Keelung - eazychinese.com

(Bark at the moon!)

I have had so many amazing experiences living and traveling in Taiwan, and I'd love to tell them all! So today I'm going to share a hitchhiking dā biàn chē 搭便車 experience I had in my early years here in Taiwan.

It was mid-October, 2009 and the weather in Keelung was cold and wet…it's always wet there though. The port town of Keelung jī lóng 基隆 in the North of the island has an infamous reputation for raining on people's parades(literally). It rains practically all 365 days of the year, and locals nick name it the "Rainy Port". The humidity there is ridiculous, and if you forget to turn on your dehumidifier, mildew will cover your walls in a heart beat(I myself had a horrible experience with this). Despite the weather, Keelung is a great place to get a feel for Taiwan. The local people are extremely friendly, and the beautiful coast and mountains surrounding the area are filled with beautiful locales waiting to be explored.

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(Some pics of the beautiful harbor-town Keelung)

My Taiwanese fiancé Ruby and I had been dating for around a month, and we weren't going to let the weather win, so we decided to do what many Taiwanese locals love to do in the cold seasons and take a trip to the nearest hot-springs to soak. Hot-springs, or wēn quán 溫泉 as they are called in Chinese, are prized for their restorative properties, and they have been since the Japanese occupation of Taiwan and before. In fact, many of the islands' hot-springs are historically tied to the Japanese colonization of Taiwan.

The closest place to Keelung is Jinshan, a town that exists only around the hotspring industry. Jinshan jīn shān 金山 in Chinese means "gold mountain" and the amount of capital that the place generates with its hot-springs ensures that it is aptly named, though, unfortunately there is no mountain made of gold. Like many hot spring-towns in Taiwan, there are resorts of varying prices and quality lining the streets of Jin Shan.

Ready to pamper ourselves, Ruby and I got an early start. We headed downstairs and took a bus from my apartment complex to the train station. There are buses to practically anywhere you could want to go (within reason, none to Kending, or Penghu, sorry!) around the train station. We stocked up on some snacks, ordered a couple of teas, then found a bus headed for the resort town. It's fairly easy to get there from Keelung by bus, though you lose a lot of time waiting, and the ride itself is probably going to be around half-an-hour or longer, so it's best to drive if that's an option.

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(A few photos of the community I lived in at the time)

When we got there, it was a simple matter of checking in at the various hot-springs and asking around about the best prices in town, as some of the fancier places can be quite pricey. If you have the money, it's worth it for the experience, but we were on a budget so we went the cheap-route. After looking around we found a decent place for around 250NT for fifty minutes. That was incredibly cheap, and I doubt it's possible to find a deal like that now. Though it wasn't the most beautiful place in town, it worked for us!

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(Left: a picture of Jinshan. Just walk around until you find a place that suits your fancy. Right: a beautiful hot-spring resort in Jinshan…not where we went though!)

Quick Tip: For anyone planning to go to a hot-spring in Taiwan, remember to bring your own towel as you will have to buy one from the resort if you need one, and they generally overcharge much more than is reasonable. Also bring water or sports drinks, you'll need them!

Two things happen every time I visit a hot-spring. 1. I pay for around an hour of soaking time, but usually only use 20-30 minutes of that time. 2. I am completely dead-tired despite doing nothing but sit in water, and I usually sleep like a baby on the bus ride home. This time was no exception, but it took a considerable amount of effort to get there, so we decided to check out a famous temple in the area

The Eighteen Kings Temple shí bā wáng gōng 十八王公 is not far from Jinshan, so we decided to take a bus over and check it out. The temple is situated along the coast, and the waves can be big and scary on a windy day. The temple is famous due to the story of a fisherman and his dog. The fisherman drowned at sea, but his dog survived. Being the loyal animal it is, the dog jumped down into the grave the local people dug for the fisherman, not wanting to be separated from its master. Now people come there and make offerings to the dog and pray. It's a really cool place to visit, and just goes to show how awesome dogs are!

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(People come here from all over to pray and make offerings)

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(The dog that made this place famous!)

After leaving the temple, we once again got on a bus and headed back to Keelung…only after a while we realized that I had left my camera and we got off and tried to walk back to get it. We were a long way off at this point, but no buses were coming, so we just started walking, and the creepiest ting happened. After a while we looked back and we noticed that as we walked under the street lamps they were turning off, one-by-one, but all of the ones ahead of us were still lit. It was super creepy, just like something out of a scary movie!

About half-way back to the temple we came across a middle aged man parked on the side of the road. He had been fishing and was putting his catch in his trunk. We asked him how much further up the road the temple was, and he told us it was still pretty far, and offered to drop us off there. We took him up on his offer and got in the car. While driving, I remember him constantly muttering to himself, and given the setting and the lights from before, it was quite a strange encounter.

He dropped us off at the temple and we asked around if anyone had found a camera..,but no one had. After taking one last look around we headed back to the bus stop to wait for the next bus back to Keelung. I might have lost my camera, but I gained an interesting story to tell along the way. Too bad about all of the pictures I took though!

So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this story, and I'd love to hear you share your own interesting stories or experiences in the comments below. See you next time!

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Chinese phrases of the day:

搭便車= hitch-hiking

基隆= Keelung

溫泉= hot-spring

金山= Jinshan

十八王公= The Eighteen Kings Temple

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21 September 2013

The Man in the Moon, BBQ and a Typhoon!

I apologize for posting this so late, but the past few days have been somewhat of an adventure. Yesterday, my fiancé and I tagged along with a friend to volunteer at an animal shelter in sān zhī 三芝, near dàn shuĭ 淡水 in Taipei county(or xīn bĕi shì 新北市 if you prefer). Expect a detailed write-up on that tomorrow. The day before yesterday, however, was one of the major holidays in Taiwan, Moon Festival.

Moon Festival, or more accurately Mid-Autumn Festival Zhōng qiū jié 中秋節 in Mandarin, is an important national holiday that, much as Halloween or Thanksgiving, finds its roots in ancient harvest-time traditions. 中秋節 is celebrated during the full moon of the fifteenth day of the eight month of the traditional Chinese lunar calendar nóng lì 農曆. As a harvest festival, there must be a food that is in abundance, and in Taiwan there is no lack of pomelos yòu zi 柚子 at this time, and chances are if you are in Taiwan during 中秋節, you will be given enough of these citrus fruits to feed a family, so eat up and enjoy!

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(A pair of pomelos)

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(We didn't have anyone do it this year, but one thing that kids often do is wear the cut-off pomelo skin as a hat! This picture is from a few years ago)

As with most traditional festivals, there are many interesting stories that accompany 中秋節, and the moon in general. For example, where Western people see a man in the moon, Taiwanese people see a rabbit!

As amusing as that is, there is a much cooler story associated with the moon. In the story of cháng é 嫦娥 and hòu yì 后羿, rather than the one sun we have, the sky was filled with ten suns! Don't forget your sunscreen! 后羿 was a renowned archer and shot down nine of the suns with his bow(beat that Robbin Hood!), and having seen this an immortal sent him an elixir of immortality(a fancy way to say "live-forever juice"). He chose not to drink it so that he could stay with his wife on Earth, but as the story unfolds 嫦娥 ends up drinking the elixir and flies into the sky to live on the moon. So 后羿 started to place the things she liked in their garden so she could see them and not feel lonely. His neighbors started doing it too, and that's how the Moon Festival began!

Every year during Moon Festival, Taiwanese families gather together and have a good old fashioned BBQ. We go to Keelung jī lóng 基隆 to return to my fiancé's great-grandmother's céng zŭ mŭ 曾祖母 home, where we meet every year. It is always nice to return to Keelung, as that was the first place I lived in Taiwan. It was a little bittersweet this time, however, as a recent heavy rain caused a building to collapse, and a near-catastrophic accident when a huge boulder fell out of the mountains and crashed into the street, nearly smashing a passing car. It really hit me close to home, as I used to live just a few minutes down the road from there, and Ruby still has a lot of relatives in the area. Luckily everyone was safe, but the families that lived in the collapsed building have lost their homes, and several businesses, including the local McDonalds have shut-down. But life goes on.

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(Ruby trying to calm the dogs down…they may look innocent, but they barked the whole train ride to Keelung!)

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(The patio in front of Ruby's great-grandmother's house is a great place to catch some fresh air…family gatherings are fun, but it's nice to take a breather for a minute and check your emails.)

With a typhoon forecast to arrive, we had expected our BBQ to be ruined, but we lucked out. The rain wasn't bad(rare for Keelung!) and it stopped by the time we started to barbecue and didn't return until we were on our way back to Taoyuan County. We spent the afternoon chatting, watching TV, playing cards and eating moon-cakes yuè bing 月餅 and other snacks. Then in the evening we had our BBQ!

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(月餅 were created in the moon's image by a general during the Tang Dynasty so that his soldiers would be able to carry them easily, and because they could last for a longer time. Now we eat them as a delicious snack, but they were originally created as military rations! Above are a few pictures of the ones we had this year. The first one has an egg-yolk and red bean paste filling, and the other has a green bean paste filling.)

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(Did I mention that I really like moon-cakes? And apparently my dog does too!)

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(First, we have to get the coals nice and hot. Using a paper plate it a nice way…)

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(But this hair-dryer works faster!)

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(Now let's get cooking!)

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(L: Ruby with her family, grilling the night away R: The best thing about being on grill-duty is you get easy access to all the food!)

中秋節 is one of my favorite traditional festivals, it's a great time to relax, forget your worries and enjoy good food and good company. Thank for reading and Happy Moon Festival!

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Chinese phrases of the day:

中秋節= Moon Festival/Mid-Autumn Festival

農曆= traditional Chinese lunar calendar

柚子= pomelo(s)

月餅= moon-cake(s)
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13 September 2013

Unconditional Love

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That's what our animals give us, right? But how do we repay them? Recently, with rabies, or kuángquǎnbìng 狂犬病 as it is called in Mandarin, resurfacing in Taiwan, the media and government have blown things way out of proportion. When it was originally found in the ferret-badger, an animal that is eaten by the aboriginal people in the mountains, people went nuts.

Now, I can understand that people were worried. I mean, we are talking about a disease that hasn't been seen on the island in around 50 years, but the poor treatment of domestic animals like dogs and cats that followed was quite unnecessary. But I don't want to dwell on the negative side of the coin, because it's ugly and depressing, and if that's what you wanted to read about, you'd have just picked up a local newspaper or turned on the TV.

In the West, we have the idea that our pets are our family members, and while people in some places in the world may have, and are entitled to their own views on the role animals play in their culture, and some even view cats and dogs as food(something that i don't agree with, but this is not the issue here) I want to assure you that that's is ILLEGAL in Taiwan.

I feel that a growing percentage of Taiwanese people(my future wife and her family included) take the status of pets in the family to a whole new level! My girl cooks more meals for my dog and cat than she does for me!

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(Here are the dogs eating their gourmet meal)

My fiancé's sister has saved multiple dogs and found them homes, most recently a cute poodle mix named Lulu, and we practically feed a family of cats and stray dogs in the neighborhood on a daily basis. Heck, our cat Pumpkin(what can I say, he's big round and orange!) was a poor whelp of a street cat when we found him while riding our bikes around near the Taipei City Hall, not far from the famed Taipei 101.

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(Left: Pumpkin shortly after we found him, Right: Pumpkin now, over a year later…That boy can eat!)

The pet industry is a booming business here as many pet-owners spend tons of money pampering their pooch with food, clothing, accessories, toys…and the list goes on and there are always new devices coming out. Pet salons are all over the place, and a self-wash pet grooming facility recently opened up over by the RT Mart in the Zhongyuan area in Zhongli City. Now, I know we've all heard of DIY car washes, but I thought this was a really awesome and unique idea!

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(Left: Our "children" traveling in style Right: Check out this giant standard poodle, now take a look at Popcorn!)

Heck, there are dog restaurants and hotels where they can go on vacation and get pampered! And if you have a sweet tooth, there is even a dog bakery along the side of all the pet stores at the Tonghua Night Market on Keelung Rd., not far from the Liuzhangli MRT station in Taipei.

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(Popcorn's first birthday cake. They were out of 1s, but do you think she complained?)

Most large pet stores have vets, shòuyī 獸醫 in them and health care for your pets is readily available, and affordable. Check out a coming article on how to take your dog or cat to for a check-up with the vet in Taiwan, including what vocabulary you may need to be able to communicate with the staff and what to expect.

Every year there are also numerous pet shows and exhibitions, the most famous of which takes place in the Nangang Exhibition Hall in Taipei. We took our dog there a few times, and it was really fun.

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(They had a swimming pool at the pet exhibition…Popcorn went skinny-dipping!)

Some people may be uneducated, or uncompassionate towards animals, there are people like that everywhere and Taiwan is not an exception. But when you think about Taiwan (or any other place really) try to remember the good things first and foremost.

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Chinese phrases of the day:

kuángquǎnbìng 狂犬病= rabies

shòuyī 獸醫= Veterinarian

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4 September 2013

就 Fun! / Jiufen

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(The long, winding streets of Jiufen are best viewed at night.)

This quaint little town nestled in the mountains above Keelung and Taipei County(now called New Taipei City, though it\’s actually a conglomerate of cities). During the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, Jiufen was rich in gold deposits and became very important, because who doesn\’t love bling?

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(One of the miners!)

Located on Keelung Mountain, there are several ways to get there. I have personally taken two of these routes, because I used to live in Keelung, but there is a third option as well. If you are planning to visit Keelung city and want to also see Jiufen, I\’d recommend taking the bus nearby the Keelung train station. The ride is about 30-40 minutes long and the fare is 30NT. Another option would be to take a train to Ruifang station and then take the nearby bus to Jiufen. The ride should be a little shorter than the one from Keelung. Another option, maybe ideal for those of you based out of Taipei, would be to take the Jiufen bus from the Songshan train station. I\’m not sure about the details of the ride or the fare, as I\’ve never taken this bus, but it should be over an hour ride and probably around 100NT(have an easy card with several hundred NT and you should be good).

Well, nowadays if it\’s gold you\’re looking for, then Jiufen might not be the place for you. But it has tons of other attractions that might catch your eye.

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(A cool museum of masks located in Jiufen…what seems to be out of place?)

lăo jiē 老街, old streets are some of my favorite places in Taiwan. They are a perfect blend of the traditional Chinese feel, with a touch of the modern. Jiufen is my favorite old street (I\’ve been there six or seven times, but who\’s counting?), but there are tons more that I\’ll be writing about in the future, and they are all worth a visit.

Jiufen is a great place to see and buy tons of traditional items, from clothing to toys, charms and the list goes on. There are also quite a few stores that sell hand-made leather items(though a little less traditional in nature) and even a novelty sex gag store, which was definitely not around when this was a booming mining town! This is just one of the signs of how much Taiwan has changed in recent years.

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(What can I say? I love playing with all the cool traditional toys!)

Another popular attraction are the beautiful tea houses spread out on the hills of the old street, and the spectacular views that you can get from them!

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(Feeling thirsty? Check out this awesome tea house!)

And of course, you have a wide variety of snacks to choose from(we\’re in Taiwan after all!). You can get just about anything you could possibly want and more, but a few of my favorites are wild boar sausages shān zhū xiāng cháng 山豬香腸, and yù yuán 芋圓.

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(芋圓 a chewy dish made with flower, taro and sweet potato and served with red and green beans)

I\’m not sure if she\’s still there, but there was a very friendly old woman who sold 山豬香腸 at the end of the first part of the old street, before you start climbing all the stairs. Even if you don\’t like sausage, her stand is worth a visit, as she dresses very uniquely. She might look funny, but this clown is a good cook!

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(You know you want some of her sausage! Get in line already!)

There is a great place to get 芋圓 at the very top of the old street(so save some room). The restaurant is simply called ā pó 阿婆, or grandmother, and the view from the giant window there is amazing! It\’s a great place to get a view of the surrounding mountainside and ocean while eating a great Taiwanese snack.

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(A few pics of the amazing view you get from Jiufen…the pictures really do it an injustice.)

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How To Get There:

If you are planning to visit Keelung city and want to also see Jiufen, I\’d recommend taking the bus nearby the Keelung train station. The ride is about 30-40 minutes long and the fare is 30NT. Another option, maybe ideal for those of you based out of Taipei, would be to take the Jiufen bus from the Songshan train station.

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Chinese phrases of the day:

老街= old street

山豬香腸= wild boar sausage

芋圓= a chewy dish made with flower and different ingredients, usually taro and sweet potato

阿婆= grandmother

The pictures are all mine, except the ones of the 山豬香腸 and the 芋圓 , I got them from here http://www.flickr.com/photos/22151591@N07/8149875532/ and here http://chriszeekent.blogspot.tw/2010/07/blog-post_15.html

22 August 2013

Look Who\’s Talking

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Alright, so for today's post, I want to share a little of my experience learning Mandarin with you. When I first came to Taiwan I could only speak three phrases: nǐhǎo你好, nǐhǎoma你好嗎？and xièxie謝謝. That was all. Was I particularly good at communicating with the locals right of the bat? Nope. Am I now? Yep. But it didn't happen over night.

In a few of my previous articles I mentioned that I spent my first year in Taiwan in the harbor city of Keelung. I lived about five minutes from the coast and there was no lack of beautiful scenery. Needless to say it was a big change from Texas! But this post is not about Keelung specifically. It's about learning Chinese! Living in Keelung was, in my opinion, essential to my acquisition of Chinese. The reason for this is quite simple. In a big international city like Taipei, people are used to dealing with foreigners and it is completely possible to get around solely speaking English. This is not the case in the countryside. Though many people I came into daily contact with in Keelung very likely could speak a relatively decent amount of English, they simply lacked the confidence to speak in English with a foreigner (though of course there are exceptions, I'm just making this generalization to get my point across).

So what did I do? Well, I got on Tealit.com and found myself a tutor and made the trek out to Taipei twice a week to learn with a native speaker, one-on-one. But as I lived in Keelung, the lessons didn't end after my classes finished, I went out and made a point to try and converse with the local people as much as I could(be it ordering food at a restaurant, or just trying to chat up my neighbors). Was it easy in the beginning? Heck no, but I kept trying and within three months or so my conversational ability was decent, though certainly lacking in many areas.

After having lived in Taiwan for around eight months, I met my fiancé and saw a sudden improvement in my Chinese almost overnight. It's really convenient having a walking, breathing dictionary with you, though she might not agree! Anyway, after we'd been together for a while and my contract was up with my school, I decided to move to Taipei and study Chinese intensively at NTNU for a semester. I took a trip to Thailand to do some sightseeing and switch over to a student visa, then I came back and took the university's placement test, which consisted of a reading comprehension and speaking portion. I scored very well on the speaking test, but since I hadn't practiced much reading or writing my first year, I did considerably worse on this portion. Still, my speaking was proficient enough that I tested out of the first text book, and half of the second. I want to make it clear that I am not bragging, I just had the benefit of living in an environment very conducive to learning conversational Mandarin.

After my semester as a student, I once again started teaching English, and continued my Mandarin studies independently. I've made a lot of progress over the last five years, but I'm still learning new phrases all the time. Which brings me to the point of this post, I am working on a FREE Mandarin course that I will be starting to upload very soon here on my blog. My approach to teaching/learning is different from the popular method of memorizing grammar rules and sentence patterns. This was never the best approach for me, and my philosophy has developed over the past five years, but you can start benefitting from it immediately! I'll be making updates on the status of the Language Lab in the weeks to follow, so please bear with me for the time being and of course, I'd love to hear any suggestions you have for how this program can work best for you. I'll also be posting tips on how to improve your Mandarin that I have learned through my own experience. Gǎnxiè感謝大家！

Chinese phrases of the day:

你好= hello

你好嗎?= How are you?

謝謝= thank you

感謝大家= to show appreciation for everyone

22 August 2013

Look Who\’s Talking

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Chinese phrases of the day:

你好= hello

你好嗎?= How are you?

謝謝= thank you

感謝大家= to show appreciation for everyone

20 August 2013

Rain Rain Go Away!

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With a typhoon set to arrive tomorrow you can count on heavy rains and strong winds through Thursday. In fact, even though it has yet to arrive, we already felt the influence of the typhoon on the weather. Seriously, it rained cats and dogs today! But typhoons, or táifēng(颱風) are just an ordinary part of life on the island that you must learn to cope with if you plan to spend any length of time here. I'm just glad I don't live in Keelung anymore! Expats and locals alike are(or should be) stockpiling food, drinks and various other necessities to get them through the next few days, so get on that if you haven't already! Seriously, if you go to an RT Mart, A Mart, Carrefour or Costco at the last minute, you will be stuck with what you can get, which is usually just about nothing! So, to make sure that my readers are well prepared for their coming Typhoon Day(they're practically like national holidays here, hence the capital letters) I have prepared a short list of a few essentials you shouldn't be without when the milk tea hits the fan.

Typhoon Day Survival Kit:

1. As many packages of instant noodles pāomiàn(泡麵) as you can grab
2. A loaf of bread miànbāo(麵包)and some PB&J huāshēngjiànghéguǒdòng(花生醬和果凍)
3. Packages of dried food: cookies, chips, bǐnggān(併港) etc.
4. A few gallons of drinking water, and or any tea or sodas you may want to have on hand
5. A flashlight and extra batteries diànchí(電池) just incase you lose power, and candles wouldn't be a bad idea either
6. A basic first aid kit just in case
7. A stack of DVDs, I'll let you choose which ones(see, aren't I nice)

If you are a hardened veteran, having come out victorious over countless typhoons, then you probably already know it all, but if this will be your first typhoon, make sure you're prepared!
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Chinese phrases of the day:

táifēng(颱風)= typhoon
pāomiàn(泡麵)= instant noodles
miànbāo(麵包)= bread
huāshēngjiàng(花生醬)= peanut butter
hé(和)= and
guǒdòng(果凍)= jelly
bǐnggān(餅乾)= cookies, chips
diànchí(電池)= batteries

18 August 2013

Out of all the places in the world…

Being fair of skin, with a healthy serving of freckles and a side of strawberry-blonde hair, I think it's safe to say that you may notice me waiting in line in a crowded night market or making my way through the throngs of people at a bustling MRT station, which in my opinion is just about as chaotic as a kicked anthill. Among a flock of black-haired sheep I'm not exactly hard to pick out…okay, so I stick out like a sore thumb, happy now?

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(Fear me puny Earthlings!)

To tell the truth though, I have been living here so long, I feel like it's home, and it's easy for me to forget that I am different here. That is until I see a toddler staring at me on the train like he's just seen Marvin the Martian. And then there's my students, who like to stroke my arm hair…it makes me feel like a pet! Funny story, I once taught a kid who called me a golden monkey because of my blonde-hair! But I digress.

"Why did you come toTaiwan?" is a question I have heard countless times, in fact it is likely the most common question I get when I meet anyone for the first time over here. And I still don't have a good answer; in short, it's a long story.

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I first came to Taiwan shortly after graduating from college, and at that time I really had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I had a bachelors in education, and I had always loved traveling and learning about foreign cultures and languages. So I decided to spend a year abroad. But not in Taiwan.

Originally I had looked into living abroad in Ireland, as I have always wanted a chance to further explore my own cultural roots, and I had been to Europe and really liked the atmosphere. But that was a no-go. As it turned out, I wasn't able to get the teaching job I had looked into because I lacked a European passport. Oh well, back to the old drawing board.

Not long after my Ireland bubble burst, I started talking with a friend who also wanted to live abroad and teach English for a year, and we settled on Japan. We filled out online-applications and waited eagerly for our phone-interview. After getting off the phone with the recruiter, I felt excited and I knew this was what I was looking for. After preparing a lesson and waiting impatiently for the big day, a few weeks later we met representatives from Japan who were in Austin, Tx to interview prospective teachers. I was really nervous, and the interview didn't go as I'd planned. My friend was accepted into the program, but I wasn't! Curses, foiled again!

So after getting turned down for he second time, I was pretty down. But to quote Chumbawamba, "I get knocked, down but I get up again.

You're never gonna keep me down." So I got up, dusted off my jacket and applied to another recruitment agency called Reach To Teach. This time I wanted to get a job teaching in China. I once again filled out an application and had an interview with one of the company's representatives. The interview went great and they started sending me job offers from several different schools right off the bat! I was feeling really good now, and ready to set out for my adventure! Well…not quite(see, I told you this was a long story!).

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(Hanging out in the teachers' room before class, still fresh off the boat!)

The first few schools that I had offers for didn't pan out, and eventually the agent I was working with told me of a school in Keelung, Taiwan that wanted to hire me…but where's that? Well, I did my research and read as much as I could about Taiwan and I decided that it sounded like a great place to spend a year abroad. I was emailed a contract, read it over, signed it and faxed it back. About a month later I said my goodbyes to friends and family and my dad drove me to the airport. I remember him telling me that I didn't have to go and nobody would think any less of me if I decided to stay in TX. It was tough, but I said goodbye and boarded my flight. And little did I know I'd still be here nearly five years down the road!

Though the path I took to get here was long and winding, I believe that it all happened for a reason, and my life would not be the same today if I hadn't gotten on that airplane. I wouldn't have met my fiancé, Ruby or raised our dog, Popcorn and our cat, Pumpkin, nor made all of the wonderful friends I have here. When I came to Taiwan I was looking for something, I just didn't know what it was. But I found it!

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1 August 2013

Trick or….wait, that\’s not quite right…

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But happy Ghost Month all the same!

Ghost Month, or guǐyuè(鬼月) is a period of time when the gates to the underworld open and ghosts are free to roam the Earth. Ghost Month has many interesting superstitions and observances associated with it. According to tradition, during Ghost Month, it is unlucky to move into a new home, buy a new car, get married or even hang your clothes to dry(as ghosts may wear them!). Colorful lanterns are hung all along streets, and lanterns in the shape of houses are painstakingly constructed, only to be later burned.

My first year in Taiwan, I was very lucky to witness a very special celebration in Keelung, where Ghost Month is still an important tradition. The locals assembled at the mouth of a temple in the harbor and a speech was given by the mayor, welcoming all to the year's celebration. Afterwards there were fireworks and martial arts displays, and if this wasn't enough, it began pouring rain.

Rain or no rain, the celebration was just getting started. Parade floats marched through the city in the wake of performers and dragon dancers, loaded with drummers and children tossing handfuls of candy to the masses. It was very colorful to say the least, and I honestly had no idea what to expect next.

I followed along with the procession, which was slow and jam-packed with what seemed like the entire city's population. Slowly but surely we made our way to a beach miles down the coast where the house-shaped lanterns were unloaded and pushed out into the ocean and set a flames.

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The ceremony is called fàngshuǐdēng(放水燈) which can be loosely translated to the placing of the water lanterns. This was truly one of the most memorable of my experiences in Taiwan, and I recommend you all to check it out if you have the chance!

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Chinese phrases of the day:

Ghost Month or Ghost Festival = guǐyuè(鬼月) or ZhōngyuánJié(中元節)

placing of the water lanterns = fàngshuǐdēng(放水燈)

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The first picture is my own, the second and third are from http://big5.huaxia.com/jjtw/jtzdtw/csxc/2009/09/1557857.html

1 August 2013

Trick or….wait, that\’s not quite right…

$\"DSC05690\"$

But happy Ghost Month all the same!

$\"92572\"$ $\"92571\"$

———————————————————————————————————————————————–

Chinese phrases of the day:

Ghost Month or Ghost Festival = guǐyuè(鬼月) or ZhōngyuánJié(中元節)

placing of the water lanterns = fàngshuǐdēng(放水燈)

———————————————————————————————————————————————–

The first picture is my own, the second and third are from http://big5.huaxia.com/jjtw/jtzdtw/csxc/2009/09/1557857.html

Tag: Keelung

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Trick or….wait, that\’s not quite right…

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