Birthday Party and Trip to Tainan

In this post you will hear about two major events that have happened in the last week of my life in Taiwan.  The first is a birthday party held in my school, and the second my trip to the relatively nearby city of Tainan.

The birthday party was perhaps the greatest thing that has happened at my school the entire time I have been here.  It was five in the afternoon on a Friday and the the final class of the day had just ended, so my classmates were naturally pretty relaxed and happy.  But I could tell that something was up...  there was a buzz in the air, and my super-spidey-culture-senses were signaling me that something big was about to happen.  Well, it was either those or the fact that one of the students had a canister of shaving cream and was distributing it among the other students until everyone had two handfuls.  I quickly realized that the final destination of this shaving cream was the face of the lucky birthday boy, who today happened to be a guy by the name of Bai Yi Rong (but my classmates assured me that this would happen on everyone's birthday, mine included).  After waiting for Yi Rong for a while, we realized he was hiding from us on the floor below our own, so we rushed down the stairwell, chased him down and proceeded to smother him in the wonderfully fragrant shaving cream.  He was absolutely COVERED from the top of his head to shoulders, and a fair amount below that as well.  However, there was quite a bit left over after we were done with him, so for the next ten minutes everyone attacked each other with shaving cream.  Needless to say, it was fantastic.  And to be honest, while I know they are a fun-loving bunch, I was a bit surprised at my Taiwanese peers.  It was a sudden burst of craziness that I wasn't quite expecting from them, but as I've thought about it more I think it makes some sense.  The students here arrive at school at 7:30 AM, and stay until 5:00 PM.  Some go to more school after this until 9:00 PM, and they are expected to preform well in all of this.  It's rather a lot of pressure on them, and of course they need to let off steam once in a while.

On to Tainan.  A bit of background on the city:  It is one of the older cities in Taiwan, and was actually the capitol before it moved to Taipei.  It is seen as the most historically important city on the island, and was the main port of the Dutch when they occupied the island in the 17th Century.  While in the city, the Dutch constructed Anping Fort, the first place we (my host mother and I) visited.  It was a traditional fort of the time period, and it was so interesting, and quite strange actually, to see such a European piece of history in Taiwan.  While western culture is very present here, it is mostly modern (Taylor Swift, James Bond, McDonalds...), and its easy to forget that Europeans have played an important part in Taiwan's history.  Next to Anping fort is Anping Road, where vendors peddle their wares and various foods.  Anping Road has the distinction of being called "the oldest road in Taiwan".  After Anping fort, we headed over to Chikhan Lou (Fort Provintia), which was another Dutch fort, built in 1653.  While it wasn't as large as the first fort, it was more beautiful, and had a distinctly Asian architecture.  I thoroughly enjoyed both stops.

After this we headed to Confucius Temple, a rather old place, built in 1665.  By that time it was night, and the temple had a great feel around it, almost magical.  This was enhanced by a young Chinese Violin student practicing his instrument in the temple.  While he wasn't the best preformer, it still lent a film-like sentiment to the occasion.  The Confucius temple is probably the most famous in Tainan, but it has MANY more.  It is in fact known for its abundance of temples , and they did indeed seem to pop up out of nowhere as we walked around the city.

To top off our visit to Tainan, we stopped at Flower Garden Nightmarket, supposedly the largest Nightmarket in Taiwan.  It was indeed gargantuan.  I saw only a part of it, but what I saw reminded me of the Nightmarkets in Kaohsiung, just with more stands, probably a much greater variety of foods, and a LOT more people.  It was nigh impossible to walk around the place, but it was still an enjoyable experience.  I sampled a fried rice ball with Korean Kimmchi, the omnipresent fish balls, some kind of a beef  wrap, and some clams.  By the end of the night I was feeling overly stuffed, so I was happy to arrive at home and collapse into bed.  Overall, a very successful day trip.

Until next time, zaijian.