Poem: half a year ago

Well over half a year ago I left

A place that was my blood family’s nest.

Now there are people in a far off, foreign land

People, the thought of leaving I can hardly stand.

Completely strangers but over such little time

These people have become dear, new friends of mine.

Four more months and another family before it ends

But how will I ever leave this family who were once barely my friends.

Autumn Crisovan 丁婉秋

3/3/19

Beach Day!!!

When you live grow up really close to the Great Lakes you don’t really need to go to the ocean. There’s beautiful beaches and water as far as the eye can see. Saturday the weather was perfect. When someone suggested going to the beach everyone was on board. It was two hours on th MRT and bus but it was worth it. The water was freezing and few people were swimming but I had to swim. It was my first time in the ocean! It was amazing and I couldn’t believe I had never been there before! I dove into a wave, the heat instantly leaving my body, the salty taste creeping in at the corners of my mouth. I swam out until I had to dive deep to touch the bottom. We played football, chatted, drew in the sand, and when it started to get dark someone made a bonfire. I left with the others from my school around eight so we could make our ten o’clock curfew. It had been an incredible day, I met lots of new people and hung out with some that I have known for what feels like a really long time. But when I got home I was horribly burnt! I NEVER burn in the US, to be honest, I didn’t even think about sunscreen. The burn was bad but I still think it was worth it. That day will be one I remember for a very long time.

Thanks for reading,

Autumn Crisovan 丁晚秋

Hiking with monkeys!

It was still pretty early in the morning when I got off the MRT in Beitou district. Nils, a German, and his host mom were already there but more people were on their way. We ended up with a group of about nine people and I was ready to hike! Unfortunately, the weather did not think so. At first it was a little bit of nasty, drizzly rain but it quickly turned into a windy downpour. As we hiked up the mountain the rain began to come from all sides so that, despite my Nike rain jacket, I was soaked. As I watched the slippery rocks a pungent smell of sulfur followed us. In Taiwan, when it rains the sky becomes one shade of white-gray making the sky lack depth. On this particular day the sky was like that but we were in the clouds so the effect was heightened. A view that was probably quite rewarding at the top of the mountain was reduced to the dull white and wind. With all of this do you think we were having fun? Of course we were! We are exchange students, well most of us, and we were in good company. The conversation was always amusing or interesting, and all of us being soaked and tired only made the lunches we had packed for ourselves more enjoyable. I talked to Nils’s host brother who wants to go to the US for exchange about joining sports and life in America. I was able to answer his questions and ease his concerns. The highlight however, was definitely the monkeys. I have never seen monkeys in the wild before! The biggest ones watched us as the smaller ones moved away. They were tan and fuzzy and because it is spring there were a few baby monkeys with them.

The moral of this story is to make the best of your situation. It’s really easy to look at the things that are going wrong on exchange, but sometimes the view isn’t what we’re looking for:)

Thanks for reading,

Autumn Crisovan 丁晚秋

Xitou park 溪頭國家公園

My first family invited me to spend three days at 溪頭國家公園, a National park in central Taiwan. Of course, I agreed. It was really nice of them to invite me, they have their own exchanger now and they definitely did not have to do that:) My lunch on the way to the park was a squid, pasta dish! It wasn’t the best squid I’ve had but it was still pretty darn tasty! The cabin we were staying at was beautiful and the only thing rustic about it was that hot water shut off at midnight. That would have been nice to know before midnight but it’s all good! Me, Sophia, and David(their current exchanger) slept upstairs in a room that looked like it belonged to the seven dwarves. There were five beds lined up next to each other, the one at the end being a double, the room could have easily fit three more people. Because David is the tallest he got the double but Sophia and I got the extra blankets from the spare beds. This was more than a fair trade because it was FREEZING! We also went to a small market that was called “monster village.” Everything had eyes or was a monster. We went when it was dark so it was a bit more spooky;) I could write another paragraph about the amazing scenery but you know what they say... so here’s the pictures:

Thanks for reading,

Autumn Crisovan, 丁晚秋

Companion

For some reason, a few of the exchangers got residency cards that expired in January. Luckily, I was not one of them. Heloisa and William were however. So when my host mom invited me to go with them to change their cards, we all assumed it was because we would spend the day together. As it turns out my host mom had to work afterwards and we have no idea why they asked me to come. It turned out okay though. Heloisa and I had seen on some of our classmates’ instagram that there was a giant, inflatable art piece (called “Companion”) at the Chiang Kai-Shek. Neither of us had anything better to do so we decided to check it out.  To be honest, I thought the giant was kind of scary and a bit strange. He was dressed like Mikey Mouse but with just shades of gray, but he has a human skull for a head. We took pictures with him anyway. The most interesting part for me was when we went into the memorial hall. Lots of seemingly random videos were. One of those videos was of a post-World War II Nazi rally in the US. It was quite surprising! It was in English, American flags were flying along side swastikas, and a Jewish man was dragged on to stage and beaten. After the video I had two questions. First, why had I never seen this before? Second, why was it playing here? Those questions are yet to have answers but I am glad to have seen that tape and learned a little piece of American history, regardless of the strange setting.

Thanks for reading

Autumn Crisovan, 丁晚秋