Back at home

I know, I know it has been over one month when I last write a post. But before I apologize or something I have to admit that I have been super busy. Really, super super super busy. Way more busy than I thought I would be. I thought I would just lay in my bed crying, missing Taiwan and thinking about my boring life in Finland but no, I have been working in the special school 8 hours almost everyday and spending my evenings in the baseball practice. Not so much time for crying and missing.

Before I went to Taiwan everybody told me that exchange will be ups and downs and I just have to get use to it. They said I have to get use to tolerate home sickness, loneliness and sadness. Somedays I will definitely just want to come back to Finland and maybe somedays I will think why I ever wanted to go to exchange. Now after my experience I can honestly say I am happy that I didn't believe those people. My exchange was only ups, really! Okay first day in Taiwan was down and I wanted to come back home immediately, but after that my whole exchange was only ups. I didn't have home sickness ones during the whole time I was in Taiwan, I didn't feel myself lonely ones and I didn't want to come back home ones after that first day. Maybe that was why I love Taiwan, its' culture and people so much!

Now I have been home, in Finland for almost one month and even thought after what I said earlier I thought it would be super hard to adapt back to Finland I have to admit that it hasn't been so hard at all. I came back to Finland on 24th of January, next day I was already at the basketball practice and week after that I had a job! I can only say wow! I know that without these awesome opportunities to play basketball again in my old team and work in my dream job straight after coming back to Finland it would be soooooo much harder to live my life happily in here again. I think these familiar and happy things that keep me busy everyday had help me so much with my second home sickness and when I am missing my Taiwanese friends and my easy life there. But don't understand me wrong I still miss Taiwan everyday and Finland is still cold, dark and miserable in this time of the year but at least I am not that sad and depressed all the time that I thought I might be :D

Now when I have spend almost one month in Finland again I have a good perspective about differences between Taiwan and Finland. It was hard to made these comperisons in Taiwan because I somehow forgot how things where in Finland, but now it is easy to see interesting differences between Taiwan and Finland that I didn't see before. Of course Taiwan is warmer, there is no snow, people speak Chines and you can't really see blond hair everywhere.. But now I mean deeper differences, differences that are not that obvious.

First thing that I realize in Taiwan was that Taiwanese smile way more than Finns and they look happier than us. I know Finnish people are shy and they don't like to show their emotions that much but still I never realize before how sad and unhappy we really look outside. Taiwanese people are not afraid of show their happiness and because of that they spread happiness to the other people also. It feels like Taiwanese are thinking "If I am happy, maybe she will be happy also if she will see I am happy" when Finnish people are thinking "If I am happy, I would definitely not show that to anyone ore they might stole my happiness".

In Taiwan they have soooo much more pressure for education. I would never want to put my children to school in Taiwan. Not because Taiwanese schools are bad, no way, but because in Taiwan children had so much pressure for education. Children will stay at school from 7.30am to 5pm and after that they will go to gram school to get more teaching in different subjects like math and English and after that they will get home around 8-9pm, do their homework, go to sleep late and repeat the whole thing next day. In Finland our children will study 4 to 6 hours per day and spend the whole other time for playing, doing sport, seeing friends etc. Still our education system is almost as good as Taiwanese. And in this case almost as good is enough for me if my children can be children as long as they want!

In the other hand people in Taiwan have way less social pressure than we have in Finland. I was shock when I first went to Taiwan and saw university students with their Hello Kitty backpacks and Snoopy pajamas. Slowly but surely I understood that in Taiwan you can really be who you are, there is not so tight mold for people. You can really be who you are. In Finland you have to be adult so early. Girls and of course boys also (I just don*t have experience about that) have to grow up super early, they have to adapt acceptable norms if they want to fit in to the group and they have to point out if somebody is not fitting in to these norms. In Taiwan kids, teenagers and adults could be what they want to be, they didn't have to fit in the mold and they look much happier with that.

In addition to these I also remember couple smaller things that was different in Taiwan than in here.

Food was super hot every time you got that. I still can't understand how that can be possible because in Finland you never get boiling hot food in front of you in the restaurant. Normally it is just warm or even cold when it comes to table. I think Finnish people should learn from Taiwanese.

Every classroom has a microphone and all the teachers and students who are making their presentation etc. use that. There is never a problem to hear what teacher is teaching in class. In Finland at least in my university teachers super rarely use microphones and that is a huge problem many times. If you will sit in the last rows you really have to concentrate if you want to hear something.

I would do anything to be back to Taiwan now when it is miserable, gray weather in Finland almost all the time and you have to put million pants and jackets on if you want to survive outside. But at the same time I am super happy working in my new job with special children and playing basketball with my friends and enjoying it for a long time in Finland. So life is quite good for now even though I am back to Finland after 5 months awesome Taiwanese experience.

But don't worry Taiwan I am coming back sooner than you think ;)

Thank you Taiwan

One day until my time in Taiwan is over. One day until I jump to the plain and fligh away. Okey, I am not flying home yet, but I am still not staying in Taiwan any longer. One day to enjoy this wonderful country. One day until I really have to start to prepare myself that I am going back to Finland.

Taiwan taught me so much. I can honestly say that I am not the same person anymore who came here 5 months ago. I like the person who came here but I really really really love the person who is going home now.

I have to admit that when I came here I didn't have a clue how sad I really was inside. I thought I was living happy life. I thought my life was perfect. I thought I was enjoying my life to the fullest. But no way, I wasn't!
My life wasn't bad and I wasn't unhappy before, I don't mean that, but I didn't know who much happier I could be!

I didn't have a clue that it would be possible to go to sleep everynight without tears, without being afraid of nightmares, without hoping that night will last long because I was happier when I slept than when I was awake.

I didn't know that there is still people exist who will show their unconditional love to the totally new, weird looking wester person who can't even speak their language, who does everything against to their cultural rules and who really doesn't have a clue about what is wrong and what is right in their sociaty.

I didn't believe that it would still someday be possible to honestly say I am happier than I have ever been. Happier than one year ago, happier than two years ago, even happier than three years ago. Say that I am happy about myself, I am happy about my life and I am happy about new perspective of life that Taiwan has taught me.

I didn't realize that there is different, better and happier way to live my life. The way where I can decide by myself what I want to do, where I want to go or what things really make me happy. I don't have to think what other people might think about me or my decisions, and I definitely don't have to do anything that I don't want just to impress someone else.

When I now go home I won't be Noora anymore, I will be 裴琳. Or well, of course I will be Noora because nobody in Finland could say my name if I would be 裴琳, but even my name would be Noora again, inside I will forever be 裴琳.

裴琳 loves life. 裴琳 loves to be social. 裴琳 loves to meet new people. 裴琳 never says I can't. 裴琳 enjoys adventures. 裴琳 is spontaneous. 裴琳 loves to laught. 裴琳 wants to see the best in every people. 裴琳 never judge people by their skin color, race or religion. 裴琳 loves new cultures. 裴琳 tries to enjoy the little things in life. 裴琳 thinks positively. 裴琳 is not afraid to show her feelings. 裴琳  wants to do something good everyday. 裴琳 sees the value of herself. And the most important 裴琳 is happy!

謝謝

我答應寫一篇中文。但因為我只會說一點點中文，所以我沒辦法寫長篇大論。我會盡我所能！

謝謝，我的室友。
謝謝，我的新台灣朋友。
謝謝，我的新外國朋友。
謝謝，劉老師，我的中文老師。我學了很多中文。
謝謝，靜宜大學，台灣最好的大學。

我很愛台灣，還有在這裡的一切。我愛台灣的天氣，食物，學校，茶，還有我特別愛台灣人。尤其最想對我驚人的籃球隊說聲謝謝。
在我來到這裡之前，我本來想著要放棄籃球。可是當我來到這裡，並被邀請與新球隊打籃球，卻發現我又再一次愛上籃球了。我的隊友是如此的棒，如果沒有她們，我無法想像我的交換生之旅會有多無聊。我還想特別感謝菜，花還有林詩涵。 你們教我如此多關於台灣的生活方式和如何享受台灣的生活。我不知道我怎麼能沒有你們在芬蘭生活。我不知道我怎麼能回到芬蘭，沒有我所有的籃球的朋友。

我隻身來到台灣，可是現在我有這麼多的新朋友。我不僅有外國朋友，也有這麼多美好的台灣朋友。我會想你的！

還有當然謝謝，我父母。謝謝你允許我來這裡。

不幸的是，對於我在芬蘭的家人和朋友，我真的不想回家，我想留在這裡。我的心永遠留在台灣，所以如果我想要我的心回來，我必須回到這裡。如果我能向台灣朋友保證，我答應我一定會回來的。我希望你還會記得我！;)

 謝謝你台灣，希望我們很快能夠再見面！

My Taiwanese Christmas

I really didn't have Christmas this year. Or I can also say I didn't have typical Christmas this year but it doesn't mean my Christmas was bad, no way, my Christmas was the best Christmas ever! I didn't have a christmas tree, turkey, macaroni casserole, lot of present, Santa Claus or even Christmas holiday but I had something that not a single of my Finnish friends had. I had the best weekend of my life by playing basketball with my friends, laughing a lot, eating hot pot, studying Chinese, singing KTV and staying up whole night. Can you beat that? I don't think so!

Saturday morning 24th of December I was up at 6am just for prepare our gym and basketball courts ready for our home tournament. We ate hamburgers and drank bubble teas together with the team and our long day was ready to start. Not a typical Christmas eve morning :)
On Saturday we played two official games of basketball and we won both of them. That of course meant that we continued our games in the next day witch was a wonderful Christmas present for me because I definitely didn't want to end my basketball career here yet.
Outside of the basketball courts we also played couple not so official match of table tennis, took too much pictures, play Taiwanese games and laugh a lot.
After basketball I put myself Christmas party ready and head to our own exchange student's Xmas dinner. Everybody had cook something Christmas like from their own country and we had a opportunity to taste many different Christmas foods. My Finnish friends cooked cinnamon rolls and I think they tasted so good after 5 months eating almost only Asian food. Night was super good and even though day was already being long I wasn't in bed before 1.30am.

Sunday, the Christmas day, started almost as early as the day before. I think other girls were at the gym way before I was because everything was already ready when I arrived :D Our first game was horrible, we all were bad, didn't make any shots, missed all the layups and passed the ball out so many times. But what ever, our team was still cheering for us in every situation, we tried our best and at the end we improved our game a little bit. Loss meant that we would had a bronze game just after one hour..
I don't know what happened to us after the morning game but when the bronze game started we were totally different team! We played so good and I was so proud of everybody in my team at that game that I can't even say.. I think that game was one of the best moments in my exchange and I was just hoping that the game would never end. But of course it ended after 40 min of playing like every basketball game and after that 40 min it was clear that we were the third best English department team in Taiwan!!!

After a long day in the gym we change our clothes and head to eat Christmas dinner part 2 with the whole team. We jumped on the scooters and drove one hour to downtown to eat delicious hot pots and to exchange small Christmas gifts. Riding a scooter was so cool because traffic and specially scooter traffic is totally different than in Finland or even in Europe. We where shuttled in the middle of other traffic trying to avoid hitting with the busses and other cars. My friend who was driving our scooter was totally crazy driver and we were all the time a head of others because she was just driving so fast and passing by all cars, busses and bicycles. And I was enjoying every minute because the whole situation was so unbelievable!

When we were finish our hot pots and divided all presents we head to KTV for the whole night. KTV is karaoke and it is super popular here in Taiwan. We started singing at midnight and finish it at the morning just before I had do go back to the university for my morning class. I have never laugh so much that in that night, I have never heard so many Chinese songs than in that night and I have never be happier than I was in that night! I really can't think any better ending for my Christmas than that night. I think the funniest thing with the KTV night was that I had a Chinese final exam next morning at 8am and my friend started to teach me Chinese at 3am because I hadn't study at all before that! But don't worry mom, my test went super good and I am still nerd even tough I am not studying 24/7 ;)

After the last weekend it has been hard to understand that I am really going home after couple of weeks and I am really leaving this place and these awesome people here… I don't want to think about whole thing yet so I will save my tears for later and just say now that I had the best Christmas ever, thank you so much for all the people who was a part of that! :)

6 reasons why you should come to Taiwan immediately

So many of my friends here have been asking what I have been writing in my blog recently and because only one of my friends here can read finnish, but almost everyone of my friends and relatives in Finland can read English I decided to try my best to write some post in English too. I also promise to try to write in Chinese in some point, but I think I still need little bit more time to gather more courage for that. But I can promise that this Chinese post will definitely come someday! :)

Even though I have been speaking and writing English everyday last tree months and my speaking has been improving very much I am still quite bad with writing in English so forgive me my mistakes that I will probably make a lot during this text.

I have now live here in Taiwan almost tree months. I have to say that the relationship between me and Taiwan was almost love at first sight, after the first day. First day here was horrible, my two-person dorm room changed to four-person dorm room, toilets were super weird hole in the floor toilets, I felt like nobody can speak English, I could't find any other exchange student, weather was way too hot and food was also bad. But like I said, after the first good night sleep my whole attitude towards Taiwan changed and now I can honestly say I love almost everything in here. I have not even suffered from homesickness at all, not a single time.
If I would have a choice to stay here longer I would definitely do that because this place is more than incredible!

1. PEOPLE
I can't say I have been traveling super much but I can still say I have never met people friendlier and happier than the Taiwanese. They always offer to help and love talking to foreigners. Taiwanese are incredibly hospitable and genuinely kind. Chances are you won’t ever have to ask for help, if you even look like you are in need someone will already be there to help you.
I think everybody should come to Taiwan to learn how to treat other people, make new friends and just how to enjoy life to the fullest without forgetting other people.

2. WEATHER
Even though my first couple months in here were a constant battle against sweat I can't complain, because for example last weekend, December 3rd and 4th, I was wearing a skirt, t-shirt and flip-flops. I think that would sound quite perfect winter weather for anyone from norther hemisphere, right? And I do not even live in the southern part of Taiwan were the temperature continues to remain the heat readings and the only thing you can do is lay on the beach! You also should not forget typhoons and other special weather conditions which will make your stay in Taiwan even more exciting!

3. NIGHT MARKETS
Night markets are an important part of Taiwanese culture and even though at first they felt a little bit overwhelming they still transform into one of my favorite part of Taiwan.
Streets are lined with food stalls serving up everything from chicken hearts to stinky tofu and shaved ice. You also should be prepared to finagle the crowds and scooters to find what you want and you’ll leave with a full stomach and authentic Taiwanese experience.

4. BUBBLE TEA
If someone is not yet understood my love for bubble tea, they should read my older posts again. Well, actually, it’s the bubbles (tapioca pearls) at the bottom of the drink that are my favorite, but anyhow Taiwan is the bubble tea paradise. Bubble tea was invented here, and tea shops are even more popular than Starbucks or 7-Eleven. From this shops you can find incredible amount of different tea flavors from the classical milk bubble tea even to exotic fruit teas and smoothies.

5. FRUITS

Persimmons, passion fruits, dragon fruits, guavas, watermelons, mangos, apples, grapes, pineapples.. You name it, they have it! For me as a fruit lover this is like a paradise. I can just buy a box of pineapples, guavas and persimmons straight from the campus cafeteria when I am going to the class or wash away my sugar cravings with a fresh piece of watermelon or mango. If you really love fruits as much as I do you should be already booking your flights to Taiwan.

6. CHINESE LANGUAGE

I have been studying Mandarin Chinese almost three months now and I totally love it. I love speaking my bad Chinese, trying to understand at least some words when Taiwanese people are speaking it and guessing what different characters might mean. If you go trough the internet you will find a lot of articles etc. about how hard is it to learn Chinese and even though many of my friends are not agree with me I will say that I think learning Chinese is not that hard that many people think. Okey, I only know maybe 10-20 characters but I think my vocabulary capacity and knowledge about grammar is quite fine after only three months of studying.
So if you have ever even thinking of studying Chinese you should definitely do that, and of course come here to study it because you will learn twice as fast as for example in Finland. Characters will be pain in the ass, but the Chinese language itself is so beautiful to hear and quite easy to speak when you just learn enough words and tones and grammar and ten different s, z, q -sounds and, and, and… Easy like I said!

So what are you waiting for, this beautiful island and these wonderful things are waiting for you here!