Saturday February 16th, 2013
The morning began by heading out with host father, mother
and grandmother on an event filled trip planned to last the whole day. First
was to Yuanshan park, which was holding a primary spot for the upcoming Lantern
Festival. There were many displays of various themes set up throughout the area
but all revolving around Chinese culture in some way. The presentations were
not all complete since it’s not yet the time for the festival but we went now because
there would be a lot less people. If we come again, it’ll be when it’s finished
and at night when they glow in splendor. But for now let’s just look at a few
in the daytime. ;)
Chinese goddess Mazu and two beings, one possessing huge
ears and the other with large eyes each having powers that match their outstanding
characteristics.
A snake made out
entirely out of recycled bottles. See all the different kinds?
Speaking of recycling, a nearby building prides itself in
that act. The wall is decorated in clear bottles both inside and out. It also
has a chair comprised of a fiber material 100% made out of trash. Good stuff
for the Earth!
Aboriginal dancers!
SQUIRREL! It being vertical up a tree is pretty darn cool
crafting!
This is a building at Yuanshan park dedicated to the
Taiwanese aboriginal culture. Inside it has merchandise matching its theme. In
the back we found a little area that sold food sustenance, which became our
lunch.
Delicious sausage on a stick was part one…
Fried vegetables of sweet potato, mushrooms and green beans(?)
as part two…
Part three were these doo-dads. They were totally new to me
as I learned they were aboriginal food. I’m really not sure how to describe it
because I don’t really understand it much. I can say this though, don’t eat the
leaf wrap. XD
They sold two types of this kind of food, each maybe three
inches long. One was composed of a type of corn or grain along with meat. The
other was taro and perhaps another kind of grain. Pretty interesting and pretty
tasty too!
For a sweet dessert was basically a pancake sandwich. You
take two small, round pancakes and slap on some filling in between. In total
there were six filling options strawberry, taro and peanut being three of them.
The little treats were good and can be easily made back in America thanks to
its simplicity.
I love the structure and overall appearance of this fellow.
He’s so wonderfully constructed!
Aboriginal Pattern Designed Objects
PANDAS WITH NUMB-CHUCKS! Vicious yet cute!
All sorts of traditional instruments though none exactly place music. XD
Onwards to battle men! Dude this was such an awesome display!
Chinese bride riding a hors-key!
Random heart-ness found in search of a restroom. Quite
lovely!
And so ended our stay at Yuanshan park. Twas then off to the
Longshan Temple area in order to see an old street and museum. We actually
already went there but at that time it was at night when too dark and the
museum being closed. It is called the “Heritage and Culture Education Center of
Taipei City.”
A piece of art that caught my attention. Ain’t it clever? A
lamp made out of Asian farmer hats. I applaud the creator!
There were several sections of the museum but this one was
the most fun. It comprised of games children used to play in the olden days.
You take your metal hoop and stick with the curvy end then proceed to walk it
along. It takes balance and skill to keep the hoop in line with the rod and not
run away. Host father here is doing good so far! I’ve never tried nor seen this
before so I was a bit confused at what to do when given the objects. The first
couple tries were just placing the things in position but lacking any forward
movement. When the concept of walking it clicked in my mind, my feet moved and
viola! Andrea was a natural! My host parents approved of such a natural ability
because it isn’t as easy as it looks. They had trouble getting it correct
themselves. It effectively brought smiles and laughs out from all of us for a
jolly good time.
This is just too cunning. It’s supposed to be a Chinese
firework but someone replaced the cylindrical firecrackers with Coca-Cola cans.
I find that adorable. XD
On the street we ran across a stand with some ginormous
slices of food. We ended up buying two of them for snacks both for right then
and also later. It was for the most part a type of layered bread with
seasonings of some sort in the middle (the green stuff). The food was good and
easy to continuously eat away at. Just to give you an idea of its size, think
of a normal pizza slice and increase the size by 50% and thicken it greatly.
Thankfully the man sliced it up for us so it wouldn’t be intimidating to eat.
XD
We briefly stopped by Longshan Temple for two ‘stations.’ I
say stations because I don’t know what to call them. What happens is you walk
under these lantern things and they will bring you something, one was for
wealth and the other for peace. This one has a snake dressed up in Chinese
garments that is for wealth. Never heard of this before but I happily
participated and walked under each station.
The evening was to be spent at Nanshijiao (southern Taipei)
for dinner among family friends. First we went to their house and stayed there
until the time came to meet up with Michael at the subway. A food offered to us
was a strange new kind of orange. Words fail me to describe its differences but
perhaps a picture helps? Both the taste and way the peel separates are the key
factors.
When the time came to get Michael, we ran across this while
walking there. TEXAS! HELLO MY LOVE! I proceeded to glomp the sign for a
picture taken by host father. Don’t have it yet, sorry.
Dinner was consumed at a Taiwanese version of Thai food.
This is the aftermath of ten people tearing through the delicious contents. :P
A short walk around a night market nearby then it was off to
the subway. We bid our goodbyes and headed home. Ok, isn’t this picture of my
host parents adorable? ^_^
The final act of today was baking brownies for a Rotary
meeting tomorrow. Many, MANY factors were working against me. Such issues were
using a convection oven, trouble with the temperature knob, no measuring cups
for a 1/3 cup, no baking pan and no toothpicks for checking if finished baking.
As you might tell, my host family doesn’t bake. XD I ended up using two metal
oval Chinese lunchboxes as baking pans, which is just so weird for both Asians
and a non-Asian. It’s like freezing jello in an American lunchbox. But it
brought a good laugh and joke out in all of its silliness. Then to make up for
the lack of toothpicks, I turned to an obvious option that I use every day in
Taiwan…chopsticks! XD Worked like a charm! ;P
Even with all the difficulty it was a success both in
achieving the desired result and teaching my family a thing or two about
baking. The product shall be tasted tomorrow at the Rotary event. Now if you’ll
excuse me, I’m going to pass out now in attempt to get as much sleep as
possible in the 5.5 hours I have left before needing to wake up. It’s been a
long day. Good night/morning everyone!
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