After settling into co-teaching and Douliu life, I started itching to travel around Taiwan. One benefit of Taiwan's compact size and efficient transportation infrastructure is that it's so easy to visit different cities. Before joy-riding around the country, however, I knew my first priority would be visiting my relatives in Taipei.
As Taiwan's capital city, Taipei is the nation's primary metropolis, home to bustling commercial districts as well as historical landmarks and artistic centers. As a child and younger adult, I went to Taipei with my family and did a lot of tourist activities, such as visiting the National Palace Museum or taking the elevator to the top of Taipei 101. This time, though, I wasn't going as a tourist, but rather to reunite with my relatives and a few friends.
On a recent weekend, I took the slow train* from Douliu to Taipei and three hours later, arrived at Taipei Main Station. One of my first reunions was with a friend who I'd met while studying abroad in London. As a recent grad of National Taiwan University (also known as NTU or TaiDa), one of Taiwan's premier universities, my friend is fairly familiar with Taipei's history and landscape. We met up in the Ximen neighborhood, aka "Old Taipei," at 蜂大咖啡 or Fong Da Coffee, one of the city's oldest cafes. After coffee, my friend gave me a tour of Old Taipei and the surrounding area which included government buildings such as the Presidential Office Building and event venues like Taipei Zhongshan Hall.
We even visited the TaiDa campus, which is something I'd always wanted to do. In addition to admiring the collegiate architecture, I loved the campus' wide, palm tree-lined lanes and natural scenery. In a bustling city like Taipei, it's refreshing to stumble upon open green spaces. Furthermore, TaiDa is my Akon's and several relatives' alma mater, so visiting the campus felt like a sweet tribute to them, as well.
Shots from the NTU campus, including this pond on the right that's named "Drunken Moon Lake" for some reason.
Speaking of the relatives, after thanking my friend for the tour, it was time to finally greet the fam! I should give some background. My Akon's family is from Tainan County and my Ama's family is from Pingtung County but the latter largely moved abroad, and many of the my Akon's family moved to Taipei so during this visit, I met with members of the latter branch. With nearly two years between this and my last Taipei visit, I was eager to catch up with them, especially after the pandemic and everything.
My Akon's older sister, her children, and a few of their children and grandchildren treated me to another lovely, traditional 10-course Taiwanese banquet. It was great to hear their life updates and share news of our US-based family. I found out that a few of my cousins studying in the States are returning to Taiwan in December and will have to go through the same 21-day quarantine process I did. I was happy to share some of my quarantine survival tips! Also, I was pleased that my language skills have progressed enough to converse comfortably with my relatives in Mandarin and Taiwanese with only occasional switches to English.
Feasting with the fam!
After a full Saturday, I had a chiller Sunday hanging out with another study abroad friend, this time from my semester in Shanghai. I've always thought of this friend and me as sort of counterparts; we're both half-Taiwanese and half-white but she grew up largely in Taiwan while I grew up in the States. Since the Taiwan hunxue (Mandarin for mixed-race) population is so small, my friend and I have often bonded over our similar backgrounds. It's nice having someone else who understands the niche "mixed-race in Taiwan" experience.
Anyway, I grabbed hotpot with my friend and her mom at a favorite restaurant of theirs, and then we biked through Dajia Riverside Park alongside the Keelung River. I love biking in general, but put me on a riverside path as the sun sets over the Taipei skyline, and I'm on a whole other level of endorphins! Honestly, if I lived in their neighborhood, I think I'd bike that path every day.
Hotpot and Dajia Riverside Park
Our blissful 30 minute bike ride took us to Raohe Night Market, one of Taipei's main night markets. Still a little full from hotpot, we strolled and nibbled on various snacks like 大腸包小腸 (Taiwanese sausage wrapped in a rice bun) 鳥蛋 (fried quail eggs) 花生捲冰淇淋 (crushed peanut brittle with ice cream in a thin wrap) and my favorite new discovery: 酥炸杏鮑菇 （deep fried king oyster mushrooms). What a satisfying way to end a lovely weekend!
Raohe Night Market and the fried mushrooms
Now, that weekend would've been enough Taipei magic for me for a while, but as luck would have it, Fulbright had scheduled a national Taipei gathering the very next weekend, hence the title of this entry haha. So, the following Friday found me, once again, boarding a train to Taipei, but this time on the High Speed Rail (HSR) with all of my fellow Yunlin ETAs. All 200 or so American Fulbright recipients gathered in Taipei for a weekend of workshops, fancy meals, and fun.
The events started Friday afternoon with a colloquium featuring Laha Mebow, Taiwan's first female aboriginal film director, and her work. Among other things, she screened her documentary short about her tribe, the Atayal, and their forced eviction from their village under mid-20th century KMT rule. Her work fascinated me and I was saddened by what her community and other aboriginal peoples had undergone during this ugly period in Taiwanese history. I'm so glad we engaged with her as a representative from the Taiwanese aboriginal community, a group often forgotten in larger cultural discussions. Meeting with her so close to the American Thanksgiving holiday also felt appropriate, as our home country continues to reckon with its own treatment of indigenous peoples.
The trailer for Hang in There, Kids, one of Laha Mebow's feature films
After the colloquium, we had a big "Thanksgiving" dinner which, coincidentally, was at the same venue where my relatives had hosted me the weekend before. For the special occasion, I finally dusted off my qipao, a traditional Taiwanese/Chinese dress I'd bought in Beijing four years ago! Rare is the qipao-wearing occasion so I'm glad I seized this chance to honor my heritage. The dinner itself was a fun occasion, including an eclectic food selection (everything from turkey to sushi to smoked salmon) and a very good show tunes singer and band.
Thanksgiving dinner
On Saturday morning, the Fulbright ETAs were driven to a mountain hot springs resort in New Taipei City. The surrounding mountain landscapes were breathtaking and the hot springs very enticing. At least, that's how it seemed as we stared longingly out the window of our Fulbright workshop conference room. We spent most of that day learning about different co-teaching strategies and activities and "troubleshooting" some problems we were encountering in class. After 4-5 hours of this, we had a brief break and then ate dinner, after which, a few guest speakers came to present and play a few Taiwanese culture-focused games with us.
I have to admit, at this point and after a full day of workshops, I was fading a little. The guest speakers started playing a Jeopardy game and as my team's spokesperson, I was nearly half-asleep when I chose the category "Language" for 500 points. It took me half a minute to process our question: "Which animal word in Taiwanese is pronounced like the English letter "d?" Then suddenly, I realized, "Wait, I know Taiwanese! I know this," and blurted out the answer (pig is "tih" or
"猪" in Taiwanese). Haha, lucky me, one of the few ETAs who speaks a little Taiwanese, getting to answer this question. That livened me up a little. And once the activities ended at 9pm, we bolted from the conference room and changed into our swimming suits for the hot springs! The hot baths and jets were the perfect way to unwind from a busy day.
We finished out the weekend on Sunday with a tour of Yingge Ceramics Museum and Old Street. Hearing the word "ceramics," I half expected a shelf full of those classic blue and white porcelain Ming Dynasty vases, but instead found more unique exhibits like the one below. And strolling around the old street was a nice opportunity to get fresh air and sample local snacks and crafts from the street vendors.
After lunchtime, it was time to return to Taipei Main Station and part ways. I'm so glad I went to Taipei both weekends. The first trip was a more relaxed chance to hang out with the friends and loved ones I wouldn't have had the chance to see during the second weekend. And during the second trip, I met many cool Fulbrighters outside of Yunlin and got to check out different parts of Taipei. Still, after two full weekends in the capital, I couldn't wait to get home!
Right: An exhibit at the museum. Left: Yingge Ceramics Old Street
*Moment of Joy/Humor: I did not realize that this was my first time taking the regular train and not the fancy High Speed Rail (HSR) until I faced an unexpected challenge: using a squat toilet on not just any moving vehicle, but a very rocky train. Luckily, me and squat toilets go way back so I was able to make it work. Quite the balance exercise though, I will say!