Thanksgiving in Taiwan

This year I had my first Thanksgiving away from my family (not to mention my first Thanksgiving in a foreign country) so, to make up for it, I had two Thanksgivings. After all, Thanksgiving is a strictly American holiday and what's more American than drowning your sadness with an abundance of food, wine, and good company during the holidays? (That only sounds super melodramatic. I mean it as a joke.)

The first party was held in Taipei by the American Institute in Taiwan. It was held on the top floor of a ritzy apartment complex right by Taipei 101 and the Fulbright staff and all of this year's recipients were invited. All the food was delicious, especially the bread pudding, and William Stanton, the director of AIT, carved the turkey.

William Stanton and the head chef tackle the turkey

 

The whole Fulbright Yilan crew!

***

While the AIT Thanksgiving party was held the Friday before Thanksgiving, the second shindig was a somewhat more low-key event on Thanksgiving itself. The girls at the Zhongshan apartment (where I lived for the first month after I arrived in Taiwan) were awesome enough to host a great big pot luck for all us Yilan-ites. Turns out that, when we pooled our resources, we had just about everything traditionally required for Thanksgiving dinner (except maybe green bean casserole) and a few distinctly Taiwanese things to boot.  

One of our food tables (there was a separate salad/sandwich table and a third for drinks and desserts)  

Through a funny twist of fate, we even ended up with a big fat turkey with all the fixins from a fancy restaurant in Taipei free of charge. Of course, then the problem was actually getting the turkey from said restaurant to the party in Yilan. But Vivian (who lives in Taipei) came to the rescue, volunteering to pick up the 6kg turkey and bringing it all the way to Zhongshan apartment in a taxi. 

Christine, the only one of us who had ever carved a turkey before, shows off her handiwork

*Sappy moment of the day* This Thanksgiving, I was thankful that, even though I was about as far away from my home and my family as I could possibly be, I was still fortunate enough to be surrounded by good food and great friends. 

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us in Yilan!

How I twisted my ankle (and then proceeded to make it worse by climbing a mountain)

So let me begin by apologizing for my radio silence of late. All I can say is:
現在我的生活是瘋了 (My life is crazy right now).
Anyhow, here's a quick story about my complete lack of grace and how I ended up limping around Taiwan for the last few weeks.


It all started with Taipei's annual Gay Pride Parade, which is the biggest gay pride event in Southeast Asia. Sadly, one of the reasons for the magnitude of this event is that in many countries here being gay is still considered a crime. So once a year LGBT citizens from all over head to Taipei to celebrate and protest. This year's there was "Discrimination get out!" A group of us Yilan-ers all decided to head up to Taipei for the afternoon to take in the festivities and show some anti-discrimination solidarity. We knew it would be a fun afternoon when this is what greeted us when we got off the subway:

Yes angel dog!

There was also your usual cast of colorful characters:

One of several Lady Gagas to make an appearance

There were a significant number of protesters from Malaysia, a predominantly
Muslim country where gay rights are still nonexistent 

All in all, it was a very fun event. If you want to know more, there are some short articles about the Gay Pride parade here and here.


So back to the point of this story: my poor busted ankle. After the parade was over, Christine and I were wandering around the Da'an district searching for a famous cookie shop and generally killing time until we could meet up with my friends Stephanie and Colleen (who had planned to come to the parade with us but were running rather late due to some unexpected circumstances). Right about the time they were supposed to show up, Christine and I were walking out of this really cute (but kind of bizarre) candy store.


I say cute because of this:

And bizarre because of these: 

Please note that the chocolate band-aids say "Queer-aid." Not sure what that's about. 

Seriously, who would ever think it was a good idea to market candy pads?
I don't think I can think of anything less appetizing. 

As we walked out, I didn't notice the step down from the entrance, so I stepped my foot totally wrong. You would think that with how often I trip over my own two feet I would have learned to catch myself by now. But no. Instead, I received my first real twisted ankle. Actually, as it turns out, I did worse than that. I managed to give myself a partially torn ligament. Ouch. But I didn't know that yet. So I convinced myself that it wasn't really all that bad and doggedly limped after my friends the rest of the evening.

*****

The next day, we had planned to go hiking in one of the many forest recreation areas in Yilan county. However, given the very swollen state of my ankle by the time we got home from Taipei, we ruled that plan out. Instead, we decided to take a nice, leisurely scooter ride over to Plum Blossom Lake. It's a beautiful area and you can rent these ridiculous 4-person bikes to ride around the lake (For some reason, I find multi-person bikes very funny).

On the little island in the middle of the lake

And now we come to the part of the story where I took my already busted ankle and managed to make it worse. You see, in addition to ridiculous bikes, Plum Lake is also home to the largest Taoist temple in Taiwan. Unfortunately, it's on the side of a mountain that you're not allowed to take bikes up.

Of course, my friends wanted to hike up and see it. I tried to just stay with the bike but they convinced me that I just had to come. For the record, hiking up a mountain the day after you sprain your ankle: not such a great idea. If I weren't so darn stubborn, I would have done the smart thing and given up after a few yards. But I have to say, the view from the temple was great. The temple itself was very pretty as well.

We made it! 

By the time we had climbed all the way back down to our bike, my ankle had given up for the day. It was pretty much me and an ice pack for the rest of the evening. 

*****

When the swelling in my ankle didn't go down after a few days, Christine, who as a ballroom dancing instructor has had ample experience with sprained ankles, knew something wasn't right and finally managed to drag my butt to a doctor (resisting and insisting that I was fine the whole way, of course). He took an ultrasound of my swollen ankle and found that I had a partially torn ligament. He printed off a picture of it "for my scrapbook" and told me to get an ankle brace and stay off my feet as much as possible for a few weeks to let it heal. 

Halloween in Taiwan Part 1: How to make a bat costume

Christine and I in all our bat glory at the Leopard Garden hostel in Taipei

This project is adapted from:
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/UmbrellaBatCostume


Materials needed:
Black hoodie
Black umbrella
Wire cutters
Needle and thread

Construction Time: 2 episodes of It's Always Sunny and 2 of Big Bang Theory


Step 1: Buy materials.
Go to your local Carrefour. Stop at the little umbrella stand just outside of the front doors. Tell the saleswoman that you and your friend want to buy 2 plain black umbrellas. When she gives you a blue umbrella, tell her no, you really do want a black one.  Repeat process as she tries to sell you a silver umbrella, a black and white polka dot umbrella, and a decorative navy umbrella. Finally convince her to sell you the two cheapest black umbrellas she has. Enter Carrefour with your new umbrellas (which you will soon be cutting into pieces) feeling very accomplished.

Search the entire clothing section of Carrefour (including men's and children's) for a black hoodie. Find only raincoats in adult sections. Try on the largest kid's hoodie you can find. It has giant shoes printed all over it and it's too small. Give up on trying to find anything as simple as a plain black hoodie on such short notice in Taiwan. Try to improvise. Decide to buy a black men's dress shirt to sew your wings on instead. Ignore the cold stares of the other foreigners as you and your roommate try on articles of men's clothing in the middle of the supermarket. Try to find a hat that you can glue bat ears to. Give up after the salesperson tries to give you the white hat off of a mannequin. At least you have your umbrella and a shirt.


Step 2: Disassemble umbrella

Frustration.

Attempt to unscrew the little metal wires holding the umbrella spokes to the center of the umbrella. According to the directions, they should just "pop" off. Lies! After trying for about 15 minutes and only getting 2 of the 3 off this way, give up and try to just cut the third wire with the new wire cutters you just picked up at Carrefour. Quickly come to the realization that you are now the proud owner of the most useless wire cutters on the planet as they cannot cut even this one small, cheap piece of wire. Conclude that you perhaps should have spent more than one US dollar on your new tool. Go back to struggling.

Okay. Wires successfully removed!

Cut umbrella in half along the seam, removing one spoke on either side. Attempt to cut off the metal ribs in the middle of each spoke (the ones that used to connect it to the slidey part of the umbrella stick). Curse your cheapie wire cutters again. Resort to prying the ribs off with a combination of a flathead screw driver, your good for nothing wire cutters, and pure brute strength.

Showing the umbrella who's boss

Tie remaining spokes on either umbrella piece back together at the top with the wires you so painstakingly removed earlier.

Step 3: Sew umbrella to shirt

Watch It's Always Sunny as you sew. Trust me, it makes all that hand stitching much more tolerable. Try not to stab yourself in the finger too many times. If you do, it's okay, your costume's black. The blood probably won't show.

Ta-da!

Step 4: Run amuck all over Taipei in your swanky new bat costume

Amuck, amuck, amuck!

You and your 15 foreigner friends in costumes have to get from your leopard themed hostel to the Halloween party you're attending somehow. May as well take the subway.

On Ximending

Our entire group with a random Taiwanese guy who wanted to get a picture with us. Can't blame him,
it's not everyday you meet so many well dressed foreigners.

Suave hipster cowboy Ari always gets the girls

Just a bat on the subway. Casual.

"Happy Hallo Ween" everyone!

At the party!

This week, I'm super excited to get to wear my costume to school! More Halloween fun in Taiwan coming soon.

MOFA's Centennial Double Ten Celebration

October 10th, or Double Ten Day, is celebrated here in Taiwan every year as the National Day. It commemorates the uprising that led to the fall of the Qing Dynasty, and the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912. In other words, it's kind of like the Taiwanese version of the 4th of July. This year, 10-10 was especially exciting because the ROC is celebrating its 100th anniversary!

Commemorative arch set up for the occasion on a street shut down for the occasion 

Every year, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs holds a swanky Double Ten gala for all the diplomats and other important people in Taiwan. This year, all the Fulbrighters were invited. It was very exciting getting to go to a bona fide red carpet affair. We may be just lowly elementary school English teachers but lot of dignitaries and diplomats also attended. The president of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou, even made an appearance.

My lovely roomie and I on the red carpet

"I'm President Ma and I approve these dumplings." I didn't actually get to meet
him but I did get a chance to stand a few feet away and take his picture!

There were lots of interesting people from all over the world, more delicious food than I could possibly eat, and there was a fantastic traditional dance/drum performance in the middle of the little lake on the property. To be honest, I didn't really make a lot of fancy new political connections. The most famous person I actually talked to was Miss Taiwan (who, I found out after attempting to speak with her in Chinese, is actually from California). I mostly ate a lot of free food and enjoyed the spectacle. All in all, it was a pretty awesome party.

This one's for you, Dad.

Making custard cakes

Yum! We approve.

Giant flowering Taiwan! Let's hear it for agriculture, everyone.

They even hired some artists to make little clay figurines for guests. Apparently making clay miniatures on a stick is a type of traditional handicraft here in Taiwan. Back in the day, they used to be made of edible materials but now they're just for show (and therefore full of toxic chemicals that make the clay easier to mold). Either way, my parrot was way too cute to eat. 

The artist and my fun new souvenir. Getting him home in one piece
was a definite challenge but he's very happy at home on my desk now.

The Rundown

Sad but true fact of the day: I'm a better traveler than I am blogger. Thus far, I've managed to travel somewhere in Taiwan pretty much every weekend since I've moved here. But I've just been too dang busy to write individual blog posts about all the stuff I've been doing lately.

So I've decided to just give you the highlights. Here's a quick rundown of what I've been up to these past few weeks:

1. I joined a school of fish (the Nan Fang Ao Mackerel Festival)

I got to march with a "school" of fish. Ha. Get it?

The centerpiece of the festival: a giant papier-mâché mackerel that they paraded through the city streets...

... and then proceeded to burn on the beach.

In case you're wondering, yes I did have to help carry the mackerel for part of the parade. But the festival was an awesome experience. Definitely one of the more memorable things I've done thus far in Taiwan. If you want to see more pictures (complete with my commentary, of course) click here.

2. 我偷了一些柚子 (I stole some pomelos)
Siena and a few of my other coworkers invited me to come with them to pick pomelos from some trees that they own. When we got there, they all decided that the pomelos on the other trees looked nicer than the pomelos on our trees. So, after much discussion about the implications of the English idiom "the grass is always greener on the other side," we decided to snag a few off the other trees to see if the grass really is greener. Honest, it was all for the sake of English. 

Siena, caught in the act 

Our haul.

Our verdict? The pomelos aren't always sweeter on the other trees but their insides are always pinker.

3. Despite the fact that I moved to the other side of the world, I still ended up at an old Spanish fort (a trip to Danshui)

Ivy, colonial Spanish buildings, and an American flag.
Fort San Domingo in Danshui is just like home.

It even has cannons. I know where I'll be heading if I ever get
homesick for downtown St. Augustine.

4. I was invited to a 真的 Taiwanese beach party (shindig at Mr. Brown's beach)
Jack and Scorpio, two of the awesome Local English Teachers here in Yilan, invited all of the Fulbrighters to their friend's beach party in Toucheng. About 8 of us went. When we got there, it was pretty much like an elementary school field day except that we were at the beach and we spent a lot of the time being herded about, playing games we had never heard of before, and generally having no idea what was going on. In other words, we had a total blast.

As soon as we got there, we were thrown into a volleyball game: Taiwan ren vs. the foreigners (and Scorpio).  We won! After that, they quickly divided us up so that there were only one or two foreigners on each team for the other games.

Christine playing one of the water games. It involved tying a sponge to your head, running into the ocean, and trying to be the first team to fill your bucket. The people throwing water at us as we did it were just an added bonus.

Me gearing up for another water game. For the record, we kicked everyone's butt. 

To see a video of one of the other beach games (and me participating in it), click here.

5. I took my first scooter trip (I drove all the way to Jioaxi and I didn't die) 

Terri and I shortly before we decided it was a good day for a swim.

Christine, Terri, and I headed over to Jiaoxi when we got out of English Village last Friday afternoon. On this trip, my second to the Jiaoxi waterfalls, there were hardly any other people there. When we got to the top fall, we had the place completely to ourselves. We took in the scenery and then Terri turned to us and said, "You know, it's always been a dream of mine to stand under a waterfall and wash my hair." So, naturally, we decided to ignore the "Danger: deep water" sign and go for a swim. It was heavenly!
(The moral of the story: dreams come true in Taiwan).

Then, to round out our perfect Friday afternoon, we checked out the hot springs (which the area is known for).

The public foot bath

One of the womens' bathing pools

Okay, that was a lot. I'll stop here for now. Next time, I'll tell you all about how Christine and I took a trip to Keelung, got lost, and (among other things) ended up making friends with some bus drivers.