Painted Villages, Painted Lions

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Hi everyone!

Tis the season for typhoons here in Taiwan. This means rainy, cloudy weather, with lots of wind and grey days. Luckily, here in Taichung we are protected by the mountains that run through the middle of Taiwan, so we don't have it nearly as bad as Taipei (because I am enrolled in the STEP program I got an email from the government that they closed the American Institute in Taiwan on Friday due to the bad weather). In fact, the wind is actually quite nice, because it lowers both the temperature and the number of mosquitos. Regardless, we tend to try and stay in on the evenings there is a typhoon warning in effect (three so far).

On one of the days, our challenge was to translate three recipes, then trade with another group and cook two of them. Because we ran out of time, we didn't trade recipes, but made two of our own. We were then sent to a supermarket to shop for the ingredients we needed. Because Asia, it was pretty difficult for everyone to find the correct ingredients within our budget of NT$1500 (about US$50). For example, Sarah and my recipe called for parmesan cheese, which we couldn't find. The supermarket only had shredded mozzarella/cheddar mixes (pizza cheeses) or processed cheddar slices. Another group was looking for tortillas, which they couldn't find, and yet another group tried and failed to find vanilla extract and sprinkles. I probably don't need to mention that all of these are staples in any American supermarket. Sarah and I were going for a pasta with potatoes and broccoli dish that I had found on the Food Network website, but we ended up with something more like mac and cheese with potatoes and broccoli. The broccoli wasn't that weird for me, as I tend to get broccoli in my mac and cheese at Noodles and Co. back home, but the potatoes were a bit strange. Tasty, but strange. Other groups made 餃子 (jiǎozi - dumplings), a chicken dish (which was supposed to be chicken wraps but due to the distinct lack of tortillas, turned into just chicken with vegetables), questionable mug cake that didn't rise due to the wrong kind of flour, and mango cubes (which were supposed to be a mango lassi-type drink, but since they couldn't find cream were just cut and served as dessert). Overall it was a good meal, if not exactly what we had been going for.

The following day was our last day of orientation, and Yu laoshi gave us three options for the day: interview people on campus about something and present, study various topics and present, or go out exploring. We chose to go out, much to the surprise of our laoshi (in case I haven't yet made this clear for those of you with no Chinese background, laoshi is Mandarin for "teacher"). She expected us to want to stay in the air conditioned room to work, so we definitely surprised her with wanting to go out and explore. To make us practice speaking, she would tell us the name of the location we wanted to find and had us ask other people how to get there. Because we were using public transportation, and because I don't trust that others wouldn't just make up directions if they didn't know how to get where we wanted to go, there were a few times when I was afraid that we were going to end up horribly, horribly lost. I even asked Yu laoshi at one point if we were to go the wrong way, would she tell us? She said she wouldn't, and would just let us get lost. Luckily we never actually got lost-lost, but there was one point when we made a pretty large detour because we asked some guys who told us to go the wrong way. Once we found the bus stop, we came to the realization that they probably didn't actually know how to get to where we wanted to go and just made something up (my fears of being led astray were obviously not uncalled for). Anyways, the first place we visited was 彩虹村 (cǎihóng cūn - Rainbow Village), which was both historical and very cool. Basically, Rainbow Village is an old government housing area that was created as provisional housing for Nationalist soldiers, but ended up being permanent residents. The houses were small and run down by the time the government decided to tear them down and use the land to build nicer high-rise apartments. However, one resident, now known as 彩虹爺爺 (cǎihóng yéyé - Rainbow Grandpa), was still living there and did not want the buildings to be torn down. So he picked up a paintbrush and started painting. Now the buildings and streets are filled with colorful paintings of animals and people, and the village has become such a major tourist attraction that the government has ceased their plans to tear the housing down and has left it to 彩虹爺爺. 彩虹爺爺 is 94 years old and still painting the walls and streets of Rainbow Village, which is amazing. In comparison, the rest of our day was pretty uneventful. We spent about an hour trying to find the second location, a cramped marketplace with lots of those traditional Taiwanese foods. We did not end up spending much time there before Yu laoshi led us to our last location, a fancy dessert shop. The first level offered mango shaved ice and ice cream, the second level was all seating, and the third level was fancy chocolates. The ice cream was surprisingly expensive. (By expensive I mean NT$450 or USD$14.50 for giant mango ice desserts, or NT$90 USD$3 for one scoop of ice cream. Expensive for Taiwanese food, but pretty normal prices by American standards. Why is our food so expensive??) Because I was running low on cash at that point, I ended up with a single scoop of passionfruit ice cream and honey cake as my complimentary topping. The ice cream was tart and super refreshing; perfect for the hot day!

Later that evening, Yu laoshi brought us back out to the 逢甲夜市 (Féng jiǎ yèshì - Feng Jia Night Market). Like the night market in Taipei, it only got more crowded as it got later, and was filled with delicious food. We also met Yu laoshi's boyfriend, who is very nice and speaks English well (I learned the other day that he studied English in New York during college). We also tried lots of street food, including fried sweet potato balls, fried water chestnuts, and fried chicken steaks (see a theme here?). All of it was delicious, of course. Yu laoshi left before us, and we ended up getting kind of split up, so four of us ended up at a place where we got mango shaved snow (the ice is sweeter than regular shaved ice, and flavored) and green tea shaved snow with red beans. VERY yummy, although I can't say I really ate anything with nutritional value that day... oops. Totally worth it, though.

Yesterday we took a 40ish minute bus ride (two buses, actually) to 鹿港 (Lùkǎng - Lukang, lit. deer harbor). In Lukang, we first visited the Longshang temple, which was really cool. The Taiwanese believe in many gods, and in the temple there was one room in particular that houses the shrine to the god you would ask if you wanted a boyfriend (or SO, whatever the case may be). After introducing yourself and asking, there are two wooden crescent moon shapes that you throw on the floor. One side is curved and the other is flat, and what you want is for them to land one up, one down three times in a row, which means that the god has said yes to your plea. Then, you take a red string (symbolizing the string of fate) from a bowl to tie around your wrist. When that string falls off, it means that your SO will appear soon. It's also a pretty obvious indication that you are in the market for a relationship, which is kind of odd. There was also a room for a god whom you would ask if you had a specific question. For this one, you take a random stick with a number and throw the crescent moon pieces again. If they land as a "yes," you then go to a wall with corresponding numbers and fortune sheets.

After, we went to a shop where we got to paint little lion heads. The actual store sold and made the large lion heads used for lion dances, although they were just the heads without any sort of body. The painting was a nice, relaxing activity (in an air conditioned room), and what sort of fortunes/qualities the lions bring are dependent on the color you paint them. Mine is black, representing courage, and gold, representing money (duh). On their forehead is the character 王, which we were told to be sure to paint, as it tames the lions. Finally, we went to a different shop where we made traditional Taiwanese "cakes." They are nothing like the cakes we from the US would think of, rather they are basically a flour and sugar powder that is packed tightly into a plastic mold and flicked out. They were pretty and fun to make, although I don't think I will eat them because they are so powdery. Yu laoshi's boyfriend also made some, and ate all of the ones he made, but for the most part, we just wrapped ours up "for later." We did try some that were made by the shop, and they just tasted like flavored floury powder. I would like to say, though, that for some reason at both of the places we have gone to make food (the tea place and the cake place), the people who worked there have asked if I wanted to work there... I guess because I am efficient? I'm not sure, but Yu laoshi was laughing at me for that. After we made the cakes we were taught a traditional Taiwanese board game, which was a lot like chutes and ladders mixed with Sorry!. There is a spiral of characters with a buddha/enlightened person in the middle, and you roll two dice and move your piece that many spaces. You then move your piece to the corresponding character, whether that is farther forward or backward. If someone else is on that spot, you switch their piece with yours. The goal is to reach enlightenment first. Apparently it is a common game for families to play on New Years, with the whole extended family playing at once (which would get so confusing!).

Anyways, that's all I have for now, although I would like to give a shoutout to the fruits here. They are SO GOOD. Especially the mangos. Like, bad mangos here are better than good mangos back home, so I will definitely miss those! On the flipside, I am eating so many of them while I am here because they are so cheap, so I will likely be sick of them by the time I leave. Also fruit milks seem to be pretty common here (yes, they are exactly what they sound like) and I would recommend the watermelon milk from street stalls if you ever visit. It's like, milk with an aftertaste of watermelon. So tasty. I would, however, recommend avoiding apple milk from the convenience store. I was curious and tried it, and it was basically two parts super fake apple taste, one part milk. Not so good.

But yeah, that's all, and I will talk to you all later!

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Photos

Colorful Iron Man at 彩虹村
He sang 对面的女孩看过来 (Duìmiàn de nǚhái kàn guòlái), a song from my childhood! Photo cred. Iron Man

All of us with 彩虹爺爺
Photo cred. Yu Laoshi

Painted lion
Photo cred. Yu laoshi

Traditional lion head
Photo cred. Yu laoshi

Playing traditional Taiwanese board game (Makenzie also pictured)
Photo cred. Yu laoshi