For the last four years I have celebrated the new year at Christmas Conference in Indy, surrounded by my friends having a crazy dance party and praying in the new year. The thought of not participating made me wonder if the year could actually expire without this tradition. Well, it did. Though the western new year doesn’t actually mark the changing of the years in Taiwan, it is still celebrated throughout the country for us westerners. After work, Susanne, Shyra and I got all dolled up for the Hotel One Wild party. I had spend a series of nights at the night market assembling a wild-themed outfit. We all hustled down to the posh hotel, unsure of what the night would hold. As the elevator doors opened, I saw the first glipse of the wild theme- a parrot sitting amoung the tropical trees. This was followed by a series of flashes from the evening’s photographer, who felt the need to exclaim “So Sexy!!”. I attempted to take a photo with my bird friend, but the little sucker bit me. He just went for it- and my shreek was something that I could most likely never recreate , except for a situation of pure panic and trauma. We quickly hustled into the party to find the epitome of a hotel party, including live birds, attractive bar tender, and fancy lights that made me feel as if I was on an episode of the Hills. We counted down the new year with a band and some bad western dancing, only to go to my favorite Taiching spot… Elementary School bar. A bar with the classic Asian charm of beads, sheets for curtains, school desks for tables, and a series of private tables with a ceiling of umbrellas. Let’s not forget the welcoming karokee stage where I preformed my clutch song of “I would walk 500 miles” We finished the night pretty late, only to wake up with the excitement of an impromptu trip to the southern most part of the island, Kenting. After the very speedy trip on the high speed rail and a close taxi trip we arrived in sunny Kenting. It felt like an entirely different country, with the sapphire blue skies and sandy beaches. Andy, Shyra, and I made friends with another guy in our shared hostel room, Will. We bonded after I was talking about school house rock and although Andy and Shyra were doing the “Yonker, really..” look, Will pulled up the Conjunction Junction as if he got ready to it every morning. We then preceeded to have one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life on a café right next to the beach. Complete with my first whole fish. “You eat the head?!?” Turns out that is the best meat. But the eating didn’t stop there, the night market that lined the downtown streets of Kenting had more flavor than a Mexican quesadilla. It was packed full of games, food, and shops with a relaxed beachy feel. After Andy’s hopes and dreams were crushed multiple times by the basketball game, we decided to enjoy the beach. I had forgotten how truly unique and awe-inspiring beaches are. It’s easy because of the many postcards, beachy posters, and photographs scattered around family’s living rooms. There is nothing like being there- holey and completely there. I felt like I was looking upon a never ending abis, as the gray clouds and black sky and water all eventually melted together. There is a room in the IMA’s (Indianapolis Art Museum” 3rd floor that is my favorite in the entire museum. Partly because I’ve never seen anything like it before, so it __ embodies the description of “unique” and also because it is an experience, not just a painting. When you walk into the room, the “painting” appears to be a modern mix of gray hues, but walking closer, you can see that its infact not even a painting at all. It’s in fact a hole. A hole in the wall that looks onto a big white recatangular hole. The lights are arranged so that you want to just dive in to see how deep it goes. This moment on the beach was the same feeling.
The next morning we tackled the National Park, complete with a trek through the park, exploring the lighthouse, and a nap on the dock. I’ve noticed a continuous theme in the National Parks here. They aren’t the standard “park” that comes complete with a couple loosly marked trails and a run down bathroom. These parks are organized adventures with very clear pathways, maps, and little hidden treasures. In Kenting, we found small caves, tree “graveyards”, and a series of other small wonders that made me feel as if I was actually walking through the Canyland game.
Kenting felt like another country, and for a small island like Taiwan- that’s pretty impressive. Everyone was much more laid back, and we finished off the weekend by enjoying our upgraded room, relaxing on the beaches, and riding a packed taxi back to our normal lives in Taichung.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Teacher Snowflake
Pictures are really the key the understanding of this whole escapade. Yes, I covered myself and the break room in paper snowflakes. No, the kids have never seen snow before and were totally confused at the sight of me. I had imagined that when they introduced me as “Teacher Snowflake” the little children would go wild- as if Miley Cirus was in the room. Instead, I looked out to a bunch of cute little Asian faces with a variety of “Jigga What?” expressions on their faces.
Hess’ Christmas Party was the Saturday before Christmas, and both Nazeer and I volunteered to help. Nazeer was Santa… complete with a paper-like version of a fairly small Santa suit and a jacked-up beard. Together, we taught the kids to dance the chicken dance and the hokey-pokey, because hey- that’s what we all do at home each year. We also volunteered our services to teach carols, hand out gifts, and judge the many competitions.
The children came deccced out in full on costumes. Not many were really Christmas-themed, but they did what Christmas costumea are supposed to do. They made us all laugh, made the kids feel awesome, and helped the celebrate as the walked down our handmade runway to Beyonce. I have to admit, that my smile was pretty much fixed the whole day, which sometimes doesn’t even happen in traditional celebrations.
Enjoy the pictures folks, as they are much more descriptive than the video… which you will never, ever see. : )
After the celebration Nazeer and I felt a little like rockstars. And what do rockstars do? They party. So we trecked down to the night market for some tasty treats and a bakery run/conversation. Imagine us sitting outside in the warm air after enjoying pastries just talking among the masses of people at the night market. Now add a little shake-n-bake. Because, that’s exactly what happened. My very first earthquake.
In tornadoes, you get away from windows and stay low to the ground. In hurricanes you leave town and if you can’t, you stay away from windows and don’t try to drive. In a blizzard you build a fire, hunker down, and enjoy some shut-in time with friends or family. In a earthquake… what in Sam-hell’s name do you do? I’ve been told to put a mattress over you, get under a door frame, or under a desk. But I was outside. On a patio covered by a very large building. Both Nazeer and I froze and then Nazeer had the presence of mind to run. That’s right… run. He had seen the light fixtures swaying and we both heard the bakery girls scream an run out, so he just followed suit. After I composed the hott mess of myself, I soon joined him. It was so weird. The ground was shaking. It was like a bad full earth massage. And it freaked me out, because for the first time in a while I had no clue what to do. I wasn’t prepared.
Where was everyone else? Shyra was in our 14-story apartment and felt it pretty hard with the intense swaying of the building. Suzanne was out with friends. The boys were also out in Changua. Most people barely were affected by it, but it was a little sobering. The local response was, “ah, that was easy.” They weren’t shaken or visibly scared. This whole experience started a short obsession with the earthquake website that monitors every earthquake, the time, and how strong it was. Turns out Hualien has them at about a 4.3 range almost every day. So kids, it looks like we are all going to make it. Whew.
Hess’ Christmas Party was the Saturday before Christmas, and both Nazeer and I volunteered to help. Nazeer was Santa… complete with a paper-like version of a fairly small Santa suit and a jacked-up beard. Together, we taught the kids to dance the chicken dance and the hokey-pokey, because hey- that’s what we all do at home each year. We also volunteered our services to teach carols, hand out gifts, and judge the many competitions.
The children came deccced out in full on costumes. Not many were really Christmas-themed, but they did what Christmas costumea are supposed to do. They made us all laugh, made the kids feel awesome, and helped the celebrate as the walked down our handmade runway to Beyonce. I have to admit, that my smile was pretty much fixed the whole day, which sometimes doesn’t even happen in traditional celebrations.
Enjoy the pictures folks, as they are much more descriptive than the video… which you will never, ever see. : )
After the celebration Nazeer and I felt a little like rockstars. And what do rockstars do? They party. So we trecked down to the night market for some tasty treats and a bakery run/conversation. Imagine us sitting outside in the warm air after enjoying pastries just talking among the masses of people at the night market. Now add a little shake-n-bake. Because, that’s exactly what happened. My very first earthquake.
In tornadoes, you get away from windows and stay low to the ground. In hurricanes you leave town and if you can’t, you stay away from windows and don’t try to drive. In a blizzard you build a fire, hunker down, and enjoy some shut-in time with friends or family. In a earthquake… what in Sam-hell’s name do you do? I’ve been told to put a mattress over you, get under a door frame, or under a desk. But I was outside. On a patio covered by a very large building. Both Nazeer and I froze and then Nazeer had the presence of mind to run. That’s right… run. He had seen the light fixtures swaying and we both heard the bakery girls scream an run out, so he just followed suit. After I composed the hott mess of myself, I soon joined him. It was so weird. The ground was shaking. It was like a bad full earth massage. And it freaked me out, because for the first time in a while I had no clue what to do. I wasn’t prepared.
Where was everyone else? Shyra was in our 14-story apartment and felt it pretty hard with the intense swaying of the building. Suzanne was out with friends. The boys were also out in Changua. Most people barely were affected by it, but it was a little sobering. The local response was, “ah, that was easy.” They weren’t shaken or visibly scared. This whole experience started a short obsession with the earthquake website that monitors every earthquake, the time, and how strong it was. Turns out Hualien has them at about a 4.3 range almost every day. So kids, it looks like we are all going to make it. Whew.
It’s a Wonderful Christmas
So what is the real recipe for the Christmas experience? Us Midwesterns have been conditioned to expect cold, windy days, snow on Christmas eve, a plethora of Christmas treats within reach at all time, at least one family gathering, and most importantly, the recognition that it is celebrating Jesus’ birth. In Taiwan, I’m now convinced the recipe is simply one party glitter/glam and one part western curiosity. Only one “Baby Jesus” was found in a random rooftop, which upon closer inspection was the size of a 3 or 4 year old.
The day was here before we all knew it, and there certainly wasn’t any snow or cold or even Christmas treats. Where were my buckeyes? My peppermint bark? Even…. Dare I say… my eggnog? And oh the lack of Christmas flavored coffee creamers…. It still hurts to remember a sold four months later(which I'm sorry 1,000 times for... I blame the lack of planner). I missed Church too. I haven’t found one yet, and I didn’t have the joyous celebration with “Angles we have Heard On High”, a song that gives annually me chills. Honestly, I told myself to just roll with it, so I did. I didn’t expect anything, so I wouldn’t be disappointed.
With that said, Chirstmas turned out to be wonderful. The Taiching 10 came together as a family, minus the crazy Uncle that asks you to routinely try Aloe juice or something of that sort. In fact, it was full of laughter, gifts, and a lot of great food.
Christmas isn’t a national holiday, so we all had the choice of working. Due to my newness of the branch, I decided to. Heck, I even subbed a class. Shyra and I were throwing the Christmas Eve party and brunch, and everyone was planning on leaving with enough time for me to catch a cab to work. I hunted down Elf with a passion, which we watched on Christmas Eve complete with Champaign off our 14-story balcony, real cheese supplied by Anna, a rather large sleepover, and a few angry calls from the security guards.
On Christmas morning I have to admit that I still woke up with that childish rush. Gifts! They were all supplied by “secret santas” and covering our stairwell just begging to be opened. Anticipation is actually a huge part of Christmas, which makes the “holiday” truly what it is. After all, isn’t the anticipation of events actually better than the events themselves? Now, this is very different from the Religious celebration aspect of the day, which is infact what the entire purpose is.
We started cooking- and by me, I mean Shyra- and everyone trickled in with their dishes. People brought sweet potatoes, fruit, veggies, meat, beer, and dessert. Yum! After we all ate ourselves silly, it was time for secret santa. It was our only gift of the day, but that was more than fine for each of us. We all took turns in the “hot seat” opening the gift then guessing who it was from. I annoyingly asked each person what their favorite Christmas song was to further the mood. For only knowing each other for roughly a month, the gifts were extremely well throughout and unique. Many people found teaching supplies, but also small gifts that they would have never purchased for themselves… the best kind of gift. Nazeer, a close friend of mine, was my secret santa. And he actually out-smarted me. Which, considering I had figured out/helped shop for over half our group’s gifts, was a very large accomplishment. I was surprised with things that reminded us of inside jokes, a tea cup, and a beautiful scarf among other things. Susanne wins for the “most excited” award though, as I’m sure everyone agrees, and her joy was pretty contagious.
After the gifts were swapped, the chicken's head was chopped off, and part favors were enjoyed, we all headed off to our respective locations. I barely got to work on time, struggled through two classes, and then struggled home in just enough time to call various family and friends. So Ladies and gentlemen... there you have it- a Taiwan Christmas!
The day was here before we all knew it, and there certainly wasn’t any snow or cold or even Christmas treats. Where were my buckeyes? My peppermint bark? Even…. Dare I say… my eggnog? And oh the lack of Christmas flavored coffee creamers…. It still hurts to remember a sold four months later(which I'm sorry 1,000 times for... I blame the lack of planner). I missed Church too. I haven’t found one yet, and I didn’t have the joyous celebration with “Angles we have Heard On High”, a song that gives annually me chills. Honestly, I told myself to just roll with it, so I did. I didn’t expect anything, so I wouldn’t be disappointed.
With that said, Chirstmas turned out to be wonderful. The Taiching 10 came together as a family, minus the crazy Uncle that asks you to routinely try Aloe juice or something of that sort. In fact, it was full of laughter, gifts, and a lot of great food.
Christmas isn’t a national holiday, so we all had the choice of working. Due to my newness of the branch, I decided to. Heck, I even subbed a class. Shyra and I were throwing the Christmas Eve party and brunch, and everyone was planning on leaving with enough time for me to catch a cab to work. I hunted down Elf with a passion, which we watched on Christmas Eve complete with Champaign off our 14-story balcony, real cheese supplied by Anna, a rather large sleepover, and a few angry calls from the security guards.
On Christmas morning I have to admit that I still woke up with that childish rush. Gifts! They were all supplied by “secret santas” and covering our stairwell just begging to be opened. Anticipation is actually a huge part of Christmas, which makes the “holiday” truly what it is. After all, isn’t the anticipation of events actually better than the events themselves? Now, this is very different from the Religious celebration aspect of the day, which is infact what the entire purpose is.
We started cooking- and by me, I mean Shyra- and everyone trickled in with their dishes. People brought sweet potatoes, fruit, veggies, meat, beer, and dessert. Yum! After we all ate ourselves silly, it was time for secret santa. It was our only gift of the day, but that was more than fine for each of us. We all took turns in the “hot seat” opening the gift then guessing who it was from. I annoyingly asked each person what their favorite Christmas song was to further the mood. For only knowing each other for roughly a month, the gifts were extremely well throughout and unique. Many people found teaching supplies, but also small gifts that they would have never purchased for themselves… the best kind of gift. Nazeer, a close friend of mine, was my secret santa. And he actually out-smarted me. Which, considering I had figured out/helped shop for over half our group’s gifts, was a very large accomplishment. I was surprised with things that reminded us of inside jokes, a tea cup, and a beautiful scarf among other things. Susanne wins for the “most excited” award though, as I’m sure everyone agrees, and her joy was pretty contagious.
After the gifts were swapped, the chicken's head was chopped off, and part favors were enjoyed, we all headed off to our respective locations. I barely got to work on time, struggled through two classes, and then struggled home in just enough time to call various family and friends. So Ladies and gentlemen... there you have it- a Taiwan Christmas!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)