Lantern Festival

The 15th day of the lunar new year is lantern festival. There are festivals all over the Taiwan mostly consisting of a large collection of handmade lanterns on display. There are however a few more elaborate festivals, ranging from one in Tainan where they shoot fireworks directly at you (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auiIxZgGh_s&feature=related) to the one I went to north of Taipei where they set lanterns off into the sky. The festival was in a town called Pingxi in the mountains, and it was supposed to be about 2 hours by train from where I live. After two legs of train travel we boarded the train in Rueifang ready to head for Pingxi. This is where we first encountered the mob of people we were about to spend the rest of the day with. The train platform was packed, and when the train pulled in there was a full on stampede to board. This was one of those moments I was thankful to be tall and able to breath over the crowd.

Miraculously we were able to get seats on the train, but once it was totally filled with people it then sat still for an entire hour. As we were unable to understand the Chinese announcements I was confused, but there was no way I was moving out of my seat. Finally the train left and after a few stops we pulled into Pingxi. Getting off the train I was forced to follow the crowd even though we were going against the exit signs. It was then that I understood why our train had been unable to move and got my first view of the sky lanterns. People were climbing off the platform and walking along the tracks, and they were setting off fireworks from the train station. There were vendor stalls right up against the tracks where people were buying giant paper lanterns. After writing their wishes on the lanterns, they lit paper money to create a kind of hot air balloon, and then let it off into the sky. If the lantern flies away it is good luck, but if the lantern catches on fire or crashes into something I'm pretty sure you are cursed for the year. One of the first lanterns I saw launched directly into a telephone pole and went up into flames. I was concerned that no one seemed concerned over this.

As we walked along the tracks and then continued on the tiny winding streets we saw the usual street food mixed in with stalls selling these lanterns. At the end of the road we came to a big arena with a stage where they would let off hundreds of the lanterns at a time. It was really beautiful to see them all in the sky, but I'm pretty sure Smokey the bear would not have been happy. In addition to the lanterns there were fireworks from all directions, and a lot of the time I could feel the ash falling on my head. After we checked out the festival we bought our own lantern. There were two young girls running the stall who thankfully showed us how to light the lantern, and it flew off without a hitch!

On the way home we decided to take the shuttle bus, thinking it would be faster. Unfortunately I think every single person at the festival had the same idea, and we ended up waiting in line for over 2 hours to catch a bus back to Taipei.

Sign off the train platform. This rule apparently did not apply.

Lantern stuck on the telephone pole in flames

People letting off a lantern on the train tracks

People on the street decorating their lanterns.

Lanterns in the sky

My wishes for the future. They include a job that makes lots of money, a dog, and lots of travel. And of course some time at the beach.

Giving love luck for the year. Since my lantern did not catch on fire, none of these people need to break up. You can thank me later.

Our lantern before the fire

Our lantern blown up and ready to fly. It was actually really hot to hold onto.

Lanterns being released together

Lanterns in the sky

Formosa, a beautiful island

When the Dutch arrived in Taiwan back in the day, they named it Formosa, which means ‘beautiful island’. My first two months in Taiwan were spent exclusively in the North, in the Jhongli and Taipei area never leaving the city. So I questioned this name, and thought all of Taiwan was as populated and urban as my lovely home. That is until Chinese New Year when Mommy came to visit, and we ventured down South. What I saw was a gorgeous country with a rugged and varied landscape. We had a wonderful 10 days of travel and I took a billion pictures, but I’m too lazy to write about that all now. You can check out my pictures on facebook, and I will soon update the blog.

Ever since Chinese New Year the sun has been shining and the weather has been warm (sorry Mom!). Today I did not have to work, so I took a trip to Yangmingshan, the national park north of Taipei. I took the train to Taipei, the subway a few stops north, and then following the advice of my trusty Lonely Planet hopped on a bus towards the park. I was decked out with my running shoes and a backpack full of snacks and water bottles (because I never go hiking without food, even if it is just Mount Nittany), and was ready for a good long hike.

Yesterday I read an article about a hiker in Oregon who got lost alone in the woods, and it made me paranoid about being by myself. But as I have learned so far, the Taiwanese do not love exercise, and they don’t like to sweat, so I was thinking I would get to the park and it would consist of some simple paved roads filled with packs of tourist. When I got off the bus I saw what I have found to be standard wherever you go in Taiwan – several booths setup selling street food, including the necessary stinky tofu. I wandered past this area and about half a kilometer up the road and found a visitor center. Outside there were a few bride and groom couples taking pictures with the nice background. I found a really helpful man in the visitor’s center who spoke English, and gave me a map and directions on how to go about my hike.

I decided to climb Mt. Cising, the highest mountain in the park at 1120 meters, and the highest extinct volcano in Taiwan. The entire path was paved with a stone staircase, but ended up being a super intense hike. It was basically 1.8km up a mountain with over a 500meter vertical gain. There were enough people on the path that I didn't get lonely, but few enough that I was able to enjoy the beautiful scenery. When I got to the top I made friends with a nice woman who gave me an orange. If I translated her gestures correctly, she grew it herself.

I then went down the other side of the mountain to an area where there are sulfur fumaroles, which are basically cracks in the rocks that leak sulfur gas. They occur in areas of ex volcanic activity, which is also the reason for all the hot springs in Taiwan. There was a faint smell of rotten egg, but it was really cool to see the streams of gas that seemed to be magically rising from the mountain walls. As I was walking down, a fog descended on the valley giving it an eerie feel. At some points I couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of my face, and I could hear people before I could see them. Overall it was a beautiful hike, and I’m sure I will be very sore tomorrow.

Bride and groom taking pictures outside the visitor's center.

Some nice inspiring words for my hike.

So you are telling me if it doesn't spoil the scenery I can build a tomb?

The never ending stairs up the mountain.

One of the peaks on Cising Mountain (seven star mountain). Notice the stairs I had to climb.

Self portrait at the top of Cising

Highest point in the park.

On the way down I walked on this path through a bamboo forest. The sign said that these bamboo shoots live for 60 years. They only bloom once, and when they do it is a sign that it is the end of their lives. It reminded me of walking through a corn field.

Here you can kind of see one of the fumeroles. It was hard to get a good picture, but you can see the gas coming out of the rock.

Taiwanese Michael Jordan

Yesterday I went to a Taiwanese professional basketball game. The game took place in what looked like a big high school gym. Each team was allowed to have one foreign player, so they each had one black guy who scored a good majority of the points. There were actually some pretty tall and buff Taiwanese guys, and it was an exciting game. My roommates friend plays on one of the teams (well actually he plays the bench), so we cheered for them. We were the only ones in the stadium making any noise, and probably because of us, after double overtime our team won! Because Taiwan is so small, instead of having a team for each city, a team is sponsored by a specific company. We watched Taiwan Beer play against some kind of liquor. Another team is sponsored by a cell phone company.

Action shot at the game

Me and my roommate Tiffany

After the game we headed out to one of the few local bars in Jhongli. Taiwan doesn't have a big drinking culture, so the bars are general populated by foreigners, aka English teachers galore.

My roommate Tiffany, Ally (a Taiwanese teacher), Amanda (works in the head office), and me at the River

The bathroom at the bar. Squatting after a few beers is a pretty big challenge.

Another Gloria teacher Brad with the random cat that was hanging out in the bar with us.

'Nobody' is a Korean song that they play over and over and over and over here. Walking through the night market once I counted and heard it 7 times in 5 minutes. There is a little dance for the chorus and everyone knows it. At halftime at the game the team mascot came out and did the nobody dance with some mad skills. Check out the original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFjP-OJ7Bh4

Chinese New Year Banquet

Last night we had our work banquet for Chinese New Year at a fancy restaurant in Taoyuan City. The dinner was served family style, with plate after plate of mystery food arriving constantly at our table. It was very traditional Chinese food, and most of it was quite delicious. We were able to identify a lot of the treats, including a rice dish with eel on top, sashimi, duck, a seafood stew, a chicken stew (with whole chicken heads floating inside), an entire foot long fish complete with his face, a veggie plate with mushrooms and bamboo, ribs, and shrimp cakes. There were also a few questionable plates that all had a fishy flavor and a strange consistency.

For Chinese New Year it is traditional for parents to give their kids money in a red envelope. So to make the celebration complete they had a raffle of red envelopes, but just like the receipt lottery I had zero luck. After dinner and the raffle, all the Taiwanese teachers ran around snapping pictures. I would say a good 90% of these pictures included a peace sign up against the face in true Asian style. Another thing the Asians love is karaoke. They have these places called KTV here, where you basically rent a private room, bring in your own drinks, and sing until the sun comes up. I have not yet experienced the joy of off pitch Taiwanese love ballads, but at the end of the party someone decided to turn the microphone into a mini-karaoke party, and I got a preview. Overall it was a tasty and entertaining feast!

mmmm.....chicken head

mmmm.....fish head

Receipt Lottery

There is a magical thing that happens every two months in Taiwan: the receipt lottery. Basically, for no extra money and very little work, you are given a chance to hit the jackpot. Let me explain...

Every receipt in Taiwan contains an 8 digit number at the top, and every two months six numbers are drawn. Three of these are grand prize winners giving the lucky receipt holder 2 million Taiwanese dollars ($US62,000). For the other 3 numbers, if your last 3 digits match you get $200 ($US6), if your last 4 digits match you get $1,000 ($US31), $4,000 ($US125) for 4 digits, $10,000 ($US312) for 6 digits, $40,000 ($US1250) for 7 digits, and $200,000 ($US6,240) for all 8.

So every time you go to the store and buy anything from a bottle of water to a chocolate bar to a big mac to a beer, you are giving yourself a shot at winning big. And let me tell you with kinder chocolate available in the stores here, I hit 7-11 pretty frequently. I have been keeping my receipts in a big wad in my desk drawer, and had over 50 from the month of December alone.

Outside some of the stores downtown are men who beg for receipts instead of money as people walk out the door. Some stores also have boxes where you can put your receipts so any winning money goes to charity. The government started the receipt lottery as a way to encourage stores to keep their sales on the books, and thus allow the government to tax them. So really it creates a win win situation, where the government gets more money and hopefully I do too.

Last night before I checked my receipts I sat around dreaming about what exactly I would do with $62,000. I settled on a combination of sweet travel adventures and plane tickets for friends to come with me. I didn't actually win any money, but I am hopeful for the next drawing, and I already have a nice stack of receipts from January ready to go!

The top of all receipts here look like this. The 11-12 means it's in the drawing from Nov and Dec. It says 98 because Taiwan uses a different calendar. Last year was 98, and this year is 99...99 years since the founding of the Republic of China.

My receipts from the month of December

Hello Taiwan, my new home!

I've been in Taiwan for almost two months and am now officially a Taiwanese resident! Today I got my work visa, so I am not legally allowed to stay and work here for a year. I am slowly acclimating, every day I am less shocked and surprised by the things I see. There are many things that stand out to me as funny differences from home, so I've compiled my top ten list of cultural differences...

1. Lack of concern over general safety

Remember when Britney Spears let her son ride on her lap in the car for a few minutes, and the whole country freaked out? Well maybe Brit should try living in Taiwan, because as far as safety goes, apparently here anything flies. Everyday I see kids, babies, even dogs riding on the back of scooters. Sometimes it's even an entire family: dad driving, mom on back, a kid or two squished between, and one standing between dads legs. They don't always have helmets, and when they do it's often only a little one covering the very top of the head.

2. Intense fear of piggy flu

In a country that does not seem overly concerned with general cleanliness (ex: it can be rare to find soap and toilet paper in the bathrooms), everyone is completely freaked out when it comes to H1N1. Face masks are everywhere, and a lot of places they take your temperature when you enter buildings to make sure you are not about to contaminate the scene. They hold a thing up to your head that looks like it's about to scan your barcode before you walk through the door.

3. Stray dogs - a social issue

The dogs are EVERYWHERE. And it breaks my heart, I want to build a big house for them all to live in and play fetch with them all day. One of the QAs in class here is "What is a social issue in Taiwan?", and all the kids answer stray dogs. But at the same time, the Taiwanese accessorize with dogs in a way that would put Paris Hilton to shame. At the night market there are countless stalls devoted to dog clothes and there seem to be pet shops on every corner. As a side note, most of the stalls include Lakers and Yankees jerseys, because for some reason Tawian is in full support of those two teams.

4. Where are all the ninjas?

Drivers in Taiwan are crazy. Walking down the street I often feel like I'm in a real life game of frogger, except I only have one life. But I still prefer walking to driving a scooter, and as a few of schools are less than 40 minutes away I usually walk to class. As soon as I arrive at the schools and am asked how I got there, I see the look of shock on all the Taiwanese teachers when they hear I have walked. Apparently no one walks here. No one even seems to exercise, but the whole country is skinny and healthy.

5. I could go for a fudgesical about now

With 23 million people in this country, they make a lot of trash. Taiwan is very good with recycling, and you get fined if you throw away things that could be recycled. You have to pay for each bag of trash, and instead of leaving it at the curb, the trucks drive around twice a day and people are responsible for bringing their own trash out to the truck. To let people know it is coming, it plays a song on repeat just like an ice cream truck. So if you are home between 6 and 9 in the evening, chances are you can hear Beethoven's fur elise blasting from the truck. I hope when it gets warm I don't get confused and try to order a cone.

6. Stores, stores EVERYWHERE

Walking down the street here, every building you pass is a store of some sort. A lot sell scooters, a bunch have puppies, there are 7-11s on every block, noddle shops, but most of them I have absolutely no idea what they sell. One restaurant I went to looks like an abandoned antique shop on the first floor, only to house a delicious treasure on the second level. It's amazing that all of these manage to stay in business, but creates quite the adventure no matter what street you walk down.

7. Betel Nut Girls

Many men around here chew Betel Nut, a nut wrapped in the leaf that gives a minor stimulant buzz. You can tell the men who chew it because they have rotten teeth, and their mouths are stained red from the juice. You can also see the remains spit along the side walks and roads. Betel Nut is sold in stores with big glass windows out front. In these windows sit scantily clad girls ready to run and sell cigarettes and betel nut to cars that pull over in front. If this whole teaching thing doesn't work out, maybe I could check out a new career...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betel_nut_beauty

8. Bushiban aka Cram Schools - they are building an army of super educated children

The school I teach at is called a cram school, meaning it is a place kids come after they have already completed a full day of class. The little ones come to Gloria twice a week for 2 hours at a time, and the older ones come just once a week for a 3 hour class. Most kids also attend cram schools for other topics, like math, science, or caligraphy. One kid told me that between school, cram school, and homework, he learns an average of 13 hours a day. CRAZY. My friend Clare said that when she was younger she even had to go to a cram school to learn how to use an abacus. I prefer my graphing calculator, thanks.

9. I'm so pale I could be a vampire. Or maybe just a beautiful Taiwanese woman

In Taiwan the whiter you are the more beautiful you are, so under this logic I am a stud. A lot of toiletries, even deodorants, have whitening agents in them which I guess is the opposite of a nice fake tan. People also have these gloves attached to their scooter handles. I originally thought they were to keep hands warm in the winter, but was informed that they are instead used to keep hands from getting tan. It gets pretty hot and humid here in the summer, but apparently people wear longs sleeves and pants and use umbrellas to block the sun.

10. Godzilla does Taiwan

I'm tall for a girl back home. I've had to deal with short boys, short pants, even short walls in toilet stalls. But here, I am a giant. On the trains most people walk right under the handles hanging down from the ceiling. They are right in my face. Everytime I teach a new class, I let the students ask me questions. The first is always 'how tall are you?' When I respond I get an automatic look of shock from the entire class. I don't even want to try shoe shopping here, because I know my big foot size will be no where to be found. But at least other people can always find me in a crowd.

Hsinchu - Taiwans Windy City

My Taiwanese friend Clare is from Hsinchu, a city to the west of Zhongli, about 30min by train. She had to go home to see her family, so I went to visit yesterday and she showed me around. Hsinchu has a big area called Science Park which is described as Taiwan's Silicon Valley. It's not a super touristy city, so we saw the sites quickly and then had a leisurely day drinking hot tea to stay warm and feasting on Mexican food from a street cart called the Taco House, which I think was worth the trip alone.

Glass museum - Hsinchu is known for glass making. We didn't actually go inside but it was pretty outside.

Riding in a pumpkin

Confucius Temple

Main alter at the temple. Compared to Buddhist and Taoist temples, Confucius temples are much more simple. You don't have the elaborate carvings and statues.
Side alter at the temple

Confucius say...

We also went to the Hsinchu zoo. This is how the donkeys were labeled on the map.

I just thought this sign was funny.