Spring Break 7

Kenting is beautiful.

Spring Break 6

Lizzy weds a coconut in Kenting















A beach in Kenting

Spring Break 5

This is a really cool statue of a Hakka leader
















Cynthia's family

Spring Break 4

We visited a tree that was 500 years old, and lit incense at the alter there.

























For Cynthia's birthday, I gave her an Emerson tshirt




















I introduced Weird Al to the natives. Cynthia's quote here: "He's so bizarre, but so great!"

Spring Break 3

While we were staying with Cynthia's family, they took us to a traditional Hakka (aborigonal Taiwanese) village


















We got to make Hakka tea (Liu Cha)out of green tea, penuts, black and white sesame and pine nuts.
 

Spring Break 2

Cynthia's family lives in a house built on land which had been in their family for several hundred years. Cynthia's great-great-great grandfather was the mayor of Taichung county, and other members of her family had been quite prominant as well. Here's Cynthia with some family journals, around 200 years old.














Here's a painting of Cynthia's great-great-great grandfather. The tree in the painting is in Cynthia's front yard. In order to become the mayor, he hd to lift two huge concrete blocks, which he's sitting on in this painting. The blocks now sit in Cynthia's living room. He also competed in a sport involving a big metal spear-thing (in the painting, by the tree). This is also in her living room.

Spring Break

Ok, so this is a bit retrospective, but in April for spring break I went on a trip to southern Taiwan with two exchange students, Lizzy and Anna, and a Taiwanese student, Cynthia,went on a trip to southern Taiwan. On the way we stopped to visit Cynthia's home town and then we continued on to Kaosuing and then Kenting, wich is almost the southernmost point of Taiwan.

Here's Lizzy helping to make dumplings




















The finished product (please note the nice, neat pleats made by Cynthia's grandmother, and the big, floppy folds made by me)















Cynthia's parents had this great VW van, and it had (and I hear this is actually quie common) a karaoke machine. While you sing, it shows different video footage behind the song lyrics, and during one song it started showing random shots of Boston. Interesting. 

Easter 3

A beautiful hilltop that made me think of Ireland















A temple on top of the hill
















Words to the wise... 

Easter 2

Alyssa















Me on a table at a bus stop















More of me

 

Easter

Since Taiwan is primarily a Buddhist/Confucian/Taoist nation, Easter is not widely celebrated. And since I had none of the usual cultural cues, I totally didn't even realize that it was the Easter saeson until it was Good Friday. Eek. But, I decided, it's good to experience different ways of celebrating Easter. So this year, on Easter Sunday, I went with two other exchange students, Alyssa and Erin, and a Taiwanese student, Kenplus, to go pick Callia Lillies on Yangmei mountain. It was absolutely amazing.


Amongst the lillies...














Alyssa














Kenplus














Erin