Moonshine/Moon Festival/Mid Autumn Festival

The sunshine committee at school put on a splendid BBQ in honor of the Moon Festival. Tuesday, Afterschool, we all went out on the roof and had hamburgers, hot dogs, pomeloes and amber nectar.

Even Google recognizes this holiday. I wonder if there are different logos for different parts of the world or if everyone saw this.

"When the moon is full, mankind is one". The moon festival is a national holiday and everyone celebrates. We had a professional development day so no school for students or local staff. As I walked to school I was surprised that no one was on the streets, no cars, no scooters, no bus waiters, and the traffic lights were blinking red… It was a very eerie, deserted feeling.

After school we headed to Nina’s for a BBQ that was fabulous. She invited all the new staff and her friends to come to her home to celebrate. She had the fires ready to go when we got there. We had a quick tour of her neighbor’s yard who is an artist and had several life size sculptures in the yard.  We then spent the night chatting and cooking over the 6 inch diameter pot of fire. Those little stools are what we sat on.

   

Pomeloes are very popular. I have no idea why they wear them but they all do. Here is a photo of the fruit in Aaron’s yard when we were there in July.

 

And now it is peeled and used as a hat.

You need to be careful where and how many you eat…they flush your system if you eat a whole one.

Traditional dessert is a mooncake made in the shape of a full moon, symbolizing union and perfection. It is stuffed with a variety of fillings such as bean paste, egg yolk, lotus seeds, dates, pineapple, walnuts, almonds, and sesame. Pineapple are my favorite.

When we arrived back home around 10:30 everyone was out and about cooking on the barbie and gazing at the moon hoping to see the “bunny”, I have no idea, don’t ask.

Thursday at work the local staff were dog tired from traveling to see family and celebrating.

Royal Palace Museum

Saturday, Sept. 18 5 of us set out for the Royal Palace Museum. This museum is very popular and it was a “must see”. The museum is in control of 700,000 pieces. The day was a wee bit rainy as we waited for Typhoon Fanapi to move in.

This is the walk up to the museum

Exhibit Hall

Library

The cost was 160NT per person so $5.00. Reasonable.

No cameras allowed…most of the artifacts belong elsewhere.

The selections ranged from paintings, calligraphy, rare books, scrolls, ceramics, bronzes, jades and curios.

The most famous item was the jade cabbage. It was housed in a room 15x30. Better you are thinking that is one big jade cabbage. But it was not, they like to have plenty of room around their show cases. So these large rooms hold 2-5 items. Loads of wasted space, which explains why the museum only displays 15,000 pieces at a time. It takes 12 years to swap out the pieces.

I enjoyed the meticulous carvings in ivory of miniature nested boxes, circles inside circles, and figurines.

There was a special exhibit on Tibetan Buddhas which were interesting too.

Well we can check that museum off our list.

Highlights from past few weeks

Friday, Sept. 10 Mike and I went to the CKS Memorial as he had not been yet.

They adore their animals. Not sure how well you can see this but the man has an image of his pink dog on his shirt.

This is incredible. It is a 3X5 piece of white paper drawn in Chinese characters in the image of a Chiang Kai-shek. When enlarged you can read every word of the will and plan for reform.

This one is similar but it is an engraving on ivory of Chiang Kai-shek.

Chiang Kai-shek’s bullet proof 1955 Cadillac sedan

The museum closed at 6 so we wondered out and were surprised by the ceremony to take down the flag.

The doors closed…

The armed guard marched down the Liberty Square…

Kids asking when it will start.

Took down the flag to what I assume was the national anthem.

They marched back to the memorial and disappeared.

Sunset

 

Flagger at the end of our road during construction. It is an automated dummy.

The end of August brought the end to Ghost Month. People displayed the foods for the ghosts and burned money. The street was filled with smoke.

 

Saturday night, Sept. 11 there was a gathering of the Tigers (newbies) and the Oxens (twobies) at a local wine shop. They provided several different types of red and white wine as well as salads, cheeses and breads. It was a fun night.

Peace lilies grow wild outside like ivy.

Weekend market down the street.

We started to run the river walk. The bridges are my start and stop points….Mike just goes with my whims of when to start running and when to stop. He is good to me.

Ralph Linton, The Study of Man, pp. 326-327

Mike is taking a class in Geography…this is an excerpt from his book. He thought it interesting enough to share with me and I likewise with all of you.

This was written in 1936 by Ralph Linton.

Our solid American citizen awakens in a bed built on a pattern which originated in the Near East but which was modified in Northern Europe before it was transmitted to America. He throws back covers made from cotton, domesticated in India, or linen, domesticated in the Near East, or wool from sheep, also domesticated in the Near East. He slips into his moccasins, invented by the Indians of the Eastern woodlands, and goes to the bathroom, whose fixtures are a mixture of European and American inventions, both of recent date. He takes off his pajamas, a garment invented in India, and washes with soap invented by the ancient Gauls. He then shaves, a masochistic rite which seems to have been derived from either Sumer or ancient Egypt.

Returning to the bedroom, he removes his clothes from a chair of southern European type and proceeds to dress. He puts on garments whose form originally derived from the skin clothing of the nomads of the Asiatic steppes, puts on shoes made from skins tanned by a process invented in ancient Egypt and cut to a pattern derived from the classical civilizations of the Mediterranean, and ties around his neck a strip of bright-colored cloth which is a vestigial survival of the shoulder shawls worn by the seventeenth century Croatians. Before going out for breakfast he glances through the window, made of glass invented_in Egypt, and if it is raining puts on overshoes made of rubber discovered by the Central American Indians and takes an umbrella, invented in southeastern Asia. Upon his head he puts a hat made of felt, a material invented in the Asiatic steppes.

On his way to breakfast he stops to buy a paper, paying for it with coins, an ancient Lydian invention. At the restaurant a whole new series of borrowed elements confronts him. His plate is made of a form of pottery invented in China. His knife is of steel, an alloy first made in southern India , his fork a medieval Italian invention, and his spoon a derivative of a Roman original. He begins with an orange, from the eastern Mediterranean, a cantaloupe from Persia, or perhaps a piece of African watermelon.With this he has coffee, an Abyssinian plant, with cream and sugar. Both the domestication of cows and the idea of milking them originated in the Near East, while sugar was first made in India. After his fruit and first coffee he goes on to waffles, cakes made by a Scandinavian technique from wheat domesticated in Asia Minor. Over these he pours maple syrup, invented by the Indians of Eastern woodlands. As a side dish he may have the egg of a species of bird domesticated in Indo-China, or thin strips of the flesh of an animal domesticated in Eastern Asia which have been salted and smoked by a process developed in Northern Europe.

When our friend has finished eating, he settles back to smoke, an American Indian habit, consuming a plant domesticated in Brazil in either a pipe, derived from the Indians of Virginia, or a cigarette, derived from Mexico. If he is hardy enough he may even attempt a cigar, transmitted to us from the Antilles by way of Spain. While smoking he reads the news of the day, imprinted in characters invented by the Semites upon a material invented in China by a process invented in Germany. As he absorbs the account of foreign troubles he will, if he is a good conservative citizen, thank a Hebrew deity in a Indo-European language that he is 100 percent American.

Full text online

Positive or Negative

you decide...

Walking up 104 stairs several times a day (yes it is the 4th floor but it has 26 steps per floor not typical 13)

Watching your package flush down the toilet to assure it is gone

Everyone saying they understand what you are saying becuase they are too "polite"

Umbrellas in the rain (with proper use)
Umbrellas in the sun

Scooters on the sidewalks

Crossing signals ("is more what you'd call guidelines than rules", Pirates of the Caribbean)

Meandering roaming pace that does not allow people to pass (walkways, jogging trails, etc.)

Heads of fish in soups

The school street crossing guards stop traffic for me (ex-pat) but not the students.

Rice with vegetables and bone-in chicken

Emails from students after 10PM at night or on weekends

Not being able to communicate in the local language

Being able to communicate in universal sign language (not the actual language)

Directional signs that stop before you have arrived

Dogs in baby bjorns, strollers, and purses

Online banking in a foreign language

7 11 on every corner

When you knock on a bathroom door to see if it is vacant they knock back

Forced fun

Weekend activities

Friday the school board had a gathering at the ACC, the American Club in China, for the beginning of the school year. The school buses which are beautiful first class coach buses picked us up at 5:45 and took us to the club. Love the buses and their AC.

I did not think to take any pictures of the inside of the place but it is beautiful. They did a BBQ by the pool and had choices from around the world: Peking Duck, Fajitas, Kielbasa and Sauerkraut, Crab cakes, Mac and Cheese, Fish and Vegetable skewers, Turkey quiche. It was also open bar.

Queue for BBQ and poolside.

Saturday we got to chat with Mike’s folks and then set out for a bike ride but bailed as it kept raining. We are fair weather bikers. So we went with Verna, Dustin and Brisa on an adventure. They took us to frame some of our purchases from Tanzania that we’ve had rolled up in storage for the past 2 years. They are oil based works of art so not really framed but place on canvas frames. 6 pieces for a total of 2800NT (88 US$).

The place had a cat and dog and Brisa was kept occupied playing with the kitty who seemed to enjoy being pulled around the small shop on a towel.  We then went to some antique places where the people were super friendly. We want to get some Asian pieces to finish decorating the home. We have loads more exploring to do before we settle on a piece.

The sun came out in force and zapped our energy so we headed home. We planned to stop for food for lunch but with the heat and the car sickness from taxis I called it a day.

A nice nap later and we headed out for our 17th anniversary.