Taiwan Times Village + DANCING!

Tuesday February 12^th, 2013

Yay for a semi-sleep in. It was only until 10:00 but every minute counts after a full day of adventures. Getting dressed was not pleasant in the slightest sense, not with a fresh sunburn from yesterday sprawled across my chest, face and scalp. The cut of my shirt created an odd and unattractive contrast of white skin colliding with red skin. I thank the Lord that I brought a tad bit of aloe vera to Taiwan for such an occasion. And now that I know (and feel) how strong Taizhong’s sun is, sunscreen was applied as well, just to be safe and parent further pain.

Since I woke up late and lunch would be the normal noontime, I ate only a small breakfast that included radish cakes, egg and homemade soymilk. Only an hour afterwards was lunch served and people gathered to dig in. Following that we piled in two cars and drove to our destination. Well, leaving was postponed for a while because Qi Han couldn’t find his phone. A search high and low commenced for some time until he eventually found it. Having his phone is very important because Qi Han is currently enrolled in the Taiwanese army, the required one year for all males. They are given a short Chinese New Year break but it comes with strict rules. Rules such as needing to call their officer everyday letting them know where they are/have been, needing to be home at a certain time (10:00? 11:00?), etc. That’s why it was important to have his phone otherwise he might get in army trouble. Plus, in a technologically based Taiwan, you always have your phone. ;)

Two cars were used because apart from yesterday’s group, my host mother’s brother, the brother’s wife and their son joined today’s discovery expedition. Beforehand I was told it’ll be an inside museum of old Taiwan. That was true but I didn’t expect the extent of its truth.

Arriving at the location, the building was surrounded by a market in full swing with people all a-bustle. An opening in front of the building for cars to turn around in became a stage for various performances. The one prancing and dancing with liveliness when we approached were four colorful smiling guys. An icon in Taiwan, these dudes are gods associated with children in some way or another, dancing happily around and tossing candy into the audience. To give an idea of their height, the person that operates the costume sees through the mouth . So they’re tall, perky and must drink tons of RedBull throughout the day. XD

Following their do-dad of a ditty, martial art students in matching uniforms banged away at instruments for several minutes soon accompanied by two pink lions. One thing I love about knowing how to do some lion dance (apart from pure reason of doing it) is that I can watch other performances with understanding and appreciative eyes. These guys’ act included a lot of the front legs person jumping on the shoulders of the back legs person, making the lion rear up. When both guys were on the ground I couldn’t see much because of people in front of me even though I was standing on stairs. My family and I saw only a portion of it before heading inside.

Look at how cute this little drummer is! He was adorable! ^_^

Entering the ‘Taiwan Times Village’ building, the set up fit its name well. The way to best describe it is a Taiwan Old Town Spring, older, compressed together and in a roofed facility. Old-style stores ran up and down the streets complete with antique advertisements, light posts and street names. Several food stands also speckled the area. Some places sold old products famous back in the day and a few workers wore corresponding costumes to match the theme.

A couple of stands gave out free samples of a liquid drink. Asking what it was, “vinegar” was the response. I looked down questionably at it wondering if I should dare drink it but as an exchange student it was my duty. Surprisingly it wasn’t the overwhelming bitter, sour, blah taste I thought it would be but rather sweet with a kick of bitterness. Turns out there were many flavors of the vinegar such as honey, pineapple, apple, etc. It left a strange after taste and a lingering acidic feeling on the teeth but it wasn’t bad. Not sure I would want to buy a bottle but I’m not against trying new flavors.

Huge steamed bun stand. We shared a couple among the ten of us. They were delicious!

One shop was aboriginal themed, containing pretty much the same merchandise from yesterday but for twice or thrice the price. Something I’ve realized about the Taiwanese aboriginal culture, it is trying hard to take away my eye’s virginity. A wide painting of several unrealistic tribal men with no bottom covering was displayed by the cash register. The only way I’ve been able to keep my eyes pure is being quick enough to realize the lack of clothing before seeing anything. Muhahaha! You can’t get me that easily! >:D

A lion sculpture carved out of soap in front of an old soap shop.

Inside the soap shop with the employee traditionally dressed in soap seller’s clothing.

The Taiwanese and America alliance sign! I grabbed one of my Taiwanese family members and we lovingly took a picture by the sign showing the friendship exists to this day. ^_^ Host father has that picture and will give me later.

My cousin Adam (uncle’s younger son) sitting at a restaurant made out of cardboard. The table, seats, walls and even cup holders were all artistically crafted from cardboard. Really cool!

A gambling game involving the fortune telling wooden bananas! You pay for the chance to toss the doo-hickeys and if you get twenty ‘yes’s you win a very large sum of money. Of course this is really hard to accomplish. I think one woman achieved a score of fifteen ‘yes’s and won a scooter for it. Nice!

Cang Jie (left) and Adam (right) cutely fooling around as if brothers. ^_^

A stage area towards the back featured several different shows that we spent a lot of time watching. We came in the middle of a drum performance played by young boys and girls. They were good, possessing powerful strokes. The next act was predominately Chinese yo-yos by two chicas and one chico whom I believe represented Taiwan in some international show/competition. They did a wonderful, talented show with Chinese yo-yos, blocks and something that might be called a water meteor (? I really don’t know, sorry XD). Half of the time I fought for the ability to see because a boy so conveniently stood in front of me when sitting on a bench and I was too polite to ask him to move. Michael, being the sweet older brother that he is, got the boy to move so I could see better. Taking videos helped too because I could just watch the screen with a better perspective.

The following show was my favorite for reasons I don’t think I need to explain. Taiwanese aboriginals! :D They began with ladies from several different tribes (made obvious by their clothing) dancing together. Then a lady speaker brought a man and woman to the stage dressed in traditional wedding clothing. The woman’s attire was very elaborate and called for a lot of explanation. Michael translated some bits for me such as the feathers on her headdress means noble blood in her tribe like a princess. The mother of the bride cuts her hair and gives it to her daughter to wear with her wedding dress (maybe as part of the headdress?). Also only a true member of her tribe can wear such attire. Outsiders who wear it would be offending the culture. I hope all that was understood correctly and is accurate. I’m 70% sure it is. XD

Q&A time! Of course I couldn’t participate because of language barriers and lack of Taiwanese aboriginal knowledge but Michael at one point told me to raise my hand and repeat his words (a Taiwanese tribe’s name). I did as told, made the speaker amazed at a foreigner answering (the foreigner being surprised too XD) and handed out a DIY LED lantern of Taiwan Times Village as a prize. Since it wasn’t earned by my knowledge, I tried to give it to Michael, the true winner. He declined and bade me to keep it. That was very kind of him to do so.

Soon my host family was encouraging me to go forward as a volunteer. Can you guess what kind of volunteer thing it was? I bet you can! ;) Aboriginal dancing, baby! At first I enthusiastically jumped forward but later became uncertain if I should be there. The other volunteers were all half my height or less and younger than a third of my age. Awkward. XD Regardless I danced away as best as possible though it took awhile to pick up on the moves. Most of the kids stood around not knowing what to do and one dear’s Dad had to heroically retrieve her. Poor thing. At the end, each participant was given a DIY LED lantern for a prize. I offered it to Michael since he deserved one for the Q&A but he still declined, increasing my lantern possession to two.

Some time was dedicated to talking about the five dancing aboriginal women from tribe to their clothing. From Michael told me, the one came from the “tsou” tribe that we deemed yesterday as my long lost family. More evidence of being a relative coming up! ;D

Surprise, surprise! Audience volunteer dancing part 2! I hesitated at first because I wasn’t sure if I could go up a second time but my host family urged me up. Eager about dancing as always, I sprung up excitedly being one of the first to do so. Other participants needed encouraging to come up. Generally Taiwanese will happily sing their hearts out but shy away when it comes to dancing. Each person was dolled up in a flower crown and some form of clothing. I was given a small apron of which I’m sure was meant for little girls and not a chica emerging into adulthood. XD

Now this dance was easier to catch unto than the previous. To the right of me, I held a volunteer guy’s hand who clumsily moved around and passionately bellowed out the song. He had an amusing personality. The person to the left of me was brought about by fate! Twas the pretty lady from my tribe, though I didn’t know at the time and was told later that we were of the same tribe. I jokingly say that our deep family bonds attracted her to me and therefore gives evidence I descend from them. XD

The dance had a lot of kicking, some twirling and audience involvement. The speaker handed a microphone to audience members to sing along with the song (lantern prize given if done so). Other than performing in the front, the chain of dancers circled around the area while still following the correct moves. And yes, all the dancers got lantern prizes too. That totaled my trove to three. Oh it was a fun time for sure! I enjoyed today’s aboriginal experience though yesterday’s is the favorite in my heart. If only I could continue to learn more, that would be so cool. The same goes for Native American culture because Taiwan aboriginals have increased my love ever more for Americas. Both are fascinating! :D

With a big rotating table dinner, we concluded our visit to Taiwan Times Village. A puppet show commenced while we ate and could somewhat see even when a distance away. It was strange and untraditional because the narrator/voices for everyone stood awkwardly out in the open and the puppeteers came out from hiding in the open. Both should be behind the stand unseen so there’s the feeling of reality to the puppets. According to my family, the show’s content was dirty. We didn’t really pay attention to it because we had good food in front of us. XD

Once finished we meandered our way to the car, got in and drove home ending the day quietly. Thanks for reading friends! See you next time! Byes! :)

P.S. Here are two of the three kitties residing in the house (Cang Jie’s girlfriend’s cats). They are so cute! ^_^