第二十三個星期：Happy Year of the Golden Rooster

星期二：Today my host family and I all got up at 5:30 and made the three hour drive through the mountains to Taitung on the other side of the island where we would hang out for three days (props to my host fam for getting me out of class two days early). Once there we went to my host dad’s new apartment and helped him move in as he’ll now be commuting there every week. After getting some really good noodles for lunch and then resting for a bit, my host dad had to work, so my host mom took my host sisters and me to ride bikes through a national park. I actually already visited it when I went to Taitung with NSLI-Y but it was still really pretty and fun to ride bikes together.

After that we went to try and go to an art museum but it turned out to be tiny and not very interesting, we just bought a bunch of snacks and went back to the apartment. Once my host dad came host we all went out to dinner and were then going to go see a park, but I started feeling super sick so they took me back to the apartment where I then proceeded to sleep for 15 straight hours.

9one of the lake's we saw while bicycling)

(and a different lake)

星期三：The next morning we all slept in and I felt a little better. My family also told me the park they had visited no longer existed after a typhoon in the fall so I apparently didn’t miss out much.

We started out the day by going to a park and playing on the playground because my sister had been desperately wanting to play on a slide all the day before. It was fun and my little host sister was actually kind of excited to have me play with her which was a win. After that we tried to go see an old sugar factory that was supposedly really close, though after walking for 20 minutes we still weren’t close to it, so we turned back, though the walk itself was really pretty, so it was all good. After that we spent some time relaxing in a Starbucks and looking around a bookstore before going to an old train station that is decorated all over with painted paper lanterns and is now a tourist center. It was a really beautiful area, especially when they all were lit and night.

From there we went and had some traditional Taiwanese snack/light dinner foods, though I once again felt mysteriously sick, so they once again took me back to rest while they went out and ate more.

(walking to the sugar factory)

(all the flowers were in bloom)

(sooo many flowers)

(I loved these lanterns)

(they were especially nice at night)

(family pic minus my host dad)

星期四：Today my host dad didn’t have to work, so, after eating some noodles, we went to a history museum. While the museum itself was closed, they had a playground and a huge garden out back. We first played on the playground for a while and then visited the ground. It was pretty cool, they had a maze you could go though, lots of flowers, and, their specialty, red lotus, which were currently in bloom.

After that we went by a famous elementary school that is famous because it had really unique architecture, and then went to have some lunch. From there we started to drive back home, though after about a half an hour we drove up a mountain to get a view of the coastline. It was pretty interesting because at the top of the mountain was a small aboriginal village, and right on the edge of the cliff to look out to the ocean was a tiny elementary school. The view was really incredible and, since we were then on the Pacific Ocean side of the island, my host family and I all waved to America.

We then made the long drive home, got some bubble tea, and then headed to bed.

(host sister pic in the museum gardens)

(the red lotus flowers)

( I liked these orange flowers)

(the famous elementary school)

(ocean view from the mountain)

星期五：Early the next morning we woke up early again and drove South to the tiny town in Pingtung where my host grandparents live as today was the eve of the Lunar New Year. I met all the extended family, and they were all super nice, though they were all scared to talk to me for a bit because they thought I could only speak English, after speaking a bit, though, they all warmed up and talked to me, especially all my host aunts. The cousins were cool, too, as they were all around my age.

That night we all ate a large meal together and then all the adults gave lucky money red envelopes to all of the cousins, and me, which was super nice since I’m not actually a family member. It has a lot of traditions about who can give and receive envelopes, though essentially anyone married and with a job gives money to anyone who is single and a student. You also are supposed to say different New Year’s wishes depending on who gave you the envelope, but we learned some in Chinese class, so I generally was okay.

After dinner I helped all the aunts and the grandmother make dumplings that we then ate at midnight, supposedly the more you eat the more money you’ll make in the new year.

星期六：This morning was the first day of the year, the year of the golden rooster, and my host parents and I celebrated by getting up at 6 to go hike a mountain. It ended up being a pretty intense climb, but we chilled and ate breakfast at the top for a while and we actually met an older man who had worked in Dallas with an airplane company for a few years a long time ago.

Once back home, the whole family all went out to an aboriginal restaurant for lunch (that side of the family is all from a Taiwanese aboriginal group which is really interesting). After lunch we stayed and listened to a little music performance before all returning home to nap and eat a lot more. I figured out that the new year mostly consisted of napping, eating a ton, especially traditional snacks like pumpkin seeds and peanut candies, setting off firecrackers/fireworks (though we didn’t have any), and, for adults, drinking and gambling while playing lots of Mah Zhongg.

(hike with my host parents)

(Happy New Year's! not sure why none of us were smiling, I promise we were happy)

星期天：Today I spent most of the day watching New Year’s concerts from around Asia and popular Taiwanese movies on television, eating a lot more, and then in the evening, my host parents took me and my sisters to buy scratch off lottery cards. I actually won the equivalent of three American dollars which, while not much, was more than anyone else, so I was pretty happy.