Food, Lanterns, Books and Indians

Today was full, in every sense of the word. Big meals, and a full 10 hour stretch of fabulous activities in the lovely Kaohsiung.

First off was a gorgeous and sumptuous eight course meal with my wonderful host sister, Emily.

And this was just the salad!

Next up was a movie, which we picked based on the criteria that it a) was in English, b) was playing soon, and c) had seats available, by which complicated logistics we arrived at Contraband, which I give a very sincere rating of "meh, glad I saw it considering our other options, but it's not going to win any Oscars."

Then we went outside and saw that it looked like this.

LOVE.

Then we met up with Margaret and James and headed for the Love River to watch the final day fireworks of the Lantern Festival. They were PHENOMENAL, and went on for a solid six minutes before ending, gloriously, like this:

Yeah those are lanterns. That came out of the fireworks. I really don't even know how that's possible, but it's what happened. There are simply no words for how amazing it was.

Then we looked around at the lantern-designing competition, and, though Hanmin eluded us, we eventually located the one designed my the kids at Qingshan!

Also, it's the year of the dragon now.

Next up was a long walk through the balmy evening and then another delicious meal, this time at a Western-style cafe near Margaret's school. It was great, not just because of the food (yummy tomato risotto and fried fish!) but because of the atmosphere: absolutely perfect for the Lantern Festival.

Still surrounded by lanterns as we ate!

It was 10pm by the time I got home, foot-weary but oh so happy and oh so full.
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So far as one new things go, I'm going to go ahead and pass on all the obvious things, like first lantern festival etc, because I saw two of the most absurdly wonderful things today that I have ever seen. And captured photo evidence that they exist. And they are both, surprise surprise, new! So, here goes.

Thing 13:
This is one part new thing, one part thing I just don't understand about Taiwan: book covers. Walk into any bookstore in Taiwan, and you'll find, amongst the other offerings, table upon table of New York Times Best Seller list titles. "Great," you'll think to yourself, "They have English books here!"

So you walk over, pick up the nearest book and go to flip it open, only to discover that it opens on the wrong side. This should be your first clue. "O...k...." you say, "That's weird..." Then you look down. And discover that, English cover notwithstanding, it's written entirely in Chinese. And you don't speak Chinese.

"But Bekah," you say, "That makes sense! The books are in Taiwan, and they are originally famous in English, so it's logical to advertise them in English but actually sell them in Chinese. Right?"

And maybe you have a point. But I just can't say the same about the book I saw today, perched among at least three other similar covers to the same book:

One Hundred Years of Solitude. Wait, isn't that a Spanish book? Yep, good ol' Gabriel Garcia Marquez was 100% Colombian, amigo, meaning that this book was originally written and published--in Spanish--as Cien Años de Soledad. So why exactly is it titled here only in Chinese and English, with no glimpse whatsoever of the original title or language?


No one knows for sure. It's one of the unsolved mysteries of Taiwan.


Thing 14/Unsolved Mystery of Taiwan 2:
Tonight, as I mentioned previously, I went to the last night of the Lantern Festival at the Love River here in Kaohsiung. There, I saw a strange sight. A very strange sight.

This strange sight.

There I was, strolling along the Taiwanese riverside, which was all decked out for the last bit of celebration of the Lantern Festival, itself the end of the celebration of Chinese New Year, when I hear the oddly familiar sound of traditional Native American music. I look up, and see three people dressed in stereotypical Sioux Indian full dress--which is odd in itself, as I can't determine if they're actually Native American, just your run-of-your-mill Caucasians, or Taiwanese. In full Sioux get-up.

Another track came on over their little boom box, and I realized that wasn't the only thing that was off: their "traditional" music was in Spanish. Say what? Compensating for the Garcia Marquez title above, I guess. But really, I would have been slightly disappointed if the non-Native American Native Americans hawking their wares at a Chinese festival in Taiwan hadn't been singing in Spanish. You know, for continuity's sake.

Rain-scented room

My room smells like rain. I opened the window after I went out for dinner at 7, way over-dressed in a sweatshirt and jacket (it was in the 70s today, but my brain still thinks it should be colder) and discovered that the outside was actually warmer than my bedroom. Now, just past midnight and hours past when I meant to leave the window open, my room is still warm despite my oversight--and it smells like rain. Simply lovely.

Growing up, I never knew what rain smelled like--which is odd, given that it rained continually where I grew up. Maybe that was part of the problem. At any rate, I would constantly hear the grown-ups around me talking about how much they loved the smell of rain and I would just sniff a bit and think, "Really? I don't smell anything..."

I can't remember when I first became aware of the smell of rain, but once I did, there was no going back: I love it. Sweet and earthy, crisp, vivacious...it makes me think of home. So having a room filled with that smell, running through the fresh and just-warm-enough air from outside, just about makes my night.

Thing 12:
I tried out a new restaurant for dinner tonight--one that, unlike many of my one new things on here, I've actually been meaning to try for a long time. I pass it whenever I go to the gym or to the gas station, its little green "O2" sign a constant glowing memory that, oh yeah, I should eat there sometime.

And tonight I did! I was on an accidental walking tour of the neighborhood (mishaps with my ATM card led me back to the bank proper), and it was open, and I was starving, so I decided to give it a go. Great idea! Grapefruit juice and pesto bacon spaghetti (I ordered the chicken, but I won't squabble too much) with fresh bell peppers and broccoli mixed in for 130NT--wonderful.

Blessings and pain...and a party

I've been looking back through my photos from this year, and realizing just how much I've been blessed lately.

I know that probably looks bizarre and/or egotistical in print, but please don't take it that way. That's not my intention at all. It's just that,  going along my merry business here in Taiwan, exploring the countryside, getting to know my host family and co-teachers, celebrating the holidays (all of them, Western and Taiwanese) here, and puddle-jumping over to Thailand for a bit, I caught myself losing sight of what an enormous privilege it is for me to be here in the stress and little details--and that is completely unacceptable. Day-to-day life can sometimes obscure the fact by its sheer inanity, but the truth is that I am enormously blessed to be here, and I don't want to forget that. It's humbling.

So, rather than yammer on about the minutiae of my daily life, I thought I'd offer up this blog as a thank-you. Because, ultimately, the navel-gazing that this blog sometimes (unfortunately) becomes has no place in the midst of all these blessings. They have nothing to do with me, and I am not in the slightest bit worthy of them. All I can do is look back at them and be grateful for the opportunities I have been given.

If you've made it this far in the blog, you've realized that I'm in a contemplative mood; that means that, even when looking at my blessings here, I can't help but look at the things (or, more accurately, people) missing. Like my brothers. And my parents. And my friends in Corvallis and Seattle and Eugene--and Chicago and DC and everywhere else they've scattered to that I don't even know about, thanks to my own round-the-globe move. I miss them acutely tonight, for no apparent reason other than that I do.

So there it is: the two-edged sword of my existence here. Humblingly great experiences coupled with the neverending knowledge of something missing. I wish they could be separated, but they can't.

...

Lest you think I'm getting too emo on you, though, here it is, today's one new thing!

Thing 12:
I went to a party at Professor Spring's house! This was new on several levels, really:

• I am on a party-attending, first-name-using, almost-peer basis with a professor;
• I attended a party hosted by a Taiwanese person who is not a member of my host family;
• I rode in an elevator with a dog (Spring has 3; 2 were there, and we wanted to see the roof!);
• I saw fireworks over the Love River (from a distance, of course);
• There are probably several more reasons but I'm too tired to think of them right now.

The party was great! Spring cooked for us, a massive Taiwanese meal rich with crispy veggies (a rarity here; I feasted on a fresh stir-fryed carrot, green bean and snap pea mix!), sumptuous duck, Zuoying specialty dumplings, a delicious cabbage-and-pork dish, and far too many other things to describe in any detail. The point was, it was lovely. After we ate, as I described earlier, we went up to the roof and watched the nightly fireworks they shoot over the Love River for the Lantern Festival, then came down and chatted with Spring about her life, her dogs, and various controversial things supplied by Brittany and Steven. (Actual recreated exchange: Brittany: "Let's talk about something controversial!" Steven: "I'm ready. Say something controversial!")

So yeah. Pretty great evening.

Little Things

When Karina and her mom asked me, this evening, what I did today, I couldn't easily give them an answer. In truth, what I did today is almost identical to what I did yesterday; here, for those interested, is the link to the third and final installment of my pictures from Thailand:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2658116619440.2114778.1451610020&type=1&l=a33c460429

Apart from that, the highlight of my day came at dinner, which gave way to a series of small one new things, so here it is:

Thing 11:
Very, very small new things. I ate at Chialing's, where I've eaten many times because her cooking is just so fabulously good, but even so, I sought out new things where I could. I took a different route, and discovered along the way any number of little shops that I still need to try sometime.

Once there, Chialing was beyond busy, but she was still able to recommend for me something new to eat, a simply scrumptious noodle dish with meat and some sort of pickled cabbage on top, together with an egg, which I cooked for myself, as the Taiwanese patrons looked on. Quite shocked them, I believe. In any case, the resulting meal was easily the best I've had since being back in Taiwan, and I think it has permanently supplanted my previous standbys at Chialing's. And it's a new thing!

The other very small new things of the evening were a oh-so-creamy honeydew melon ice cream/yogurt that I had for dessert, and nonfat milk, of all things--I've rarely seen it here in Taiwan, and never purchased it, until tonight. Quite tasty, these two things, and quite small, but new!

Mundane Living

I hate days like these when I sit down to blog. I don't, however, hate them while I'm living them; they're necessary on many levels.

Today was mundane. I mostly sat around the apartment doing various things, and running various errands as necessary.

I finished re-reading Persuasion (LOVE that book, by the way; go read it if you haven't! That link's to a free digital version, too, so you really have no excuse not to read it.). I watched Vanilla Sky for the first time (Weird movie...still debating how I feel about it.). I chatted with Rachel and her parents.

I chatted with Fonda about our respective vacations and my apartment's bills. I vacuumed my rug; washed my sheets; flipped my mattress (SUCH a difference! I don't think anyone has used this side, ever...it's like new!).

I grabbed a coffee from Donutes, accidentally mispronouncing the word for hazelnut in the process. The green onion pancake place I was craving was closed, so I had dumplings for dinner, to the usual effect (delicious at the time, tasting it less pleasantly for hours afterward).

I drove to Karina's to drop off her camera and umbrella--and somehow left both her camera and her umbrella at home. I chatted with Karina and her mom. I drove home and commenced a huge (and ultimately successful) search for my missing watch.

But mostly, what I did was edit and upload photos, 165 so far today, and I'm currently debating adding ferry pictures to my current album or leaving them for my Koh Phi Phi album. Anyway, here's my link to our explorations of Krabi: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2649873373364.2114663.1451610020&type=3&l=21c1bc4493

So, really, not a lot going on today. But sometimes these days are absolutely necessary, and absolutely wonderful to live through. I'm feeling both relaxed and somewhat accomplished (clean bed, pictures posted, etc), even though I didn't manage to fit in a one new thing today. Sometimes, it's best to stick to the ordinary, tried-and-true, mundane old things for a day.

Pictures, videos, and more pictures

That's been my day: uploading, editing, and sharing. Honestly, it's somewhat exhausting sorting through vacation pictures, if you also want to edit them, upload them to Facebook, comment on them, tag people, and mark where they were taken. This is especially true if, as today, Facebook tells you with some regularity that you don't have permission to edit your own albums, for some bizarre reason.

Anyway, here's the fruits of my labor, in the form of my first Thailand album and the link to my Youtube page, where you can find my videos chronicling dancing elephants and elephant ridie in Chiang Mai, and hundreds of thousands of terrified crabs and a gorgeous sunset with the sound of a muezzin call at Krabi.

Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2644331434819.2114580.1451610020&type=1&l=04c4bfe453

and video:
http://www.youtube.com/user/grahamcrackersarecoo?blend=1&ob=0

More pictures are forthcoming.

But also, today's one new thing!

Thing 10:
I ventured outside my restaurant comfort zone today and began my exploration of the streets behind my apartment. Today, that meant a nice stroll along the backside of the street reading menus until I got to the oven-baked pizza place which throws its garlic-and-cheese smell out into the street for all to covet. Once there, I was able to ask in Chinese whether or not they could do take-out (they could) and then used my standard point-and-say method to order myself a Margherita pizza, one of my all-time favorites, before sitting down to await it. I was the only person in the shop when I went in, but I seem to have brought the customers with me, as two or three people trickled in as I sat there. Interesting phenomenon...going to have to keep an eye on it.

Armed with my pizza, I walked back by way of a busy little restaurant I've been eying for a while now, for its juice stand section. (My favorite juice stand went out of business a few months ago.) So I stopped in and ordered a watermelon juice, only to discover that the staff is all but surly, and there is absolutely nowhere to stand in that restaurant without being in someone's way, especially while holding a pizza box. Maybe I'll try again--it is the only juice stand I know of nearby--but it was supremely awkward. At least the juice was tasty.

When I got home, I discovered that my pizza was not, in fact, Margherita, but something else altogether, with shredded cheese, sliced cherry tomatoes, and not a basil leaf in sight. Very sad, and odd since I heard the waitress repeat my order twice, both to me and to the pizza maker, yet he somehow still made it wrong. Oh well, it was still decent, just not terribly awe- or trust-inspiring for this particular shop.

Anyway, here's what I got for my adventures in dinnertime. You win some, you lose some.

Empty Streets

Thing 5:
The streets of Kaohsiung are deserted. Truly, truly deserted. As in, I went for a walk at 6pm, and it could have just as easily been 2am--all the shops are closed, the lights are off, and there's next to no one in the streets, either walking or driving.

Let me just put this in perspective: there's no one. On the streets. In downtown Kaohsiung, which, beside being a large city, is one based on a night-market culture. (In a hot climate, it just makes sense.) But all that to say, I've rarely been on the street and seen few people there; I've never been on the street when there was no one there.

Until today. Honestly, the street looked more alive the other day when I got in after midnight; I hadn't realized how much light the various storefronts emitted until tonight, when they were all, unceremoniously, gone.

And why? The answer is simple: 新年快樂! Today is Chinese New Year's Eve, meaning that everyone is home with their families, celebrating. It's odd: it's not a holiday I've ever celebrated before, but it feels much stranger to not be with family today than it did on, say, Thanksgiving. It's amazing what cultural pressure will do.

On the flip side, it's been a pretty nice day for me. Plenty of time to hang out, work on my Fulbright midyear report (ugh), go to the gym, and get ready for my trip to Thailand, which begins in *gasp* a mere two days! So there's that.

But it's odd, looking out at a Kaohsiung in which only the 7-11s of the world are open--a truly deserted place, indeed.

Pancakes

Thing 4:
I made pancakes today for the first time since being in Taiwan. Or, rather, I helped make pancakes. When I got up I found Analicia beginning the process; I volunteered my help and my griddle, and suggested we add chocolate chips and bananas, which was obviously a fantastic choice.

So that was my one new thing of the day. It wasn't really my only new thing, but the thing I'm more excited about is much more difficult to put into a "new" framework, since it was the objectively simpler act of going to the gym for an hour for the first time in...well, a while. Also, it was great.

Another new thing, at least for this break, is happening right now: I'm going to bed before 3am. Let's keep this thing going!

Swimsuit

One day in, I'm actually doing a pretty good job with this one new thing thing. Such a good job that one new thing becomes many new things.

Today, for instance: I bought a bagel from Shakespeare's (first!), went shopping at Central Park (first!), actually bought something at a Taiwanese department store (first!), got myself and Karina lost on the way back to my scooter (semi-first!), rode my scooter with an un-helmeted passenger (first!), and resultingly drove the speed limit in Taiwan (first!).

Also in the realm of firsts, Analicia made pizza and helped me make Nanaimo bars, and Karina and Analicia both watched The Matrix.

So, out of all those firsts, I give you today's 1 New Thing: my first-ever purchase from a department store in Taiwan. Because it's pretty. And because it's 5am (first!) and I want to go to sleep now.

1 New Thing

Upon discovering today that not setting an alarm for myself results in me sleeping till 1pm, thus making it all too easy for me to squander my break doing nothing, I've decided to give myself a new mission: do one new thing every day of break.

Kaohsiung is a big city, and, as I've mentioned before, at this point in my stay here I very much have my routines. Routine routes, routine restaurants, routine stops along the way, so it is that when I'm, for instance, going somewhere with Fonda, I'll look around and realize I am surrounded by unfamiliar streets, restaurants, shops, and parks which look absolutely amazing.

And when better to discover these than now, while I'm on break?

So, today: Thing 1

...is actually Thing 1 and Thing 2. First of all, I finally learned the above-ground route to Karina's apartment, and actually rode my scooter there, rather than depending on the time-sensitive MRT. (Thus I just got back from there, and learned that my building closes the door to the garage before midnight. Luckily they have motion sensors to open it, though.) And the journey was gratifying: I spent about an hour wrangling with Google maps trying to get a more direct route, watching them add minute by minute to the expected journey length as I did so, before finally saying "screw it" and taking my own route. Which, as it turned out, was a full 20 minutes faster than they said it would be.

That's right, I officially know enough of the city to outsmart Google. Woohoo!

Thing 2 falls into the "new restaurant" category, though it was a bit of a cheat. Karina and I went to a Mexican restaurant near her apartment which neither of us had tried before, but which Karina's roommate, Esther, constantly raves about. I've been craving Mexican food for about a month now, so it was a good fit, though obviously not nearly of the caliber of most places at home (smidge soggy, missing some of the normal spices). But it was pretty well priced, had all the fixin's, as well as can be provided here (Spanish rice, refried beans, cheese-and-sauce topped enchilada, "chips" and "salsa"), and bottomless free soft drinks.

Mmmm, Taiwanese Mexican...also, those chunks on the right are the "salsa"

So yeah, I'll probably go back at some point. But not during break, because I'll be off collecting more 1 New Things!