Hanging out until "The Test".

Pingtung Time

Sunday, July 05, 2009

I’m just hanging out and uploading pictures to my computer now. I just put some on Facebook. I updated my status on Myspace and got a 4^th of July greeting from Katie. Thanks Katie! It was three kitties watching fireworks and it reminded me of Minnie, Tabby, and Harry watching the fireworks (or what they'd look like if they did).

Tomorrow the opening ceremony is at 10:20 and then there’s lunch and a placement test at 1:00. There are different ones for student who have taken Chinese before and those who haven’t. Placement tests are at 1:30, and after I take it I get my school bag, textbook, and key to the study room. I think sometime I’ll get a student ID card and I already sent pictures of me in so I don’t think I need to get them taken again. Olivia and her friends are helping out with the opening ceremony and Olivia has to get up early, around 8:00, maybe earlier. She and her friends are trying on clothes for it and they look really nice. I think they’re having fun too.

We just had some spicy nacho Doritos and I bet all our mouths are on fire. I already burned my tongue today though so it’s nothing new. My only problem abroad so far is my perpetual refusal to wait for my soup to cool off (it's because I'm a pig :9).

Olivia, Mackenzie, and a few other of Olivia’s friends (I need to learn their names but I am nervous about asking, but I might sometime if I can stop being a chicken) went to a restaurant for breakfast and I got thick noodles in a really tasty broth. I ate so fast I burned my tongue; I did it the day before too, so I don’t really learn. But it’s ok. I just need to find some cold water bottles sometime because it got really hot today. We were walking around town, too, in a market kind of street. The streets are really narrow but people in cars and on bikes and scooters still drive through. Olivia’s friend is really good at parallel parking, even on narrow streets. Scooters are usually right by her but she never hits them; she’s a good driver, and really nice for driving us all over the place.

Usually, on streets, I think people end up driving in the middle of the street when a car or scooter is parked on the side of the street. Even when that happens there are people coming from the other way in cars, or on bikes or scooters, but they still get by. It’s pretty cool that they manage to do that all the time but it’s kind of a nail-biting situation, although people in Taiwan are probably used to it.

I didn’t post this last night so I’ll just do a quick update of what’s going on now (Monday, 8:50 AM). I woke up early and got ready for the opening ceremony. It’s in the International Conference Room on the 4^th floor in the Wu Yu Building, which I think I’ve found already. Around the campus there are streets like Wu Yu Street which probably leads to the Wu Yu Building. I’ve also already found the English Building which I am going to take my Chinese placement test in. I found some Chinese characters that I think says ‘English’. It might be the same in both Japanese and Chinese, but anyway, after that I found a poster that said English Department in English so it probably was right. 10:00 is the opening ceremony, 12:00 is lunch, and 1:30 is the placement test. After I finish the test my study companion (I think I’ve heard who it is but I forgot) will give me a tour of campus. Olivia and her friends, Penny, Cherry, and the friend that drives us around whose name I can’t remember (but I will!) had to go early because they’re helping out with the program. They all dressed up and looked really nice. They asked if I wanted to come with them last night to go shopping for shoes and I did. They got some nice black high heeled ones.

While driving around we saw a few stray dogs and Olivia said there are a lot in Pingtung, but that people will feed them. They don’t seem dangerous or anything so it looks like they can just wander around. It was cute because one of the dogs was walking around and then he sat down right next to a taxi. I said that if I lived in Pingtung I would have taken him home (probably after taking him to the vet and making sure he was okay). Olivia told me then that sometimes people who come to Taiwan, I think she said from America, have some permit and they take stray dogs home with them. They probably have to spend a while in quarantine though.

My cell phone alarm clock just went off for 9:00 but I’m glad I got up a little early. Talking about cell phones reminds me that I’ve almost memorized Olivia’s song ringtone; she gets a lot of calls. J I went to the bathrooms but there was water all over the floors and a few women were cleaning them; I think I wasn’t supposed to have gone in there but luckily I’ve already brushed my teeth and stuff. Well, I’ll write more later. I guess I don’t have to write a journal every day but I’m going to try and do that. Well, wish me luck on the test. A few others in the program haven’t taken Chinese either so if we do badly, we do badly together! Hahah.

I found some cold water; it's in a water machine. There's a blue spigot, a red one, and a white one. Blue is warm, red is hot (like, scalding hot) and white is cold. I think it's okay to drink, it's a water machine, but I'm going to ask to make sure. Another student used some this morning and she asked me if it was alright to use. Probably everyone who came has had a 'water talk'. Maybe I'll have built up immunity like everyone else by the end of two months if there is anything funky in the water.

One more thing, though: one of the girls, Emma I think (exchange student like me) said she saw black swans in the pond on campus which is seriously cool. I’m going to see if I can take pictures of them later; she said that even if you don’t have food they think you do so they swim closer.

And to explain the pictures: the Jacqueline Boutique was on the Market Streets and I took a picture and didn't have to run much to catch up with everyone. I'm glad I could get it (know why? :)

And that treehouse--it's on campus and Olivia's friend said it was a pumpkin when Mackenzie asked what it was. When it's night, there are purple, white, and blue lights on it and it's really pretty. Apparently couples go there to...do stuff...and Mackenzie wanted to go up there the second night and there was a couple there. They left, and I felt kind of bad. Olivia said that's why she tries not to go up there.

And the last thing before I start to go to the Wu Yu Building, there are lots of bushes with pretty red star flowers in them. I like them a lot and always stare at them when I go past (haha). I also always look at cats and dogs I see and had to tell Olivia once that I was sorry because I hadn't been listening because I saw a cat and was distracted. I bet she and her friends will get used to my cat and dog interest...I think they have already. Well, that's it for now. Bye~!