First Week of School

What a way to start my first day of school! An assembly for the exchange students at my school  where we would introduce ourselves! My school kicked of the year in the most traditional way, and gave me two hours that I will always remember!

Here in Taiwan, I am going to Songshan Vocational High School of Agriculture and Industry. Based on the name, the school focuses on agriculture and industry. Every student has the opportunity to choose which department they would like to study in for their high school years. The departments at the school range from Automotive Technology, Auto Control, Computer Technology, Chemical Technology, Electrical Engineering, Food Processing, and Horticulture. None of which I have much of an interest in, however the one that caught my attention more than the others was Horticulture. Horticulture sounded interesting and I thought of it as something that I might not have the chance to study again, so why not do it now in Taipei! I can tell you that in just the first few days,  I am so happy with my choice and looking forward to many of the learning times I will have with my class!

School starts everyday at 7:30 in the morning! Therefore, I am up everyday at 5:30am walking out of my house between 6:15 and 6:30am. I travel by MRT, bus, and foot to school. I have to take two MRT's everyday, a bus on Tuesday and Friday, and then walk about twenty minutes. Let's just say by the time I walk into class every morning I have sweat dripping from my face. With all of that, I wear a uniform every single day that I think is going to surely need a little Anna Trombetta fashion help! I have to wear black trousers, a white button down shirt, closed toed shoes -with socks, and I have a school backpack. For P.E., I received a turquoise and white shirt that I have to wear. They ran out of the straight up turquoise pants, so that was a plus! Every morning as I walk through the hustle and bustle of the MRT in the morning, the subways all look like a bunch of inmates who just escaped. Ha! The vibrant orange top to bottoms, yellows, greens, shades of blues, oh and we must add pink top to bottom. At least I can try to blend in a little, despite sticking out because I am an American!

At school, I stay in the same classroom for the entire day and with the same students the entire day. New teachers shuffle in every two hours when a new class begins. Totally different from America! My room is very traditional.  I have wooden desk and wooden chair. White walls and a green chalkboard up front. The pictures to the right are what my classroom looks like and the other is a seating chart. The seating had all numbers and then my name right in the middle. The school doesn't have much air conditioning, only in some rooms. My room has a few fans! My school days here all look different, but from the school schedule I was given they all look the same. Ha! Just kidding. Although not really. My schedule is in Chinese characters. So, for the past couple of days I have sat at my desk and tried to figure them out. With some help from my classmates, I have figured out that I will be taking Math, P.E., Health, Military, Chinese, English, Landscaping/Gardening, and creating a career as a florist. I haven't taken all the classes yet because I didn't have a full week.  But, the ones that I have taken are pretty intense. I am not expected to know everything they say or do.  However, I don't waste my time.  I study Chinese by listening to the teacher and writing down phrases I hear often.  I also do daily work that my counselor here gave me. The English teacher for my class has asked me if I would help her teach English to the class two days a week. I thought that this was a nice honor! On Thursday, I found in those two hours that I learned many new Chinese words and phrases which is a plus. I gave a PowerPoint presentation, read to the class an English story about the Value of a Day (couldn't relate more to my life now!), and helped them with vocabulary. On Friday, a couple of my other teachers came up to me and said nice job yesterday in English! Everybody at the school is very welcoming and I appreciate all of their hard work for me!

 

On Tuesdays and Fridays I will travel up to the mountain where my school's farm is! They have a school building there that is surrounded, literally, by their farm. It is so cool and so beautiful! Yesterday the students took me on a tour of the entire farm! We skipped, we ran, we walked, and we laughed around the entire farm. My favorite place is probably the fruit tree area. Bananas, mangos, papaya, lemon/lime, and a few others I do not know. The smell of the entire area is great! I also really enjoy the walk up to the view of Taipei! My classmates I was with will probably forever love the times when I jump.  This is because there is a HUGE spider web and a spider eye level with me every ten minutes. Four words - I DON'T DO SPIDERS!

School will be very hard here in Taipei.  However, it will be what I make of it. This week has been a hard week for me emotionally.  I continue to remember the reason I am here on exchange and it keeps me going! I had another Rotary meeting this week and staying busy this weekend by heading to a Cirque de Soleil show with my host mom and her friends today/tonight! Thanks for reading and sharing in my excitement so far!

Anna :)