NSLI-Y Taiwan 2023 – Week 3
Hello again! Brace yourselves as we (Steaven, Harry, and Matthew) take you on an epic journey of Week 3 of our adventures in Taipei (and neighboring areas)!
This week had its fair share of 很好吃的蛋糕 (delicious cake) and 奶茶 (milk tea) as we celebrated the birthdays of two wonderful friends. On Tuesday, we celebrated Ann’s 17th birthday despite her reluctance to us singing “Happy Birthday,” which we did. I am sure Ann had the time of her life sitting through multiple occasions of people singing to her not just in English, but Chinese and Spanish as well. The best one by far, she says however, was her host siblings learning the words in English before surprising her with a bilingual rendition of “Happy Birthday.”
Katie and Ivana pictured with Ann after planning her birthday celebration during our Resident Director meeting.
Afterwards, we had Tai Chi lessons at Shih Chien University that allowed Ann to release her anger in a healthy manner. Following a brief introduction to the story and advantages of this age-old martial art form, we delved into a few fundamental forms, or stances. Tai Chi has over 100 different forms, each of which is rooted in the concept of 陰陽 (yin and yang) – achieving balance, both in physical stance and mental mindset. Zhuang 老師 (Teacher Zhuang) expertly guided us through three of them, helping us develop an appreciation for Chinese martial arts and culture.
Fresh off a tai chi lesson, the class shows off some of their newly learned forms with Zhuang 老師.
We also took some time to reflect on our own culture back in the United States, through a toy that was a lively aspect of many of our childhoods: Barbie. On Thursday the class rode the MRT to Miramar Cinemas to enjoy the newly released Barbie movie. Dressed in the iconic pink shirts, we took pictures in front of the displays before nestling in for an engaging and thought-provoking film. Despite the loss of two popcorn bags and one student to some well-needed midday napping, the movie provided a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of life in the city and the consensus was that Barbie is a 10/10 must see movie, even in Chinese.
ACES NSLI-Y students before the Barbie movie. Lots of pink, indeed.
Thursday was also our Resident Director Devin’s birthday, which we eagerly celebrated since he has been such a great leader, friend, and inspiration to everyone during our journey toward Chinese proficiency. The owner of the closest bakery was also happy to celebrate as we’re becoming one of their most frequent customers. Devin’s birthday will be a highlight of the trip and NSLI-Y parents can rest assured knowing we could easily fill this post talking about what a great job Devin has been doing keeping everyone safe and giving us a great experience.
Our Resident Directors, Devin and Sam, celebrate Devin’s birthday with a delicious cake from the local Mita Bakery.
This Saturday, we went on a day-long cultural excursion to the National Palace Museum in the Shilin District of Taipei City. Taking a karaoke bus that allowed us to practice our singing skills in Chinese, Korean, and English was extremely fun. If Chinese doesn’t work out, some of the students can definitely find a place in the music industry. After arriving, we enjoyed learning about the amazing history of this museum which hosts almost 700,000 pieces of Chinese artwork and artifacts that were brought from Mainland China during the retreat of the Republic of China to Taiwan in the Chinese Civil War. We loved exploring their extensive collections of snuff bottles, ancient scripts, paintings, 很貴也很漂亮 (very expensive and beautiful) porcelain vases, ancient metalwork, and much more.
ACES NSLI-Y Taiwan 2023 students, Resident Directors, and our overseas partner, Mick, at the National Palace Museum.
Afterwards, we headed to 白沙灣, the Baisha Bay beach along the North Coast of Taiwan. But before, we stopped at 香聚桶仔雞餐廳, a local Taiwanese farm-to-table restaurant minutes away from the coast, where we had the opportunity to try a rich variety of Taiwanese dishes, and a very refreshing mulberry juice. They had their own cute chickens, which happened to be very delicious.
Students enjoy a delicious Taiwanese meal and engage in extremely interesting conversations before heading to the beach. The purple beverage is a sweet mulberry drink.
Then, we arrived at the beach, and the fun continued! We played a variety of water games, and got to swim in Taiwanese waters, while enjoying the fun environment that the beach provided and the beautiful views. Truly the highlight of the day and a testament to the unique beauty of Taiwan.
Wet students head back to the bus after a fun time at the beach.
After such a long day, we arrived back at Shih Chien University where we each headed home to rest, but not before Tess, Virginia, and Liz were recognized for completing their scavenger hunt worksheets at the National Palace Museum!
Liz, Virginia, and Tess celebrate after winning the scavenger hunt at the National Palace Museum!
This week, we asked our classmates what their new favorite phrase or word in Chinese that they had learned this week was and why, and here are some of the responses.
- “芭比 (bā bǐ) – Barbie: a necessary addition to my vocabulary.” – Ann
- “我覺得 (wǒ jué dé) – I think: was my favorite phrase, because it allows me to express my opinion.” – Ronan
- “芒果火龍果檸檬星沁爽 (mangguo huolongguo ning meng xing qin shuang): it means mango dragon fruit lemonade refresher” – Nolan.
- “可口可樂 (kě kǒu kě lè) – Coca-Cola: This was fun because its a phonetic loan word made entirely of characters we have all learned in class, so when I saw it in the wild I recognized the characters and was able to infer the meaning by ‘sounding it out.’” – William (范智威)
- “走吧 (zǒu bā) – ‘let’s go!’: I like this phrase because I tend to say it a lot in English.” – Katie
- “皮在癢 (Pí zài yǎng) – Itchy skin: Phrase/metaphor suggesting that someone’s skin is itchy because they are naughty. Sometimes coupled with threats of discipline. I like this because my host mom says this everyday when my little sisters are being naughty, which is quite amusing.” – Anthony
- “請 (qǐng) – please: Please is one of the most important words in any language because it is a recognition that what you are asking for requires effort from someone else, and that empathy is beautiful.” – Tess
- “尿尿 (niào niào) – pee: We had some homework to interview the host family and they told me to say that the cat can’t niàoniào (peepee) on the bed.” – Evan
- “吃飽了 (chi bao le) – I’m full! Taiwan has so much delicious food that it’s important to learn this crucial phrase. I also discovered that when pronouncing ‘bao’ in fourth tone, the phrase ‘I’m full’ becomes ‘Eat until I explode!’” – Virginia
- “音乐 (yīn yue) – music: Music is a topic that tends to come up a lot, so learning the word for music and similar vocabulary makes casual conversations in my target language much more engaging and easier to have.” – Kaj
- “瀏海 (liu hai) – bangs. I enjoyed learning it because I learned it from a stranger.” – Sybellah
- “小心 (xiǎoxin) – caution: My host family took me to 石梯嶺 (Mount Shiti) over the weekend and I was careful to watch out for the water buffalo!” – Matthew
- “放屁 (fàng pì) – fart: I learned it from my eight-year-old host brother while he was swearing it wasn’t him (it definitely was)”- Harry
I, Steaven, actually learned two new favorite Chinese words this week. The first one was 飛機 (airplane), with its literal translation being flying (飛) machine (機), which I thought was pretty funny. My second favorite words is 公共汽車 (bus), which is shortened to 公車 in Taiwan.
And this concludes the blog and the week for us. We have enjoyed our stay in Taiwan, and this week was full of fun activities and happy moments, moments that will become dear memories to us once this program is over. This week also marked halfway of the program, a bittersweet feeling for all of us. We leave you all with this picture provided by William, of one of Taipei’s most beautiful landmarks, Dahu Park, taken on an evening on the MRT. The picture captures three of the most crucial elements in Taiwan’s beauty: its sleek, towering skyscrapers, lush forests, and abundant water. Truly a sight to see.
Photo of Dahu Park, taken by William.