Two Small Friends 兩張小朋友

In 7 days I will be in Taiwan.
從現在七天我會到台灣。

I keep telling people that at least, but it still doesn't quite feel real. I'm going to be participating in an 8 week program through the Taiwan United States Ambassador Program (TUSA). This will be my first time out of the U.S. so I'm a bit scared, but mostly excited.

I've been in pretty regular communication with my assigned language partner 林成樺 (shout-out to Lin Cheng Hua) and I'm really excited to meet in person, I think we're going to be good pals. All of my friends and family have been super helpful and encouraging, so I think things are going to go well. I really appreciate everyone for donating money, time, and love to help make this trip happen.

I hope to use this blog and update semi-frequently at least with lots of awesome pictures, my thoughts on the country and experience, and any neat cultural thing I learn in an attempt to teach other people who may be potentially considering traveling to Taiwan. 

One of my friends at the University of Arkansas (henceforth UofA) had already been to Taiwan, and exchanged some currency with me so I will at least have enough to get a ticket for the High Speed Rail once I land, though I will probably go ahead and exchange some more right after I land.

My buddy explained that the New Taiwan Dollar NT$1000 bill is colloquially called 一張小朋友 (yì zhāng xiǎo péng you), 張 is the measure word used for paper and other flat things that are paper-like, so it's "one (measure word for paper) small friend" because of the children on the front.個 (ge) is the measure word you would use if talking about people.

So I'm currently in possession of two small friends haha, which ends up being about $65 USD.

Anyway, that should be enough for a first post with mostly text. I promise there will be awesome pictures on the way, once I actually get going haha. Next post will probably be about packing. Also might make some reflection posts on my 4 semesters studying Mandarin Chinese.

謝謝你們！