End of Month Report: February ‘10

DATE OF REPORT: 3/1/2010 FOR MONTH OF: February HOST COUNTRY: Taiwan
NAME: Eric Andrew Fleck

MY HOST FAMILY INFORMATION IS:
Huan-Wen CHANG
No. 58-2, Changyi St., Taiping City, Taichung County
411 Taiwan

Tel: +886-4-22781140 (Res.)

MY HOST CLUB COUNSELOR INFORMATION IS:

“Andy” Kuo-Hsun LIU
No. 58, Gongye 20th Rd.,
Taipin City, Taichung County 411 Taiwan

Tel: +886-4-22780462
FAX: +886-4-22715975
Email: lkh5081@ms26.hinet.net

About the Exchange:

February is over already!

I switched to my 3rd host family this month. They are really nice and have a beautiful home. On Chinese New Year, we had a fantastic dinner together. The $2 bills (USD) that I have been giving to people have really been a hit! I got quite a lot of money as well from my host club, relatives, and host families.

I went with them to a town called Chuang Hua where we visited a huge statue of Buddha. I went inside and you can climb stairs up to various floors inside. I also tried squid-on-a-stick there. It was tasty enough, but the fishy smell made it something I don’t think I’ll crave. I went back to Chuang Hua with a few exchange student friends on our own for a day there and we rode bicycles around the whole town. We ate dinner together at a type of restaurant very popular here. In them, you are served “hot pots” – pots of water which you boil to your specification while adding raw meats and vegetables plus noodles and other sorts of tasty items.

The second semester of school has started and I’ve been studying hard the first week in. I seem to have a stronger will-power to concentrate on studying this semester. After school last Thursday, I walked 10 km to my home for no reason other than to try it. Haha.. it was challenging, but I think I’ll do it again so I’m more familiar with my new neighborhood.

Oh and by the way, I’ll be turning 18 on the 17th of March! =] Don’t have any plans yet, but my host family will probably do something with me.

Hope the snow has/is melting off you guys in the southwest!

Eric Fleck, Rotary Exchange Student
D5490 Prescott, AZ
H: (928) 443-0943
2009-10 Outbound > Taichung, Taiwan
Skype: eaFleck

End of Month Report: January ‘10

DATE OF REPORT: 2/5/2010 FOR MONTH OF: January HOST COUNTRY: Taiwan
NAME: Eric Andrew Fleck

MY HOST FAMILY INFORMATION IS:
ST Zhang
No. 12-14, Lane 159, KuoKuang Rd., Sec 1
Tali Taichung Hsien, Taiwan 412

Tel: +886-4-24064450 (Res.)

MY HOST CLUB COUNSELOR INFORMATION IS:

“Andy” Kuo-Hsun LIU
No. 58, Gongye 20th Rd.,
Taipin City, Taichung County 411 Taiwan

Tel: +886-4-22780462
FAX: +886-4-22715975
Email: lkh5081@ms26.hinet.net

About the Exchange:

Just as I was about to fall asleep, I happened to remember about my Monthly Report being due.. overdue. Sorry, Sue! =[

Nothing much has been going on since it’s currently Winter Break for all students in Taiwan. It started on the 16th of last month and won’t end until the 22nd of this one! It’s nice to be able to stay up at night and sleep in when it’s morning.

I’m changing host families on the 8th. I really liked this host family just as much as my last, however there is a slight mosquito problem which I’ll be glad to escape. My host brothers taught me how to solve my Rubix cube and how to Moon Walk – although I’m not that great at the latter still. Rubix cube is actually pretty fun once you get the basics. My host brother can easily solve it in about 5 minutes. I haven’t solved one yet, however I’ve gotten half way. There is a method to the madness!

Chinese New Years lands on Valentines day this year, and then we will be in the Year of the Tiger. I don’t really know what I’ll be doing for that yet, but probably something with my next host family. I am going to give out $2 bills (USD) that I brought along with me from Arizona as presents to people during New Years. Apparently people give you lots of money during New Years here…

Now I have to take off, because all of the inbounds in my district have a trip out to Sun Moon Lake again.

Eric Fleck, Rotary Exchange Student
D5490 Prescott, AZ
H: (928) 443-0943
2009-10 Outbound > Taichung, Taiwan
Skype: eaFleck

Also posted on http://flerick.com

End of Month Report: December ‘09

Sorry this was posted kind of late.

DATE OF REPORT: 1/7/2010 FOR MONTH OF: December HOST COUNTRY: Taiwan
NAME: Eric Andrew Fleck

MY HOST FAMILY INFORMATION IS:
ST Zhang
No. 12-14, Lane 159, KuoKuang Rd., Sec 1
Tali Taichung Hsien, Taiwan 412

Tel: +886-4-24064450 (Res.)

MY HOST CLUB COUNSELOR INFORMATION IS:

“Andy” Kuo-Hsun LIU
No. 58, Gongye 20th Rd.,
Taipin City, Taichung County 411 Taiwan

Tel: +886-4-22780462
FAX: +886-4-22715975
Email: lkh5081@ms26.hinet.net

About the Exchange:

In December, at our Rotary District Christmas party, all the exchange students were asked to perform a 3-5 minute presentation only in Chinese. I decided to sing a song from a favorite Taiwanese TV Cop drama over here (“Black and White”) and it went well. Also the weekend before that, I sang the song to around 100 classmates during a trip up into the very high and chilly mountains of Taiwan (where we experienced the culture of the aborigines). It was very beautiful up there and I stared at more stars that night that I believe I’ve ever seen before.

I am a much better drummer now than when I first started 3-4 months ago (nevertheless, I’ll be glad to see improvement), and I started playing a little guitar yesterday.. violin seems much easier (especially on the fingers! haha).

I’m doing very well in my Chinese language classes and Shufah (Chinese character calligraphy) and I can see how much Chinese (and Taiwanese) I’ve learned on a daily basis. It’s gotten to the point where I (as well as Ana and Paulina) are very comfortable speaking Chinese (we do fairly well at writing it too) and for me it really comes naturally without even thinking too much about it now. I am going to try to learn a lot more in the remaining 7 months by making flashcards. I am hanging out with classmates who only speak Chinese on some weekends which definitely helps and is entertaining as well.

I spent New Years with my 2nd host family and we ate pizza and my host mother made chocolate candies again which are a nice treat.

I apologize for the late arrival of this report, Mama Sue!

Other than that, I’m just really really REALLY busy lately with all the sorts of things going on here and I am making the most out of my last half of a year here. I’m very unhappy about the prospect that soon my exchange year will be over – it really did go by so fast!! It seems like just yesterday I was sitting with Rudy Calderon and L.J. at the outbound orientation (in.. May?) eating lunch as Rudy told me stories about his exchange and impressed me with his rapid writing of Chinese characters. I’m sad that I’ll have to leave Ana and Paulina since we’ve grown so close. We’re a family here and we’ve gone through so much together! If I’ve learned anything at all during this exchange, it is that time flies so cherish every moment no matter what. Half of my exchange is already in memories… … … hahaha and one whole ~ 250 page journal. I had to start writing in a new one this past month.

For the next 7 months I hope to travel around the island a bit more and meet other exchangies with Ana and Paulina. We will have over a month off during our Winter Break (Chinese New Years) starting the 16th of this month and ending Feb. 22nd (that kind of makes up for not having Christmas day OR New Years day off from school). I also am searching for a martial arts instructor in order to continue learning Tae Kwon Do (I’m a green belt – or, rather, in the past I was.. now I’m probably not even a white belt hahahaha) or even another martial art – where better to learn?

Pictures – there are many more in memory cards and I’m way behind on uploading videos, but alas.. I always seem to lack time… ):
School during Xmas: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46828&id=1407385820&l=e98a70c89c
New Years dinner: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47842&id=1407385820&l=c546869e73
Camping with exchangies @ Sun Moon Lake: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47830&id=1407385820&op=6

Happy New Year!

Eric Fleck, Rotary Exchange Student
D5490 Prescott, AZ
H: (928) 443-0943
2009-10 Outbound > Taichung, Taiwan
Skype: eaFleck

End of Month Report: November ‘09

DATE OF REPORT: 11/30/2009 FOR MONTH OF: November HOST COUNTRY: Taiwan
NAME: Eric Andrew Fleck

MY HOST FAMILY INFORMATION IS:
ST Zhang
No. 12-14, Lane 159, KuoKuang Rd., Sec 1
Tali Taichung Hsien, Taiwan 412

Tel: +886-4-24064450 (Res.)

MY HOST CLUB COUNSELOR INFORMATION IS:

“Andy” Kuo-Hsun LIU
No. 58, Gongye 20th Rd.,
Taipin City, Taichung County 411 Taiwan

Tel: +886-4-22780462
FAX: +886-4-22715975
Email: lkh5081@ms26.hinet.net

About the Exchange:

Hi everyone!

Well.. another month already gone too soon. Middle of November, I switched to my second host family as scheduled. This family is also very nice and they go out of their way to help me learn Chinese and also to feel comfortable around the house. Every night I come home, Mama has dinner ready on the table for the family. I have two brothers about the same age and one older sister who is usually at college. They all speak English pretty well and are very friendly. My dad – once again – doesn’t speak much English, but – once again – he’s very comical and happy-go-lucky.

How was everyone’s Thanksgiving? Mine was very interesting haha. My host family bought KFC and they also made fish, dumplings and rice – so there was plenty too eat, and it was really good too. I hadn’t had KFC for probably over 5 years.

Two weekends ago I, as well as Ana and Paulina, gave speeches in Chinese about our interests and how we are enjoying Taiwan at a Rotary meeting. They were well received and my family said I did well.

I’ve started wearing my leather coat because it has gotten pretty cold in the mornings and when I leave school at night.

Last Friday, Ana, Paulina, I and a few classmates went to a night market after school which was a lot of fun. We bought cotton candy, some Chinese hotdogs and some dumplings – so it was a very delicious supper! Saturday, Ana and I went to see the new movie “2012″ which was decent, but I still am not a believer. Saturday night, on my way home, I got on the right bus on the wrong side of the road and ended up riding it for over an hour before it finally had turned around and gotten me home. Sunday, my school was featured on a TV show and it showed the hosts touring the school. It was pretty cool!

My Chinese is still improving and I have started to be able to read signs for stores’ names, etc. It’s very cool to be able to understand something that only three months ago looked likea bunch of lines and scribble.

As you will be able to tell by the amount of pictures, there wasn’t that much new stuff that happened in November. Sorry if it seems short. December should be more interesting. I am trying to get myself to (lol) practice singing a Chinese song of my choice for a Rotary D.3460 competition on the 12th of Dec. We’ll see how that goes… =P And of course Christmas is right around the corner… apparently that’s bigger here than Thanksgiving is – let’s hope so anyway. Hahaha…

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43193&id=1407385820&l=68cb258394

Have a Merry Christmas!!

Eric Fleck, Rotary Exchange Student
D5490 Prescott, AZ
H: (928) 443-0943
2009-10 Outbound > Taichung, Taiwan
Skype: eaFleck

End of Month Report: October ‘09

DATE OF REPORT: 10/27/2009 FOR MONTH OF: October HOST COUNTRY: Taiwan
NAME: Eric Andrew Fleck

MY HOST FAMILY INFORMATION IS:

Pu Huang
No. 12-7, Lane 159, KuoKuang Rd., Sec 1
Tali Taichung Hsien, Taiwan 412

Tel: +886-2-2406-0066 (Res.)

MY HOST CLUB COUNSELOR INFORMATION IS:

“Andy” Kuo-Hsun LIU
No. 58, Gongye 20th Rd.,
Taipin City, Taichung County 411 Taiwan

Tel: +886-4-22780462
FAX: +886-4-22715975
Email: lkh5081@ms26.hinet.net

About the Exchange:

Da jia, hao (“Everyone, Good”)!

During the first weekend of October, Taiwan celebrated the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. Ana, Paulina and I were invited by some classmates to their BBQ for a night of fireworks in their street and lots of diverse and some-what tasty food (beef and seafood, mainly). The next day I ate a citrus orange-like fruit called a pomel which they gave me at the BBQ since I enjoyed it so much that night. I sectioned it and ate the fruit and immediately started having some slight prickly/stinging sensation on my lips. So I looked in the mirror and there were all these really tiny whitish marks that appeared and yeah.. they’re still there. Hahaha.. So a small partion of my upper lip is bleached a little. Oh well.. I told my host mom about it but she didn’t seem very worried. I haven’t eaten any of it anymore, but I think I just touched the peel and then my lip or something. Apparently you have to peel it a special way. I guess I did it the wrong way. LOL

A week after the last monthly report, I played two songs on my violin for an elementary school as part of a “Get to know Min Tai High School (and come to our school when you’re old enough!! hahahaha)” type of event. It was the first really big solo I’ve ever performed and I didn’t mess up! So that was cool haha. A handful of my homeroom classmates came along to do this short skit/musical play which was very entertaining. Three days later (10/8/09) I played my violin again, only at our own school! My day was 4 showings of a talent show for all first year students at Min Tai. I watched many acts over again but they were just as entertaining (although the bottle jugglers dropped about 10 bottles during the last act hehehe). I only had to play in the first and third showings which was plenty for me! During my second performance (in the 3rd showing) I played a fiddle song (“Boil ‘em Cabbage Down”) and much to my surprise, the audience started clapping the beat like in a SouthWest barnyard jam LOL! I received plenty of applause from the audience.

Oh! October 6th at 1 AM, there was an earthquake which measured around 6.3 on the Richter Scale but it only lasted about 4 seconds in my neighborhood. It gave me quite a shock though hahaha! Haven’t felt one since 2001!

I have a new favorite drink here. It’s called bing chee lean hong cha: (vanilla) ice cream in black tea. It is one thing I am sure I’ll hate to lose once I leave this island! Last week, Ana and Paulina taught me how to blow bubbles from bubble gum. Hahaha, I am glad that I finally learned!

Also this month, I received my first care package from home. Really enjoyed the Halloween candy and the vitamins are really appreciated (since I was almost out from the last cold I had). Thanks Mom! >;D

I saw my first accident since arriving in Taiwan. It was a scooter collision. There was an ambulance driving away when I got off the bus (it happened on the road near my house). Traffic is crazy here, so I’m being extra cautious crossing streets.

One of my Chinese teachers, nicknamed Boss, took us to a supermarket for class one day during each of the last two weeks. We learned how to say some fruits and vegetables in Chinese. This week we’re going to go back and our test will be to have to find food. It’s a very fun class.

My calligraphy class isn’t as hard as it used to be and I actually really like it now! It’s cool being able to paint characters that are recognizable…. finally hah!

Two weekends ago, my district (3460) took it’s exchange students to Sun Moon Lake. The reason for it’s name comes from the two sides of it; one is crescent shaped like the moon and the other is round like the sun. It’s located near the center of Taiwan and is the largest lake on the island. It’s surrounded by mountains on all sides and the water is a very clear blue. There are houses in the water too, on anchored rafts I think. Before we visited the lake, we took a tour of a place that makes paper the old fashioned way. We learned how to make fans and got to keep what we made. Once we got to the lake, we were split into three groups and given six plastic barrels, ~ 10 bamboo logs, and a set amount of rope. We had to build our raft so that we could all fit on it and prove that it would take us all across the lake. The other teams (and even some of our own teammembers) were pretty sure our design would fail and we would all get wet because it would fall apart as soon as it hit the water. But we proved them wrong!! The other rafts fell apart, sunk, and made their occupants soaking wet and ours stayed afloat and was well on it’s way… Until the soaking wet guys pulled ours apart hahaha! We stayed in for a while and swam in the cool water. That night we had a bon fire and chanted/danced all kinds of Taiwan aborigine rhythms. They really know how to make huge bon fires here! None of us really slept that night and at 5 AM on Sunday, we all boarded the bus after breakfast to get on a boat which took us to the starting line of the 6 KM marathon which we all participated in. I am happy to say I finished it with a fellow American (Michigan) Rotary Exchange Student (Becca; she wrote about it and has some pictures of the weekend on her blog: http://beccaeham.livejournal.com) and we were ranked around 760! I had never participated in a marathon before, so it was a very fun experience! Later that day on the way home, we visited a few temples and I rang a huge bell (just like the Tibetan monk does in the trailer for 2012! LOL!!). Might have that video up soon and linked to in the next report… hopefully.. heheh time really flies when you’re having fun. We were all so tired by that night. Most of us were fast asleep on the bus ride home!

This last weekend I went to a drum concert on Saturday which was pretty cool. Sunday, I hung out with some exchange students in Taichung City and then decided to go exploring on my own. I walked about 10 miles during that whole day. Just exploring the city and everything. I walked to this big park in Taichung where the 2009 Taichung Jazz Festival was being hosted. I had a lot of fun there. The first stand I came to was selling drum sticks for 300 NT (under $10 USD) so I purchased . I took them to school today and Boss (who also plays the drums) and a classmate (who really plays the drums well) started to teach me how to play the drums. It’s actually a lot harder than one would think, because once you start using 2 hands and 2 feet each with a different part of the rhythm, it can get quite messy. Which is why they told me to play it slowly! Hahahahaha It’s very addicting though.. I am going to practice until I have it down! So after I bought the drum sticks, I got some food and listened to some performers play on the 2 stages in the park. They were very good and it wasn’t what I was expecting for a Taiwan Jazz festival haha. After a while, I went to walk around the city and finally started to become oriented to my surroundings. I went to find a 50 (a drink store chain here) so I could buy some bing chee lean hong cha and after asking for directions in Chinese, I finally found it! I almost got lost on my way back to the park, but I didn’t, and I ended up taking the bus back to where my host parents had instructed me to go to be picked up.

This is turning into a great exchange year. I’m confident my language, calligraphy, and drumming abilities are going to be solid by the time I leave. I am really loving Taiwan and I learn/experience something new every day.

Pictures:

Sun Moon Lake trip: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38640&id=1407385820&l=0c427b2290
Me, Ana, & Paulina during lunch: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38648&id=1407385820&l=27c239f1fc
Cooking Class: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38625&id=1407385820&l=7f17a13307
Dumpling night: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38646&id=1407385820&l=2808fafc1a
Just life.. lol: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38632&id=1407385820&l=e124880144

Happy Halloween,

Eric Fleck, Rotary Exchange Student
D5490 Prescott, AZ
H: (928) 443-0943
2009-10 Outbound > Taichung, Taiwan
Skype: eaFleck

End of Month Report: September ‘09

DATE OF REPORT: 9/29/2009 FOR MONTH OF: September HOST COUNTRY: Taiwan
NAME: Eric Andrew Fleck

MY HOST FAMILY INFORMATION IS:

Pu Huang
No. 12-7, Lane 159, KuoKuang Rd., Sec 1
Tali Taichung Hsien, Taiwan 412

Tel: +886-2-2406-0066 (Res.)

MY HOST CLUB COUNSELOR INFORMATION IS:

“Andy” Kuo-Hsun LIU
No. 58, Gongye 20th Rd.,
Taipin City, Taichung County 411 Taiwan

Tel: +886-4-22780462
FAX: +886-4-22715975
Email: lkh5081@ms26.hinet.net

About the Exchange:

Ni hao everyone!

Hard to believe a month has gone by already. So the day after my last monthly report, I went to meet the Mayor of the town I’m living in which is called Tali. I gave him one of my pins and he gave me some plastic chopsticks and a duffel bag as souvenirs. Also at the beginning of this month, I started high school here! I really like it. The campus is huge and very pretty from all the surrounding green hills/mountains. The kids and teachers alike are all very friendly and sometimes to the point of feeling like you’re someone really famous hahaha. I gave a speech in front of the whole school (4 thousand students) in Chinese. So did the other two girls that are exchanging here and go to my school (Ana and Paulina). My class is really great and so is my homeroom teacher; I think they like get along better than any other teacher/class – she got 3 dozen roses yesterday for Teacher Appreciation day. The boy that sits next to me, Jason, is turning out to be a really good friend. He doesn’t treat me like a movie star like most people do, so I feel more comfortable talking to him and listening to him (since I’m not the only one talking during the conversations hahaha). His English is good and he helps me learn Chinese. I have three cooking classes (you can eat what you cook at the end of each class!), a bartending/cocktail preparation class (lol the teacher wanted me to try a drink I made, and I had to explain to her that I could not ), two P.E. classes, a drawing/painting class, Calligraphy (chinese character brush painting) class, 5 language/culture learning classes, and lots of “Self-Study” classes to finish homework/journal/rest in. Ana, Paulina and I spend a lot of time together (we have all of the same classes, except they have kind of skipped P.E. LOL) and it’s really nice having each other to relate to.

In the mornings during the week, I have to wake up at 5:45 AM (although I usually sleep until my second alarm at 6) in order to get ready to walk a few blocks with my friend/neighbor/schoolmate at 6:30. We get breakfast and then walk to the bus stop at Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC and McDonalds are the only fast food chains here that are also big in the USA I think). At 7 we get on our bus (which is definitely not an American school bus – it’s more like a fancy around-America tour bus) and by 7:20-30 we’re at Min Tai High School walking to our classes. During my first homeroom class, two days a week, I read a list of English vocabulary words along with their Chinese translation (the teacher tells me how to say them). Calligraphy is a lot of fun, but I feel hopeless and very bad at art hahaha.. it really requires a LOT of patience.. which I sometimes lack. In P.E. I usually run faster than everyone for the two laps around the track haha, and then we play Lan Cho (basketball) and I usually am not the best there.

Two weeks ago, a class from Min Tai had a graduation trip which Ana, Paulina, and I got to go along on. They went to Kaohsiung (2nd largest city), Tainan, and Kenting (the beach, Southern Taiwan). That was really fun. There are 2 albums on it (Graduation Trip Uno and Dos), so you can see what we did there. We went to an amusement park, stayed at some really nice hotels, went to two different night markets (where I tried sugar cane juice, and some really good dumplings, but still nothing too .. exotic lol), and then the beach in Kenting where it rained on us after a few hours in the Pacific. That was really cool, because I’ve never been in the ocean while it rained before hehe. During our time in Kaohsiung we also stopped at a department store and browsed the shops. It was a really big mall, with a ferris wheel and movie theater at the very top.

This past weekend I came down with a cold. It started with a sore throat, and then that passed on Monday, but in it’s place, my nose (nose is Besu in Chinese, by the way ) started running and I sneezed a lot. Then this morning I woke up without much of a runny nose, but stuffy still and also a bad cough. I still have a little bit of a runny nose now and some coughing, but I think I’m almost over it. Thanks for the Vitamin C, Mom!! It really saved me. I went through half a bottle in 3 days LOL…

The first week of school, my arms were covered in mosquito bites (well Boss – the nickname of one of our coolest teachers – actually told us they aren’t really mosquitoes.. but some type of really tiny fly), but now I only have a few. So I guess the blood bath initiation has almost ended, thankfully.

This month, I also attended a concert with my host sister and Paulina (Rotary paid for it). It starred an extremely talented blind pianist (I think he was in his 20’s) and a 2 finger hand Korean lady who played the piano quite well. There was also a man in his 40’s (I don’t think he had any handicap) who played the violin extremely well. Speaking of which, I’m supposed to play mine in a few days in front of an elementary school. It beats singing .. haha Ana and Paulina sing very well though, so I’m sure everyone will like their songs.

Sometimes, on the bus ride home, I imagine what the conversations between classmates are about. Then I wish I could speak/understand Chinese as easily and natural as them. =[ I am learning Chinese, but it sure is a long steady process and it requires lots of practice. Lots and lots. I’m really thankful for all of the Chinese classes and the funny teachers I have who make the grueling work a lot of fun.

I’ve journalled like 200 pages of my journal.. I’m going to need a few of these before the year’s over hahaha.

I have uploaded a lot of pictures (so many more than last time lol). To the point where it’ll take you forever to look at them all hahahaha:

First Rotary Meeting last month: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36715&id=1407385820&l=46ef27c539
KTV from last month: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36718&id=1407385820&l=19a1a3aa54
Bowling/pool: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36713&id=1407385820&l=f0e824cd9d
Taiwan Life: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36721&id=1407385820&l=093d1f6632
KTV: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36724&id=1407385820&l=8322882b3e
park/restaurant with host sister and mom: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36725&id=1407385820&l=63a8195900
concert: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36726&id=1407385820&l=50a297c98f
Rotary Exchange student Inbounds meeting: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36710&id=1407385820&l=fc8da89c9a
Recent Rotary Meeting: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36712&id=1407385820&l=2d8b677f76
School life: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36336&id=1407385820&l=a4f43601da
Graduation Trip 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36253&id=1407385820&l=17d058ee54
Graduation Trip 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36709&id=1407385820&l=60cda17952
Min Tai H.S. Tug of War: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36337&id=1407385820&l=ed579ea3a5

Yes, that’s an insane amount of pictures right there. xD

Zai jian y’all,

Eric Fleck, Rotary Exchange Student
D5490 Prescott, AZ
H: (928) 443-0943
2009-10 Outbound > Taichung, Taiwan
Skype: eaFleck

End of Month Report: August ‘09

DATE OF REPORT: 8/31/2009 FOR MONTH OF: August HOST COUNTRY: Taiwan
NAME: Eric Andrew Fleck

Well, I’m here in Taiwan, everyone! I’ve only been here for the last week in August, but there has been so much happening already. My flight was long (almost 14 hours from LAX to Taipei), but I sat next to exchange students which made it fun. I met my host family in the airport on the 22nd at 8 PM. My host family comprises of my Papa “Pu”, Mama, and Vivian (my host sister). They are all very nice and caring and have helped me adjust to life here easily. They have given me a Chinese name that I like: Jun Hao Huang (Huang being their family name): pronounced June How. We have gone out to eat together several times and each time we have a lot of fun (the dinner conversation usually them teaching me some useful vocabulary words, and then all of us laughing at my pronounciation of the 4 tones that I am still learning). I started journaling the day after I arrived, and so far I have roughly 45 pages filled. It really helps to write this report having all of that written to remind me with.

I have gone out with Vivian and her friends to Karaoke once already. That was a lot of fun: I sang Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up, Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down, and Born to be Wild by SteppenWolfe (hahahaha) – badly hahahahaha. We were there for 4 hours! More recently she and I took some other friends of hers to a pool hall and we played for 3 hours – we all made some pretty amazing shots.

There are 2 girls (1 from Brazil, 1 from Mexico) also being hosted by my club who will be attending the same high school (“Min Tai”) as me. I met about 8 other exchange students (mostly from mexico) in my district (3460) 2 days ago at an outbound/inbound conference. All except one of the exchange students I’ve met in my district are girls; the guy is from Brazil and he reminds me a lot of Murillo (currently hosted in Williams, AZ) hahaha! Speaking of school, it starts tomorrow (Tuesday – the first day of September). I will have to get up at around 5:45 to catch the bus in time at around 6:50. My school is really impressive (see the pictures linked at the end) and huge. They tell me there are over four thousand students that attend. Oh, and they want me to play the violin in front of all of them in about a month… Ugh hahaha. I have enrolled in a guitar/drum class that I’m really excited about taking and also a bartending/waiting class which should be interesting! At the end of September, I will be better informed as to what my school is like.

As far as cultural shock, I haven’t really felt it in extreme levels (and no homesickness so far), but I have been confused many times and I am usually listening to Mandarin conversations and understanding only part of the topic from body language and the context of where we are when it’s being spoken. I have been learning a few phrases that I can now recall fairly easily, and the rest that I can’t remember I’ve been writing down in a vocabularly notebook. The weather here is not too bad: really humid and slightly hot on some days (but NOTHING compared to PHX hahahaha). The first few days were the hardest because of the change in humidity, but I’m acclimated now. It rained heavily yesterday which I liked, but my host sister not so much hehe. It’s strange, but now that I’m actually in a different country as an exchange student, I finally realize what all the exchange students I’ve known over the years have/are feeling. It’s something that I could only grasp by experiencing it, no matter how well I knew them, how much I talked to them, and how much I watched their interactions with unusual (to them) American ways.

Haha.. right now the garbage truck is picking up trash.. How do I know? Because garbage trucks in Taiwan are musical just like an ice cream truck in America.

I have uploaded a lot of pictures on Facebook which are viewable by anyone (even people who don’t know what Facebook is):
Album 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32488&l=05f6649942&id=1407385820
Album 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32492&l=ac546ff19e&id=1407385820

Well, that’s most of the highlights so far. Hope you all (and all of the members in my sponsoring clubs) are doing great.

Zai jian,

Eric Fleck, Rotary Exchange Student
D5490 Prescott, AZ
H: (928) 443-0943
2009-10 Outbound > Taichung, Taiwan

Jun Hao is in Taiwan

XD yep that’s my new name. I love it. It is one of the main characters’ names in an asian action film that I’ve seen. Like Invisible Target or Tae Guk Gi .. iono. But yeah, love my new name. I think I’ll be able to write it in chinese pretty soon too =].

I downloaded Xfire and got on Facebook and Gmail so I’m updated pretty well here.

I was unable to get skype running!*tear* =[ but I’ll try on the 2nd computer. so I guess Ishall account for the happenings now taht all of this pre-post info is done with.

It’s story time, boys and girls

So, a few days or something ago *jet lag*, on the 21st of Aug at 8 AM I got to the Sky Harbor airport in PHX and my 3 bags had to be shifted around so none of them went over China Air’s 70 lbs max requirement. so Igot that all fixed up and Iwent to wait for the plane. there I met May Yen, she’s a rotary billing agent in Taiwan, so she was very nice and helped me learn some culture/language. we got to LAX at 12 PM and waited around at gate 103 for the plane. There we met Luke (USA), Estefania and another girl (both of them from Mexico) all exchange students heading to Taiwan. I sat next to the 2 girls on the plane and we had a good time eating dinner during lunch time and breakfast when it was dark outside lol. Also watched a few movies onboard and played some games. So I’m not saying that 13.5 hours magically sped up but it was a fun spent 13 hours. we got off the plane, everyone walked to cutoms and on the way we went thru one of those asian popular haz mat checkpoints that sees if you’re a biological threat by checking your body heat. Once we got our luggage, we went to the mass of people shouting our names and holding up signs and I met my host family in person. They are very nice and they took me out to eat some sushi last night. it was fun and I didn’t go to bed until 3:30 AM this morning because Ispent about 2 hours journaling Lol…

School starts on Sept 1st, only 20 minutes away, and Iwalk about 1 block to a KFC to grab the school bus. we’re gonna go out to eat now (it’s 7 pm here right now lol) or pretty soon so I’ma stop (plus I really can’t think of anything major to write about right now, so yeah.

Oh and it’s really humid here. so much that I think about breathing sometimes LOL

ok well zai jian – yeah I’m learning a lot of mandarin too. it’s all starting to slowly come together. Love you lots of people back home, making lots of friends here.

Eric Jun Hao Huang/Fleck ;D
D. 3460 Taichung

Leaving the USA in a few hours!! xD

Well, the time has finally come. I am all packed and everything. I can’t wait to see what it’s like, but at the same time it’s strange thinking about leaving a place I’ve been for so many years. haha..

5 AM to get down to PHX for a 10 AM flight then arrive at LAX around 11:30ish. ~4 PM flight from LAX to TPE.

I’ve been extremely busy recently and didn’t get to post as much as I’d liked to.

Well to sum up this short and sweet post, I will quote my Grandmother who used to say, “You gotta take the sweet with the sour.” To me that pretty much sums up what Rotary Exchange / adapting can be like. Hopefully there will be much more sweet, and I am hearing good things.

Lol, that just so happens to be a pun with sweet and sour sauce.. oh well too late for jokes. Time to sleep for an hour.

Eric has a VISA!!!!

Yes, you heard right… I have my VISA FINALLY. Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

That’s all.

Lol, ok J/K, Umm.. So now, plane ticket, Insurance, and Pins! Along with packing up all the stuff that is sitting on the floor in my room into my huge duffel bag suitcase thing. Plane departure will probably be the 21st, but I will know for sure once I finalize it later today.

Tomorrow = Rotary Inbounds/Outbounds pool party in Phoenix all afternoon, it should be fun. =D

14 Days / 2 Weeks Until I am departing from the states and arriving in the orient.

XD WOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Fin.