Pre-Halloween Taiwan

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Izabelle Brande

<i>"Hello" in your host country's language:</i> ไฝ ๅฅฝ๏ผ <i>Home Institution (your U.S. University/College):</i> Smith College <i>Expected graduation year:</i> 2023 <i>Destination city & country:</i> Taipei, Taiwan <i>Program provider:</i> CET <i>Major/minor:</i> English & East Asian Languages and Cultures / Translation <i>Demographics:</i> Multi-Racial <i>Future career aspirations:</i> Working in publishing as an editor and translator <i>Top 3 goals for your time abroad:</i>

And as promised, another entry sooner than you thought!

My biggest event this week was the Japanese dance clubโ€™s performance this weekend. It was a fundraiser event at the dadaocheng ๅคง่นˆๅ‘ˆๆˆ่‹‘ Theater in Beimen ๅŒ—้—จ. This theater is well known for its more traditional styles of performance such as Chinese puppets, Opera, and more (As I passed by the cases of puppets I noticed a case with the main cast of Journey to the West ่ฅฟๆธธ่ฎฐโ€” My favorite of the Chinese classics; I should have known that that story would be in puppet form too).

Since our dance group being traditional Japanese dance were of course welcomed by the staff, but it was a bit awkward being the only foreigner in the room for most of the day. Iโ€™m not even sure if there were any foreigners in the audience. Because of this I spent most of the day waiting around, trying not to get in the way. I could lend my help here and there, but I was mostly worried about messing up from not understanding what it asked of me.

Iโ€™m sure that in the heat of the moment there are a lot of times where learners of a language forget very simple things. I mean I forget simple words in English at times. For example, I had forgotten the word for mirror, and after being told over and over to look at a mirror the person talking to me finally yelled at me while pointing at it. Needless to say I now have jingzi ้•œๅญ ingrained in my psyche.

In other news, Halloween is just around the corner. Iโ€™ll be sure to have something to write about once it happensโ€” even before it since Itโ€™s on a Monday this year. I hope everyone back in the states has a spooky, but safe, Halloween ๅนณๅนณๅฎ‰ๅฎ‰ไธ‡ๅœฃ่Š‚๏ผ

Maybe not surprising to some (but to me it was!) is that Halloween is not as big over here as It in the US, there some trick or treaters, a party or two, but for the most part residences arenโ€™t as full of the Halloween spirit as they would be by this time in the US. In fact, during my work at Fulbright I helped a local intern write an article on Halloween customs in the US. Of course, It was through the lens of an US college students, but thatโ€™s beside the point.

My classes are doing a small Halloween event where we can dress up if we feel. This is to hide that fact that weโ€™ll be doing speaking practice, though, since instead of handing out candy weโ€™ll be asking each other questions related to the grammar weโ€™ve been studying. Simple but still a little fun. Itโ€™ll be fun to see what people choose to dress up as here.

Iโ€™ll write all about It next time! ๅ†่ง~