First Everwell Rotary Meeting and Total Solar Eclipse

Today I attended my first Everwell Rotary Club Meeting in northeast Taipei. I met my host counselor, CP Simon, who is a dentist. I also met the the club leader, President Blue, the District Scholarship Coordinator, Dr. PP Pi-Song, and many other Rotarians. Since Rotary is like a second family, I have been instructed to fondly refer to the Rotarians as "uncles" and "aunties".

The lunch meeting was very jovial. In addition the the standard officer reports, the members sang a few songs, including "We are the Men of Rotary" (in English) and "You are my Sunshine" (in Taiwanese). The immediate past president, or IPP, was the keynote speaker. He talked about his hometown and life growing-up. I only understood the parts that were graciously interpreted for me by Uncle Danny, a Rotarian sitting at my table, but from what I could gather his personal stories were informative and light-hearted at times.

In addition to celebrating a past president, the club also welcomed a new member, Kevin Chang. He went to college in Houston, Texas and is currently the general manager of an electronic company. I have included pictures of him and IPP below.

The Everwell rotary Club was founded in 2004, and has more than 20 members. The club is part of District 3480, one of seven Rotary districts in Taiwan. The district is composed of 83 clubs, which each engage in a unique mix of service activities. Everwell's key service projects include providing breakfast meals to local schools in need, as well as hosting seminars to train local primary school teachers on how to incorporate basic lessons on law and ethics into their curriculum. The materials the club passes on to the teachers were developed by a professor at Harvard University and translated into Chinese. Dr. Pi-Song Tsai informed me that the program has been widely successful in schools across the district, and through this program the Rotary organization has helped to enrich local students' educational experiences.

I am thankful for the opportunity I had today to meet so many wonderful Rotarians. As I told the club in my brief introduction this afternoon, I am looking forward to serving with them and learning a great deal from them during my time in Taiwan. I want to end my post with a special thank you to Uncle CP Simon, President Blue,Uncle PP Pi-Song Tsai, and all of the members of the Everwell Rotary for their warm greeting and friendship.

First picture: Officers of the Everwell Rotary Club; second: President Blue and Immediate Past President (IPP) Resin; third: President Blue with new member, Kevin Chang.

I have also uploaded some pictures showing a view of the total solar eclipse from here in Taipei. It was a bit cloudy, but the sight was incredible nonetheless. These pictures were taken outside my school building in between classes.

China Hash

So it is a almost 2:30am, and I have just awoken to the entire apartment building I am in shaking and swaying back and forth! I am guessing it was an earth tremor. I live on the ninth floor of a 25 story apartment building, and I was completely unprepared for the whole experience. I ran downstairs to ask the security guard if everything was okay, and he laughed and nodded.

Anyway, I guess since I am up it is a good time to catch up on my blogging. I have just started my second week of classes at TLI and things are going well. I met a student, Elaine, in the Agricultural Education Department at National Taiwan University who has agreed to be my language partner and help me practice speaking outside of class. I also have been spending a lot of time practicing character writing.

Sunday I went one a run with the China Hash, a local running club, through the Shih Ding Hills. The run location was about an hour and a half bus ride from Taipei, and the scenery as beautiful! I have included some pictures below. The club has been around for more than 20 years, and the members a mixture of Taiwanese and foreigners living in Taipei. The hash is not a typical race. The way it works is a couple "hares" start the race 15 minutes before the rest of the group, and they mark the running trail by dropping flour markings every 20-30 meters. Every so often the hares make a check point, which is a huge circle with an "x" through it. This means that the next trail marking is within 100 meters, but could be in any direction. Hashers (the people running the trail) yell out special phrases to help others behind them find the right path. The run lasts about 50 minute and the whole event is great fun. It is like an extreme type of cross country. The trail last weekend wove up and down a mountain through terraced tea farms and bamboo forests, ending at a refreshing pond in the valley. After the run there is a "hash bash", or party, at a local restaurant to celebrate.

Below are pictures of the gathering place to start/end the race, as well as part of the trail. You can see that some parts of the trail had clear markings, while other parts were a bit more ambiguous.

More exploring in Taipei

Yesterday BainBain showed me the language center at National Tiawan University, where I can meet and study with other students. We also visited East Taipei, which is a modern commercial district. We saw the Taipei 101 Building; the tallest completed skyscraper in the world (a taller one is being built in Dubai, but it is not yet finished). We also spent several hours in the Eslite bookstore, which is the largest 24-hour bookstore in Taiwan. It seemed to have an endless number of books, in both Chinese and English. After lots of hard work book browsing BainBain and I took a coffee break in a posh cafe inside the bookstore.

This is a view from BainBain's apartment balcony. The skyscraper on the left is Taipei 101 and the large building at the end of the wide street on the right is the library of National Taiwan University.

BainBain's Eco Egg washing maching and BainBain and I taking a coffee break in the bookstore near Taipei 101.

East Taipei commercial district. The neon-lit building on the left is an AMC movie theater.

Pictures of First Day in Taipei

Views of Taipei from mountain top and pictures of hiking trail

Bell outside of the administration building
outside of National Taiwan University

First Day in Taipei

After nearly two days of travel due to flight delays, I arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday (Wednesday) was my first full day in Taipei. I woke up at 5:00am and could not get back to sleep, so I took a short hike up a small mountain next to my apartment. A former Rotary Scholar who just left Taipei told me about the hiking trails. The views were gorgeous. The picture behind the title of this webpage is a view looking over Taipei from the top of this mountain. I will post more pictures later, because there are many trails I have yet to explore.

A Rotarian from District 3460 Cheryl Bain, or BainBain, gave me my first official tour of Taipei. BainBain is a former Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar who studied at Ohio State and was hosted by Dr. John Mount. She showed me the metro system, the post office, the bookstore, and where I can find several good restaurants. We stopped by the Roosevelt Center of the Taipei Language Institute, where I will be studying Mandarin from 7:30am-12:30pm Monday through Friday. I met the charismatic director of Roosevelt Center, Eleanor Chang who gave me my study materials and first homework instructions.

BainBain also showed me the campus of National Taiwan University and how to access the campus library. It is a beautiful campus, and I anticipate that I will use the library quite often to study. Finally, on the way back to my apartment, I stopped by the night market to buy some fresh fruit. Taiwan is famous for its night markets, which operate from about 7pm to 11pm and consist of streets full of vendors selling everything from Chinese food and produce to clothing and jewelry. The markets are known for their good food. I have been enjoying the wide variety of inexpensive fresh fruit such as guava, mango, sweetsop, and kiwi.

I want to end this post with a special thank you to BainBain for her patience and gracious hospitality.

Beginning of an Adventure

Hello! My name is Debra Van Camp, and I am a Rotary International Cultural Ambassadorial Scholar from Columbus, Ohio. I have traveled to Taiwan to live for six months to study Mandarin and serve a goodwill ambassador through Rotary. I have created this blog to share my experiences with family, friends, Rotarians, and anyone else who may be interested.

First, I want to thank the members of the Columbus, Ohio Rotary Club for their sponsorship and guidance. I have learned a great deal about the Rotary Organization and witnessed first-hand the difference Rotarians can make in peoples' lives through their example. I want to especially Dr. John Mount, my home counselor, for his mentorship. I also want to thank Dr. Bob Bowers, Columbus Rotary Scholarship Chair, Ms. Jean Droste, Rotary District 6690 Ambassadorial Scholarship Chair, and Dana Vredeveld, OSU Fellowship Advisor, for their help through the application and orientation process. I am grateful to the District 6690 Scholarship Committee and to the Rotary International Foundation for their support and confidence in selecting me to be a Cultural Ambassadorial Scholar. Last but not least, I want to thank Mr. Ken Waterbury and Ms. Haruka Wada from the Rotary Foundation for their help as my scholarship coordinators.

A little background about myself: I am from Columbus, Ohio and I just graduated from The Ohio State University about three weeks ago with a BS in Food Science and a BS in Agribusiness and Applied Economics. I know my time in Taiwan will be an invaluable learning experience. In addition to learning the language, I am also looking forward to sharing other cultural experiences and building life-long friendships. This web page is just one way I plan to share my experiences and pay forward the opportunities I have been afforded.