Exchange student Vivian Huang shared some of the experiences and lessons she learned in the last year with the Weyburn Rotary Club, and attending the Weyburn Comprehensive School.
Originally from Taiwan, she will be returning home on July 10, and is happy she was able to share in the graduation ceremonies on Thursday with her classmates. (In the photo above, she is at left, with her friend, a fellow exchange student from Brazil)
Vivian noted that before she even left Taiwan, she had to do an interview with Rotary Club representatives and had to have training in using a power point program along with about 300 other exchange students from her district. Her final presentation to the Weyburn club was her third power-point presentation.
She admitted that before coming to Canada, she had expectations of mountains and maple trees, and was not prepared for the flat prairies of the Weyburn area.
“I never lived in a small town before. I felt uncomfortable at first,” she said, noting that one of the very first things she saw when she was brought here was a tour of Deana Mainil’s farm and kayaking with her, before going to stay with club member Grant Paulson and his wife Nancy, and learning how to make jam.
Early on, Vivian was also given the opportunity to meet other exchange students in this district, at a gathering in Neepawa, Man.
“We became a family right away. Everyone’s changed a lot in the past year,” she said, noting the group recently experienced their Western Canadian trip where they were able to see how they had all changed and grown over the past year.
Vivian went to her first CFL football game with the Riders, and said, “It was my first one, and I think it will be my last one. … Doug (Loden) tried to explain the rules to me.”
With her fellow exchange students from Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Vivian shared a number of experiences, including their first trip, a long drive and flight to Churchill, Man., where they saw polar bears and exposed Vivian to her first taste of real Canadian winter temperatures.
A different experience for her was decorating a Christmas tree with her host, which she enjoyed doing a lot.
“It’s really different than Christmas in Taiwan. I got to decorate a tree,” she said, adding that over the holidays she went to Meadow Lake with the Lodens and did some traditional Canadian winter activities.
One of those was cross-country skiing. “I don’t know if I love it very much. The temperature was like -36. I didn’t know I could be that cold and still be alive,” she said, going on to share that she did enjoy some other activities at a sports weekend held in Melfort for the exchange students. She tried out sports like snowboarding, skiing, curling and riding a large tube behind a snowmobile.
Loden took her out for a trip to Vancouver, which Vivian described as “the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen before.”
While there, they went skiing and snowboarding at Grouse Mountain, and the temperature was more moderate, but it was snowing and windy.
Vivian took in another winter activities weekend, this time in The Pas, Man., where she tried ice-fishing but didn’t catch anything.
She tried snowmobiling, which she greatly enjoyed doing, and snowshoeing, which “was not fun for me” as she was awkward in the snow with the snowshoes.
At the Weyburn Comp, Vivian joined the cheer squad, which was a first-time experience for her.
“I was scared at first because I didn’t know if I could do it. It was a challenge for me,” she said, adding another fun activity was being on the Comp choir trip to Banff and Calgary.
Vivian attended the Rotary district conference which was held in Winnipeg, and with the other exchange students from the district they toured a museum and around Winnipeg as well as taking part in activities at the conference.
This spring she was part of the cast for the senior musical, “Mamma Mia”, at the Comp, and with the other exchange students went on the Western Canadian trip. This included river rafting, horseback riding, cycling in the mountains, and seeing the sights of the Tyrell Museum in Drumheller, Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper, as well as visiting West Edmonton Mall.
“Every family treated me good. I thought I would miss my home, but I think after two weeks I totally forgot my family,” she said, and listed some of the fears she had about coming to Canada, which were all proved to be unfounded.
She had a fear of being attacked or murdered or in a plane crash (“watching too many movies,” she said), and found she truly loved being in Canada, and in Weyburn.
“I’m really happy I cam to Canada. Canada was my first choice, and I never regretted that,” said Vivian.
