1. We went to Taipei for an early Thanksgiving with the American Institute of Taiwan. Since Taiwan is not "technically" a country, there is not "officially" an American embassy here, which bespeaks the complex political situation. I haven't talked about Taiwanese politics on this blog, but its gotten really crazy lately; student demonstrations, massive protests, a visit by a high-level Chinese official, the former President of Taiwan being arrested on corruption charges and then going on a hunger strike, etc. Anyway, the pumpkin pie at this thing was really good and I had like 4 pieces.
2. My host family (Kendra, James, and Cliff) took me out to dinner at the highest restaurant in Yilan. All the patrons were stoned. No, actually it was at the top of this mountain where you had a view of the whole city and it looked beautiful at night. My host fam said, "we heard that Americans get lonely at these holidays, so we wanted to be with you." They're awesome, and not just bcuz they love to take me out drinking.
3. Same night, I went to my friend Evie's place. She had made a Thanksgiving dinner for her co-teacher, but her co-teacher had to cancel at the last minute, leaving you-know-who with the enviable job of eatin all the leftover food. I shoulda gotten p-a-i-d Im so good at that.
4. Friday I went on a hike with these two Professors from the local University. The trail was challenging and the view at the top was literally indescribable. Which is why I prolly shoulda taken pictures. Oh well. After that I drove to Loudong for the Fulbright Thanksgiving. If you think I didn't devour an insane amount of food after my exhilarating hike, you must not know bout me.
5. Sunday night I went to a potluck Thanksgiving at a local church. This completed my interfaith-themed week, since on Thursday I went to a Buddhist ceremony and "received the Tao." Basically, I placed incense in front of this statue of the Buddha and got a blessing from one of the priests. Then I was told the "3 secrets," which I am not permitted to reveal to anyone. The swearing me to secrecy thing was kind of undermined, though, when they handed me a pamphlet with the "3 secrets" written in it. And although I can't be sure, I think I may have accidentally converted to Buddhism.
Pics from the various Thanksgivings, as well as the Thanksgiving-themed "thank you" cards my students wrote in class last week.
1 comment:
HAHAHAH, the picture of the two girls smiling and you looking like you're sucking food out of your teeth. Haha, love it.
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