what's goin' on?

It's been a while since I've written and I think it's about time...

I suppose things became more routine after the start of the new semester. Things got crazy busy at school, and I found myself participating in the 50 million competitions that Wenfu is involved in (ok, ok, only 3...but still). I think I also became a little bit more ambitious, and have started to plan more exciting activities that involve a bit more preparation. I have a few new students this semester, one of whom is an American. She happens to be in one of the homeroom classes that I teach, so I've gotten to know her quite well. We usually work on Chinese math together, which is actually incredibly fun since I get to practice Chinese and tutor in a subject other than English. I've also gotten to know her mother since she comes to school often, and a few weeks ago I was invited to their house for dinner. They have a family of 10 counting all kids and parents, and 8 of them are here in Taiwan, so it was a very cozy dinner. It was really nice to be with an American family eating something you could easily eat on any day of the week in the States--bread, salad, veggies, and chicken parmesan. I have also started tutoring a very cute 5 year-old boy who is in kindergarten at the Kaohsiung American School. Last semester I was taking Chinese, but it was really just 2 hours or so of class a week with no homework. I am now meeting once a week for 2-3 hours with a local professor who has her PhD in Chinese literature. I do a lot more work on my own, which is a really good thing. It's almost exactly how I took Chinese tutorials in my last year or so at Lawrence.

The biggest news I have recently is my decision to apply for a Taiwan Ministry of Education scholarship to study Chinese in Taiwan for one year. The deadline just passed on March 31 so I will have to wait for a bit before I know. If I do get the scholarship, I will hopefully be studying at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei. They have a Mandarin Training Center with a lot of great courses including traditional language classes and cultural classes like tea ceremony, Taiwanese cooking, and maybe the class that I'm most excited to take: Taiwanese. I'd be starting in the fall, and would have about a month and a half or so at home in the States before I had to come back. I'm hoping that if I do stay, I'm able to pack up my things quickly, find a place to keep them for the time that I'm gone, and have an apartment all lined up. That way, I can be home for as long as possible. I have a lot of people to visit in a short period of time!

I've gone on some cool trips recently to southern Taiwan, and I'd like to write about them soon, but for now I'll leave this as word of what I've been up to. Send emails if you need to procrastinate for a few minutes throughout the day! I'd love to hear from you all!