the intercom so the Adeng (the housekeeper) can let me in. She explains that she was about to come up and call me again. I take off my shoes, the backs of them are weakened and worn down, and I go to the dining room to pick up the bag of breakfast that Adeng has prepared for me. It's quiet in the house because my host parents are off in Nepal for a Rotary function probably having to do with all the clothing our district donated. They won't be back until Saturday.

10:00 I head out the door and realize that my Easycard (for paying public transportation fares) is running low so I'll have to take the MRT so I can recharge it (I don't think one can do that on the bus). So, I head to ZhongXiaoDunHua Station and go to the Add Money Machine putting another $200 on my card. From there, I head to Taipei City Hall Station and disembark, heading out Exit 2. Past the 7-Eleven, cross the street, make a right and walk one and a half blocks to my highschool.

10:25 Sign in with Mr. Lee. "Your late again," he reminds me. I try to explain that I like sleeping and he chuckles. "When did you go to sleep?" he asks, and I say 01:30. "Oh, you were up late watching TV or on Skype or surfing the web?" Yeah, that and playing video games. He says he thinks I'm too old for video games. At some point, I looked at the sign-in sheet and found that my average "in" time has been close to 09:30. Monday, I arrived at 08:30. I mention that it would be awesome if I could be here that early all the time, and Mr. Lee agrees. Before I head off to Class 218, I ask Mr. Lee if there is any sort of Japanese class here at the school. There is and they meet on Thursdays from 4:00PM to 5:50PM. See you. Byebye.

10:30 Walk into the middle of math class and the teacher barely glances my way. I take out my datebook and cross off the last three days. "Three more months," crosses my mind and I turn to today and look at what I've planned for myself. Write a poem, work on Creepy ManDog, read One Hundred Years of Solitude. I start reading a little while eating a peanutbutter sandwich and then I decide to lose myself in Creepy ManDog for the next two hours, from math through english, until something the english teacher says inspires me to draw a cowboy saying, "Avenue ever heard of Sherrif Willis?" to a horse saying, "Nosiree," and give it to Leo who sits behind me right now.

12:00 It's lunch time. I eat the banana in my breakfast bag and Leo and I head to the school's food sales division. I buy a bottle of Lemon Red Tea and a BaoZi and pay the $28. Leo trades me a $10 coin for 10 $1 coins as we walk back to the classroom. I tell Leo about Final Fantasy and the Japanese class which would maybe help me understand a little more of what they're saying in Final Fantasy (because it's all in Japanese). I give my bag of little sweet tomatoes to the girl next to Leo because I don't really like them. I try to eat some of the BaoZi, but my insides are a little disagreeable, so I take a few bites and swig some tea and save the rest for later.

12:30 Nap time. I try to sleep on my hat. I drool a little. The bell rings.

13:00 Biology class. I debate whether to pull out the Biology book I paid for this morning. I pull out One Hundred Years of Solitude instead and read the whole period.

14:00 I decide to slip out to the library, but stop at the bathroom first. In the library, I check my e-mail. 21 new messages. I delete half of them. Those remaining include: two from Dad, one about an evening Chinese class, a few about picture comments on Facebook, a few from the Fastwebs scholarship search, and a few from an online literary magizine tht I've forgotten my password for. I look at the picture comments and then the one about the evening chinese class, which I decided against taking. I open up the first one from Dad about SLOBs, but the page it links to won't load correctly, so I'll figure it out later. The second one from Dad brings me a fresh perspective on what I've been up to lately and it brings me down a little bit while at the same time giving me a little encouragement. I make a picture called "Lazer Stone" which a classmate says is cute, but a can't figure out how to save it.

14:30 I start writing this blog.

15:54 I write this sentence.

16:00 I leave the library gather my things and walk home to clean my room and start getting ready to change families on Sunday. Probably will make another self-portrait using the traditional chinese office supplies.

23:00 Please be asleep.

It's like, "Groan" and then you plan out what your going to do.

I felt good about waking up today and I can only make vague speculations as to why it happaned that way. Not that it's at all bad to feel good about waking up, I am relieved, it's been a long time and I was starting to worry if something was deeply awry with me. Anyway, I do so enjoy making vague speculations about why I feel a certain way at a certain time, so with out further adeux...

I believe it was several coinciding states of mind, first: yesterday night, after a few boring hours in an internet cafe, I decided that I can and should follow my dream of being an artist in whatever way I can. I think I finally reawakened my childhood mentality on the act of making and it feels good to draw again.

The second state of mind had to do with making a plan of what things I would need to carry out today (like finish reading my book, write a poem, work on elaborating Creepy ManDog (a comic book), and stop at the bookstore later). Doing that has always given me a sense that the next day has something in store for me. Quite unlike following the idea that one should live everyday like it's his last, that just makes me want to be as comfortable as possible and play video games all day and then just curl up and die. "I'm going to live everyday like it's my last!"-Famous last words of Jimmy Phillips, who died testing bungee chords.

So those to factors allowed me to feel good about getting out of bed and not feel so fatigued throughout the whole day, which is great. I hope my whole week is like this.

Fights and Unlikely Heroes

I started work today on a project that I think I will be able to finish before my return. It's a series of drawings called "Fights and Unlikely Heroes" and my hope is that someday I can turn the drawings into prints. I think printmaking is one of the art forms I most enjoy, but don't have the resources to pursue right now.
Anyway, the match-ups I have so far are: Baboon vs. Taiwanese Aboriginal, Abraham Lincoln vs. Leonidus (inspired by David Dukes' Halloween costume from last year, "Lincolnidus"), Firefighter vs. Tyrannasaurus Rex, Giraffe vs. Marathon Runner, Numbered Cardinals vs. Cardinal Numbers, and three more that I've forgotten.
I got my school books back today after they'd dissappeared for three months. I'm glad because now I can actually try to follow along in class and get something out of it.
I recieved a letter from my good friend, Kelly DeRolf, yesterday and that really cheered me up a whole lot. It was good to hear about what she was doing and for some reason it reminded me of all the things I've been doing and that I really have been having a great year. I think I'll blame the "exchange cycles" for convincing me that I wasn't.
One last thing, I keep writing this and no one ever gives me any feedback. I'm told bunches of people read this and I want to know what they have to say about things, or maybe they have questions I could answer this way. You could even just write "cool". Or "wizard".

Fruit Bats and Aye-ayes

I have never ever claimed to be a morning person. Actually, I usually get this burst of energy and wakefulness at the time when everyone else is asleep. I'll never understand this, but it usually leads to things like sleeping in until noon and getting fussed at by "normal" people because I'm wasting half of my life by sleeping for 12 hours (which isn't true. Maybe they see me go to bed at 10:00, but that doesn't necessarily mean I went to sleep at 12:00, or even 2:00). Maybe this lifestyle will eventually lead to some horrible consequence, but I don't see nocturnal animals ever getting fussed at.


Anyway, yesterday I decided that instead of this year being another year in the "best life of my life", I would rather this year was the best year of my life, I mean, I can always say that for every year after this one if I want. The thing is, I only have about four months to step it up and make my time here mean something to me. I want every day to be memorable in some way, even if I make a mistake.


Things here never really were that bad (things never are), it was only my overdramatic, idealistic brain jumping to conclusions and telling me that I need a good reason to get out of bed. There's really no good reason to sleep the day away though, even if I am nocturnal.

A Good Conversation I Think Should Be Shared

This is an e-mail conversation I had with my good friend Sam Zolin, who is currently living in Pittsburgh, PA and attending college there. I must warn you it is rather long and deep so if you don't have time to read it that's okay, I just thought we maybe touched on some things here that should be shared.

Jan 29, 2009

Hey Nigel,
I am a terrible blog owner and just read your comment from the 14th on my blog, and felt I should respond. I don't know if it was being quasi-sheltered in York for so long, or if we're just going through dramatic changes in our lives and adapting to them is taking more time than we anticipated.

I don't know if this has been your experience, but I know that here there is infinite time. Besides maybe 3 hours of class per day, you end up with a ton of time otherwise where you try to do work and are sometimes successful and you try to be friends with people and are sometimes successful and a lot of times you end up laying awake after your roommate is asleep wondering what you're doing and why things aren't as you imagined them. They aren't worse, just nothing like you expected them to be.
I feel not exclusively taken back, but also pulled forwards. Like the past is grabbing my left arm, the future my right, and they're both leaning back with all of their weight. I feel like I carry the weight of obligations, expectations, successes, and failures from the past,and like I carry that same weight in a different sense for the future. But at this moment it's more or less like the future is simultaneously far-off and right in my face. Time goes so quickly and so slowly. I guess, at least from my perspective, everything is paradoxical and there's no precise, 100% valid description of my experience. I have a hunch that you're feeling somewhat similar.

I don't think there is a way to "change" that. I think it's normal and natural and shows that we're human. I don't know if you've read "Tuesdays With Morrie," but I think one of the general concepts presented is that it is a good thing to feel weird and unusual,because it shows that you're going through new experiences and at the end of them, you can say "Oh, I felt disconnected because I was going through this," and in the future you know why you feel how you do and you can possibly even enjoy the feeling, or at least savor it for awhile. I might be remembering it wrong. You could probably read the whole book in less than an hour.

So anyway, I guess those are my feelings. By the way, I am extremely sorry for not attending the skype/oovoo sessions a week or two ago. One day my roommate was sleeping and the other day i slept in afterwaking up at 7:30am every day. If it would be possible to set one up so that it would be evening in Pennsylvania and morning in Taiwan,that would probably be more do-able for me. But I'd like to talk to you, and Sarah would also like to meet you via skype or oovoo (i'll d/l that tomorrow). Anyway, I have to go to bed, hopefully you'll get this soon. Let me know if/when you do.
Best wishes,
Sam

Jan 31,2009

Thanks, Sam,
Do you remember the chorus from "New Year's Song" (the part that's like "take me out of context)? Well, I didn't really realize when I wrote it just how far out of context I would be taken in a year's time. I don't mean just the distance my body is from where I came to be, I mean finding myself in an almost completely different situation from the one I was in when I left home.

With this whole exchange process, I'm given "parents" and a "family" even some "friends", but when it comes down to it, I'm living alone and for myself, deciding what I think is right, forming my own opinions and beliefs. Maybe it stems from the fact that I'm on vacation right now and I really haven't been kept very busy. I have too much time too get bogged down in thoughts and I figured out one night that I need other people a lot more than I ever imagined.

This is the time my "real" mom wants me to look for scholarships and prepare enough so that my return isn't more uncomfortable than it's already going to be. I feel pretty unproductive lately though. I haven't been drawing and when I do, the fire that allowed me to create things that people liked enough to give me awards seems to be glowing coals right now, waiting for me to put another log on. Anyway, I'm trying to get back into my old habits and I write in my journal and I finally restrung my mandolin, so I can jam on that sometimes.

I agree though I think we are experiencing similar situations, and when we're back on the beach frisin' with the sun on our face I'm sure we'll be able to look back on what we lived and say, "Pardon!" No, we'll say, "That was good, bring on the next one." I'll have to give "Tuesdays with Morrie" another look through. I haven't read it since eleventh grade.

In other business, yeah I can wake up early on most Saturdays to talk on the interwebs. That makes it Friday night in PA. Also, this PSP has Skype, so once I get a memory card, that should be up.
Regards,
Nige

Feb 1, 2009

I agree with you - context is a huge factor in every aspect of our lives. We're both out of what for 18 years was our "normal" zone and thrown out into a much larger world. It's harder to excel at things now, I think. Maybe you see it this way too. But there are twice as many kids in my chem and spanish classes, and 10 times as many kids in my bio class. You get thrown in with a ton of people and realize that you're maybe not as good at things as you thought you were, or maybe you just don't feel the same way about things as you did in the past.

At the same time, I think seeing things from a different context is extremely beneficial. You get to explore new places, meet new people, try new things, and some of the above you'll like and some you won't, but in the end you've still had the experience. You've been along for the ride. And it's not about redefining yourself and becoming a new person, but rather it's about expanding the definition of yourself. What do you think?

Anyway, would this upcoming saturday morning (your time) be good for a skype session? Just let me know.
Talk to you soon!
-Sam


Feb 2, 2009

You know, the way you put that last sentence, "...It's not about redefining yourself and becoming a new person, but rather it's about expanding the definition of yourself."(Zolin 11-12), that's what I've been trying to capture this past month. It fell on me today, before I read this, but I hadn't quite synthesized an adequate description of what I felt.

At some point here, I did try to reinvent myself culturally, physically, mentally, religiously, morally, but what I found out recently was that it was a step in the wrong direction. As they say in Ret Lion, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" So, as I mentioned before, I have been trying to take a look at my older self and build on what I was brought up with.

As far as excelling at things (which for me was mostly artsy things), I've decided that being on top might be nice, but I'm not going to be upset if I remain little known. Actually, I decided this partly through reading a couple issues of an art magazine called Juxtapoz and visiting the Andy Warhol: The Pope of Pop exhibition down the street. It was really at the Andy Warhol thing that I decided I don't have to be famous. There were a brazilian people in there. I used to look up to Andy and gave him a lot of credit. I made a comic book about him following me home and being wierd. However, lately I've felt like it's not his world anymore really.

Anyway, I guess my point with that was that even though I haven't been to art school yet and been surrounded by people that have similar interests and most likely more skeelz than I do, I can relate to the feeling of being just another one of the ants. I think the truth is, though, that even with a ton of other people you still have your own life to decide what to do with and you are the only one really capable of saying the word on things.

So Saturday is on as far as I'm concerned. My PSP is now Skypeable and ready for action. I was wondering if I could post this on my blog. You have my permission to do the same. I just think that this conversation is too good to keep to ourselves. Let me know.
Talk to you Saturday,
Nige


Feb 4, 2009

Dear Nigel,
It's late in the states and I have 9AM class tomorrow, but feel free to post this back-and-forth to your blog. I think we've reached some worthwhile conclusions and maybe some people could reach some new conclusions after seeing ours.

And that actually brings me back to your comment about being "just another ant." The really neat thing about college is that, once you establish yourself with a group of talented and motivated people, you realize that you're still an individual. There are people here who are better than me at biology, better than me at chemistry, better than me at math (the last one isn't very hard), but I'm just a little more advanced than them at other things. But it's not a competition at all. It's collaboration more than anything. If someone knows more math than you, you ask them for help. When they need to have an essay corrected, you give it a look-see. You study with people and work with people and retain your individuality. You may be in a 300 person class, but you have 5-10 people that know your first and last name,where you're from, and with whom you share inside jokes and experiences and all sorts of things. So really college (and by extension, life) isn't about being the best at all things - it's about learning from and teaching other people. It's daycare all over again- learning to share. Except this time it's knowledge and ability. To someone else, you are an expert. You are the best.

(As a side note, Sarah and I went to the Andy Warhol Museum two weekends ago, I believe. It was a really neat experience. He was big on collaboration. One of the coolest exhibits was this room where they had big mylar pillows filled with helium. They were probably the size of four or five regular pillows stacked on top of each other.Anyway, that's all there was in this room, and they had fans blowing the pillows around. And you just go in and push them around and move between them. I think it is called "Silver Clouds.")

Anyway, I guess this all gets back to fame. It's tough to be famous.I think that if you look at a lot of celebrities, you see that a good number of them don't handle fame particularly well. I think I'd rather be a Henry Darger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger)than an Andy Warhol. The people who really suffer at college are people who feel like they have a right to be famous. They end up realizing that they are completely wrong the hard way. Again, this istrue in life in general.

And it gets back to definition. Every choice is yours as to what you study, what you do, how people end up seeing you. It's a lot like Fable. You choose the things by which people define you. You choose your outlook and how you'll be to people. I see it as having 3 main choices:

1. Withdraw and people don't meet you. Not famous.

2. Try to be better than everyone else. Famous in a bad way.

3. Try to be better than you currently are, in all aspects of your life. People will respect you and see you as a friend.

So I guess this comes back to definition and redefinition. You can't redefine who you are because that implies that you are starting anew. And you can't, you simply can't. You can't give up aspects of yourself immediately. You can't change where you're from and what experiences shaped your world view. You can't lose all traces of your past. One thing I realized is that I do miss York. Do I think that there is a plethora of cultural activities there? No. Do I think that it is a really pretty area? No. Do I like the majority of thepeople there? No. But it's where I'm from and it's what I'm familiar with. You spend 18 years of your life somewhere and it becomes a partof you.

To a large extent, then, you can't change who you are, eg. redefine yourself. What you can do is make additions and subtractions, even infinitesimal ones, that result in self-improvement and learning.Take up yoga or painting or playing a new instrument or taking walksin the park or volunteering. This is expanding. It's probably morework than going to Hot Topic and buying some ironic shirts, but it'smore rewarding when you find something that "clicks."

So here ends this probably rambling, pretentious, and preachy message. I hope you can find some meaning in it, because I think it touches on a lot of things (and none of them exhaustively). I blame it on being written mostly at 1AM. We're still a go for our friday your saturday,so let us know when a good time is for you. We should be around for most of the evening.

Take care and I'll talk to you then!
-Sam

Almost half an hour ago..

I saw an unconscious man in the street as he was run over by another vehicle. The first instance I viewed this I thought he was a dummy, but it quickly occurred to me that this life I'm living is not a movie as much as I would like it to be. My mind is really shaken right now because I was caught completely off-gaurd. What really got me is that everyone else standing around was too. It was like they were expecting him to get up and be completely fine. The only thing I could think to do was ask somebody if they were calling 119 and then I saw that at least three people were.
I walked on, and as I did I realized that even a few feet away, people didn't know that any man had been injured, that a man was losing his blood in the street. The world doesn't stop for anyone. I'm rattled.

This happened on top of being weighed down by the fact that after not seeing my family and friends for a eon, as soon as I return I will be immediately starting a job as a camp counselor in Maryland. From what they explained to me during an interview on Skype two days ago it's a beyond full time job that lasts from June 14 to August 19 and it pays $1300 for the summer (an extra $15 a week cause I'm an Eagle Scout). So now, it seems to me like the moment I stepped onto the plane in Harrisburg, I moved my life into phase two and nothing's ever going to go back to the way it was.

So my next five years are accounted for now, no worries. I'll just work on planning out the five years after that.

I really hope something rocks my world before that happens, but I really hope it's not getting run over by a car.

A 180 Kickflip, if I could skate.

Yesterday, I went to the movies with my friend Leo from SSSH. I had some free tickets, so it wasn't very expensive. We saw Madagascar 2 and I laughed and tried really hard to cry, but I just sort of "welled up" instead, which isn't very fun.

After that, we took the MRT to meet up with Renaat and some exchange students from the other Taipei district. It seems like they all have misplaced priorities, and I guess I've experienced that as well at times, but their misplaced priorities cause them to run out of money and resort to less than savory methods of getting around the city.

At some point, we were at a Pizza Hut with these people and the guy from Berlin started making a mess, so I turned to Leo and we paid for our drinks and headed for Taipei 101 where my oldest sister was celebrating her birthday at Diamond Tony's Italian Restaurant Since 1988 (it said that at the top of all their plates). It was probably the most uplifting meal I've had in a long time.

Eventually

It's the point of the year where my thoughts are changing from "Man, I really wish I was in America," to "Do I have to go back to America?".

In the first statement, "America" takes on the position of home, family, friends, familiar places and events, context and circumstances that I'm used to. However, in the following question "America" turns into my future, expectations, and real responsibilities.

Truth is, these past months have been incredibly easy on me as far as what I actually have to do. This is not some "demanding job" where I have a lot of things to take care of. I've been sleeping too much and that makes me tired. Maybe may bed is too comfortable, and since I'm not a self-starter and only really work well when I'm under pressure, I haven't been feeling very "productive".

I guess those are things that I should learn to turn around. I should be a self-starter and work well all the time. But I only realize this at night and that makes me not want to sleep and it has become a cycle that I need to break today.

I'm going to try and keep trying until this sense of fatigue decides to leave. Any support would be appreciated. Thanks.

Things I Did

Monday



I went to DanShui with my schoolmates after waking up at five in the morning to go with Grandpa and the housekeepers to Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall to run around and excercise. It was a good time even though I was feeling pretty tired. I tried some Agei, one of the foods which DanShui is famous for, but I was too tired to finish eating it. Agei is DongFan wrapped in DoFu (does that make any sense?). Then we walked around awhile until we decided to cross the water on a boat and ride bicycles. So, it was my first time riding a Tandem Bike, it made me a little nervous because I was in the back at first and I had no idea whether we were headed for a collision or not. Plus, a lot of people had the same idea, so there were a lot of bikes flying around. Gave me the willies. Eventually made it home for dinner.



Tuesday



Woke up early again to go running, but this time I took a nap when I got home. Then after lunch I met a bunch of classmates again to help them out with their English assignment for the holiday, interview a foriegner. I told them that I'm not really a foriegner, but I didn't mind helping them because I know how hard it is to go up to people you don't know to ask questions, let alone going up to someone whose language you don't think that you can speak very well. All in all, I thought we had some fruitful converations and I was able to speak to my classmates in a very comfortable and relaxed way.

After that was over, I headed home for dinner and Anneke got a call from our Swiss friend inviting her out and I decided to tag along.

Wednesday

Woke up at 10:00AM. Ate a quick lunch and headed out to meet Renaat at the SYS Memorial Hall. He was like an hour early. We walked around. Looked at some mountain climbing gear (like hats, coats, gloves, rope, funny little shoes). That was at a place called Mammut. Went to the bookstore in Taipei 101. Somewhere in between Mammut and 101 I swapped my contemporary art magazine for his "the most popular of Dutch magazines". Learned some cool things to say in Niederlands, and then forgot what they were.
Later, we went to my Rotary meeting. The ice cream was fantastic. Did I ever mention that my Rotary club consists of some of the richest women I've ever been acquainted with? Some of them it's been difficult to figure out where their funds come from exactly.
After the meeting, walked to the movies. Saw "Changeling", which, to my disappointment, did not involve a little gremlin monster. Rather, it was Angelina Jolie cryfest. "That's not my SON!!"
Came home, sistahs watchin' the third "Mummy" movie that came out awhile back. I thought it was cool because I ddn't need subtitles to understand the Chinese parts of it. And, when the son of what's-'is-face said something in Chinese, I laughed at him.

Thursday

Woke up too late. Hung around. Took care of the financial side of the Round Island Tour coming up in May. Pretty boring sitting in the bank waiting for the traveler's cheques to be changed into a brazilian dollars. Thanks to my sister for helping me out with that. Later, with some of the leftover money, I went with my other sister, her friend, and Anneke to WuFenPu to shop for clothes. Bought myself a bunch of shirts. One of them says, "THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER" which reminded me of that ol' song "Marathon Man". Handsome.. Drank some Ice Cream in Red Tea and it was good.

Friday

Had agreed to wake up at five thirty and go running again, so I did. It's frickin' hard, but I'm starting to feel better about it. Was wearing the above mentioned shirt. Like my friend, Sam, talked about on his blog, you really have to run for yourself or it becomes a chore. Actually, I think there are a lot more things than running that you have to do for yourself, but anyway. Watched a really old episode of Last Comic Standing then took a shower and went back to bed until 12:00. I'm trying to restring my mandolin, but it is really difficult because I'm afraid of the strings breaking and the little nobblies the strings loop onto are really small. Got two new strings on today, almost.
Had lunch. Watched "Juno" with my sisters. Wondered where my wierd, loveable girlfriend is (hint: probably not in Taipei or Taiwan). Rode bikes around town, runnin' errands an' stuff. Chilly today. Realized I did a bunch of today's things on Monday. Went to WuFenPu again with my three older sisters. Didn't buy a thing. Waitin' for the New Year.

nigel hieronymus to Linda show details 11:58 PM (1 minute ago) Reply


On 1/7/09, Linda Spotts <crosswinds@pa.net> wrote:
Hello to all Outbounds 2008-2009, Happy New Year to all. Attached is the 3rd report due 1/15/09. Hope you all enjoyed festivities as you entered into the new year. This report is for everyone except Jerit Barton who finally got to Brazil last week (his initial assignment was Bolivia but due to civil unrest he was reassigned). We have 11 new Outbounds who have made it through the interviews and compatability weekend last November and in February will be at Camp Eder. So your reports are always so important as we take some of your information and share with them to help them in their year of exchange…. Hope all is going well with all of you, and am reading from earlier reports how you are progressing with the language and many of you are now feeling relatively comfortable in speaking in your newly acquired language. Also, now that you are more immersed in your new culture and have made new friends, you will be getting invites to more events. A bit of caution as always – we want you to enjoy them, but always remember the 4D's – they are there to protect you and are added insurance for a successful exchange year, and of course hang with students who are acceptable to your rotary club and host families. We here at district 7390 want all of you to enjoy fully the rest of the months of your exchange. Thank you to those who have already turned in the 3rd report and also thanks to those who have sent pictures…. Wishing all of you the very best, Linda

OUTBOUND STUDENT BI-MONTHLY REPORT FORM
Please use black or blue ink and write/print NEATLY - several copies are made!
MAIL REPORT NO LATER THAN THE 15TH OF JANUARY WHILE ABROAD:

STUDENT NAME Nigel Hieronymus
DATE January 13, 2009
PRESENT HOST FAMILY PP Margeret TILL WHEN March
PRESENT ADDRESS 台北市仁愛路四段122巷20號5樓 OR 1F., No. 20, Lane 122, Sec. 4, RenAi Rd., Taipei, Taiwan.
PHONE EMAIL ADDRESS ____________________________________________________________________________ NEXT HOST FAMILY PP Ellen TILL WHEN ___________________ NEXT ADDRESS ________________ PHONE ______________________

DISCUSS STAGE 5 OF THE HOMESTAY STAGES: I don't remember what that one is, but if it involves a post New Year's sense of purposelessness and, dare I say, boredom, then that's what I've been going through lately.

PUBLIC SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS (ROTARY CHURCH, SCHOOL, ETC): Every week in Military class, I was also a host for the Final Presentation of my Chinese Class.

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCLUDE VISITS TO PRIVATE HOMES): Going to my dad's company get-together, went to a night club, went up on a mountain to a temple a couple times (it's a really nice place), Christmas party with Rotoract, my highschool had a party one night, watched a basketball game, shopping with my sisters, New Year's Eve

PLACES OF INTEREST VISITED: Shopping places, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall,

CONTACT WITH OTHER EXCHANGE STUDENTS (YFU, AFS, ROTARY...): Well, it was five days a week up until my morning Chinese class finished. Now I see one of the exchange students hosted by club sometimes because her mom is sister to my dad, so that's all right. Definitely did not expect to be seeing a lot of exchange students and I got really used to being in this little bubble with them. Now the bubble's burst and it's back to square one again, sort of. Especially at school.

WHAT'S THE EASIEST AND CHEAPEST WAY FOR PARENTS TO GET MONEY TO YOU? My USAA credit card, which they keep track of anyway.

HOW IS SCHOOL GOING? ARE YOU ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN DISCUSSIONS? FRIENDSHIPS? School is... school. I had that morning Chinese class the past four months, so I was only spending about three hours a day there. The Chinese class usually left me tired or frustrated, and most days being at school was a time to relax a little bit, but I haven't had any real discussions with anyone at school except my Chinese painting teacher, and that's mostly in English. It's hard to interact in class when none of the teachers really treat you like a student. I don't blame them, I mean I did learn a lot of this stuff already and I only catch about 20% of what they're saying anyway. A lot of my recent time at school has been spent thinking about dumb stuff, asking myself big life-questions, drawing and writing, or sleeping. People have been coming over to talk with me, and that's nice, but soon we run out of things to talk about. I mean, it's not like I can talk to them in any great depth about the seven or eight tests they took today or...It's now January 18th. I'm coming back to this after I was distracted for a few days (which isn't so hard to be). I have what would seem like a lot of friends at school, but, infact, most of them are acquaintances. I would say the classmate that is more of a friend to me than the others is Leo, who is very thoughtful and has a keen interest in travel and life outside of Taiwan.

WHAT OTHER ACTIVITIES ARE YOU PARTICIPATING IN? (IN OR OUT OF SCHOOL) Well, tomorrow I'm going to wake up at five to go to the park with my grandpa and maybe do some TaiQi. I'm still studying Chinese painting and calligraphy. I'm sort of bored with the erhu and I'm thinking about joining the Guitar Club at my school.

HOW IS YOUR LANGUAGE? RECOMMENDATIONS TO MAKE LANGUAGE ADJUSTMENT EASIER: My Chinese is really good they say, but I think I could be a little better. It's slow learning because of the internationalness of everything. Today, I watched an English movie with Chinese subtitles while reading a German magazine and listening to my mom speaking Chinese and some guys speaking Taiwanese. How to make it easier? Well, I'm not quite sure.

DESCRIBE TYPE & FREQUENCY OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN:

YOU & YOUR FAMILY AT HOME (USA)? My blog at least once a week, emails sometimes, Facebook (my mom and Dad both have one), Skype/ooVoo with my friends seldom, phonecall at Christmas

YOU & YOUR SPONSORING (USA) ROTARY CLUB? Sometimes my counseler emails me, this report every two months

HOW IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP PROGRESSING WITH:

YOUR CURRENT HOST FAMILY? It's been really good, they aren't as busy as my last family, so I see and talk to them a lot more. I have three sisters, the oldest has a daughter, so I'm kind of an uncle, the other two are sometimes around and interested in me, sometimes not. Anyway, no problems really.

YOUR HOST (FOREIGN) CLUB? Everything's in order and every likes me. They're all my mom so that's kind of interesting.

YOUR ROTARY COUNSELOR (HOW OFTEN DO YOU MEET/TALK?) I see her around a lot. I haven't had any really big problems for her to take care of , so we sometimes talk about art because that's her speciality.

SPECIFIC SHORT COMMENTS FOR A NEWSLETTER TO BE SENT TO ALL: Sometimes you feel like eating chicken feet, sometimes you don't.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: (USE OTHER PAPER AS NEEDED) - DESCRIBE HOLIDAYS & HANDLING OF ANY HOMESICKNESS; INPUT FOR FEBRUARY OUTBOUND ORIENTATION. INCLUDE ADDITIONAL COMMENTS, COMPLAINTS, PROBLEMS, SUGGESTIONS, ETC. Please tell anyone who wants a current look at my perspective in Taiwan to go to my blog: odysseyintheorient.blogspot.com As for homesickness don't try to bottle it up or else you may actually get sick. The weird thing is it really is as up and down as they mention to you in the beginning. Maybe for a whole month it's the hardest thing just to get up, but then one night suddenly everything makes sense and is allright. It's important to look forward, yeah, but you have to take care of yourself now and try to be comfortable in this uncomfortable situation. Oh yeah, and I don't think you need a "good reason" to do this. If you have one you probably won't have a good time. What I mean is, if you think you're going to this brave new placeto find something you're looking for, a future in business, a foriegn girlfriend, freedom, relaxation, an endless party, or if you think that you're going for yourself, maybe you better stay home. Yeah, it can be a blast sometimes, and I've learned a lot about myself in relation to this fine world I've found myself in, but the only way that I've found anybody to learn anything is through thier mistakes and how they and others react to those mistakes. It's a hard thing , but I know that when I'm back in PA cruisin' with my bros I can look back on this year and say, "Yeah, I made the right decision". Best decision of my life so far.

NOTE: Your reports are important and very helpful in improving our program for those who will follow you. Your time and input is greatly appreciated. Thanks! REPTFRM3.OUT\WP6

Electric

Last night the fog cleared.
I figure what happened was something I'll call "sudden adjustment". This term describes an unforeseeable instance of realizing exactly what you're supposed to do and what things need to be done to get you there. It usually follows a period of not remembering what you did for the past fourteen days.

The effects of this sudden adjustment have included: reaching out to classmates, writing stuff down in an appointment book, not letting moments drag on, feeling more awake, but knowing when to sleep, thinking about what I'm going to miss about this place rather than what I've been missing about that place.

Sudden adjustment is not a theory and has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Next Step?

I'm the winter slug again.
Or maybe a hibernating tortoise.
Or some kind of squishy sea-creature.

Anyway, I'm back to having a lot of time to think about dumb stuff and times gone by, and so I've finished another little scetchbook/journal thing.

I'm waiting for my next step.

Where we get back on the escalator.

Last night, this time (9:30), I think I had just wound down an hour long one-sided conversation with myself and was working on that thousand-piece puzzle my fiend Leo had given me. It's been going around that these late winter days really are the worst during an exchange year. I have a cold again, which really hasn't made things any better. I've found winter to be my worst season pretty much every year, anyway.
So, I'm putting stuff off, like send the letters I've written (I keep having to update them), find out what kind of scholarships I should apply for (I'll get on it this week, Mom), I've got to get the $700 in for the tour of Taiwan in May, and I should probably finish that bi-monthly report for my Rotary friends back home.

On a lighter, more encouraging note, today was the Final Presentation of the Chinese class I had been attending. I was involved with a dramatic performance, in which I played the ErHu and also did some beatboxing. Later I hosted the awards section of the presentation with my friend Yani. I was pretty tired though, so I didn't really convey a lot of heart in my words. It was all in Chinese, though.
In the end, I was placed first in the class for something involving overall attitude and ability. I was really honored to be given the award, but I know there are still some flaws with the whole program and I don't want the fact that that I recieved this special distinction to suddenly cause me to change my view on that. When the time comes, the right people will know exactly what I think. That's my hope.

All in all, I'm ready to start going to my high-school all day again, although I will think of the other exchange students that I became good friends with. There has been a lot of good and bad thus far, and I expect it will remain as such, but at the end of this I hope I can look back and say, "Yep, a lot of folks were affected by my just being around."

The Upside of the Downside

We've had a Chinese calligraphy class, these past two mornings, with an older woman who is a retired teacher and well-known artist (to check that fact I asked my counselor who confirmed it). Although an atmosphere similar to a high-school cafeteria again pervaded the classroom, I was able to get a lot out of these past two classes, and this woman took notice.

On Monday, I sat in the front of the room and tried to imagine what sort of things were about to occur this day. When it became clear that Miss Ro was to be our teacher, I gave her my full attention and waited patiently for her to begin. The same could not be said for others in the room, but they are not really the point of this story. Throughout the two-hour class, I remained attentive, interested and respectful and Ro Lao Shi took note of that.

Today, a Tuesday, we again had Miss Ro to teach us. I sat in the back (I don't know why), but, when she arrived, Miss Ro called me to sit in the front. I'm glad I did. As if the fact that she recognized my interest wasn't enough, during the break she wrote for me a sentence that meant something along the lines of "Studying language is a small thing, but it makes the world so much bigger."

Anyway, somebody did notice the effort I put into learning about Chinese/Taiwanese culture, and that's the upside of the downside.