Everyone should have goals.
My goals are:
- be able to ride bicycle!
- learn calligraphy
- be more open
- learn chinese macrame
- learn more chinese words
Maybe it sounded like new years' resolutions but well, it's past so it would seem more like personal goals.
BICYCLE.
In Taiwan, many people use them. In Indonesia, people use cars since private drivers are not expensive. With me, I rode bicycle with the two small tires to help, and now I'm facing the two tires bike. I fell down a lot so you might not call that a trauma, because I'm just nervous.
IT REALLY HURT 'DOWN' THERE THANKS TO IMPROPER SEATING.
I suppose my host dad's right, I need a smaller bike first before I can advance to bigger bikes. I am tall, but still..
I think I've written some mental notes in my head. I don't really understand what my host dad told me yesterday, however he did say when the bike is going to fall, I'm not doing anything to prevent it. Maybe that's one of my problems. Braking all the time will hurt me more..
CALLIGRAPHY
A friend's mom taught me and said for a first-time try I'm good. It's fun after all, with my fondness of writing characters and all. Studying chinese painting won't do much with my remaining six months.
OPEN
I do realize I am a quiet person. Not that kind to always stay away from the crowd, however I always feel the need to know more people and all. Teen life...
When you're not invited to a big party, you feel it's unfair. Well it's not exactly a party, but the exchange students gather in that day and you're not invited. Unfair, I know and I missed my outside town exchange friends already. Blaming isn't a solution, no matter how much the devil inside my heart pressured me to @___@"""
It's passed, so I'll just forget about it (though it keeps on haunting me).
In front of my school friends I really feel I could be myself. I don't know why I'm feeling so unfamiliar with the other exchange students that sometimes I cover myself. The real me. Don't ask me why, I don't even know why do I want to do that.
Things happen for a reason, but you don't always know about it.
CHINESE
My first month in Taiwan went off pretty good or maybe so-so, but my Chinese isn't improving well. Big thanks to my host dad. Why? Actually he compared me with last year's Thailand exchange student.
Exchange students in Taiwan would understand that it's unfair. Thailand is like the reigning king or queen in Taiwan's exchange students. Most of them had studied Chinese before coming here, and I suppose that's why they're almost always at the top. Almost always.
But, I did not retaliate. Instead, I thought about it. There are thousands of possibilities what I might do, well maybe yes maybe no. I can just think it's unfair to compare people, and just refrain from studying Chinese any more, since my host family paid for my chinese classes and I could just make them sorry for it.
No thanks, I'm not going to do that. I've read the rules and agreements and what should you do to become a good exchange student. HOST FAMILY DOESN'T OWE YOU ANYTHING.
Yeah, that's a fact. Without them, I wouldn't be able to survive my one year. Maybe it's hard to make negatives become positives, but during my orientation a great person (HAHA) taught us exchange student candidates that if someone did something bad to you, take all the positives it might give; short-term or long-term.
I'm proud that I could make a negative to positive. Not being able to speak Chinese means you won't be able to communicate very well, knowing that in Taiwan not that many people can speak English. You might say I'm considerate, but maybe that's the way I am. I'm not forcing people to speak English to me, instead I think it's me who should improve. I am not in an English-speaking country. If you think logically, it shouldn't me them who makes all the effort (for exchange student's cases)
My four month is 27th December 2008. My mom said that three months would let you be able to speak Chinese already, minus the complicated or harder parts. Three months I'm ok, but of course I have improved more now. My second host family's English is far worse than my first, so I'm glad that I could communicate with them well.
I still need body languages sometimes, but I shall remember words too.
I'm of Indonesian nationality, yet I use English all the time in my blogs. Maybe it's just my habit to type English here.. =__="" but that doesn't mean my Indonesian is poor :p
