Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year is a huge spectacle in Taiwan and in many Asian countries. It is a celebration of the renewal of the lunar calendar, which on this year fell in late January. For an entire week people close down shop and spend time with their families, occasionally going to an event. But there's massive amount of eating and drinking. And let me tell you, I was stuffed!

For the New Year I went down to Lukang in Changhua County, which is about 3 hours south of Taipei by bus. The trip down there was alright, but I had to unexpectedly change buses. The driver pulled to the side and turned off the bus. Thinking I was there I just got off. He stopped me and said: "Where are you going to?" (In Chinese of course) And I answered him. At my response he kind of freaked out, grabbed my arm and my luggage, and quickly dragged me across the highway which we were on, and told to make a break for it to the nearest bus station. It was crazy! I ran.... and ran... thank God that the bus driver saw me and waited for me. Phew! Haha!

But once I arrived in Lukang, I was met by my wonderful host family. It turned out that the TA in one of my classes was in my host family. So I already knew him! That really helped actually, because when I meet new people I am very shy, but since I knew him, I felt like I could ease into being the normal me easier. Of course, I was still shy, but the family was definitely open and hospitable.

Right when I arrived, "Mom" (haha) had dinner all ready! But before I could see it, we had to go to the third floor of the house and honor the ancestors. It is a traditional belief to let the ancestors "eat" and bless the food first before you eat it. In that sense, spirit money, which is specially designed pieces of paper, is burned in a furnace. Spirit money is a way of sending good tidings to the spirit world. Nick (my TA) told me it was so they could have fun in the spirit world. Haha, I don't know if that's true or not. But anyways, he got the point across.

Then we went down to eat, and it was a massive set of delicious foods, most of them I had never seen before! There was shrimp with rice noodles, chilled pork, prawns, seafood hot pot, greens (namely qingcai), cabbage, and various other delicious dishes. Two specific dishes that I remember were three seafood dishes. At first Nick gave me a prawn and put it in my bowl. I looked at him and said: "What do I do with this?" They all laughed and taught me how to eat it. I was quite impressed with myself, and I ate it too! Then they gave me a toothpick with a piece of pear and a brown-reddish chuck of something on it. When I asked what it was, they told me it was compressed and dried fish eggs. The saltiness from the eggs goes well with the sweetness of the pear. That was actually pretty hard to eat, as I am not keen on seafood, especially fish eggs. Haha, but it went down. And lastly they opened up a plastic container of dried mini shrimp. I looked up at "Dad" (haha) and he just popped it in his mouth, head, legs, and all. I was shocked! But it did it, with plenty of Taiwan Beer to wash it down! Haha!

Drinking and eating are very important parts of Chinese New Year. It brings people together to enjoy food and each others' company, and it is a blessing in the bounty that we share. So, I had plenty of stuff to drink. When I didn't want anymore beer (because I couldn't handle anymore), they brought out the hard Kaoliang liquor! And when I couldn't handle anymore of that, they brought me over to their next door neighbors (relatives) and brought out the whiskey! Man, I was done by the end of the night. But it was a good night, filled with laughter, singing, and lots of new friends.

The next days we went around the town, touring through the markets, temples, and shops, and seeing the different sights. We took tons of pictures and had really funs moments. They tried to get me to try some new soup in the market. It was brown and think with tons of noodles in it. I asked what it was: "Oh, that's a soup with the things in the ground, that birds eat." EARTHWORMS?! Oh my gosh... I didn't want to eat that at all. But, they had already ordered me a bowl before I could say anything. Thank God though, it was just noodles. No worms. PHEW! Haha! Those guys.... :P

We also went up to the mountain and saw the giant statue of Buddha. It is an 80+ foot statue of the Buddha sitting on a giant lotus flower. The statue itself is on the tallest mountain in the area, so it can be seen from all around. Supposedly the area is haunted because the statue is built on a graveyard, and thus the people put Buddha there to comfort the dead and to help those in this world. I think that's pretty reasonable.

To end the week, we ate more and more, drank lots and lots, and visited many more people, singing songs and enjoying each others' company (with mahjong and KTV). Haha. It was a fantastic weekend and a memory I will never ever forget. I regard them as my second family, as they treated me like a son. It is truly astonishing how the Taiwanese are so welcoming and friendly. They welcomed a complete stranger into their house, and right from the start, accepted me into their family and loved me. What a wonderful family!