Getting used to life in Tainan

I've now lived in Tainan for almost two months, and I have to say time pass by quickly! There's been a few weeks since last update, so where should I start?

Study
The first half of this term has been a repetition of January's new vocabulary and grammar in Taipei. Because of this, I've had less homework and less frustration in class. I've practised speaking, listening, writing and reading, and also picked up some new vocabulary here and there. We have now completed the last chapters of the second book, and will start on book 3 tomorrow. I can't wait. Book 3 is different from the previous ones. The vocabulary is bigger, and the conversations have no pinyin (romanization of Chinese) or English translations. The chapters are longer and seems to cover more daily-conversation kind of grammar. I've had a brief look at the chapters, and it's seems very useful and challenging. Among the topics is food and restaurant. The basic vocabulary for ordering food is some of the first things you'll learn just by living in a foreign country, but to be fluent takes some more focus on the topic.

Activities
After playing billiards a few times at the local pool-hall, I joined the university's billiard-club. It makes it really cheap to play billiards at certain times of the week, and I find playing billiards relaxing as well as a good opportunity to meet taiwanese friends and practise Chinese.

The language center arranged a singing competition, and we could compete as a class, duo or solo. My class chose to sing 我愛你, and we ended up winning 1st price :) We got free pizza and a nice diploma.
After the singing competition, a couple of taiwanese students invited us foreigners to join their Taiwanese song class. That evening I learned my first taiwanese phrases. Hello, Thank you, and Sorry. I hope to pick up more in the time to come.

My class just after the singing

May 17th

I went to Taipei on May 17th. It was Norway's national day, and so I felt the need to celebrate with family and friends in Taipei. I skipped the last class and rushed to the high-speed rail by taxi. A lot of people, both Taiwanese, Norwegians, Swedish and others, participated. We also had a Taiwanese choir singing Norwegian songs, and a TV crew were to catch our weird customs and broadcast them as a part of the evening-news.

When in Taipei, we went on a trip to Yilan and Turtle-island. We were not allowed to go ashore at the island, but instead we cruised around it before returning. Later we went to a waterfall and a cake-factory. All-in-all a lot of fun!

We were not the only boat circling the island

An old vulcano

Although the island is being opened for public,
you can still see traces of earlier conflicts.

Last day in Taipei we decided to go see a Norwegian movie, Kon Tiki, at the cinema. Funny to see a Norwegian movie here, with Chinese subtitles. The movie was a good one as well.

Accident

Today, after returning home, starting the laundry-machine and talking to the landlord, I though I should go out and get some food before todays work-out routine. Wearing slippers I jumped on my bike... and fell. I don't really know what exactly happend, but I could see my toe was displaced and maybe broken. A little scared, I limped back to the house and nocked on my landlords door once again. They took me to the hospital, and after a couple of x-rays, showing my toe was not broken, only displaced, the doctor put it back into place. I got some pills and was told to relax and don't move my toe more than necessary for the couple of coming weeks. As I didn't have any proof of insurance, I had to pay there and then (my nice landlord helped me out again). I'll go the language-center office later and ask them whether I have insurance in Taiwan or not, and if so how to proceed.

That's a brief summary of the last weeks happenings. To begin with I planned to study until september, but I'm thinking more and more about staying until December or maybe March 2014. No decision is taken yet, so we'll just have to wait and see ;) I've been told that you'll learn the most important Chinese during the first year, and after that you'll "just" become more and more fluent. I think that a job in Norway can wait, but that I'll probably never return to study Chinese after I go back to Norway, and so I should do it now if that's what I want.

Ok, that's it for this update! Thanks to my dad for pictures :)

Many nice scenic spots and places to explore

Me and my dad made it to the waterfall
before we had to return to the bus