Taipei, Typhoon, and an early Thanksgiving

Three things have kept me from working as much as I’ve wanted to last week, but it was full of excitement. Finally settled in Hualien, I had no time to relax as I made a return trip to the big city, experienced the worst typhoon in four years, and celebrated my favorite holiday, Taiwanese-style.

Last weekend, I traveled back to Taipei by train to meet up with Ruth and my family to host an engagement dinner for all my relatives here who won’t make the wedding, including grandparents and my 100 year old great great aunt. It was a formal but fun gathering, and the food was very good. The only thing I wasn’t too happy about: for this one occasion, I had to bring a suit, dress shoes, and nice clothes, which took up about a third of my packing space.

The two things people do in Taipei (and do in great abundance) are eating and shopping, so you are constantly surrounded by food vendors and shops. It really wore on me, and by the end of the weekend I was eager to get out of the city. But then the typhoon struck.

In Asia, hurricanes are called typhoons. The only difference is where they strike. Everyone began tracking the approaching storm during the previous week, and being on the Pacific side of the island, Hualien and Taitung would be hardest hit.  Just before leaving Hualien, I was warned to stuff newspapers in the gaps of my window frames to prevent flooding. On Sunday 9/19, the day we were supposed to return from Taipei, Typhoon Fanapi hit and all trains were halted. Even in Taipei, the winds were howling outside, so we laid low and ate the food we stocked up on. On Monday afternoon, we were able to catch a train back, but it broke down right before my stop! Ruth was supposed to continue for another couple hours to get to Taitung, but instead we hopped off and caught a cab to my place. We arrived to find it flooded, under 2 inches of water, despite my room being on the 4^th floor!

Since I hardly own a thing and had most of it with me, nothing of was damaged. My borrowed blanket and pillow were quite smelly; since they were on the floor of the loft sleeping area (I have no bed). I borrowed some supplies from my neighbor Fish, who’s place was also flooded, and Ruth and I had a fun time bailing all the water into my bathroom drain (see video above, please be patient - it is very slow to load). I suppose I did come here to work with water.

It was dark when we arrived, so I didn’t see the massive damage outside until the next morning. Many trees had been uprooted, street signs knocked down, and entire fields of crops were wiped out (particularly banana trees, see picture on left). Fish said it was the worst Hualien has seen in 4 years, and told me that the surrounding mountains, which were lush and covered in green, would all become brown soon, before slowly recovering. He was right. At the university, there were many broken windows, fallen trees, and debris scattered everywhere (see picture on right). The crowds of students would just walk around it all, and my friend Jason remarked on how everything could be cleaned up if they each spent one hour to clean up their campus. With one such request coming from the administration, this could be accomplished, but it hasn’t come, and the place has been a mess ever since.

Wednesday was the Mid-Autumn Festival Holiday, one of the three big holidays for Chinese people everywhere. Everyone took off work, and Ruth decided last minute to come spend it with me! The weather was perfect, and we rode my scooter over the mountains and down the coast to Jici beach to go surfing. The waves were small (1-2 ft.) but plenty and ride-able, and the water was nice and warm. The lady who rented us boards took a liking towards us, and treated us to a giant pot of noodle soup, which really hit the spot after surfing. She is from a nearby aboriginal tribe, and we’ve noticed that many of them have interesting looking eyes – the iris (colored part) is a deep dark brown, the same color as the pupil, thereby forming one giant dot – the effect is somewhat enchanting and very beautiful.

That night we were picked up by the couple we know from Hualien City, and taken there to celebrate the holiday with their family and friends. It is a tradition to barbecue, and they are surprised that it is so common in the states, since they only do it this one time each year. There were many other dishes as well, the company was good, and so we ate, drank, and were merry. I got upside down to teach a couple of the kids to do “The Tripod” (headstand) and everyone got a kick out of watching them try, fall, and finally succeed. The conversation turned serious as many people expressed various concerns for the youth of Taiwan, which I might write about in a future post. The old guys kept trying to load me up on Taiwan Beer (which is fantastic by the way) but I kept to a modest amount, not falling into their trap. All in all, everyone had a wonderful night, and it really felt like a Taiwanese version of my all time favorite holiday – Thanksgiving.

Despite all these distractions, I worked long hours on the days that I could, and will write about some things I’ve learned in my next post.