Day 8 - First Full Day in Taipei

 

大家好! This is Caralee and Ryan clocking into our first full day in Taipei!

    We started the morning with our earliest wake up call at 6:00 AM followed by a delicious breakfast in the hotel lobby consisting of boiled eggs, bananas, and a cinnamon roll breakfast sandwich. We then piled into the bus for a 40 minute drive to FuZhong, but traffic made the bus ride even longer. We were all full of anticipation because after nearly 6 months of club meetings and multiple Padlet videos exchanged, we were finally meeting our FuZhong exchange students. As soon as we pulled into the school parking lot, we could see a large group of students, smiling, waving, and warm with welcome. Stepping off of the bus, while some students immediately found their student and rushed in to give hugs, I (Caralee) was a little more hesitant as I didn’t immediately find my partner student. But as soon as I recognized my two exchange students, I was immediately filled with excitement to finally meet face to face with my students I had learned so much about through our back and forth videos. We were then given our own name tag lanyards with our English and Chinese names from the FuZhong students. We were then guided to a classroom to listen to an orientation and introduction of FuZhong faculty members. Our own Poly students had also prepared a short presentation to share our own school campus and student life as well as the surrounding city of Pasadena. They shared some of the most famous landmarks such as the Rose Bowl and Rose Parade and even things soon student favorites such as Old Town Pasadena. FuZhong had also kindly presented us with specially branded school notepads and really unique pens that never run out of ink!

After introducing ourselves, we visited a sophomore english class with another one of our exchange students that we got to know over the past few months on Padlet. In the English Class, we first talked about the meaning behind our names. For me (Ryan), I talked about how my Chinese name meant someone who was auspicious and lucky. We then watched an english song (with Chinese subtitles) about eponyms, words named after people (like celsius, named after Anders Celsius). Then, we had to, as groups of four, create our own eponyms. For my group, we decided to create an eponym based on our last names, as three of us all had the last name Lin. By combining our hobbies, we created the eponym Lin, representing someone who is good at drawing (Kiera), badminton (Ryan), and guitar (one of our students). After creating our eponyms, we went back to the first classroom where we met the students we first met. They gave us some gifts from Taiwan and we also gave them the gifts we brought from the US.

We then proceeded to head to lunch at their cafeteria. Our lunch consisted of white rice, 3 side dishes, and a protein of our choice. We also had the choice of either black tea or winter melon tea. I (Caralee) thought the food was really good. We even caught a glimpse of a convenience store located in the school’s basement, chocked full of snacks, chips, and even popsicles for students to buy!

After our cafeteria meal, we had around an hour to roam around with our students to do anything at their schools. For me (Ryan), I first went with my student and Ayende’s student to go get umbrellas from their homerooms, as the students knew it was about to rain just by looking at the clouds. At their homerooms, we noticed that while FuZhong was a coed school, their homerooms were still gender divided. Their homerooms were filled with cool art inside, along with a door that the class decorated themselves. For my student’s room, they decided to decorate their wall with an anime girl. Additionally, at my student's room, we met a Korean student (I didn’t catch her name, but I will tomorrow!) who was a friend of my exchange student and decided to tag along for the rest of the day. The Korean student really wanted to know if any of us were Korean, as she didn’t know many Korean people at her school. Russell was with me and Ayende when we were visiting their homeroom, and Russell, being half Korean, was able to talk to her about being Korean. We then went to the principal’s office, where the students were surprised that we were even allowed in, as they had never been inside before. Inside, we (Russell, Ayende, Kaitlyn, and me) all took a photo with the students and the principal. Outside it also began to rain cats and dogs! We shuttled back and forth sharing umbrellas or simply running through the rain to get to a shaded area. 

After lunch, we all gathered into a classroom kitchen to learn how to make boba pearls from scratch! My student Phoebe later mentioned that FuZhong offered cooking classes for seniors in the kitchens (it would be pretty cool if Poly offered cooking classes too). First we measured out the exact portions of brown sugar and tapioca starch before pouring, heating, mixing, and repeating. The most time consuming step was rolling the tapioca dough into strips, cutting them into squares, and rolling them into small boba pearls, but it gave plenty of time time to talk and get to know our exchange students even more. Conversations jumped from discussing our experiences at the night market, comparing school schedules, sharing silly pet stories, and exchanging Instagrams. Once we all finally finished shaking and mixing our cups of boba milk tea, we all clinked drinks and cheered to a successful boba making journey full of new friends and lots of fun. 

    After we made boba, we were able to use the school’s badminton courts as we couldn’t use the basketball courts due to the rain. At the courts, we first played some basketball with our exchange students, but then the badminton team had to practice, so they stopped our game to setup their courts. For me (Ryan), someone on our school’s badminton team, it was super fun getting to play with students from across the globe. I first played with a group of friends playing badminton together before the team’s official practice. It was fun playing with the group of friends, even though they weren’t the best. I was able to play a few points with them and celebrate with them before we were kicked off the court we were on by the team. Then, I played badminton with other members of the team. While playing a game of king of the hill (winner stays on, loser gets off) with a group of seven to eight students, I learned that the students had been playing badminton for around two to three years, which is similar to how long I’ve been playing. Overall, playing badminton was super fun with the students, especially with some of the Poly students on the sidelines watching. 

We then headed to Taipei 101 where we had a buffet dinner on the 86th floor. Shout out Alex’s dad! We enjoyed crab, sashimi, bluefin handrolls, dimsum, A5 wagyu steak, and even a dessert waffle modeled like Taipei 101’s recognizable bamboo like shape etc. There was absolutely something for everyone to enjoy. We even met the Steven Spielberg of Taiwan: ZhuYanPing and had the opportunity to ask in depth questions about his career and personal experiences. 

Bellies full and hearts content with exchange, our first day in Taipei came to an end. 

Signing off,

Caralee and Ryan