Now it's really been a long time since I've updated on my travels and everyday life ... and a lot has been happening. I started a new month of school, which includes starting a new book and getting two new teachers. Both of them are great! 陳老師 is pretty strict, but usually you learn more from strict teachers so it's a type of "no pain no gain" situation.
I've been going out with my classmates more ... last week, we all went together to get food to celebrate the end of our first month and saying goodbye to our first set of teachers. Then this week, I've gone out three times with classmates for lunch. It's been fun to go to places that I hadn't been before. There are so many places around here to eat because of the university! And there are tea shops absolutely everywhere! While there are main streets that have many food/drink options all down them, we've been exploring the alleys, or 巷. There are several hundred of these alley ways listed on google maps, in the city of Tainan. There are not all the alleys that might come to your mind first. Some of them are smaller, but not all of them are that way. Usually they have shops lining them. As you walk down the alley, you get to look at the places and the people that live and work there. At the same time, they have a parade of foreigners, right in the front yard. ;)
Yesterday, I actually tried a new drink! I ordered 百香紅茶！Passion fruit black tea. It was cold and oh so good! I'm really glad I tried it! :D Today, I tried another drink, thanks to the suggestion of Tiffany ... 芒果牛奶冰沙 ... it's the mango ice drink, but with milk in it, too. It tastes pretty good! :)
Going back to yesterday though ... rainy story ... english lesson and returning student Lily ... eating pizza!!! :)
I'm starting not to care as much about going into places and looking around or asking questions. Today, I went into one of the stores in the student bookstore area and ordered some name stickers and a name stamp. I can't wait till they get there! I can pick them up in 7 business days (August 17). It is slightly intimidating to ask questions, knowing in the back of your mind that you might not be asking the right question ... and if you are, you might not understand the answer you are given ... but the more I go out, the less I care ... which is a good thing, actually. It means that I will have more opportunities to practice using the language.
Today, I went to my weekly reading/pronunciation session with my teacher ... she told me that some of my reflexive (zh, ch, sh) sounds are not as clear as they should be ... That is because this teacher really pushes her students to have standard pronunciation. I'm starting to pick up a Taiwan way of pronouncing these sounds. lol Taiwan Mandarin definitely has a distinct accent.
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