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