October and November Updates

As I mentioned in my last post, Mike and I traveled to Taiwan for a week in October during China’s national holiday. I think this is probably evident to most of you, but I am a very nostalgic person. Even things that seemed impossibly hard at the time will evoke a sense of nostalgia when I think back on them. I think part of this may be due to the fact that I also have pretty high standard and hopes for future events. I’ll think ahead to where I think I’ll be in two years or even the feeling of accomplishment and relief I expect to feel when x is completed and push through whatever challenge I’m facing. I’ve often found, however, that when I arrive at that next stage, things aren’t quite what I expected them to be. More than that though, I think that my nostalgia is a product of the fact that I am generally a happy person. I try to do as much of the things that make me happy as I can and hold on to memories of those things. 

I was elated to be going back to Taiwan. When we finally landed in Taoyuan, we caught a bus right away to take us from the airport to the high-speed rail (HSR), and as soon as we were on the road, it was amazing to see how much greener everything was. It was so comforting to set foot in the rail station and see some of the restaurants I used to frequent and remember what it was like to be a 22-year old girl living in Taiwan.

We had lunch at MOS, a Japanese fast-food chain that specializes in rice patty “burgers” of various types. I remember thinking it was weird the first time I had it, but it became one of those things that just grows on you and reminds you of the local food scene. I had a spicy seafood burger and Mike ordered a teriyaki mushroom burger, and our meals came with fries and deliciously cold sweet tea; as expected, the temperature in Taiwan was quite warm.

We boarded our train shortly after and settled into our seats, excited to take in the beautiful view of water-flooded farms as we made our way down south. Our flight had been scheduled to the leave the night before at 10, but thunderstorms in the east had delayed us for a good hour and a half, so we didn’t arrive to our transfer point until about 1:30 am. In China, you have to check in for each leg of your trip, so we had to wait in the departure hall until we could check in for our next flight at 8 am. With no proper space to sleep, it was a restless night. Needless to say, we saw about 15 minutes of the beautiful scenery before completely conking out.

When we arrived in Kaohsiung, the temperature was even warmer! Ah, southern Taiwan: steamy as always. Julianna came to pick us up at the HSR station and take us back to Wenfu, the school where we co-taught together. As soon as I saw her, it was like no time had passed at all; she was always picking me up and dropping me off at the station.

As soon as we arrived at the school, I saw many familiar faces. Some of the staff had moved on, but I saw many teachers with whom I had previously worked. One of them was Joey, a homeroom teacher of one of the grade 5 classes. I remembered Joey as a sweet, but slightly shy woman who was not entirely confident in her English ability, but the woman who greeted me was so open and fluent in her communication. I commented on this and she beamed with delight; apparently a trip to Iceland had given her the push to use English and had really made a difference in her ability to communicate in English. We spent a good while catching up, and then Mike and I visited Julianna’s new classroom and chatted for a while before dinner.

For our first night in Kaohsiung, Peiwen made reservations for us all to go to dinner at a restaurant located next to Lotus Pond. Lotus Pond is one of Kaohsiung’s most scenic spots and a place that I would go often with Julianna and her family, so it was a great choice for dinner.

Julianna had gone to pick her son Stephen up from school and then came back to get Mike and me. When I last saw Stephen, he was a gangly nine year old with a cute little boy haircut. Even though Julianna had shown me a recent picture of him so that I wouldn’t be totally shocked, I couldn’t believe how grown up Stephen looked! His older sisters pretty much look the same (one is almost done with graduate school and another just graduated from college), but he looked entirely different. But I soon found that he was still the same sweet boy I had spent Wednesday afternoons with while he waited in our office for Julianna to finish teaching. When we said goodbye that night, he unexpectedly pulled out an old joke from all those years ago. When Julianna used to drive me to the station, Stephen and his hilarious friend were often with us, and they'd always yell "b-y-e, b-y-e" and wave whenever we parted ways. Hearing that again made me so incredibly happy, because it made me feel like I wasn't the only one who had held on close to those memories. 

The other big surprise, of course, was seeing Yuki in person after 6 years! As excited as I was, a part of me was nervous—children change a lot between the ages of four and ten. Yuki was a little quiet when she walked in, but she gave me a hug right away, and I figured she’d open up once we had all settled in. Her brother Akira, however, was very much not excited to be meeting foreigners. Again, I was hoping this was something that would pass after a bit, and when I offered to let him take a sip of my sparkling mango juice, we became best friends. He even climbed out of his chair on the far side of the table as he announced that he wanted to sit with me. I was proud to have won over another four-year old, but I quickly realized why Shengrong, Peiwen's husband, had said “good luck” when I told him how excited I was to meet Akira. Akira is an incredibly *spirited* little boy. By the time we had gotten back to Peiwen’s house where we were staying, Akira had warmed up to us and started sobbing when Peiwen informed him that he could not, in fact, sleep in our bed with us.  

The next morning Mike and I walked to the traditional market near Peiwen’s home and ordered rice rolls and breakfast toast sandwiches. The combination of ingredients is a bit bizarre, but again, it’s one of those things that you just learn to love as a local specialty. After breakfast, we hopped on the subway and went to my old neighborhood near the Cultural Center. We walked around a lot and eventually wandered into the tea house where I used to have Chinese lessons to take a break from the intense sun and the 90-degree heat. I went into the restaurant where I purchased my favorite piece of art to see if I could track down the seller again, but the owner said he hadn’t seen him in a long time, and when he tried to call him, the number was out of service. I thanked him for trying, and we ended up having lunch at my favorite bakery next door since I found that the Thai restaurant I had loved so much had closed down.

As good as it was to see my old neighborhood, it reminded me that so much of what makes a place special is the people we share it with. Without the other Fulbrighters or the familiar faces of the guards and shop owners, the Cultural Center seemed a little lonely. Life is always changing, so it would be nearly impossible to imagine that everything there would have stayed the same. Still, I was thankful to be there again and remember all the ways that the area had been important to me.

Over the next few days we visited the school again, cooked dinner at home with Yuki and Akira (and almost had heart attacks when we saw Akira was in charge of chopping vegetables), ate “dinner” at a night market (probably Mike’s favorite experience of the trip), took Yuki and Akira to a fruit market (Akira rode on Mike’s shoulders and thought it was the coolest thing ever) and had to explain to the other customers that, yes, the kids were in fact Taiwanese and we were just out for a walk while their parents were cooking at home, and had one last gathering with both families over a potluck-style meal at home. I couldn’t believe how much Yuki opened up after our first night. When I first met her, she knew the words of some colors in English. We had extensive conversations this time around about the environment, school, families—everything in English. Even Peiwen said she was shocked to learn how comfortable Yuki was communicating in English. It was amazing.

On our last full day in the city, Frank, Julianna’s husband, took Mike to Fo Guang Shan, the largest Buddhist temple in Taiwan. I had agreed to give a presentation to my former Chinese teacher’s college class and then we had plans to go out for lunch afterward. She took me to Tasty, a well-known steakhouse, and I almost died when we ordered the five-course lunch. The food was good, but everything was incredibly rich. Even the milk tea had tiramisu syrup and caramel corn on top! I had stayed up way late the night before prepping, so I wasn’t quite prepared for such an elaborate meal, but the restaurant was quiet, the food was *tasty* (that one's for you, Mer), and I was happy to have so much time to talk with my teacher.

I had a bit of extra time after lunch, so I took the subway to a department store near the house and browsed for a bit. Department stores in Taiwan and China are much more expensive than they are in the U.S. and often house luxury brand stores, so I was really just window shopping. I happened to come across a little jewelry stand that was having a sale, and that’s where I purchased the key necklace that I posted a picture of on Instagram and Facebook. It seemed very appropriate to have such a symbolic reminder of Kaohsiung and my return trip there. After purchasing the necklace, Mike and I headed back home for our final dinner with everyone. We all gave hugs at the end of the night and said goodbye, but thankfully Peiwen and Shengrong are planning to visit Shanghai over the western new year, so we’ll meet again soon in Shanghai!

These days, the weather is much chillier in Shanghai (I had to order fleece pajamas for both Mike and me), and although it doesn’t really look like fall in terms of the scenery, there’s definitely a more festive feeling in the air. It occurred to me that we had neither plans nor the proper equipment to prepare a Thanksgiving feast, but it seems that we will be ordering a spectacular spread from a restaurant that we can have delivered to our apartment and inviting our fellow American colleagues over for a celebration. Wherever I have lived, I have always held fast to preparing a Thanksgiving feast! In Taiwan it was IKEA meatballs, lingonberry, cream cheese mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. My first year in Indiana, Andrea and I prepared a feast for all of our international student friends. It was so fun to share an important American custom with them, and in the process, I learned that what each person thinks of as traditional Thanksgiving food can greatly differ (I’m winking at you, Andrea). The following year in Boston, Mer and I turned out an impressive vegetarian feast with over thirteen dishes for just five people. Bobby Flay’s roasted Brussels sprouts with vanilla pecan butter and a pomegranate glaze was everything I had dreamed of, and, you guys, if you have any doubts about green bean casserole please try making it with all fresh ingredients! It totally revolutionizes the dish! So, even though I’m not cooking this year, you can bet that I’m going to gather everyone together and make sure they have plenty of food and wine. It’s the American way.

As many of you saw from the pictures we posted on Facebook, last weekend Mike and I ventured to the tailor market to purchase some custom made warm clothes. I didn’t pack a warm coat (and thank goodness, because my bag weighed 69 lbs, and the fee goes up to $100 at 70 lbs), so I knew I was going to be shopping for that, and Mike wanted to have a few nice blazers and suit jackets made. Luckily someone had already done the leg work and wrote an article about the vendors that offer quality work for a good price, so we were able to walk right in and get to work. I’m not very good at bargaining; once I decide I want something, I mean I love it, I gotta have it (bonus points if you get the movie reference), and I am honestly just really bad at knowing how much something should cost, because it’s all so much cheaper than you would pay in the U.S.! I think Mike’s and my approach to it is, if we think it’s a reasonable price, we’re willing to pay the money even if we could haggle them. Speaking Chinese helps, and joking with them about my unwillingness to bargain helps too. The thing is, most of them speak enough English to understand when Mike and I are discussing an offer, so that can make it difficult to secretly discuss what we think is reasonable. At the end of the morning, however, Mike had purchased three jackets, one of which is a traditional Chinese-style jacket (think Bruce Lee), and I had designed a wool winter coat, and purchased a cashmere belted sweater, a mid-length wool skirt, and an ultrasuede skirt. We pick them up this weekend!

After our shopping adventures, we decided to check out a Hunan restaurant that has been on Mike’s list of places to eat. It was voted the spiciest restaurant in Shanghai in 2009, and it’s no surprise given the amount of red chili peppers and chili oil contained in each dish. We ordered steamed taro balls, a dry-fried fish with garlic and chili seasoning, a delicious stewed eggplant and green bean dish, and a five-spiced tofu dish with chilies. Everything was tasty, the atmosphere was really cool, and it’s definitely a place we’d take any visitors—if they can handle a little heat, that is!

This was midterm week for the students, which has actually been a bit of a relief given how busy the past few weeks have been. The school always has a big Halloween party organized by the students, but since I’m the advisor for library council, and the council held a scary story contest, everyone assumed the library council (and me) was throwing the party! Given how hard we have to push for some things we consider to be basic necessities at school, it was a bit comical to see the student affairs staff suspending a giant disco ball from between the two main buildings and setting up fog and bubble machines. This is an excellent example of how Chinese culture often tends to value appearance more than other quality-related aspects of things. Regardless, the students had a great time, and the teachers were happy that the students could get back to concentrating on their classes. The week was a bit hellish given that I had a lot of Halloween party prep stuff to do in addition to writing my midterms and teaching my usual classes, but this week has been much more low-key. In fact, Monday is even another day off because there’s apparently a school-wide fieldtrip to an amusement park. I would have been happy to have a true day off as most teachers will, but Mike volunteered to chaperone because he wants to ride roller coasters, and I got cornered in the stairwell and asked if I, too, was going since my husband had already agreed to go. I was a little embarrassed and said that I was concerned about rain, but they assured me that it will only rain on Tuesday, not Monday (ha!), so I said that I would go. I'll be sure to take copious notes on the differences between American and Chinese theme parks!

I am off to Sephora (I know, I couldn't believe Shanghai has Sephora either!) to buy some moisturizer and to explore a bit, but I promise that my next post will come sooner. 

And feel free to leave comments or ask questions--you can always email too!