Day 41 -- July 4

So today was my first ever time not being in America for the 4th of July. As far as days in taiwan this one was particularly fun. I left early for conversation class, and swung into Shida to get some breakfast. I am quickly becoming a regular at the breakfast restaurant. I placed my order and the lady who delivered my food had me read the conversation I was studying. It was really fun, she asked how long I had been studying and when I told her one month she was really impressed. I really don’t feel like I am that good at speaking, but I guess for one month I am doing alright. It’s difficult to gage because some days are better than others. After that I headed out to the MTC building where I found Markus, my new German friend.

    Class itself was a lot of fun. Shuo Laoshi had Markus and I record a conversation for the class. I had fun talking to new people, again I managed to find Japanese people to talk to. Over half the school’s attendance comes from Japan so the rest of us are often out numbered. After that Markus introduced me to Gi Yongde, a Thai friend and we all went to lunch. I was going to get dumplings but she wasn’t out, so we swung into the green restaurant. Yongde was sneaky and he paid for all of us, we tried to pay him back but he kept insisting. This I know for a fact is culture, making new friends is very easy when you pay for food. I builds strong bonds and also shows that you have money to spend on friends. Though as an American when I try to do it people become very flustered. I think it’s a good system, sharing meals with friends that way no one owes anyone money. It’s just a gift.

    Class was incredibly frustrating in terms of the material. Numbers are difficult but the Chinese (and Japanese) system groups by fours and not threes. So learning to count large numbers can be exceedingly difficult. Some days I will be frustrated and it’s ok it means I am learning and trying to process. It was raining insanely hard in the middle of class. The thunder actually cover up what Laoshi was saying a few times. Also Chinatsu and I were messing around with our erasers. I really enjoy the kinship of our class, we work quite well together. Tomorrow we will have the chapter 6 test. I am not sure how it will go, I will probably study most of the morning. After class I tried to go and get a new ID card but it was too late, so i will arrive tomorrow before the typical lunch hour and get my new ID.

My eraser has a hat!

    After class due to the immanent threat of more rain we (the American exchange students) decided that going and getting burgers would be better than attempting a BBQ. After a small decision making process (read: Facebook posts) we ended up at T.G.I Friday, Taipei. A little bit pricier than our usual fair but worth it. So the cool thing about going to a chain restaurant in another country is it will be the same food and the same taste. We had some bomb burgers that were American portions. We ate and were able to barely finish. In fact a few of us couldn’t finish. Good laughter and good friends made it all the better, I am pretty sure that everyone enjoyed themselves. After dinner we swung by the 7/11 and snagged American candy bars for dessert. I rode the MRT back with James.

So good!

    I got back into the dorms and worked on my homework. I really feel overwhelmed by languages at the moment. It’s really hard to think when you have three people speaking three different languages that you can understand with varying degrees of efficiency. I’m feeling a little twisted up about the whole thing. This is one of the parts if learning new languages you have to find space for them in your head. I will hopefully get it all sorted out. I am going for an early night, epic studying for tomorrow!