Ayusa 國際愛優生文化交流協會

Hi, Conifer high:
1. My name is Ta Kang Wang. I am a exchange student from Taiwan, my nickname is .com because it’s sounds like my name, my friends give it to me because they think it was really fun and if you called me that will also make me more comfortable. Actually I am very nervous and trembling now! Because I am not good at speech. So if I make any mistake, please don’t laugh at me.
2. And I am from Asia where is crossing Pacific Ocean from America.
3. My country Taiwan is a independent, democracy, and freedom country just as American. Though we are next to China. And both of Taiwan and China speaks Chinese. I want to emphasize that we are not belonged to China. We are definitely different two countries.
4. Taipei, which is the capital of Taiwan is where I come from. Is a crowded, busy, and lots of people, lots of tall building surroundings. So it’s totally different from here where it is a really naturally, broad mountain place. And I always very excited to see wild life here because what I can see in Taipei is only people, cars and building.
5. Our national flag have three colors, white, blue, and red. White means selfless, civil rights and equality. Blue means pure, nation and freedom. Red means sacrifice, indiscriminate love and people’s livelihood. Because our country is established after eleven revolution by our national father. That’s why we have lots of red on our flag which is means blood.
6. In Chinese, there are 37 alphabet and 4 tones for pronounce.
7. And a word’s pronounce is constituted with 2 or 3 alphabet with one tone.
8. In Chinese word, there are two or three word to make a term. Probably one term has many different meanings. Or different terms have same meaning. That is enough to confuse you guys. So, learn Chinese which is now the most people speaks in the world.
9. My parents are both teacher. Why I can be here is because of them. Without them, I’ll never be here. They made my dream come true to be here. Actually to go to America is my biggest dream when I was really young. So I am now much more grateful to my parents than I used to be. Because I have to deal with everything now. I never even say I love you to them. Things will always be treasure after you lose it. The love, concern will be felt after you live without them.
10.
11.Taipei 101 is the target construction of Taiwan. It is the highest building in the world after the Dubai Tower was built on 2010 January. It is 508 meters and has 101 floors on the ground, 5 floors underground. It is the most important national economics center in Taiwan.
13.In our free leisure time, I always go to Ximending where is the popular place for teenager to go shopping though I don’t really like shopping. But it is a really good place for watching a movie there.
14.Night market is also a important feature of Taiwan. It usually begin at 6p.m. till 1 or 2 at the midnight. It is constituted with many vendors which are selling everything. You can have dinner there, and there are also so many appetizers and drinks. And also have lots of fun game there. So you must go to night market if one day you go to Taiwan.
15.16.17.My school life in Taiwan is also completely different from here. I have to get up at six and school will start at seven till five. We have seventeen subjects which divide into major subject and minor subject. We have all of them in every week. We have eight periods every day. Fifty minutes for each period. We have the main subject like Chinese, English and math every day. Lunch time an hour. And we have no choice to stay school for individual study or go to cram school till nine. And after that, days haven’t been over yet because we still have to study after we get home until twelve or more in the midnight. On weekend, we still cannot take a rest, study all day like ten hours a day. Why we have to study so hard is because our class are so hard and we have quiz every day, big test every month. Some of subject like math, physical and chemistry is the hardest one. The test average of those subject are always like thirty or less. That’s why we have to study so hard that we can deal with it. That’s the normal school life in my high school. And we always be respect to get into a high-level university. That’s a really big pressure for every high school students. So that’s totally different here. I can sleep over nine hours every day and don’t have to study all the time!
18.My host family is very nice to me and I’m very enjoying in this foreign experience with them.
19.And I have already cooked some Taiwan’s famous for my host family like beef noodle, fried rice with shrimps, beef, pork or chicken. And I think they really like it.
20.I have already gone to camping with my host family.
21.and the first time riding a dirt bike.
22.the first time shooting a real guns
23.Homecoming is also an unforgettable experience for me.
24.Community service with my host mom is also really fun
25.The first time I curve the pumpkin.
26.My first Treat or Trick with my friends that really made a wonderful memory in my life, I wish I could have this fun holiday every year. But I’m afraid that my first time is also the last time in my life.
27.The soccer team is the most important thing I’ll never forget. It’s a wonderful season. They made me really comfortable to do things as a team like practice, games, team dinner, the final banquet. I’m really enjoying being a soccer team in Conifer.
28.And I have an idea about setting up a calligraphy club which is means Chinese hand writing after school. If anyone is interested about Chinese hand writing, I’m so welcome you to join this club. It will start at the week after next week. And I will also set up a Chinese club which teach you to write and speak in Chinese. And the culture about Chinese. That will be start at November thirty on Tuesday. Both of the club are once a week and will be one to two hours. And I really want to share things about my country. If you want I can play Chinese chess at any time. I’ll love to play with you.
29.The last thing I want to say is, I have already been here three months. But what I feel is that I’m so lonely that always do things on my own. I can’t stand being so quiet. Maybe some of you seldom hear I’m talking. That’s isn’t me. I used to be very talkative and open. I don’t know what make me become so shy like that, I feel no one except myself I can talk to. In my high school, I always is the spot light of the school is like everyone knows me, and I got really lots of friends. But here, I just like the stone be put on the hallway. And everyone pass me they won’t talk to me even they know who I am. Maybe my English is not really good, but I still try to join you guy’s group to figure out what are you talking about. Maybe I can’t totally understand what you are saying. But I still want to make friends with any of you. I love to share, and I love to talk to you. But the only thing I want to do now is just to make friends.

不管怎麼樣,來到美國,我還是要先感謝我的爸媽,是他們完成我的夢想讓我來到這個自由的國度,如果不是他們默默的在我的背後付出,今天我不會在美國的!這一年花費並不少,對於家境不算富裕的我們家來說,負擔還真的挺重的,想想爸媽在台灣要如何的省吃儉用,我在美國當然不能單單只是吃喝玩樂,這一年,是要好好裝備自己,不單單只是英文能力,還有與人相處,待人處事,應變能力都是很重要的一部份,要讓自己變得更成熟,要讓爸媽能因為有我這個兒子而驕傲,爸爸,媽媽,謝謝你們!在我來到美國知道,我才真正懂得甚麼叫感恩,很多事總會在失去了之後才會感到珍惜,體悟到愛與關懷直到他們現在都不在你身邊
來到美國已經三個多月了,一切雖然沒有想像中的那麼順心如意,但是也逐漸漸入佳境,這一切都要歸功於我的PRESENTATION,在這之前學校生活真的是只能說用”孤單”兩個字來形容,剛開學時,因為你是交換生,大家開始都會對你很有興趣,很多人會跑來跟你搭訕聊天,但是並不會想要對你做深入了解,但是至少還會有人跟妳說話,當一天又一天過去,當新鮮感不再,他們也不會在怎麼理你,即使他們認識你,在走廊上,他們從你旁邊走過去,就只是走過去,也不會跟你打招呼,就當作沒看到,上課時,總是很安靜的自己做自己的事,分組時常常也是沒人找你,午餐時間,總是自己一個人躲到圖書館,讀書或睡覺,也許只是想要找點事來做讓自己不會被寂寥吞沒,這種被人忽略的感覺真的很不好受,每天都覺得很難過獨自一個人,卻還要裝做沒事的樣子,也許是因為在台灣時實在太受歡迎,一下是焦點中心,一下被冷落成這樣,反差實在太大,不過也許也是我自己的表現反差太大,以前的活潑外向風趣幽默愛搞笑,現在在這裡內向害羞安靜不敢說話,自己不夠主動,怎麼會希望別人主動來找你呢?,當體悟了這點之後,我變在presentation裡面向全校告訴我的心聲,告訴他們我的感覺,我感到很孤單,雖然有點無理頭但卻有點倒行逆施,反向而行卻很成功,很多人會願意來跟我說話聊天,也來參加我的書法社跟中文社,因為真的很有用,所以我也在我的每一堂課上報告,從此之後,雖然不能說是真的交了很多朋友,但幾個還是有,這才是我想要的,她們是因為不知道我覺得很孤單,所以我才需要一些小小的改變,現在常常路上就被攔下來聊天,每堂課也都固定找到很好的朋友,常常上課就一直聊天,這也代表我的作業都會有人幫助我了!午餐時間也都在餐廳認識不同的人,聊聊天下下象棋,也需是我自己該改變而不是一昧的希望他們改變,我相信在社團開始之後會更好!
而轟家的部分,剛開始來的時候,也許是陌生或不熟悉還是有點不適應沒有父母在身邊的感覺,常常就自己躲在房間裡讀書,寫作業,用電腦,其實還有一個原因是因為跟兩個轟弟還沒有說很好,而且我以為他們做自己的事都不會想找我,一個多月後,有一天轟媽跟我聊天時就聊到這件事,他希望我能不要一直躲在房間裡,多出來參與家庭活動,他說轟弟覺得我每天就是像客人一樣去上學回來在自己的房間周而復始,他們覺得他們沒有跟我一起在體驗交換學生的經驗,我跟轟媽說因為我不確定他們是不是真的想跟我玩,也許是年紀有點差距,但我想想我是該做點改變了,從此之後我就把電腦搬到客廳,跟轟弟一起寫作業,下圍棋,下象棋,看電影,去遛狗,玩跳跳床,玩WII,我跟轟弟的感情也漸漸的加熱,但是轟媽還是不希望我花太多時間再用電腦,但是我真的需要很多時間,拿來做作業,寫日記,打網誌,聊聊天,偶爾小玩一下,常常都做作業做到一半就被轟媽叫關機,終於有一天,我在做presentation的時候,他說你一經用三個小時了,我跟他說我還在做報告,他說我超過每天規定的兩個小時了,他這次真的很生氣不知道為什麼,也許是累積很久了吧?他雖然不是那種狂吼的罵我,但是從他的用詞我就知道他真的很生氣,從此之後我就奉行每天兩個小時之內,而因此跟轟媽的感情也越來越好,因為用電腦的時間銳減,所以就多出很多時間來,閱讀,參與家庭活動,轟媽現在也對我很滿意,而我也都可以早早九點上床睡覺
一切的一切,都不是因為他們做了甚麼改變,而是我自己嘗試不同方法,而也得到不錯的回應,否極泰來,這個詞用在我身上可說是十分貼切,世界上不可能事事都完美的,端看你用甚麼角度去看,一切都會更好的!

九月，終於飛到了美國，原本，已經在高中讀書的我，突然接到一通改變我高中生活的電話，從那通電話起，我就在美國了。
回到家，把收到一半的行李完成，打電話給親朋好友道別，一切來的突然，我帶著緊張卻又興奮的心情踏上了新的旅程．
坐了三次飛機，至少度過了三天，才到達我接下來十個月的家─俄亥俄州。在飛機的旅途中，我畢竟還是有些不懂，在台灣境內，是沒什麼問題，但是到了美國，我可不保證我沒問題，我心中就在想，我到底該怎麼辦?就當這時，空姐在飛機上發給了我們進海關的表，我有些問題是不會填，所以我就主動問我旁邊那位阿伯，沒想到，他竟然是美國公民，他想，這樣似乎太危險了所以就叫了一位空姐，跟她說了我的情況，因此，我下了飛機就有人帶我轉機，我還在華航辦公室睡了一夜!真是不錯，也因此我安全到了家，我真是太幸運了！
到的五天還不用上課，因為有些事情沒辦好，也剛好碰上假日，並不是還沒開學，學校都已經上課兩個禮拜了，我開始熟悉我的家庭，我的家，我有一個爸爸、一個媽媽和三個弟弟，每一個人都對我很好，我知道我很幸運，被選中在這個家。
去學校的前一天，是勞動節，我跟家人一起去看遊行，這個遊行，看了令人開懷大笑呀!很多有趣的畫面，像是警察叔叔騎警車耍特技等…我也藉此了解到我的學校以及這個社區，更何況那天又放假，也順便讓我有機會熟悉新的環境也陪伴轟家，真是太棒了!
而到了學校之後，我就發現我有些跟不上，朋友似乎也有點難交，畢竟他們都已經相處了兩個禮拜，而且我的轟弟都不是這所學校，因此，我有點受挫，但是，轟媽真的是神通廣大，介紹了一對好朋友給我認識，讓我在學校越來越適應，也越來越沒困難，我真的是要感謝轟媽，還好有他，我才能趕緊上軌道，但接下來我也要靠自己努力才行呀!
在到了轟家的幾天，我先送給了轟爸和轟媽還有全家一個禮物，轟爸的是翠玉白菜裝飾，轟媽的是有復古風味的小錢包，而全家都有的是筷子，而畢竟中秋節也要到了，就請媽媽送了兩盒月餅過來，而正合轟家口味，大家都吃的贊不絕口。
我在九月的第三個禮拜六有跟轟爸去養老院幫忙，說是幫忙，但是卻還是有得到一些小禮物，更能在付出當中和轟爸相處有增進英文對話，能夠幫忙我也很開心，收穫也比付出的多，希望下次有這個機會跟全家一起出去幫忙。
最後一個禮拜，我跟我的CR見面，去了AIRFORCE飛機博物館，認識了很多東西，也見到了許多交換學生，但見到他們的同時，也刺激到了我的自尊，我在他們面前，英文能力竟然向小學生一樣，回家之後，我告訴了我轟媽，我轟媽依舊鼓勵了我，讓我相信自己，我再過幾個月一定會不一樣的。我會把這次的經驗當作我上進的動力，努力練習英文，相信下次我也可以用流利的英文跟他們溝通！
學校生活，在轟媽和自己的努力下不再枯燥乏味，我交到了一些朋友，也分享了一些台灣的學校生活和糖果─嗨啾，結果是，一掃而空，尤其是在英文課，但這同時也讓我與我的英文同學都成為了好朋友，原來糖果這麼有魅力呀！我也秀一一段魔術方塊，結果他們都說我是怪獸!這句話令我非常的驕傲，原來，我也可以讓大家佩服，尤其是佩服「台灣人」！我證明了我的國家是讚的，哈哈！
這一個月的生活…..或許沒有想像中的容易，但是為了我以後的未來，我會好好努力學習，也謝謝爸爸媽媽以及其他長輩支持我到美國，我會加油，這一個月也因為有轟家的幫助以及好朋友的幫助，才能夠沒有很多問題，謝謝~相信，只要努力，就會成功!

In this month, the first month in America, I felt I learned a lot of things, not only in the house also in the school.
In the house, at first, my English is not good enough, but I tried to understand and expressed my meanings with body language. They are patient to listen to me and nice to me. And I also ate a lot of different food. In my new home, I have three brothers. This experience is very wonderful, because I can learn more about how to talk to people with the way of USA. And I am very lucky I have good parents, they teach me a lot of stuff about America.
In the school, I felt difficult at the beginning. But I thought I need to try and work hard and it will be successful. So now I make more friends in the school and I am happy to go to school. But I do not like homework. Ha! Ha!
I found that the schools in America are more free and open and the teachers are lax. So everyone in the school is happy, I hope the students in Taiwan can learn happily too.

After all the good compliments for my Fung-Li-Su, today I brought a box of homemade Fung-Li-Su to school. At lunch, I gave one to Darren, who lived in Okinawa for 12 years and speaks fluent Japanese (which surprised me at first). He usually doesn’t enjoy sweets, but he finished a whole one without sharing which really pleased me! At trig class, Ms.Campbell said I made her day by giving a homemade treat cause she ran into a deer in her car today and wasn’t having an awesome day. Turned out Ariana liked it too, and she shared pieces with classmates around her, they were very interested and asked many questions about it and seemed to find it exotic and delicious, which made me proud to say, 『Its a popular Taiwanese dessert.』
Its kind of ironic that the period of time I learn to master many Taiwanese and Chinese dishes is the year I am far away from home. Honestly, I never really cooked when I was home in Taiwan. Now I think about it, must be because my mom took such good care of me and I didn’t bother to cook because she cooks so well. Here, because I miss home food and because I want to share with Americans such delicious dishes we have, I learn to cook and experiment and try my best. Its really not a big deal once I got my hands to it, and it brings confidence and self-accomplishness once well done.
Ive always liked to look at my year here as an early chance to spread my wings and let them strengthen, although sometimes it may feel stressful and harsh, I know that if I do well now I will have no problems in the upcoming future. Meanwhile, although somewhat stressful, bu also packed with excitement and awesome adventures awaiting me to experience.
Well, I guess I have to ask my mom to mail more ingredients for me to make more of the delicious Taiwanese dessert!

Pictures:1. Darren!

2. you can see the beautiful filling reflecting sunlight in this picture

3. Thankyou, Ms. Campbell!

4. looks like I need to bake more, Ariana

5. He’s really shy but he let me take the picture anyway

Last week was homecoming week. Among all the spirit days, I liked character day the most. Everyone dresses up as a character or puts on a mask. I guess this is how Americans make life fun. You can’t expect there to be a party everyday but you can make the most out of everyday life. Just by some cool ideas, going to school can be something to look forward to too. Of course I went to the homecoming dance, it was a blast and I had a chance to see all my classmates and friends go crazy and silly dance.
My host mom and dad( Ms.Mary and Mr.Eddie) went on there second honey moon for a week so I stayed with another host family that week. They have two exchange students too, and we get along well. It is nice to share cultures from three different lands with each other and share feelings of the more or less homesickness. It was a 3 day weekend, so John(host dad) made the best out of it. He brought us to Atlanta’s CNN museum, 1996 Olympic Park, Atlanta Aquarium, and the Coke museum! My favourite was the coke museum, there was 170 kinds of coke products from all over the world for us to taste and try! I tasted all of them.
There happened to be chicken and garlic and tomatoes that night, so I made some 『three cup chicken』 for Larul and Jayson to try. They enjoyed it and devoured it. Next, I fried tomatoes and eggs, for John and Jayson. Jayson is from Beijing, where they like things stronger, so when I was making it, he kept on asking me to add more salt! He said they way we cook it is different too, because my eggs ended up fluffy, but I think this is just due to my personal way of cooking. To him, whatever I say or how I cook represents the whole southern Chinese population.
This was a really good experience to have a chance to spend time with another family and other exchange students. Other than learning that Northern Chinese like their food saltier and Europeans are very passionate(the other host brother is from Spain), I also learnt that no matter where we’re from, we all need to treat on another with respect and show care as if we were true bred siblings.
Pictures:1. Character day!

2.Homecoming dance!

3.at 96 Olympic memorial park

4.fried tomatoes and eggs!

5.3 cup chicken!