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