On a snowy morning a few weeks ago this writer sat down with another exceptional visitor to the North Country who is approximately 8,000 miles away from home. He is known to his teachers and classmates as MORRIS. But in Taoyuan, Taiwan his name is Chen-fu HSU.
Morris’s home is located in the northwestern region on the island of Taiwan. The city of Taoyuan developed from a satellite city of the Taipei metropolitan area(capital of country) and is currently the fifth-largest city.(approx population 2 million)
"Taoyuan" means "peach garden," since the area used to have many peach trees. Morris stated that this city now consists of high rise apartment complexes. However, at this time he very much enjoys seeing the trees of the Adirondacks.
This young man speaks and writes in Mandarin Chinese which is now used in both mainland China and Taiwan. The spoken language is the Beijing dialect, so there're only slight differences between them. Their relationship is kind of like British English and American English. But as you can see the WRITTEN word consists of characters. Altogether there are over 50,000 characters, a modern dictionary will rarely list over 20,000 in use. An educated Taiwanese person will know about 8,000 characters but will only need about 2-3,000 to be able to read a newspaper. ( reminder: we only have 26 letters!)
Morris has been studying English since kindergarten. Due to his ability, we only experienced a few glitches in communication during our interview.
Q: What can you share about schools in Taiwan?
A: School hours are from 7:20a.m. - 8:50 p.m.
Q: Wow! You are receiving instruction the entire time?
A: Yes, Mostly, except from 6-8p.m. which is “study time” to complete homework, etc..
Q: How large are your classes?
A: Most classes have 45 students. Teachers move from classroom to classroom. Students remain in rooms.
Q: My goodness, Do they allow you to stretch and walk around during this long day?
A: Yes, we are permitted some time to play basketball and other activities during the day but time is very limited. We also have one music class per week.
Q: Is basketball popular at home?
A: YES! I very much enjoy watching NBA games on television and I am really looking forward to “March Madness”
Q: Are the grade levels similar?
A: I would be a Junior there just like I am here. But I must re-do my Junior year when I return.
(observation: Morris did NOT seem at all upset about this)
Q: Can you tell me about your family?
A: I have one older brother who is in college and a seven year old sister. My mom is a High School Chemistry teacher and my dad is a skin doctor.
Q: Do you miss your family as I am quite sure they miss you very much. (Morris arrived last August 2016 and will not return until June 2017).
A: Yes, I miss all of them as well as my friends but I especially miss my mom and sister.
Q: How is the food here different? Any favorites?
A: The food is very good here. I especially like cheeseburgers! Because Taiwan is an island we have much seafood in our diet. Our meals consist mainly of noodles, vegetables and rice no matter what time of day. There is not a difference for breakfast like here.
Q: Have you prepared a meal for your host family?
A: No. Even though I am fortunate to have been given two host families I did not make any meals yet because I just moved to second family at half year. Maybe soon though.
Note:
Steven and Noreen Monroe- host family for first half of the year
Christine and Ed Jay- are his host family now until June
Q: Were you given any choice regarding your destination?
A:. No I was not. I chose the USA, Canada, France or Germany when filling out the paperwork. I was very happy when I learned that it was the USA as I really want to improve my English and visit this country. Before coming to US I was only a tourist to China and Japan.
Q: I am sure there is so much to remember but any special memories? moments?
A: SEEING SNOW and taking a snowmobile ride was the best! I had heard that there was not much snow last year so I was very happy that this year was different. Also visiting NYC with other Rotary exchange students in the area it was very exciting.
Q: In the future, what words would you like your classmates to think of when they remember you?
A: After a long pause…..Morris said “Friendly, Smart & Grateful”
These three words will always be the ones this author thinks of when remembering her “Interview with Morris”. His family and country should feel a great sense of pride in this young man and his amazing journey. I know he will leave his footprints not only in our mountain town but also in our hearts.
Q: What can you share about schools in Taiwan?
A: School hours are from 7:20a.m. - 8:50 p.m.
Q: Wow! You are receiving instruction the entire time?
A: Yes, Mostly, except from 6-8p.m. which is “study time” to complete homework, etc..
Q: How large are your classes?
A: Most classes have 45 students. Teachers move from classroom to classroom. Students remain in rooms.
Q: My goodness, Do they allow you to stretch and walk around during this long day?
A: Yes, we are permitted some time to play basketball and other activities during the day but time is very limited. We also have one music class per week.
Q: Is basketball popular at home?
A: YES! I very much enjoy watching NBA games on television and I am really looking forward to “March Madness”
Q: Are the grade levels similar?
A: I would be a Junior there just like I am here. But I must re-do my Junior year when I return.
(observation: Morris did NOT seem at all upset about this)
Q: Can you tell me about your family?
A: I have one older brother who is in college and a seven year old sister. My mom is a High School Chemistry teacher and my dad is a skin doctor.
Q: Do you miss your family as I am quite sure they miss you very much. (Morris arrived last August 2016 and will not return until June 2017).
A: Yes, I miss all of them as well as my friends but I especially miss my mom and sister.
Q: How is the food here different? Any favorites?
A: The food is very good here. I especially like cheeseburgers! Because Taiwan is an island we have much seafood in our diet. Our meals consist mainly of noodles, vegetables and rice no matter what time of day. There is not a difference for breakfast like here.
Q: Have you prepared a meal for your host family?
A: No. Even though I am fortunate to have been given two host families I did not make any meals yet because I just moved to second family at half year. Maybe soon though.
Note:
Steven and Noreen Monroe- host family for first half of the year
Christine and Ed Jay- are his host family now until June
Q: Were you given any choice regarding your destination?
A:. No I was not. I chose the USA, Canada, France or Germany when filling out the paperwork. I was very happy when I learned that it was the USA as I really want to improve my English and visit this country. Before coming to US I was only a tourist to China and Japan.
Q: I am sure there is so much to remember but any special memories? moments?
A: SEEING SNOW and taking a snowmobile ride was the best! I had heard that there was not much snow last year so I was very happy that this year was different. Also visiting NYC with other Rotary exchange students in the area it was very exciting.
Q: In the future, what words would you like your classmates to think of when they remember you?
A: After a long pause…..Morris said “Friendly, Smart & Grateful”
These three words will always be the ones this author thinks of when remembering her “Interview with Morris”. His family and country should feel a great sense of pride in this young man and his amazing journey. I know he will leave his footprints not only in our mountain town but also in our hearts.
To learn more about this amazing program sponsored by our Rotary Club and its 1.2 million members worldwide: https://www.rotary.org/en/our-programs/youth-exchanges