Engagement Party (July 2, 2006)

After weeks of preparing, the big day finally arrived. I had never been to an engagement party in Taiwan, so I did not know what to expect. Vivian started the day at the hair salon with my mom and her mom. I was then driven to the hair salon by Vivian's sister. I got my hair styled for about five minutes and then Vivian's mom drove me back. We then went to the Nantou hotel in Uncle Wu's Mercedes to meet my parents. Following the Taiwanese custom, we exchanged gifts. Six gifts we given to me by Vivian's parents and twelve gifts (some were photos because they are too heavy to carry to Taiwan) were given to Vivian from my parents. After that we drove to the reception. Vivian's parents in one car, my parents in one car, and Vivian and I in another car. When we arrived, the guests clapped as we walked by. Two main things happen during the reception. First we went on stage and listened to a few speeches. Later we drank wine with each table. There were over 660 people and more than 60 tables. About two hours after the party started, the guests began to leave. Vivian handed out candy and I handed out cigarettes to the guests as they departed.

Sun Moon Lake

Sun Moon Lake is located in the mountains on Nantou county. The crystal green-blue color and mountainous landscape makes Sun Moon Lake one of the most beautiful sites in Taiwan. Although it is not so easy travel to, it attracts thousands of tourists, many coming from mainland China. The drive from Nantou city takes about an hour and a half. We ate lunch at the Lalu hotel. The restaurant serves the favorite dishes of Chiang Kai Shek and all the ingrediants are local to Nantou.






Afterwards we went Vivian's grandparents home in Puli, which is about halfway between Nantou city and Sun Moon Lake.

Parents Visit to Taiwan

It's been a little over two weeks since my last post. During my time away from the Internet, I had a huge engagement party and traveled through Taiwan. My parents arrived around midnight on June 27th. Vivian, her mom, her dad, and her dad's friend uncle Yu all came to welcome them at their airport. We took a bus from Taipei CKS airport to Nantou and dropped my parents off at the Nantou Hotel. The trip from Taipei to Nantou, which I have taken probably ten times already, is quite boring. The major highway passes through the major cities, but they are all similar and after sometime it is no longer interesting to look outside the window. For the next couple of days, we were ordered by Vivian's father to arrive at the hotel no later than 8:30am to eat breakfast with my parents. Despite the fact that we started each day a bit tired, the schedule allowed us to have plenty of time for touring.

The first morning after my parents arrived we took a ride to the Nantou historical museum. I like museums, but I am often overwhelmed with information. I enjoy studying history from books and TV at my own pace, but when I go to museums I have a lot of trouble remembering what I saw. Most museums are not interactive and a vast majority of time is spent reading decriptions of pictures and artwork. Usually I remember about three facts out of a thousand. The Nantou historical museum explains the occupation of Taiwan by the Chinese, Japanese, and Dutch over the past couple of hundred years. I learned that Taiwan today is a country rich in culture from the native Taiwanese people and thier foreign influences. Later on in the day we visited Vivian's father at Best Kindergarton. Her dad is a manager at the school. The quality of this school beats any elementary school that I had seen in the USA. Vivian's parents treated my parents to a 30th Anniversary dinner at a Japanese restaurant. About thirty people, mostly friends of Vivian's dad, attended the dinner.

Nantou Historical Museum

Vivian's mom, Vivian, and I stayed up late preparing for the party!

Miami Heat Win NBA Finals!

Keeping up with American sports is pretty easy in Taiwan. The biggest sport is baseball, so MLB is the most popular. Every Yankees game that the Taiwanese pitcher plays is televised on ESPN Taiwan. NBA is also very popular in Taiwan, and so I was able to follow the Miami Heat throughout the playoffs. I watched the NBA Championship game today and saw my hometown team win the finals for the first time! Dwyane Wade is definitely the key to their success. It's only his third season in the NBA and his performance in the finals was the best since Michael Jordon's. As talented as Jordon was, there is no doubt that there will be another player to perform at his level in the near future. Dwyane Wade may not even be the best player in the league. But his performance in the finals sets him apart from all the others. He averaged 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists, had game winning free throws, and dominated just about everything in the finals. Wade did all this in just his third year in the NBA.

A Hole in the Ground!

I have terrible memories of my high school stomach aches. Our bathrooms were terrible. Often times they were locked to keep our high school smokers out. I still can't determine who is more dumb: the high school student who smokes in the bathroom or the administrator who decides to lock the bathroom. I remember arriving at school 7:30am with a stomach ache and not using the restroom until I got home at 3:30pm. This is something I have forgotten about for a long time. Bathrooms have been nice over the past four years that I have spent in college. Unfortunately, my experience today brought back my high school memories. Taiwan is a very modern country for the most part. There are somethings that could be more modern, such as bathrooms. I took a train from Taizhong to Taipei this morning. The toilets really are just a hole in the ground. Nothing to sit on or lean on. Most are not like this, but occasionally there is a very unpleasant suprise in the bathroom when I really have to go. I always walk away and wait until my next chance to go, but this time I was at the train station and had a two hour trip in front of me. I decided that the train station could have bathrooms like that, but it would be impossible for the trains to have holes in the ground. The train moves and people need to sit down in order to avoid being thrown around. I thought wrong and upon entering the restroom on the train I had the option of using the hole in the ground or exploding. I used the hole in the ground and I'm not sure I made the right decision. The train is not the best place to learn how to use a hole in the ground. Let me just end the story here without going into details.

A Weekend in Nantou

Nantou is in the center of Taiwan and surrounded by mountains. The only way to get to Nantou is by bus or car. The bus gives me a headache and since I have no car in Taipei, my best option is to take a train to Taizhong to meet Vivian, and then drive to Nantou. However, since bus tickets are easiest to find and buy, I choose to travel by bus this weekend. It was not too bad because I took some 'dizzy car medicine' and it actually worked. Much of my weekend was spent tying ribbons to our engagement party invitations. Vivian's friends came to help tie ribbons to the invations Saturday. After that we went to Taizhong to eat dinner at a Shanghai restaurant. Vivian's uncle Wu took us to eat dinner the following night. It was a combination of a buffet and a regular served meal. I ordered the French style lamb chops, added a lot of side dishes from the buffet, and enjoyed it very much.

Taipei: A Tourist Friendly City?

There is no way to truely experience Taiwan without staying in Taipei. As the educational, cultural, and financial center of the country, Taipei attracts more visitors than anywhere else. Since Taipei is home to the only major International airport in Taiwan, almost every foreignor will arrive in Taipei. Unlike in most major big cities, Taipei is full of friendly people. There are several museums, department stores, and restaurants that make this city unique and exciting. However, the most difficult thing to do is to navigate the streets of Taipei. It's easy to go somewhere if it is close to an MRT (subway) stop. If you have to walk a few blocks from the station, it is not going to be easy. Instead of using 'pingyin', the system of writing that uses English letters to represent the sound of a Chinese character, Taiwan uses their own system. As much as this is a problem for people trying to learn Chinese, it is even more of a problem for tourists. The government decided to make all road signs in English letters. That's a great idea, but it is all spelled wrong. The same street is spelled numerous ways, depending on the map you are using. I've seen major cities like 'Taizhong' spelled 'Taichong' and 'Taichung'. I would think it's best to just copy down Chinese characters if you need to get somewhere. Of course this doesn't really help most of the tourists.

The Past Few Weeks

Arriving in Taiwan

I will try my best to remember all the important events that took place over the past few weeks when I should have been keeping a journal. I arrived in Taiwan via Singapore Airlines on May 12th. Singapore Airlines definitely lives up to its reputation for being one of the best airlines in the world. The friendly service, comfortable seats, good food, and TV screens on each seat, is definitely missing in almost all American companies. It is well worth the hundred dollar difference between Singapore Airlines and Northwest. We arrived in Taipei around 7am and then drove to Nantou. The next few days were spent adjusting to Taiwan time and meeting Vivian's family and family friends.

Taiwanese Customs

Getting used to traditional Taiwanese customs in not easy. When you invite people over for a dinner party in America, you usually sit down at a table, eat some food, walk around, drink some beer, eat dessert, watch TV, etc. The Taiwanese dinner party is quite different. Upon arrival everyone gathers around a large table and sits. This is the place that you will be for the next few hours. Many dishes are served. Throughout the dinner you have to thank everyone by drinking with them. Ganbei means finish your glass. We probably had this same experience five or tens times in the first few weeks in Nantou. Everyone likes Vivian's dad. His friends try very hard to make me comfortable in Nantou. One of his friends found out that I like mango and delivered some to Vivian's house. I could never imagine people treating guests like this in the United States. No matter what customs people have, the most important thing is how people treat you.

The Parents Meet

This is another custom that takes place when people decide to get married. The girl's parents invite the guy's parents to discuss the engagement plans. I experienced this tradition when Vivian's sister brought her fiance, Kiki, and his parents to Nantou. Vivian's dad decided to go to a restaurant and bring a bottle of Taiwanese alcohol that he calls "wine". It tastes more like "vodka" though. Vivian's dad and Kiki's dad both got very drunk. Vivian's dad was like a comedian and no one could stop laughing at his jokes. This got a little out of hand when we all realized that neither Vivian or Kiki's dad could walk anymore. When we got back to Vivian's house, Vivian's dad fell asleep drunk. Kiki's dad kept talking. He said "wo shi shei?", which means "who am I"? The tradition is also for each parent to give a gift. After Kiki's parents left, we opened their gift, which happened to be the same bottle of alcohol that they drank earlier in the restaurant.

Korea





As an engagement gift, Vivian's father took us to Korea for a few days. We had another good experience flying Thai Airlines business class. When we arrived in Korea, Vivian's Korean uncle picked us up and took us to the Sunshine Hotel in Seoul. He treated us extremely well from the beginning to the end of the trip. His friend treated us to a dinner at a famous Korean bbq restaurant. The restaurant is owned by the parents of a famous female golfer. I don't follow golf at all, so there is no way I can remember her name. Vivian's uncle's friend was really impressed that I was from Miami and sang the theme to CSI: Miami to me. We went to many of the famous shopping sites in Seoul. The next day we took a trip to Andong, Vivian's uncle's hometown. It's a very traditional city. They have a village where people live the same way their ancestors have been living for the past hundreds of years. Even though the tourists provide a source of income by buying stuff from the locals, they still do not experience the modern life that the rest of Korea enjoys. Vivian's uncle owns a Korean restaurant and he treated everyone to a meal. Out of the many restaurants that we tried, that was the best food experience I had in Korea. After that we went to KTV (Karaoke TV). Vivian hated this place so we left. That's because I danced with a Korean KTV girl that Vivian's uncle's friends hired. The next day we returned to Seoul. We ate dinner on the top of Seoul Tower, which overlooks the entire city. It is a great mix of beautiful scenery and tasty food. I met several people during this trip that treated us really well, especially Vivian's uncle's entire family. Her uncle's daughter Hana (not Hannah) was especially nice. She is an alumni of my college in Taipei! Her mom is Hana-ma (it is Korean custom to change the mom's name to thier "daughter's name" + "ma"). I made a promise that I will return within the next year and hopefully I can keep that promise and return to the land of Hyundai cars and Samsung phones.

Taiwan National Normal University (Shi Da)



I spent the first few days in Taipei at a hostel in Shi Da searching for an apartment. It took awhile to find a good apartment. One landlord was too serious and I didn't feel comfortable renting from her. Another thought she was the greatest person on earth because she rents expensive apartments. Another apartment felt similar to a jail. I have never been in jail, but I hear they have TV and A/C, which would probably make it a little more comfortable than this place. We finally got lucky when aga jie recommended a landlord friend of hers. I live in the basement, but it is not bad at all. I have a TV, Internet, A/C, and all the other things that makes life comfortable. I'm near tons of restaurants, and best of all, I am just a few blocks away from my school. After taking a placement test I was put with students at a similar level than mine. My class has four Japanese guys, two Thai girls, two Indonesian girls, a Korean girl, and me.