A Get-Away to Celebrate the Moon

Ironically, it was this time last year that I missed my first weekly update, and here I am, for only the second time in over a year, trying to fit two weeks of adventure into a few short paragraphs.  The first vital update, which is also my excuse for my tardiness, is that I still have no internet in my apartment.  The funny thing I have been discovering about the internet is that its importance has changed so much in our everyday lives, and while I can’t remember not having it in my house as a child, I can remember using dial-up connections and essentially only using it for school and e-mail.  Then the age of social networking happened, and everyone was using Xanga, or MySpace, or eventually Facebook, and staying in contact with people wasn’t just easy anymore, it was second nature.  Most people can sit down at a computer and without even realizing it, Facebook has been typed into the search bar.  Plus, now with smart phones, most people never miss a message, they are constantly in contact with the world.  Have you gotten the chance to really experience not having that connection lately?  I would have guessed that I would be fine without it, but to be honest, right now it is really accentuating the distance between the US and Taiwan for me right now, which is upsetting me a bit.  One of the things that has made living abroad so easy has been being able to talk to friends and family on a regular basis, but compensating for the time distance, and accounting for the limited number of establishments with free WiFi around Taiwan, communication has been exceptionally difficult this month.  The other thing that is upsetting is the helplessness of not being able to fix the situation for myself.  I’m quite certain there must be an easy solution, whether it is through calling my internet service provider, or through calling my router’s help line, but I don’t have the Chinese required to do either, and don’t have access to a translator due to the lack of internet in the fist place, so I feel stuck.  This weekend I have sent my routers (yes, I have two) off with some of the TA’s from my school, so hopefully they can help me with some solutions soon, I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Enough about that, let’s talk Taiwan.  One of the main family holidays around here, which falls on the 15^th day of the 8^th lunar month, occurs around this time every year.  It goes by several names including Mid-Autumn Festival and Moon Festival, and is celebrated with moon cakes and barbecues outside of every storefront.  Moon cakes are a traditional dessert item year-round in Taiwan, but during this season they fill every bakery.  A moon cake is a slightly flakey dessert pastry filled with red bean paste and a sweetened egg yolk, and while you are thinking it sounds like something you wouldn’t enjoy, you are probably right.  They appear to be an acquired taste, and while I have pleasantly smiled my way through many of them this year, I have only had one that I thought was really good. 

After celebrating the eve of moon festival with a school barbeque and an all-night karaoke session, a few friends and I hopped on a plane and travelled to the near-by island of Penghu.  Penghu, also called the Pescadores, is an archipelago owned by Taiwan along its west coast.  The archipelago is made up of three main inter-connected islands: Penghu, Baisha, and Xiyu and 61 other small islands (most of which are uninhabited).  It has been colonized by many countries for its strategic placement in the Taiwan Straights, but now it is primarily a tourist location, particularly for those interested in watersports due to being one of the windiest places in Taiwan.  We only had a few days to explore the islands, but luckily due to their size we managed to visit most of the main attractions, and didn’t let the fact that a super-typhoon was blowing across Taiwan slow us down.  That’s right, while strong winds and rains were a constant threat, we were out on scooters, driving across inter-island bridges as waves splashed over us.  The whole thing sounds much riskier in words that it was in reality however.

The sites of Penghu are mostly beach or temple related.  On our first travel day we scooted through all three of the main islands and saw a vast number of temples along the way.  The most unique of these temples (though I never learned its name) had a green turtle sanctuary in the basement.  Green turtles are celebrated in Taiwan as a symbol of longevity, and this temple has a coral-wonderland in the basement with pools for several huge turtles to swim around in.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  Another unique temple was the Baoan Temple, home of the Tongliang Banyan, estimated to be more than 200 (and in some guesses more than 300) years old, this tree has now dropped roots all over an adjoining courtyard.   Also included in the day’s site-seeing was an abandoned military fort and a lighthouse, but I would say the biggest accomplishment were the two new foods I get to add to my “I’ve eaten that” list.  I don’t think most people will think it too shocking, but I ate cactus fruit  and cactus fruit ice cream, but it makes the list because I can’t imagine most people will get to try it.  Cactus fruit is an almost unnaturally red color that when eaten on its own will dye your tongue red, but the ice cream, while being that same color, doesn’t change the color of your mouth.  When looking at it, one would guess the ice cream will be either very tart or very sweet because of its dark color, but it doesn’t have an overpowering flavor, still, I would gladly eat it again.  The accomplishment, in terms of food consumption, was eating live sea urchin.  The sea urchin is served already halved, but the meat needs to be scraped from the inside ‘shell’ while avoiding the outside spikes.  The consistency of the meat is slimy, grainy, and not very filling, but the flavor isn’t too bad (especially for someone who eats sushi as often as I do), so unlike the ice cream, I don’t think I will put this on my recommendation list.  The second day of travel was more of a beach day, though the weather was appropriate enough to actually enjoy the water (in fact, on one beach we were stopped by the coast guards for prancing around on the beach in swimsuits without attempting to swim at all).  We were able to watch some kite surfers on one beach who were literally flying over the waves.  The benefit of the weather is it kept us moving from location to location so we could see several beaches, a temple, and a ‘blow hole’ (a hole in a rock that when the waves hit it produce a blow-hole similar to a whale), but nicer weather would have allowed us to properly enjoy each location.

Posing with a plate of sea urchin sashimi

The coral-wonderland, home to the green turtles

Look carefully, there are 'soldiers' all over this fort.

Jumping for joy - excited to be in Penghu

We got back to Changhua late Sunday night, and I went through a fairly normal week.  Lots of classes, lots of sleep, lots of Chinese, you know the routine.  I felt really busy this week, but I don’t really know why.  I had a presentation, and I did some planning for our upcoming student showcase, but overall my workweek was pretty easy.  Maybe it was just a side-effect of the slight cold I appear to be getting.  Hopefully my nice, relaxing weekend will rejuvenate me for next week.  Saturday morning started with a drive to Taiping and a dip in out now multi-frequented waterfall.  I don’t know what I’m going to do in the future when I don’t have the option of freshwater pools to swim in, they are perfect.  A few hours of river rock climbing and splashing around and we were off to celebrate my good friend’s birthday with a taste of home (TGI Fridays), and a few big city bars, and, since my age is catching up with me (haha) I spent most of today lounging around my apartment.

I guess that’s it for now, another two weeks of adventure come and gone.  Hopefully this time next week I will be writing from the comfort of my own home, with my newly operational WiFi, well, that’s what will be happening in a perfect world at least.

Back to the Real World...

Taiwan can be a silly country at times.  Sometimes, when there is a national holiday that falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, the holiday will be expanded into a long weekend by displacing the previous or following workday (either the Monday or the Friday, depending on when the holiday falls).  The hours from that non-holiday day-off will be worked on a Saturday instead.  This is true of most businesses, including schools, offices, shops.  This week was one of those “extended work weeks” which is intended to reward employees with a 4-day weekend for Moon Festival (which falls next weekend).  The thing that is most irritating about this week being a 6-day work week isn’t the extra hours (I quite enjoyed my classes on Saturday), nor is it the short weekend (I wouldn’t have done much more than lounge anyway), it is the fact that there was no forewarning about our Saturday hours.  When I arrived back in Taiwan last weekend my co-worker gave me a copy of my official schedule for the week (it didn’t include Saturday), when I got to work on Monday my manager gave me a copy of the week’s schedule to post in the Teacher’s Room (it didn’t include Saturday), I signed out on my work schedule after each class of the week (it didn’t include Saturday).  The first indication that I was given of these extra work hours came at 9:30pm on Thursday night in the form of a note, stating that the school had neglected to pass on this information.   I think my main frustration with the whole situation is the fact that I work for a school that employs foreigners, a school that relies on people from other countries to draw in their customers, yet they forget that being from other countries means we don’t know everything about Taiwan.  I may have lived here for a year, but last year Moon Festival fell on a Sunday and wasn’t a long weekend, so I couldn’t have used that memory to predict this week’s schedule.

It has been nice to be back around my students again, my crazy, adorable students.  While I was on my contract break in the US our school picked up two new beginner classes which were added to my schedule, thus putting me at a comfortable 24 classroom hours a week (which is much better than the 18 I was working a few months ago).  The beginning weeks with a new class can be a little out of control, and my two 01-level classes (one intensive and one regular) are no exception.  I have students who wont speak, students who won’t stop speaking, students who can’t stay in their seats, students who know nothing about English, and strangely, one student who can hold basic dialogues with me already.  Within a term or two I expect the levels will have evened out pretty well, but for a while the main challenge will be to teach all of these kids how to behave in a classroom setting (which is easier said than done). 

On a completely non-Taiwanese note, I have been internet-less for about 10 days now due to my lack of technical comprehension.  I returned to Taiwan with a Mac rather than a PC, and despite my Ethernet convertor and cable, and my WiFi router, I can’t seem to connect to the internet.  The problem seems to be that I need the internet to recognize the router, and I need the router to get the internet, what an unfortunate cycle.  

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work I Go

I had an incredible trip back to the states, it was fun to see so many old friends and family members, and especially memorial to watch one of my best friends get married, but all things must come to an end, and so this trip has.  After only 10 days in the states, I re-boarded a plane, and, courtesy of the international date line, I ‘spent two days’ on that plane.  I’m relatively certain that I am experiencing jet lag for the first time in my life, but it seems to be working in my favor.  I haven’t slept later than 8:30am since landing and I have gone out to get breakfast every morning (which, as unhealthy as I know it is, is a meal which I often skip).  I’ll be interested in seeing how long this pattern lasts.

My first few days back in Taiwan have been pretty low-key, which has given me the chance to readjust to the heat, food, and language (which, I’m sad to say, it appears that in only 2-weeks I have lost a chunk of my comprehension for Mandarin).  On Saturday I went on a solo exploration of the road out to Nantou County.  I didn’t start my scooter trip with any particular destination, but about an hour outside of Changhua I happened upon a site that was closed the last time we tried to visit it.  The signs in English refer to it as the “Rainbow Bridge”, it is a suspension bridge which connects two mountain cliff-sides over a huge-drop off.  The areas surrounding the entrance and exit of the bridge are filled with vendors selling fruits and juices (particularly pineapple, which is common in this area), meats, and trinkets.  I really like the bridge area, but it is hard to say why considering it isn’t time consuming, you don’t physically do anything (except walk), and it probably shouldn’t cost any money (but perhaps the entrance cost is to deter people from repeat visits or stupid actions in an area which could be dangerous). 

Looking out over the "Rainbow Bridge"

Following the bridge I set off back towards Changhua and got sidetracked by an area called Alice’s Garden.  Having seen signs for the garden before, I decided to take a detour and explore it.  Alice’s Garden is a vaguely Alice in Wonderland inspired attraction with large fields for games, playgrounds and obstacle courses for the little (and not so little) kids, a restaurant, and characters from the movie/book scattered everywhere.  The garden seems to be a popular couples destination, with many of its attractions being love themed, and several even including instructions as to how to have luck in your relationship (begin by praying to the Moon Grandpa for happiness, then ring the bell of happiness 9 times to call for Cupid, then write your wish on a lock and attach it to a love-guardian tree, and finally, throw the key into the wishing pool so no one can unlock your love).

I wrapped up the weekend a trip to one of west-coast beaches in Tongxiao.  I’ve commented on it before, but it will never stop amazing me how few nice beaches there are on this island, but Tongxiao was an exception, especially for this coast.  The sand was soft (and clean), the water was nice, there were bathroom and shower facilities, and the most amazing this is that there were people in the water!  Between the fact that so many people don’t learn how to swim here, many beaches have ‘no swimming’ signs, and the fact that it is ghost month (so it is believed that the spirits can get you if you are in the water), I was really surprised by this.  I will say, however, that in the style of most of the beaches I have been too, the water never got deep (this beach stayed between waist-chest level).

I’m happy to be back in Taiwan and I am excited to officially start my 2^nd year here.  I can already imagine the adventures I will have, and I hope they include travel off of the island (to surrounding islands as well as surrounding countries). 

Labor Day Weekend - Friends, Family, Love

Well, here I am, and a little over a week has passed since I arrived in the US for my contract break.  Can I just take this moment to say the following:
1) I'm sorry about my delayed update, but I didn't have access to my computer yesterday (and, to be honest, I wouldn't have gotten around to writing because of how busy I was.
2) 10 days in America is not enough time to get everything done.
I don't think I have had a moment of down-time in 8 days now, but I can't imagine spending my time any other way.  As most of you know, this was 'wedding week'.  One of my best friends since high school married the love of his life yesterday afternoon, and I was invited to be one of the bridesmaids in the ceremony.  Being a bridesmaid in a wedding ceremony when you live half-way across the world can pose a lot more complications than most people would initially realize, for example, you don't get a chance to try on your dress very far before the wedding (I tried mine on only 6 days before the ceremony, and it was a miracle that it fit and survived the night).  Living abroad also causes you to miss key features of a wedding, like the bridal shower, or the bachelorette party.  Overall though, I'm just thankful I could make it back for the ceremony!
My entire weekend was dedicated to the wedding, between the pampering, the rehearsals, the ceremony, the reception, and the gift opening.  This was my first time being part of a non-family wedding (and the last wedding I was at, which was in high school, wasn't particularly traditional), so it was fun to see the whole process first-hand.  On Saturday morning, the girls (and the groom) started our day with manicures and pedicures (milestone: first manicure ever).  Then, after a brief break (which allowed me to do laundry) it was time for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  This was the first chance I had to see (and in some cases meet) the rest of the bridal party.  The process of rehearsing the ceremony moved along quickly, and transitioned into a dinner in no time at all.  From there it was time for a high school reunion, where I got to see the people I spent essentially every moment of my adolescence with. We have all branched out to lead such separate lives, but it is heart-warming to see the way we drop it all to come back together for events like this.  It makes me really excited to see all of the weddings still to come.

At the rehearsal dinner with the bride, groom, and several members of the bridal party

Sunday was the big day, and it started very early in the morning for me so that I could get to Plymouth (which is about 40 minutes away from where I live) in time for our hair appointments.  I somehow managed to be punctual to the appointment, and furthermore, I was the first girl to have my styling completed (which is one of the benefits of having short hair).  My styling happened so fast that it was over before the photographer and videographer realized I was part of the wedding party, which means there is no evidence of how unkempt I was upon arrival that morning. After hair we moved on to the hotel (which is where the ceremony was being held), to do our make-up and get dressed.  By 2pm we were all dolled-up and ready for pictures which took us right up to the time of the ceremony.  The ceremony went off (almost) without a hitch (there were a few issues with wind, microphone placement, and sand-pouring) and before we knew it we were following the newlyweds back up the aisle.  I should take time to say that, the weather could not have been more perfect yesterday.  There have been heat advisories this week (which is interesting for me, because even on the hottest days, without Taiwan's humidity it didn't feel too bad for me), but the temperature broke yesterday, leaving us in the 70's for he ceremony.  Following the ceremony was the reception.  Before the food began, several members of the wedding party gave speeches, and though I was not the maid of honor (or the best man for that matter), I was still asked to write a speech for the groom.  So, in honor of our friendship, I shared a tribute to our high school days by recreating an old memory.  In our Sophmore-year I wrote the groom a list of rules for how to behave at the dance (just silly things like 'you must hold the door open, you must sit near me at dinner, you must not wear a short, short blue dress), so for his wedding I wrote him a list of rules for marriage.  I have biased friends, but I'm told my speech went over pretty well.  Following the speeches was a delicious dinner (of either pork, chicken, or walleye), and of course, cake (wither orange dreamsicle or chocolate).  Dinner introduced one of my favorite wedding ideas (and a game I will certainly be taking to my own future wedding), in which, when a person clinks there glass to prompt the couple to kiss, that person must first serenade the couple.  Each table was given a slip of paper with a single word on it, and that word had to be used in a song, then, if the couple enjoyed the performance, they would reward the audience with a kiss.  The bridesmaids selected a paper reading 'kiss', and while there are many songs which contain this word, we opted for a rendition of the Little Mermaid's 'Kiss the Girl'.  Finally it was time for dancing, and so, after the first dance of the couple, I was led to the floor by my counterpart from the groomsmen, and we kicked off the night.  Most of the dancing was a lot like it was in high school, with similar dance moves, some of the same songs, and I even danced with my old prom date.  After hours of dancing and party games the evening came to an end, and it didn't take any effort to collapse for the night (well, until the 4am phone call from the police told us to let our drunken 4th roommate back into the room, but that's a different story).

The beautiful couple, cutting the cake

And finally, the wedding festivities were wrapped-up this morning, by means of a certain un-wrapping.  The gift opening took place this morning, then we packed up and moved on out of the hotel to finish up a day of non-wedding activities, and proper catch ups (those that didn't involve an air of stress, the presence of cameras, or loud music).

Obviously the wedding was the most important event of the week, but in other US-news, I had a brief reunion with my former city of residence as well.  I spent a whopping 32 hours in Milwaukee this week (starting with an overnight bus ride), mainly so I could see my beautiful (though not biologically related) nephew.  When you want to accurately measure the passage of time, I recommend using a child, because this kid is the best way for me to remember that I have really been gone for a year.  When I left he was a little guy, only a few old, and now, at 16 months, he is walking, talking (well, babbling), and even appears to have recognized me from our chats on Skype.  Because I am told I might be the only person he does this with, I have to share my favorite memory with this little kid.  I was sitting on the floor, and he was eating blueberries from a box on his mommy's lap.  I pointed to my mouth, so he came over with a blueberry and placed it in my mouth for me to eat, then went back to the box, so i pointed again, and he fed me a second blueberry, then, when I pointed a third time, he grabbed a blueberry, put it up to my lips, then retracted his arm and ate it.  He properly teased me with most of the box of blueberries, he didn't allow me to eat any more after those first two.  I can't wait to see how much this kid grows over the next 12 months.

The last major event that happened this week was my tribute to Minnesota, and by that I mean, I attended the state fair.  It occurs to me that state fairs are specific to the US, so lets cover the bases on what happens in these get-togethers.  Hundreds of people gather together to showcase their state, mainly through food (primarily anything creatively served on a stick like spaghetti, hot dish, or deep fried everything), animals, vendors (who are known to give things away, like bratwurst-flavored lip balm), and entertainment (like musicians or the internet cat film festival), while hundreds of thousands of people attend and enjoy.  I'm ashamed to report that I did not partake in any unusual state fair foods this year because I was too excited to eat the fair foods I have been missing out on for a year.  But, I did get a chance to enjoy my new favorite 'booth' of the fair, the Great Minnesota Sing along, where 20 or so microphones at varying heights are placed in the ground, and a rotation of 50 songs plays while projecting their lyrics on a giant screen.  It is a massive group karaoke, and it is ridiculously entertaining!  I also have a new favorite competition, courtesy of the 4H club: the llama costume contest.  You read that correctly, and it is exactly what it sounds like, contestants will dress up themselves as well as their llamas into partnered costumes.  Some examples from the contest included Thing 1 & Thing 2, Dr. Who and the TARDIS, and Paul Bunyan & Babe.
I wish I could spend more time in the US on this vacation, but I'm already approaching my last days.  I have had so much fun being back home.  This has been a perfect labor day weekend.