大家好！I am back with my week 3 recap and I have been having so much fun in Taiwan. I started off the week with 卡拉OK (Karaoke) with some friends and we had so much fun! Despite not knowing many Chinese songs, we still had so much fun, and even sang some English songs like Baby by Justin Bieber and We All Live in a Yellow Submarine by the Beatles. This week, I have also really been enjoying classes because I have a great relationship with my teachers, and I am learning so much! I would tell you all the amazing things that we did during class, but what is far more interesting is what I did with my host family. The first time I visited my host family, it was very awkward, but this time it was a lot better, and I was even able to crack jokes in Chinese. One of my favorite conversations I had over the weekend was when my host mom was talking about how my host sibling has a 女朋友 (girlfriend). When his mom told me that he had a girlfriend he replied saying 不是，不是，她是我的BFF (No, No She is my BFF). After hearing this I asked my host sibling if he thought she was pretty, and he merely shrugged. After this I was dying laughing, but what really made me laugh was when my host mom told me that his “BFF” was very rich, and had a lot of money. After hearing an important trait of his BFF I told my host brother that he should continue being “BFF’s” with her and everyone started laughing. Despite having so much fun talking with my host family, we went to many different places as well. 

Some highlights from my host family weekend was when we did DIY 米粉 (Rice Noodles) because we got to make our meal, and it was some of the best noodles I have ever had. Another highlight was going to the 玻璃艺术工作室. You might think that dealing with a blow torch and fragile materials while being instructed in Chinese is a recipe for disaster, but it was amazing, and I was able to make a glass leaf. Although we did go to many places over the weekend, at their home, we also had fun playing Just Dance on the Nintendo Switch. Despite my dancing skills being very 马马虎虎 (so/so), I still had so much fun. Our host family also took us to the 原住民 which was very cool. In the 原住民, we lived like the Hokka tribe, and they taught us tribal dances/songs,  how they would set up traps to catch birds, and they even taught us 射箭 (archery). We also did DIY rice and cooked rice in a shaft of bamboo, which was a very cool experience. Overall I had so much fun this week in Taiwan, but through all of the activities I did this week, I noticed a lot of cultural differences. One that I thought was very interesting was when I was walking to find some dinner and I encountered one road that went both ways. I thought it was very interesting because I watched cars go through this road from both sides for a while, and wondered why this wouldn’t work in the US. Another cultural difference was when I went swimming in Taiwan. For starters my host siblings didn’t know how to swim which was a shock for a Floridian who swims more than he walks. Also before we got into the pool, the lifeguard yelled at us and told me “你需要戴游泳帽子” (You need to wear a swimming cap). In the US it is pretty normal to not wear a swim cap unless you are swimming for competition, but everyone in the pool in Taiwan was wearing a swim cap. Despite this I had so much fun this week, and I am so excited for next week.