第六個星期：Exploring Taiwan's Roots

smhanes88
Oct 7, 2016
6 min read

星期二：Today another Typhoon was headed towards Kaohsiung, so the government decided to call off everything past twelve o’clock, but, on my way to school, the wind was already really strong that it was slightly worrying. By ten we could hear the howling wind from inside our classroom, and by eleven the government decided to send everyone home from work and school. This created a mad rush to get home because the storm was picking up fast. There were so many people trying to take the bus home, that some of us couldn’t get on because there were just too many people. So, I camped out in the 7-Eleven until my host mom was able to get to Wenzao. From there, we went to pick up my host dad at his work, and then we tried to head home, but traffic was too bad, so we just went into a Thai restaurant to eat lunch and wait out the traffic jam. At this Thai restaurant I also discovered a new fantastic food: coconut milk, shave ice, fruit, and fruit jellies. It was so good.

Once lunch was over, we headed home and I fell asleep for about two hours, and, when I woke up, water was pouring in all the windows and air conditioning units in the apartment, so my host family and I spent the next few hours running around with towels trying to stop up the water. Also, the wind was so strong that it sounded like someone was screaming super loudly and high pitched and banging on the walls, and it kept it up through most of the night. The sound was definitely the worst part. But, we were generally all fine, just pretty done with the storm.

星期三：We had the whole day off of school today, but, when I woke up, the typhoon seemed mostly to be gone, it was just lightly raining. So, my family decided to go to IKEA randomly. I’ve never been to an IKEA, so it was an experience. We started out by eating the famous meatballs in the IKEA cafeteria and they were pretty good and very Thanksgiving-y. From there we walked around the store because my host mom wanted to buy a chair, but, after a few hours, we ended up not with a chair, but with a jar of lingonberry jam, because that’s just what happens at IKEA I guess. When we left the store though, the typhoon seemed to be back, or at least the wind had picked up again, but we safely made it home and just relaxed through the rest of the afternoon and evening.

星期四：Today we went back to school, and it was my first marathon Thursday as I wouldn’t be leaving school until after 7. Also, breakfast was interesting as I ended up with a bagel with lingonberry jam and also a fried egg. I’m still not sure if this is a Taiwanese thing (in general I’m not a huge fan of their breakfast sandwiches) or if it was supposed to be an American thing, but either was it was a pretty interesting combination.

In the afternoon, I had the aerobic dance class, and we actually did a fairly serious workout today which I wasn’t totally prepared for as I’d had quite a few dumplings for lunch. From there I went to calligraphy, which Heather has decided to also join, and we ended up buying supplies and then getting started. Though I’m really quite awful at it, it is a fairly relaxing activity.

After my official classes ended, I headed over the Wenzao chapel to join my first choir practice. Turns out, including me, two teachers, and a student director, there are only 15 people in the whole choir, which is really small, but everyone was super nice and it was nice to get to sing, though all but one song were in Chinese so I more mumbled than sang. Also, next week we already have a performance as we’re singing at the freshmen’s welcome ceremony.

星期五：In the afternoon today we had a meeting to talk about the trip we’re going on this weekend, and then Mackenzie, Anthony, Kripa, and I decided to go to the arts district to go in the upside down house and eat pineapple cakes. While we were sadly unable to locate the famous pineapple cake place (tears), we did get into the upside down house. Though it was slightly underwhelming, I’m still glad we did it because otherwise I would have been forever curious. From there, we went to the neighborhood where Kripa lives and ate some fantastic soup dumplings and ice cream. We then explored a bookstore where I bought a cartoon book about sea animals because I could read some of it, and then we went to Carrefour where I bought coconut Oreos because they sounded amazing (and they were).

(this is what happens in upside down houses apparently)

(soup dumplings!!!)

9the new best Oreo flavor)

星期六：Today my host mom dropped me off at the bus station, and then our NSLI-Y group headed off in vans. Our group was headed to Sandimen and Maolin to learn about Taiwan’s aboriginal culture.

We started out first at Taiwan’s culture park, a park up in the mountains that showcases all of Taiwan’s 16 aboriginal groups. We went to a welcome ceremony, and then went to a cultural music show where all 16 tribes were showcased. The music was really incredible and at the end we all got to learn a dance, too, which was a lot of fun. From there we walked down the mountain, saw a giant spider, got bitten by a million mosquitos, saw some traditional aboriginal houses, and crossed two rope bridges. We then drove up a different mountain to eat at a cool restaurant that served aboriginal food; it was quite good.

After that we drove a while to a village that the government built for three different aboriginal groups after their original villages were all destroyed by a typhoon a few years ago. We first went to a woman’s house where she taught us how to make traditional flower crowns. We all ended up looking like gorgeous fairies, or like that snapchat filter with the flower crown. She also let us try on some traditional clothes which was a really cool experience. We then went to another place and learned how to weave baskets. They then gave us each a little succulent to put in the basket, so I picked out a cute little cactus, though I’m terrible with plants so I promptly gave it to my host mom once I arrived back home the next day. We then had more food and headed to the hotel where we’d be staying. The 8 of us then all decided to have a giant sleepover party of playing games and eating snacks until our curfew, and then the girls just continued it until about 2:30. Also, our room was infested with ants, so we ended up changing rooms to a giant suite with its own living room.

(welcome ceremony at the culture park)

(all 16 aboriginal groups are represented in the music performance)

(learning a traditional dance)

(creepy spider...sorry...with a rope bridge in the background)

(an example of a traditional house)

(the chicken wasn't looking too happy about being our lunch)

(trying on traditional clothes)

(my basket and cactus)

(we're gorgeous fairies)

星期天：We started the morning off today by walking across a really famous rope bridge (turns out rope bridges are everywhere in Taiwan), and then heading to an art shop where, with much supervision, we learned how to make traditional glass beads, which was really interesting, and I definitely felt pretty artsy. We then had lunch and headed to a waterfall.

While all the signs said swimming was not allowed, we all got in the water, though I did my best to stay decently dry as we still had a decent car ride home. It was pretty fun and half the group got absolutely soaked.

It was then time to head home, but, on the drive back, we stopped and walked across two more rope bridges.