Thanksgiving in Taipei

Well, thanks to the unfortunate paradigm that interesting days leave no time to write about them--(I should really name that situation; any suggestions?)--this is going to have to be short.

Tonight, the Fulbrighters attended a Thanksgiving meal in Taipei hosted by the Director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT--basically the US embassy, except that we don't have diplomatic relations with ROC, so they can't call it that). It was a much smaller gathering than, for instance, our 10/10 celebration, but it was still located in a swanky, marble-and-grand-staircase loaded suite on the 10th floor of a magnificent building not far from Taipei 101. (Also, as I noticed, just down the road from the Taipei offices of such companies as Microsoft an 7-11--it's kind of a big deal!)

The food was AMAZING. They went all out to make us "feel like you're back home for Thanksgiving" (though I don't know about that, since I, for one, don't have massive glass chandeliers and cast-iron-and-marble staircases at home--or, for that matter, one of the best chefs in Taipei cooking and serving the turkey), and the food was stupendous: moist turkey topped with warm whole cranberry sauce and gravy, real Italian-style rolls (not sweetened or air-filled like much of the bread here), mashed potatoes which were more butter than potato (yumm!), and a whole menagerie of scrumptious side dishes which I won't go into here lest you drool on your keyboard.

And, to top it all off, they had real pumpkin pie--a dish absolutely unheard of here--as well as cheesecake, apple torte, and bread pudding. Given that my family always celebrates Thanksgiving (and every other holiday) with more desserts than we have people, this was the one portion of the buffet that felt just about right--if anything, they had not enough choices to match home.

But of course, the main thing that was missing was family, the true cornerstone of the holiday.

After dinner, our "Kaohsiung family" went to a hot pot restaurant to have a few drinks and chat with Alex, who won't be our boss for too much longer, much to our chagrin. Though the weather here has been much warmer than we were led to believe, I decided that, warmth or no warmth, I was going to break out my Seattle-weather clothes. It felt great to be in a trench coat and hat again, whether or not they were truly necessary. Anyway, we shared some good laughs at the restaurant, then headed back to our hotel, where I decided to take advantage of the marvelous jacuzzi bathtub (banishing all thoughts of the negative possibilities of actually using a hotel bathtub from my mind for the sheer pleasure of taking a bath in a cool room).

And that brings us up to now! All in all, it was a stupendous day--but one about which I can't write any more tonight.

This is a blog post

In which I explain that Danny and Dan, friends from school back in the States, are in town, and that as a result, I haven't had time to write a proper blog post today.

So, in a nutshell, today I:

• Hosted AIT's Storytelling event at the library, reading "Silly Sally"--and a host of other books, to somewhat disastrous results. Turns out, an hour is a freakishly long time when your only instructions are to read story books and color, youhave preschoolers and prepared for grade schoolers, and you are in an exposed area of the library being observed by a bunch of young Americans who showed up at the last minute for no apparent reason.
• Wrote my weekly report in record time;
• Met up with Karina for a milk tea/doughnut at Zuoying;
• Picked up Dan and Danny from the HSR station and took them home;
• Got delicious food with Dan, Danny, and Rachel;
• Wrote a draft of Han-Min's RT script.

Which is why this blog is so insubstantial. But at least I explain why.

I got the Fulbright.

Typing that title, I am VERY aware of how overdue a realization it is. But today was spent largely in hammering it, quite successfully into our heads: WE ARE FULBRIGHTERS. And that's a pretty amazing thing.

This morning saw us dressed up and back at Sanmin, where we met the head of the Education Department in Kaohsiung, as well as several other people from that department, and Dr. Li and Dr. Spring, (who insists we just call her Spring, the direct translation of her Chinese name, "Beautiful Spring"), and reunited with Dr. Vocke, whom we had all met in DC. After a warm formal welcome to the city and the program, and a refresher course from Dr. Vocke on Fulbright rules and regulations, we headed to AIT (American Institute of Taiwan), which is the equivalent of the American consulate in Taiwan, since America does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. There, we were greeted by Branch Chief Gary Oba and crew, and the two summer interns, Chas and Andrea, recruited us for the programs they're working.

As a side note: the programs they're working on look great, and we will most likely get to be involved! The first involves reading giant storybooks to kids at the library--basically an extension of our teaching work, anyway--and the second involves a city-wide campaign to learn English! They invited us to star in some videos they are producing about learning English, the results of which will play throughout Kaohsiung in their MRT stations. Local celebrity, here I come!

Anyway, with the formal workings of the day completed, we went back to our apartment building for a quick rest (and a quick jaunt out for onion pancakes--yum!), and then set out for the harbor beach. We took a ferry across the water and got there just in time for the sunset--and it was BEAUTIFUL! The whole area was, really--I've never lived in California, but it reminded me of what I'd imagine Venice beach area to be like, only with Chinese characters everywhere, and selling fried squid and snails instead of hot dogs (though they sold those too). And the beach itself was gorgeous--here's a picture:

If you know me at all, you probably know that I'm not really a huge fan of the beach; this is largely due to the wind. Also, as I learned today, it's largely because I've spent my life in a part of the world where it is completely normal--and necessary, sometimes--to wear a parka when approaching the water, thanks to the chill whipping down the coastline. Well, it was crazy windy here--the typhoon off the northern coast is still throwing a bit of wind our way--but I didn't even care. It felt nice, in fact--a huge joy of living in a warm climate, I suppose. This is the kind of beach I can get behind!

We got some food; I learned how to order watermelon milk, though I've since forgotten, and we sat around taking pictures and watching local guys skim-boarding on the waves. I want to try it sometime--no big waves to worry about, and no sharks, just run and jump on for a few seconds! Looks like fun.

Our first week of training is officially over! Now comes the weekend: tomorrow, we go to see the Gorilla v. Elephant baseball game. Go Elephants!