再見台灣

哈囉～ welcome to one last update as i wrap up this amazing year in 台灣 (taiwan). who knows, i might already in the states when this gets up but here's a last record of december.

first off, at the beginning of the month, the director of my program at UO was able to come visit! other school directors came too and we discussed our experience and provided some feedback. it's definitely interesting to hear the variety of feedback from different people and the differences between my cohort and the other cohort who just finished up first term. anyway, my director treated us UO students to dinner in the 信義區 xinyi district by 101. wow the malls there go all out with the decorations. if you want holiday vibes that's the place to be–lots of lights and photo ops.

tests

during this month, we still had prep classes for OPI (oral proficiency interview) and the reading/listening exit tests. but to be completely honest, they weren't particularly helpful. just that these tests are more testing how well you know how to take the test in my opinion. of course comprehension is important too but it's of about equal importance. the problem is that what we practiced is not how the test actually works. for the reading/listening, all of the practice prompts were in chinese, but on the test they're english so a lot of the time there will be a weird translation and you also can't use the keyword trick as effectively because you can't be sure how the text will say it (which vocab, grammar patterns etc). not to mention for reading, the test is only short briefs but we practiced long articles. for both, the test questions were all multiple choice but we barely practiced that test taking strategy. i think where they really went wrong was not focusing on time management. in prep class we could basically take as long as we wanted but for each portion we had to answer 44 questions in 90 mins including reading the blurb or listening to the clip so really less than a minute per question...

the OPI had a different problem. they all want us to reach as superior level and to do that you have to do 優級任務 (top level tasks: abstract discussion, cause/effect, compare and what-ifs?) so they would help us build a introduction that would steer the interviewer to ask questions we prepared for and then we'd theoretically just spout what we practiced with all the tasks we needed. but as it is an interview, it's more like a conversation and the interviewer won't pause for you to get through a rehearsed thing. they interrupt to switch topics or whatever.

long story short, not terribly confident in my performance, but either way i'll get the completion award. i don't really need certification.

on my last friday in taiwan, i had an 80 minute final for my direct enrollment class. since it was open book, i wasn't too worried about it and did very little prep. the 25 是非題 (T/F questions) were harder than i had anticipated, but the short essay questions weren't too bad, especially because our professor was kind enough for us to write in english. honestly the better choice for both of us: easier for us to write and express range of tone, emotion etc while he won't have to deal with sloppy handwritten chinese. i mean i haven't had to handwrite in years so it would've been atrocious not to mention i never really learned to write in traditional...

random adventures

i went solo (again) to see my favorite artist of 2022 (according to spotify wrapped)–keshi! he's self-taught and used to be a nurse. genre is kinda hard to define but i guess i would say indie/alt r&b, lofi hip hop. it was his first tour for his first full length studio album "GABRIEL".

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/f148f6_6d7a3e162b0549f287f9986826dea867/720p/mp4/file.mp4

"original" 鼎泰豐 (dintaifung)

so the actual original dintaifung is just a hole-in-the-wall take out spot, so we went to the first sit down dintaifung. they were pretty decked out for the holidays. 小籠包 (xiaolongba0) and 燒賣 (shaomai) are just what you need on a cold winter day. the weather shifted so quickly and drastically it caught me by surprise!

later that same day, we went to see “the way of water” but we had time to kill so we messed around in the 101 area. got starbucks peppermint mocha for the holiday vibes. the comment on my cup was 「一同抗疫 台灣加油」 which is "let's fight against the epidemic together, come on taiwan"

with us leaving soon, we also have to take care of some admin stuff like canceling national insurance. it was so easy and not even that long of a wait. i still can't believe how cheap it is too. the worker warned me i had to pay three months at once, like it might be a problem, but it turns out to be only 80 something USD. after, we grabbed some 牛肉麵 (beef noodle soup) to warm up and also the snow ice place because i wasn't about to leave taiwan without trying the strawberry.

and my last taipei bucket list item: 貓空纜車 (maokong gondolas)

they're all the way on the far southeast side of taipei by the zoo. so we rode the MRT to the end of the brown line and then caught the gondolas up the mountain. it's a great deal: only 50NTD for a one-way ride and since it's actually part of the metro system you can use your metro card! we picked a perfect sunny day and got amazing views of the city as well as temples scattered among the tea plantations and the mountains foliage. i didn't really know what to expect once we got to the top, but i guess there's a whole town and maze of paths to explore. we hadn't prepared correctly for hiking and we were running out of sunlight so instead, we got some maokong tea and pineapple cakes before heading back during sunset. and wow did the sun paint the hills and clouds pink!

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/f148f6_62f001afcdde445083eabd8c56f39d4e/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

the next day on Christmas, my friends and i had ourselves a hotpot feast! we got a 麻辣 (numbing spice) broth and a cabbage broth. then all sorts of other ingredients: dumplings, frozen tofu, rice cakes, bamboo shoots, meat, meat and more meat. i love this place in particular because it's a flat fee for all-you-can-eat. not to mention they've got all sorts of fruit and sweets for dessert. you just get up and get what you want.

that night, taipei 101 was lit up with "merry christmas" and was doing a kind of light show on the clouds with spotlights

新年快樂！happy new year

for new years we had kind of a last dinner with the friend group at korean and then headed over to the 101 area. we had or eyes on a specific bar ever since we first went there because they have such a good view of 101. it took them an eternity to get new year's info out–i think i might have annoyed them asking about it every month since fall heh. anyway, the deal was two drinks and front row seats to the best firework show i think i've ever seen. i'm not really surprised at the number of people that came out to watch, but what was really annoying were the road closures. by early morning, the entire shopping district streets were shut down and even once we for out to open streets, it was literally impossible to get a taxi so we ubered home. definitely an unforgettable new years!

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/f148f6_24cc4284369a47cb8396bc65dc1d2cca/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

random stuff:

~crowds are not very hype here. like from the crowds at concerts and even the back half of clubs aren't loose and dance-y like you'd expect. it's honestly a little disappointing...

~cat that seems to live in a particular area of campus. i always see it near the same flower bed

~weird as heck worm

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/f148f6_fa33bffcf36246c09036f86877e845f5/720p/mp4/file.mp4

~冬至湯圓 (winter solstice glutinous rice balls)

heading home

our flight isn't until until later in the morning but ann and i had to make the trip from taipei to the neighboring taoyuan international airport so we left really kind of insanely early (6:00) to account for possible traffic and just getting though an unfamiliar airport. i actually pulled an all nighter to make sure i wouldn't miss it including one last mahjong table and chats with eva and ann. anyway turns out we got here even before the united desks opened. and since the boards we're turned off it seemed like we were in the wrong spot, but after confirming with airport workers we just kind of waited around for an hour until checking bags opened around 8:30. security was a breeze comparative to the US but they do have an additional step–passport verification. i got though the completely automated one while my friend had to be checked by an actual person. you scan your passport, gates open, show your face to the camera and scan your finger prints. i wonder why only some can get through the automated system...?

the label on the luggage carts at the airport. the automatic brake is seems smart but it's actually kind of a pain

the most shocking thing is that this is the exact same airport we flew into. when we first got here is was cold–closed shops, basically no people, and workers in hazmat suits, but now it's actually a normal airport. besides all the expensive, luxury brand stores that is. it's full of life and people excited to travel.

i'm excited to be heading back, but this year is one like no other. thank you to everyone who helped me get here. this year has been so special and i wouldn't trade it for anything. if you break it down, 「再見」"goodbye" literally means "again + see", so 再見台灣～

♡蘇晨