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Outbound Exchange Students
Our club's outbound exchange students Kierian Overbeek, who is in India, and Brisa Sanchez Vasquez, who is in Taiwan, joined us by video chat to talk about how their yar has been going. Brisa deserves a special medal because it was 2 AM local time when she joined us.
Brisa is with her second host family. Where she lived first, she could walk to her school. Now she has to take an hour bus ride to school. Sometimes the bus is full and won't allow any more riders so she has to allow enough time to catch a second bus. She listed getting up on time as one of the most difficult things right now. The mandatory 6-day disease quarantine at the beginning of her stay was also really difficult.
Brisa's current family engages in more activities than her first family and she has been enjoying getting out into the community. She has also gone on some trips with Rotary. She was pleasantly surprised that her school classmates are very friendly and she enjoys having friends. About half of the class speaks English and they are helping her with learning Chinese. She is doing well learning the language and is hoping to pass the proficiency test in a while.
Kierian has school from 8-12 in the morning Monday through Saturday. This was unexpected. He has noticed how much the variety of religions in India shape the culture. His first host family were Sikhs and his current family practice Jainism. His hosts are not only strict vegans but have a reverence for all life that forbids even killing insects. The variety of religions means that there are festivals constantly. Kierian has really been enjoying going to the festivals. He has been travelling a lot. He was at the Rotary District 3030 conference and before that had a lengthy tour of South India. Kierian has been learning Hindi, but there are so many different languages spoken he has difficulty determining what language people are speaking.
Both students were asked what the most surprising things were that they had encountered. They both immediately agreed that the eastern style toilets take some time getting used to. Kierian noted that the festivals are community oriented and not commercial like our festivals. He also remarked on the terrible roads and that animals are roaming freely everywhere. Brisa remarked that on an island the weather app is never correct. She has learned to always carry rain gear. She also noted that she sleeps on a traditional Chinese bed that is a wooden surface with a very thin pad.
Kierian really misses having meat, but his favorite food is similar to a burrito. Brisa particularly enjoys a particular soup consisting of beef, noodles, and other ingredients. She also loves steamed buns.