Keeping the season alive

Our school puts on an event every year around Christmas time where they feed the homeless and the needy on the school grounds. It is a really big event and the students cook the meal themselves. Rob and I went to see our students in action. It was really touching to see our students working so hard and also hilarious because it was very apparent that this was the first time some of them had ever fixed a meal. Some of our more mischievous boys struggled a bit and I think they ended up with burns. It was a good learning experience. 

This is a teacher trying to teach the boys how to cook some cabbage

The girl in the very back to the left is one of our very favorite students.
She was the one that invited us to her sisters wedding. 

I just think this picture is so cute. Rob in the Santa hat :)

Merry Christmas

Many people have asked how we celebrated Christmas this year. Even though we had work and it was not a very big celebration we still had some festivities. We actually had a very lovely Christmas dinner at our favorite hot pot where we opened some Christmas Eve presents. I got a necklace and some earrings from my parents and Rob got a very nice tie.

For Christmas morning we had a lovely breakfast with Rob's famous beautiful pineapple and we opened the rest of our presents. We had some wonderful Christmas cards, books (of course), and some other treasures from parents and grandparents. We also had a wonderful gift through email. Thank you all so much for your thoughtfulness!! 

Even though we are so far away we really felt close to family on this day and we love you all. Thank you for making time for our calls early in the morning when you could sleep in on your holiday. It meant a lot to us. 

Christmas evening we went to our bosses house for a Christmas feast. When Helena, our bosses wife, found out that I had some food allergies she called Rob to see what she could fix for us (the vegetarian and the kind of vegan). It was excellent. I couldn't believe how good everything was and it was pretty much all just fruit and vegetables. In Taiwan vegetarianism is very common and they know how to fix some mean vegetables and their fruit is so good. Yum!

It was a different, but very special Christmas for us. I think we will always remember this Christmas. 

A Traditional Wedding

On one of our first weeks in Taiwan, we were talking with our friend Sarah about a wedding she had recently attended.  She went on and on about how beautiful the whole thing was and she told us that we needed to go to a Taiwanese wedding if we had the chance.  We sort of laughed at her when she said that because we were skeptical about the likelihood of us getting to know someone well enough to merit an invitation to their wedding.  Sarah didn't seem put off by our scoffing.  She just reiterated how lovely traditional weddings were: the bride and groom put on a small fashion show, modeling several outfits of both western and eastern styles; and the food, oh the food!  Apparently the food was the real kicker for Sarah, and we just had to experience it.

We didn't maintain much semblance of hope after our brief conversation with Sarah.  We knew the probability was low, and it didn't really bother us--at least not me.  I mean, it's a wedding.  We did sometimes talk about how fun it would be to see a wedding when something loosely associated with weddings stimulated our conversation, though.  For example, one time we were eating cookies, and Lauren said "Wouldn't it be so fun to see a Taiwanese wedding."  Another time, we were in a stationary store looking for envelopes and Lauren said, "I think it would be awesome to go to a Taiwanese wedding."  Something told me, that despite my indifference, Lauren was secretly harboring a desire to attend a wedding.  Maybe it was the fact that she was the one making these associations in the first place.  And the fact that she was making seemingly arbitrary associations only further aroused my suspicion.

To be fair, in retrospect the associations Lauren was making were not arbitrary at all.  For instance: Prior to a wedding, the bride and groom will send all of the invitees a box of cookies as a solicitation for money.  Guests are then expected to bring money to the wedding (in even amounts that increase with your familiarity to the bride or groom) in a red envelope.  Sarah had informed us of these customs and Lauren had paid close attention, I guess.

I wonder if hope really is a force powerful enough to actualize desire because a few weeks ago one of our students, Agatha, presented Lauren with a big pink box full of cookies.  The package was intricately wrapped with ribbon and plastered with platitudes like, "Ever thine, ever mine, ever ours," and "May the joy you share on your wedding day/Be the kind you'll share all along life's way."  Agatha told Lauren that her sister was getting married and she wanted to invite us.

We weren't exactly sure why Agatha's sister, who we have never met, would want us to go to her wedding, but we knew enough to know that when the gods send you a blessing, you don't ask why it was sent.  We worked out all the details and waited eagerly for the day to roll around.  As I am writing this now, I don't know who was more excited for the day to finally arrive: Lauren or the bride.

The interior of the dining hall

And let me tell you, Lauren's excitement was not misguided.  The reception hall was magnificent.  The meticulously carved wood paneling was blanketed in the warm glow of the large red paper lanterns hanging from the elevated ceilings.  The room was crowded with dinner guests sitting at circular tables with lantern centerpieces.   Agatha, who looked so different in her formal gown than she does in her baggy scholl uniform that we hardly recognized her, greeted us joyously and led us to our seats at the vegetarian table.  Not long after that, the bride and groom paraded in and had a ceremonial toast.  Then, it was time for the food.

The food came copiously and frequently.  Each dish was delicious.  There were tofu and vegetable kebabs, fried mushrooms, sizzling platters of marinated vegetables, crispy lettuce wrapped noodles, seaweed wraps, and soups, lots and lots of savory soup.  The meal lasted for a good two hours, a new dish arriving every ten minutes or so.  Five hours later, as I write this, I am still stuffed.

Throughout the dinner, the bride and groom would greet the guests in a different outfit.  At one point, they visited each table and had a celebratory toast.  I imagine they were a little tipsy after visiting the thirty or so tables of guests.  When they arrived at our table, the very last table on their rotation, the groom looked around the table and smiled at all the well wishers.  When his eyes landed on Lauren he was somewhat taken aback (I'd like to think that it was because of her unsurpassable beauty, but, seeing as he was getting married, it was more likely the fact that there were two random white people at his wedding luncheon), and a startled look registered on his face and he blurted out an audible "Oh!" I don't know if he was scared, or what.  He quickly regained his composure and smiled at us, saying "Thank you!"


We said thank you back and we meant it.  It was a wonderful day.

Lauren, or "Luarn" as the invitation read, with Agatha

Tis the Season

of 80 degree weather in Taiwan......

Rob and I are keeping the holiday alive in Taiwan by putting up some Christmas decorations around the apartment. By some, I mean a Christmas tree and stockings. What else do we really need? I was feeling apprehensive about spending the holiday in a foreign country away from tradition, family and friends, (I really really love Christmas) and Rob must have known because he surprised me on December 1st by putting up two stockings and filling mine with a little present. He is the greatest.

After that, we decided we needed a tree. We didn't want to buy one because it would just end up as garbage so we got crafty. Our ornaments are memories. A bowtie from Rob's Halloween costume. A scroll from a trip to a Buddhist temple. A toy car from a Halloween party. A postcard from a bed and breakfast in Haulien. A CD from school. An iPhone case from the SIM card Rob bought but has yet to activate. And a shell from the beach in Kenting. Of course we have traditional golden balls as well. I think it is the most beautiful tree.

Here is our Christmas card picture this year :)

Here's another gem that we found at our grocery store. I thought this rendition of "ginger bread house"

is hilarious