第十八個星期：Christmas in Kaohsiung

星期二：Today Becca and I didn't have afternoon classes, so we got the chance to go to the elementary school we often volunteer at, but this time hang out with first and second graders. We started out with second graders where we all made little gingerbread houses. While it was a mess, all the kids were super cite and excited, and I actually made a pretty decent gingerbread house. We then gave a presentation about Christmas in America, sang some songs, and gave out little gifts. After the second graders, we gave the same presentation to first graders, though, instead of then making gingerbread houses, they taught us some about Chinese New Year and had us paint calligraphy chun lian, which are banners you stick around your door for good luck, and all the kids thought it was super hilarious that we were so bad at writing characters.

(I didn't have any candy decorations but I'm proud of my minimalistic gingerbread house)

星期三：Today was the winter solstice, which is sort of a holiday here as the start of winter. Traditionally you eat tang yuan, a sort of sweet soup with rice dumplings that are sometimes filled with sesame or peanut paste. I had had them before and pretty much hated the texture, but this to,e they actually were pretty good which surprised me. We had them first for lunch as we had a large group lunch with all of us and our afternoon tutors, and I then had some again at dinner with my host family. Supposedly if you eat tang yuan you will turn a year older in the new year, but if you don't eat them you'll just stay the same age forever.

(me and my best Taiwanese friends/afternoon tutors)

(tang yuan)

星期五：After class, Becca, Mackenzie, and I decided to go out to an Indian food place by Becca's house. Not only was it an awesome change from Taiwanese food, it was just generally really good Indian food. After that, we all headed home to get ready for the Christmas party because since we don't get to do fancy stuff too often here, we all decided to try and look our best.

Right before I left to head over and start helping out with decorating our party venue, my host family gave me a new hat as a Christmas present (I love that they've known me for about a week and already knew that a hat was exactly what to get me). It was then a pretty long commute to the space we'd rented in a sort of art gallery shop.

After decorating, all our guests arrived. It was mainly hist families, tutors, and iEARN staff, though a few others came. We first decided to do the mannequin challenge at the request of Kripa and our tech guy Andrew, which was interesting because that's definitely not a thing here and most of the adults didn't totally get why this is a popular thing currently. We then ate a lot, took pictures with Santa (AKA Joey), played a game of Christmas Bingo, and did a reindeer craft thing made by tracing our hands. We also had a gift exchange going throughout; the big moment, though, was that the eight of us had rewritten the Twelve Days of Christmas in Chinese and made all the lyrics about stuff we've done or eaten in Taiwan, and everyone loved it. I have even since come home to my little host sister rewatching it or singing it when she thinks I'm not listening. Overall it was a super fun and festive night and definitely made it feel like we were still getting a real Christmas.

(we made ornaments for our host families)

(...and then put them on a tree)

(Merry Christmas from the NSLI-Y 8)

(one of our morning tutors)

(our other morning tutor)

(and then my afternoon tutors with Santa Joey)

(my new host sisters)

(giant group pic)

(when the party is over and you're somehow left with these balloons)

星期六：For Christmas Eve my host family decided to take me to Cijin Island. We rode the ferry over and then rented one of those beach bike cart things. Technically I don't know if this counts as a risky activity for NSLI-Y or not, but it was fun and made all my beach dreams come true. We first rode around the main market street with all the food stalls, where i ended up eating a bowl of spicy flavored sea snails which actually weren't too bad, then we went and rode to the beach where we stuck our feet in and took some pictures with modern art statues. After riding around a bit more, we turned the cart in and then walked up to see the famous lighthouse that also has a really good view of the city.

After leaving and heading back home, we met up with some family friends and had some hot pot for dinner. We then all went back to our house for a bit where the baby and I became best friends (this baby was the nicest and cutest baby ever so we obviously had to be besties). We then spent the rest of the evening with my little host sister playing Christmas music and asking adorable questions about whether or not Santa would really come.

(my new favorite mode of transportation)

(host family riding my new favorite mode of transportation)

(Christmas eve at the beach)

(spotted fisherman with the city skyline in the background)

(cijin lighthouse)

(a great view from the lighthouse)

星期天：Today was mostly spent sleeping in and relaxing, though we did go out for a nice dinner. I also gave my host sisters stockings of some presents my real parents had sent and some candy I bought, and they were very excited which hopefully will lead to more bonding.