Jen and I woke Saturday open to whatever the day threw at us. In the late morning, a co-worker of Jen’s (another Sacred Heart teacher from Michigan) came to the school with her parents who were from Taiwan (they were in the country visiting relatives). We showed them around the school, I saw pummelos and guavas growing for the first time, and we laughed at each other’s sweat (they were actually worse than we were)! They then invited us to go with them to Danshui/Tamsui area of New Taipei City which was only about a half hour away. This area is famed for it’s Fisherman’s Wharf, for watching sunsets and for the market region. We had a fantastic afternoon with them! It was lovely to have Joyce’s parents with us; Joyce’s dad was incredibly knowledgeable about the area, traditions and goings-on.
While eating lunch in Danshui, I heard what sounded to be a marching band of sorts and ran out to see what was going on. Lo and Behold, there was a parade going by! At first, Joyce’s dad thought it was a protest (there were people with those traditional dragon costumes on and a band going by) but then he realized that it was a parade being held to move one statue of a God from one location to another. The parade is held to clear and purify the path of the God as it travels to its new home. The dragons, band and subsequent Gods lead the sacred God to scare off evil and bad luck. At one point, a parade “marshall” saw me taking pictures and got really excited and motioned for me to come and get in a picture with one of the evil-scaring Gods. He had NO idea how to use my camera so we ended up holding up the parade because he was determined. The police were blowing whistles at us and everything. It was incredibly embarrassing but at the same time I got a kick out of it and a great picture J
Throughout the day, we took many opportunities to duck into places that had A/C before heading back out and soaking our clothes all over again (at times this meant McDonald’s and Starbucks haha We are in a big city afterall). Fortunately, Taiwan has more free wifi than any other place in the world (nullifying my need to get a local cell phone with a data plan) and I was checking all day with an old Engineering buddy, Josh (from Fogo Island, NFLD) who now teaches English here. We hoped to get last minute tickets to an OK GO show (if you don’t know who they are, do yourself a favor and look them up on YouTube. They have the BEST music videos) but sadly, it didn’t work out. That left more time for exploration!
We spent the rest of the day exploring the beautiful waterfront, the shops, buskers and the ferryboats. We went to one of the oldest temples in Taipei and Jen bought some money to burn for her deceased ancestors. It’s called ghost money and is a sign of respect and good fortune (I believe). The temple was incredibly beautiful but for the disco-like balls spinning with Chinese characters on them. Nevertheless, there were dozens of people worshiping and admiring the incredibly details works.
We parted ways from Joyce and her parents (who made the day SO much better with their knowledge and sense of humor – and they treated us to lunch and drinks!) then returned via MRT (subway), picked up some bakery goods for breakfasts (they feed us lunch but no other meals and we don’t live near much) then bussed home. It was a great day! On to more adventures tomorrow!
Bonus: I slept for about six hours last night! Wooooo!
xo
While eating lunch in Danshui, I heard what sounded to be a marching band of sorts and ran out to see what was going on. Lo and Behold, there was a parade going by! At first, Joyce’s dad thought it was a protest (there were people with those traditional dragon costumes on and a band going by) but then he realized that it was a parade being held to move one statue of a God from one location to another. The parade is held to clear and purify the path of the God as it travels to its new home. The dragons, band and subsequent Gods lead the sacred God to scare off evil and bad luck. At one point, a parade “marshall” saw me taking pictures and got really excited and motioned for me to come and get in a picture with one of the evil-scaring Gods. He had NO idea how to use my camera so we ended up holding up the parade because he was determined. The police were blowing whistles at us and everything. It was incredibly embarrassing but at the same time I got a kick out of it and a great picture J
Throughout the day, we took many opportunities to duck into places that had A/C before heading back out and soaking our clothes all over again (at times this meant McDonald’s and Starbucks haha We are in a big city afterall). Fortunately, Taiwan has more free wifi than any other place in the world (nullifying my need to get a local cell phone with a data plan) and I was checking all day with an old Engineering buddy, Josh (from Fogo Island, NFLD) who now teaches English here. We hoped to get last minute tickets to an OK GO show (if you don’t know who they are, do yourself a favor and look them up on YouTube. They have the BEST music videos) but sadly, it didn’t work out. That left more time for exploration!
We spent the rest of the day exploring the beautiful waterfront, the shops, buskers and the ferryboats. We went to one of the oldest temples in Taipei and Jen bought some money to burn for her deceased ancestors. It’s called ghost money and is a sign of respect and good fortune (I believe). The temple was incredibly beautiful but for the disco-like balls spinning with Chinese characters on them. Nevertheless, there were dozens of people worshiping and admiring the incredibly details works.
We parted ways from Joyce and her parents (who made the day SO much better with their knowledge and sense of humor – and they treated us to lunch and drinks!) then returned via MRT (subway), picked up some bakery goods for breakfasts (they feed us lunch but no other meals and we don’t live near much) then bussed home. It was a great day! On to more adventures tomorrow!
Bonus: I slept for about six hours last night! Wooooo!
xo