National Day 10-10

October 11, 2010
8:19 AM
Zhongshan Elementary School

Since I’m actually updating in a reasonable amount of time, there’s not terribly much to catch up on. I was struck down by a vicious head cold/minor chest infection last week, and after a visit to one of Taiwan’s many fine national health care clinics and three days of antibiotics, I was right as rain. This is particularly important since this was a very big weekend.
Friday night, about half the ETAs got together for dinner at one of our local Shabu Shabu restaurants. Shabu Shabu is the Japanese version of hotpot. The primary difference is that at a hotpot restaurant, the table shares one large pot in the middle of the table to put their sauces and chosen foods in and everyone eats from it. At Shabu Shabu, everyone has his or her own pot of broth over the heat for cooking. A good time was had by all.
Saturday found me in Taipei where, after some long anticipated Mexican food, Jill and I went to the Taiwanese Handicraft Mart. It was 4 stories of goods made in Taiwan, usually following traditional arts and crafts of the island. There were gorgeous tea sets, jewelry, paintings, and more. I picked up a couple of books, including the translation of a diary of a 17th century Chinese literati who was sent to Taiwan and created a travelogue of his journey. Since my research last year was on the records left by the Dutch invaders about 50-70 years before this man’s arrival, I’m really looking forward to seeing the other side of things. I haven’t had time to start reading past the first few pages yet for the very good reason that when I got back, we had another family dinner night—Brittni and Harry cooked up some mean fajitas/burritos. The next day, hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to Taipei we go.



October 10th is National Day. All of the Fulbright Scholars in Taiwan were invited to the big National Day celebration in Taipei hosted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Timothy Yang. This celebration was the celebration for all the foreign dignitaries in Taiwan. Walking in was a bit of a shock, the kind that just makes you stop and say, what did I do to get invited here?



We passed through the entrance under a large metal gate and up the red carpet, our guest passes with our names and titles clipped to dresses, suits, and purses. Off to one side were metal detectors and tables for purses to be searched—we weren’t stopped—we walked straight through. I have to say, I felt like we cleaned up really well. It’s amazing the transformation from meeting just off the plane with 24 hours of travel and no sleep, to seeing everyone dressed to the nines with hair, makeup, and fabulous clothes. We walked in up the red carpet, shook hands with Minister Yang and his wife, and were led out through the back of the building where a double line of women with drinks on trays was waiting for us, and a crowd of diplomats had already arrived.

There were ice sculptures, an orchestra from one of Taipei’s performing arts universities, a renowned calligrapher, a straw artist, and a slew of other entertainment. There was a vast variety of food, ranging from barbequed lamb, beef tenderloin, and chicken, to Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Hakka, and Taiwanese dishes. There was even a Hagen Das booth. I have to say the green onion pancakes, Peking Duck, and Hagen Das, were probably my favorites.

And the world just keeps getting smaller. I met a little girl from Arcadia, California who won the title Junior Miss Taiwan World. It was an incredible evening, with all the different people I saw and talked to. At one point, we were walking and noticed a large, moving huddle of people—it was President Ma, walking down the lane with a crowd around him. Jill and I both shook hands with him. We also chatted with a Ph.D. student working at the National Library who, coincidence of coincidences, studied with one of the teachers at Fo Guang who presented us with introductory Chinese during orientation. Like I said, the world keeps getting smaller. It can’t be a sphere—it must be a spiral.

The range of clothing was pretty impressive. There was everything from full length gowns to the traditional qipao to cocktail dresses and women in suits. Everyone seemed to be dressed to the nines in their chosen style.
It was a fantastic evening and one that I won’t soon be forgetting, but just in case…there’s plenty of pictures to go check out on Facebook.