IT'S BEEN ONE WEEK ALREADY!!!

Yup! I've been in Taiwan for a FULL week now. It already feels like I've been here for awhile. During the first half of the week, I traveled to three different counties and five different cities, rod on the Taipei MRT buses and subway for the very first time, and ate as if I haven't eaten food for months! Now I'm in Sun Moon Lake, waiting and planning out my next steps.

So far, I would say my experience in Taiwan has been...interesting. I've been using this word a lot these days. Even though I have lived in Taiwan before, and have visited a couple of times while I was in the States, there is never a dull moment in Taiwan. For instances, people speak really loud here. When they speak fast, it seems like they're yelling or fighting and I LOVE IT! It seriously is a Taiwanese thing. Chinese people probably talk loud too, but Taiwanese people sound loud AND mean when they are in an intense conversation! The kids can be so rude here, it's great! I know it seems odd for me to say that, but I can't help but chuckle whenever I hear kids shout with all their might and demand for something like they rule world. I laugh because those kids remind me so much of myself when I was a kid.

I don't know why, but kids here are on such opposite extremes. They are either really quite, gentle, and obedient, or they are mean, demanding, and tough. I don't know why kids feel like they have to behave this way. When I moved back to the States in junior high, I remembered thinking to myself, "What was wrong with me? Why did I feel that I had to be mean all the time?" There has to be a cultural or social reason for this. With time, I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!