Wedding in Taiwan!

Since I got here, I've been seeing post after post pop up on my fellow ETAs' walls, proclaiming that they've been at a Taiwanese wedding feast. Some have liked it, some haven't, and all have come away talking about the lavishness of the food and traditions accompanying it. Several people have been to more than one. Yet, eight and a half months into my stay here, I had yet to experience one myself.

Until tonight, that is! My principal's daughter got married (as I noted here, I recently got wedding cake for the occasion), and as a part of the (many, many) ceremonies attending that, the principal invited all of the teachers at 漢民 (Hanmin) to the wedding feast. Let me be clear: Hamin's a big school--something between 2 and 3,000 students big. Hanmin teachers easily took up 16 or so 12-person tables.

Yet even so, our numbers were dwarfed by the assembly as a whole. According to Fiona, there were 130 12-person tables set for the wedding, which makes for a whopping 1,560 attendees! Even taking into consideration the fact that some people didn't come, there were definitely at least 1,200 people in the assembly room.

One very small portion of the hall. You can kind of see the front wall/stage area next to the no smoking sign...

Opulence was definitely the name of the game. Oh, and did I mention that the assembly room in question was in the downstairs portion of the Bao-an Temple by Golden Lion Lake, a famous (and HUGE) Kaohsiung Daoist temple?

This also can't convey scale, but see how it's got a special bridge leading directly and specifically to it? Yeah.

 (Here's a link to a more comprehensive view of how huge and elaborately decorated this place is.)

We were early (Fiona picked Ingrid and I up at my place and drove ), and spent the first couple hours chit-chatting and talking about the many many things involved in making a successful Taiwanese wedding and all the things people do to ensure good luck for the married couple. At some point, music started; at some later point, a video stream showing the wedding party taking part in all the traditions began on the several TVs around the room. Also at some point, it became all but impossible for us to hear one another.

Ingrid discovering that the cups at our first table had Coca-Cola insignias on them :)

Fiona waiting with the Academic Director's son (dressed all in green plaid, poor boy) concentrating on his video games.

Each row is another course: count 'em up, 12!

Soon, everyone was there--Alison and Maggie joined us to form a whole row of English teachers, and eventually a few other people, starting with the music teacher who shares our office, took courage to sit with us--and the feasting began! SO much seafood, ranging from lobster to an angry-looking (but delicious-tasting) fish to shrimp-flavored rice.

Oh yeah, and a black chicken soup! Because why not?

Final course: ice cream bars. We made it!

Between dishes, we had such lovely little experiences as Teacher Penguin thrusting vegetarian dishes onto our plates (I guess he didn't want them or something?), my tutoree Hal coming over for a chat (odd out-of-context encounter I should have thought about, since his dad's a Hanmin teacher), more than a few completely missed main events (we could hear a muffled version of what was going on, but could only see if they turned on the video cameras, something they failed to do for, for instance, a dance routine some group did).

Also, of course, we got to see the beautiful bride and bridal procession, which paraded around the hall for everyone to see. :)

The bride with her dad: blurry but still beautiful!

By the time we were ready to pack up and head home, my stomach felt like it would pop and I felt fully initiated into the rites of a Taiwanese wedding banquet. On the way out the bride (in at least her 3rd dress of the evening; possibly 4th) and her family gave everyone candies as they exited.

An exhausting, but wonderful experience! And now I, too, can add my post on a Taiwanese wedding to the pantheon of ETA postings; I, too, have experienced the largesse of a Taiwanese wedding, and I, too, have the bloated belly to prove it. Quite the night!

Kids, Critters, Camping and Beauty

I love camping. Let's just start there: love it. Camping has been a constant in my summers for as long as I can remember, most frequently in groups of several families. Old family videos pan between adults getting food ready, getting the boat ready to go fishing, and heading down to whatever water we're camped next to and kids racing the dogs around in a state of mania, ready to go swimming, fishing, or "critter hunting."

All of which is just one reason this weekend was so amazing.

At Sun Moon Lake with Karina and her host family, Casey and Yvonne and their adorable kids Ken and Jessica (newly self-minted as Jessica; she used to be Coco), I got all of this. We were camping with a group that included around 15 kids (and 2 dogs), who spent the time running around the campsite together, alternating between fishing down on the dock, driving around on the bike-trolley provided by the campground to get your stuff from your car to your campsite, and looking for praying mantises and toads.

They were frequently successful. Not pictured: a huge box filled with praying mantises and grasshoppers--and the scorpion they found under Tiffiany's tent

 

"This one is cute!" Oscar told me...I'm somewhat less than convinced. (As is he, judging from his face)

Yeah this little guy was waiting for Tiffiany when she rolled up her tent this morning...the kids were somewhat less cavalier with him, surprise surprise!

It was like reliving my childhood, but with an adult perspective this time. (And many more poisonous species--Ken informed me they'd once seen a cobra in the vicinity of one of the places we visited.) It was fantastic. Especially considering that my hectic graduation-China-DC-Taiwan schedule left no time for camping this past summer, it really felt like it filled a gaping void in my year so far.

And that's not even mentioning the view. It was absolutely breathtaking--and also, in its own way, hearkened back to childhood summers spent at Suttle Lake. There is simply no beating alpine lakes for beauty, I don't care what you say--especially when the lake is green-aqua and the rising mountains are covered in palm leaves and banana trees, crowned by spiring pagodas.

This morning was GORGEOUS.

And the pagoda: you can see it in the last of the photos above, the white-and-red tower jutting from the rightmost peak. We visited it (that was where Ken said they'd seen a cobra before; I kept an eye out in equal measures of fear and excitement) on Saturday, and climbed the many stairs to the top, where a giant gong/bell hung, ready for those who wanted to make wishes. Casey suggested that Karina and I wish for men, since we're both single; when I accidentally struck it twice, he looked perplexed and told me that meant two guys would be after me at the same time! I told him great! Haha, but I'll believe it when I see it.

The pagoda itself afforded great views of Sun Moon Lake and the surrounding area--none of which I captured on film, though, because I left my camera at the base with Yvonne, Ken and Jessica to take photos of Karina, Casey and I as we climbed.

WILD poinsettias on the way up

 

At the top at last!

Jessica playing. :)

Yesterday evening was fantastic, on many levels. First of all, (again, like when I go camping at home), the families all shared meals; one woman was a professional cook, so everyone paid into a food fund and she provided the most delicious meals ever. So last night's meal consisted of mashed potatoes, beef-and-carrot gravy, rolls, cheesy salmon, chicken stir fry, fried veggies, and rolls, amongst many many other delicious things which I seem to have forgotten at the moment.



Last night was also cold--surprisingly so. I wore jeans the whole trip, and last night my rain jacket was not warm enough; it wasn't until I actually went back to my tent and layered a sweatshirt underneath it that I was comfortable. Part of this was no doubt caused by the fact that I was sitting in a light rain while watching Cars 2 in Chinese with the kids (motionless and drizzle is not good for warmth--and I've determined that the rain is following me on these trips, thanks to my personal black cloud), but still, it was kind of nice to be chilled for a bit in November--it only seemed natural.
 
Today found us visiting a local and famous black tea garden (though it was closed, so we settled for pictures of the scenery at the gate), then taking down camp, stopping at a famous temple and then a famous chicken rice place, and then heading back.

Morning at the dock

Tea!

Camping is truly one of the best things life has to offer, especially when it offers, as a bonus, the opportunity to see a great natural beauty like Sun Moon Lake. This weekend proved that definitively. What it also proved, though, is how hard the ground can be when you've forgotten a pillow--and now, sitting on my bed at home, I can't wait to get back to this one creature comfort. For tonight, at least--but soon, it'll be back to the campsite for me. It just feels right.