So my month off has flown by and I can't believe I start school again on Monday. I'm not really looking forward to the early mornings again...It's okay though because at least the first week back I leave for a few days on my class trip! I'll go to school Monday, Tuesday, then head down south on Wednesday with the entire second grade and come back Saturday. I'm so excited!
I've been surprisingly busy this month. I spent a good chunk of my break getting out of the city which was a nice change. The first trip was the inbound "East Taiwan Trip" and if memory serves me correctly we went to Hualien and Taidong (but we weren't ever really in a city, just kind of like that general area). The first day of the trip we all met bright and early at Taipei Main to take our train to Hualien. It was a good thing the exchange students had their own car because I think we live up to the stereotype of foreigners being loud. So after a few hours on the train, we got off and were quickly ushered into tour buses as we were running late. The first thing we did was drive around on some scenic hill, and being in Taiwan we took a lot of pictures. Well maybe it isn't a lot but I feel we almost always end up taking a big group shot everywhere we go so over time it's a lot. After that we went to one of Taiwan's aboriginal groups village. We wandered around the grounds and watched some of the members preform a ritual song and dance for us. Then all the exchange students were taught the dance which was cool. Then it was time to go to the extremely nice hotel that we were staying at for the evening. It was only late afternoon by the time we got to the hotel, and Rotary had a little bike trip prepared for anyone who wanted to participate. Only a handful of us went biking, but it was so much fun. I, with three other of the girls ended up pedaling a four person bike. Needless to say we moved exponentially slower than the rate/ferocity we pedaled with, but it was still fun. It was also gorgeous because we were out in the farmland but many of the fields were filled with flowers (kinda like a crop rotation thing) and we were out there during sunset. So naturally of course my camera died like a minute into the ride, but that's ok because everyone else was smarter than me and brought their charged cameras. After the ride we ate and later hung out in the hotels hot tubs. And of course stayed up way too late.
Day 2: River Rafting. We got bussed to the river and after an excruciatingly long period of putting on the proper attire (wet suit like pants and shirts, life jackets and helmets) and listening to the rules we finally got out on the river. Sadly it's not really rafting season so the river was low and slooow. We paddled a lot but didn't seem to move very much. But there were the raft company workers out there who had motorized rafts and would tow us along so we could finish in 3 hours. So because the river was low the rapids were pretty tiny. I think the most climactic moment was when my group's raft flipped. I think our collective thought towards capsizing was "finally something happened! Let's do it again!" But no such reoccurrence happened. The rafting trip was also gorgeous because the river cut through the jungled cliffs, we even saw a monkey! After rafting we were all soaked and I was ready to get back to the hotel and dry off. The second night was at a different hotel, and it had a hot spring which sounded promising but was just ok. It seemed pretty similar to a hot tub to me and my friends who had been to other hot springs weren't very impressed either.
Day 3: Ocean Park. The last day of our short lived trip we went to the Ocean Park In Hualien. It's pretty much like a smaller Sea World kinda thing. A few aquatic animal shows, some amusement park rides, and overpriced concession stands. While the first few hours at the park were nice, it began to rain. Unrelentingly. Suddenly five more hours at the park didn't seem that fun anymore. Along with some others I eventually found shelter in a coffee shop and spent time counting down the minutes until we would be back on the nice, dry, warm bus. When that moment came I think that was the happiest I've been to board a bus. We had a final quick stop before we boarded th train back home. We went to a Taiwanese food store/emporium kinda thing. We were encouraged to buy some food for our families for new years. I ended up walking away with some mochi and banana cake to share. Then the train back to Taipei Main. While it was a short trip, it was exhausting but fun.
I also did some traveling with my family. My sister, my cousin (who lives with us in Sanxia), and I headed down to Kaohsiung to spend New Years with my hostmoms side of the family. We left late Friday night to avoid traffic so bleary eyed at 2am we arrived at my family's apartment in Kaohsiung. Thankfully I was able to sleep in a bit the next morning because my sister decided a late
brunch would be better than an early breakfast. So in my favorite screw up of Chinese thus far at brunch I thought I had ordered some "seasonal fruit muffins" but instead I got some waffles worthy of Leslie Knope's approval. After that we went to my host grandfathers house and everyone talked for a little bit. I was more confused than usual because my Kaohsiung host grandfather only speaks
Taiwanese, no Chinese. But after talking for a bit my sister and I went to this street/alley that was
selling some traditional New Years ingredients. My favorite game was to try and stump Nina by pointing and asking "這個是什麼" (what is this?) at some of the stranger looking foods. After that we headed back over to my host grandpa's. It was New Years Eve so some traditional praying and offerings were done at the small shrine at the house. Then it was time for dinner. I ate so much over the course of New Years that the days following my sister and I during some mealtimes just kind of looked at each other and just collectively knew we were both still full and no need for food. After dinner we went over to some of the more extended family's house so I could learn to play mahjong, an integral part of the new year. Somehow I wasn't the only foreigner in theapartment. One of my aunties colleagues at the museum she works at is Australian so she was invited down to Kaohsiung.
Day two of Kaohsiung was the first day of the new year. So we drove out to a mausoleum of sorts (the place looked more like a temple to me) and did some honoring of the ancestors. My family laid out some food and ghost money on a table then lit some incense around it. There were some Buddhist monks in a small procession walking through the crowds of people chanting and splashing what I assume was holy water. Then we went inside and with incense my family went to go find their deceased family members who were in the masouelm and prayed before them. I felt really lucky that my family let me tag along with them, it was really such a unique experience to witness. That afternoon we went back to my host grandpa's and ate even more. Then more and more mahjong late into the night.
Day three my sister's boyfriend's family invited us to their grandparents house in Pingdong for lunch. Although on the way there we stopped to try our luck at the lottery, and sadly this new year I was not lucky. Oh well. We drove for awhile and finally got to the small town where his grandparents live. Their family was so nice, but I encountered a similar problem. His grandparents also only spoke Taiwanese, so just a lot of nodding and smiling on my part. I think I must have mutely charmed them enough as his grandma invited me to go back and visit them anytime. Mahjong and eating and Mahjong was what happened in Pindong. I'd like to think at that point I was ok at Mahjhong but her boyfriend's family showed me how naive I had been. After losing too many times, we ended up going to my sister's boyfriend's parent's house. We watched The Life of Pi, which I had really been wanting to see because the director Ang Lee is Taiwanese and some shots of the movie were filmed in Taiwan.
Nina and I ended up taking the high speed rail back home on Tuesday. I love trains so much and can understand my European friends disbelief at our lack of trains in the US. Then on Thursday Nina and I went with my sister Wendy and her husband (who are back in Taiwan for a bit) to Miaoli, one of the Central regions in Taiwan. We stopped off and became a bigger group because some of Wendy's friends met up with us for lunch and the rest of the day. After lunch we went to a small strawberry farm where you could pick your own. Unfortunately it's the end of strawberry season here so there weren't many berries to be picked. After we went to a place called the Lavendar Cottage which is like a lavander farm but also a tourist spot. Like you can buy lavander goods and lavender ice cream (which tasted better than it sounds). We wandered around taking lots of pictures and just enjoyed the nice scenery and good weather. At dinner the poor American who has low tolerance for spicy foods accidentally consumed what may have been the spiciest thousand year old egg there ever has been or ever will be. I think I may have impressed everyone by how quickly my pale faced turned right red and how quickly I chugged my water, which was useless. Luckily her kindhearted sister became her taste taster for the rest of the evening. Although when Nina put some strangle looking meat on my plate and provided no explanation to what it was, I asked about it. She said I'll tell you, but please dont feel sick. I chose to ate the mystery meat before having her unveil it's identity. It turned out to be frog, from her reaction I was expecting something along the lines of brain so frogs legs seemed pretty tame (especially in comparison to the bit of intestine I ate earlier at lunch). It was so amusing to me though because Nina was kind of hesitant to eat the frog but I consider other Taiwanese dishes to be approached with much more hesitance than frog, but I suppose each country to their own.
Other days of break I've been out to movies, coffee with friends, hiking the nearby trail with my mom, went to a book expo, more coffee, Taiwanese breakfast, and more coffee. How have I been here for so long without going to Cama? But tomorrow I think I'm going out shopping for some cheap new clothes.
Until later
Abbie
*
No comments:
Post a Comment