你们 好！Hey guys, I hope you find this helpful and fun!
There are somethings I jotted down on my notepad that I haven't had a chance to talk about. Little cultural differences and quirks, things that maybe important to anyone back home at SVSU interested in studying in Taiwan. Today was orientation and sort of a take it easy day... only a few pictures and definitely some time to think before classes begin tomorrow.
So first thing, snow. We think about like the southern states as being hot, but every once and while states like Texas get snow. Many of the Americans I talked to before coming to Taipei said the same thing, they probably get a little once in a while. X that, when my roommates asked about Michigan being cold and I said snow... the reception was "SNOW!!!" and an excited bout of Chinese. So snow is a huge deal, it does not happen around here. They get rain instead.
Next thing was the question "What is Mighigan known for?" There are the Great Lakes, the Mackinaw bridge, farming (some) and the fact that its shaped like a glove. The biggest thing I thought of was... the auto industry, cars. "Detroit Motor City" comes to mind. General Motors (GM) didn't seem to make much of an impact (they didn't seem to know what I was talking about) so Ford came out of my mouth next. Similar reaction to snow. My mom back home mentioned that a Ford plant opened in Taiwan not long ago, so I can now imagine why.
Recycling is big deal and not like in the States. We talk a big game, but its really been implamented here. Its just a part of everyday life. The McDonalds nearby has three bins inside: one for trash (like left over food), another for like paper and card board and then a spot to dump left over liquids from your cup before you put it in the recycle bin. Our dorms have it and many of the smaller stores seem to have it too. They're pretty shocked that the US is not as up on recycling (many areas don't have it or you have to pay lots of money to have it done... save for cans and bottles we just take those to the grocery store were there are machines). I'm not sure why we don't do it in the US more, its pretty simple. Kaitlyn was really the one who helped bring this to my attention (her dad works for recycling), so thank you to her for that.
Also I was reminded of when Professor Liu's wife spoke during our class about healthcare in China, particularly for women after childbirth. There was a lot of concern for hot and cold espacially in shower/bath form and liquids drank. I've witnessed a similar sort of thing in everyday life here. At Longshansi we were given an herbal tea to drink for our health and it was cold. The big thing was last night when my last two roommates were unpacking, I had just returned from taking a shower not long before. "Did you bring a hairdryer?" truth was, I hadn't... packing made it so I didn't bring one and truth being I didn't own myself.. I had borrowed one previously. They informed me that it wasn't good for my health to let my hair air dry, I would be okay for now... but in the winter they both offered me use of their hair dryers. Which really isn't that strange, right now it is (a hair dryer in this heat?)... but as far as winter, our dorms don't have heat. So its like not going out with a wet head in cold weather back home, you can catch cold....
Then there's my interests. Back home knowing about anything in Asian pop culture: music, movies, animation in particular carries a pretty potent stigma. At first it was just those that were really into the Japanese animation (anime) and extremely obsessive that had any problems... but it spread to those into the music and tv shows (dramas) as well. Mostly Americans that aren't into it (or claim not to be) vs. those Americans into one, two or all three areas. Here, no stigma. Actually, to the contrary students have found it very exciting and even flattering that I would listen to Taiwanese music and watch Taiwanese and Chinese film (even if some of films are a bit old... XD). That was refreashing and exciting to be able to offer American music and film knowledge and discuss something of what I knew of their pop culture as well without the misconception of if you like apples you must like oranges (if you like chinese movies or Korean music you must be into Japanese animation like creepy into Japanese animation). It makes almost... no sense, but in America this stereotype exists. Its unfortunate because it closes a lot of minds to new things. I'm very happy to be able to discuss Hollywood, Kelly Clarkston, Katy Perry, One Direction and then Lee Hom Wang, Fahrenheit and Jay Chou all in one conversation.
Oh Orientation. It went well. We have us four students from the US, two from Hong Kong and two from Korea. The English Corner was my favorite part of the day. We met Lily and Peter two older adults that will be assisting us. We worked out our sechdules (yay for having classes all before noon, I didn't have to change my schedule at all) and discussed what we'd be doing. It is not tutoring like we often think of it in the US. Tutoring often times in the US is when students bring in homework or a test and get study help, maybe some extra practice and that's about it. Here, its almost like having another mini-class. We're expected to come up with activities and maybe a theme almost like a teaching plan. Not what I expected, but I like this better.
We were asked to come up something we're passionate about, like a hobby that we enjoy to share with the students maybe once or twice a week in the corner. In the past students have taught cooking, dancing and drawing. At the moment I seriously considering American comic book art. Its something unique to our country and is super popular in film right now.
We were asked to come up something we're passionate about, like a hobby that we enjoy to share with the students maybe once or twice a week in the corner. In the past students have taught cooking, dancing and drawing. At the moment I seriously considering American comic book art. Its something unique to our country and is super popular in film right now.
