Halloween, Friends, and Americanists
Mailing List
Now that things are starting to slow down and I am not updating as frequently as I was when I first got here, I could see checking my journal everyday as being somewhat troublesome. If you would like to be emailed every time that I update, please email me ( buko@simons-rock.edu ) and I will send you a note to let you know there's an update.
Halloween
Even though Halloween is not actually celebrated here, there are enough Americans and enough American influence that most of the clubs host Halloween bashes and many stores sell costumes. My friends and I went to a costume store to see what we could find, but nearly all the costumes were for rent, and pretty expensive (at least for our budgets). So, I thought it would be funny if I bought a children's costume and wore it. I bought this full body skeleton costume, and then cut the bottom part off and just wore the shirt. It was way to small and tight on me, but that just made it even funnier. We went to a club called Luxy and got in at discount because we were wearing costumes. It was a lot of fun there. They had like, I think, three huge rooms, each with a different type of music being played. I stayed there for a couple of hours, and then left and went to a different club by myself because my other group of friends were going there. I stayed there until almost six in the morning and then went home. It was soooo much fun.
I'm Starting To Amass A Lot Of Friends
My cell phone has begun to bulge with numbers of all the friends I am making. Most of them are whities, but none of them are American - and I completely did not plan it that way, haha. One of them called me up today and invited me to go on a three-day hike in central Taiwan that will start in the mountains, stop by a hot springs and gorge, then finally end on the eastern shore. It's going to be me and three other guys, and one of them just got his BA in biology or something and told me "be prepared to be lectured about every rock, leaf, and animal." I am so excited.
Treated Poorly For Being American
I have traveled a good bit (I'd say) and I have never been outright treated poorly because I am American. Most of the time people will say things in jest, or tell me "As long as you aren't republican or like Bush, then you are a good American." But a couple of weeks ago when I went to that party in the mountains, I was talking to a few people, just having a nice chat. Then one of them asked what part of Canada I was from (that was like the hundredth time I have been assumed to be Canadian). I then told them I was American, and the conversation basically stopped right there. It was really awkward and if I wasn't having such a good time at the party, I would have probably have been really irate and told them off. It reminded me of a documentary movie I watched for a class during my freshman year of college. It was about these two artists from Japan that only do works about the bombing at Hiroshima. The artists said that they hated all Americans, refused to ever go to America, or associate with them until they got an invitation to display their work at a gallery in the states. They said once they arrived there, they discovered that not all Americans agreed with the bombing and had a whole new perspective on things. I feel like a similar thing is happening right now because of our moron (that word isn't hardly strong enough, but no one word actually is) president. If having an American passport didn't make traveling a lot easier to most places, I would forfeit my citizenship if Bush wins again because as it stands, America is embarrassingly out of control. Actually, I am not sure that is entirely true because I have that "love the country, hate the government" dichotomy going for myself. Sigh.
I Am Beginning To Notice My Chinese Improving
For the first couple of months that I was here, I felt like my Chinese had not changed one bit. When I told my friend Kevin this a few weeks ago, he said when he was in Beijing for a semester the same thing happened to him. He described it as you feel like your Chinese is not changing at all, and then one morning you can just speak so much better. The past couple of weeks I have been speaking a lot more. I am not sure if it is just because my confidence and familiarity with the city is rising, or I am learning more. Nevertheless, the language is starting to feel more and more natural coming out of my mouth, and the best part is that I can mentally feel it. Another good thing is that I am confusing Spanish with Chinese less and less. For a while I would constantly speak a mixture of Chinese, Spanish, and English. First, the English dropped out, and then I would speak a combination of Chinese and Spanish. But recently, when I am sitting around I will tell myself over and over in my head, "You have three channels in your brain.1 One is English. One is Spanish. One is Chinese. They are completely separate from each other and should not interact." I've been saying that over and over and it seems to be working.
I Have A Temporary Job!!
Kevin's roommate is going home for a month and a half to see her family, and I am getting to take her place while she is gone! She teaches at an English school right near my school (and future apartment, but I'll talk more about that in the next update). I will be teaching health from 4:00pm until 7:00pm, Monday through Friday from December 6th through January 4th. I am going to make $600NT ($17.72 USD) per hour!! I love teaching and I love making money - so this is going to be GREAT.
1] In Applied Linguistics, it is said that languages are stored in "channels" in one's mind. And when one is acquiring a new language, the mind at first interprets the new words as synonyms of already known words. Once a sufficient amount of study of the language occurs, it's said that a new "channel" is formed for that language. At least, I think that is how my professor back at Simon's Rock explained it to me.