Christmas Part II

On Christmas Eve, I went to the Catholic, Chinese Mass at Wenzao at 8 o'clock. When I got there, I felt a bit alone; however, it wasn't long before I walked over to our auditorium, where the mass was being held, and I saw a lot of familiar faces. My Japanese classmate (who lived in New Zealand for university:aka awesome english) and my enthusiastic French 同學 were happy to see me, and we proceeded to grab seats in the auditorium. I saved a seat for Nora (who showed up an hour late because she was eating ice cream), and looking around, it was obvious how many different nationalities were represented at Mass. Nora and I saw a lot of our Indonesian friends who are from an Ursuline high school where they won a scholarship to study at Wenzao for four years. Because Wenzao is a Catholic and language school, many of the teachers are quite religious although Taiwan as a whole has less of a Christian influence than the southern United States. Two Spanish teachers were sitting behind me; one with a Bible in hand: he doesn't speak Chinese. The whole service was in 中文, but a lot of the music I recognized, only English lyrics has been substituted for Chinese ones. It was interesting, even though I'm not sure what the sermon was, and I learned that even in Taiwan, non-Catholics aren't allowed to take the communion. 

After the service, they had a reception afterwards with free food. One of my teachers from Spain gave Nora and me turrón, a traditional Spanish Christmas chocolate. I spent the night at Nora's and briefly talked to the Mc-Family on Skype.

When I woke up, IT WAS CHRISTMAS!!! It was also like 9:30, and Jubbie and I just went home. The middle of my day consisted of lots of laundry, a chore I had put off for too long. I called the NSLI-Y group and organized a Christmas dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant (they have real cheese). Before we ate, we took pics.

NSLI-Y Bringing Christmas to Taiwan aka 聖誕節快樂！

At dinner, we ordered enough food to feed a small army. It's pretty much the only restaurant where we pay food prices that are similar to eating in the United States, but it's worth it for CHEESE.

I left a bit early to be home by 10 to skype with my American family there Christmas morning. We has both sent packages through customs and it was pretty cool to open presents via skype with Ya-Shu Mammy and Jubbie at my side. I got to translate comments like "(while looking at Charlie) Is that Jubbie's boyfriend?" from Ya-Shu Mammy, and it was cool to see how my Chinese has improved. Translating is so cool, and it's something I didn't know I loved until I came here. 

 Siblings!

 The present on the left is from me. The present on the right is from Dad.

 Stars and Strips, Chrismas present in Taiwan 2011. The blanket was an incredible, homemade graduation gift from one of my best friend's mom. My room is awesome. 

Tanner got a lot of tea. Christie sent Jubbie and I matching PJ's, and I am super excited bout my new electronic translator that has 14 languages!! With so many different foreigners at Wenzao, I already know I'll be able to use Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Korean, and Japanese. (and Jubbie says the Brazilian men come second semester, so cross your fingers I'll be using Portuguese.) Our skype date ended quite late, so when I finished chatting, I shut my computer and went to sleep. 

It was a merry Christmas, if not a white one.

    

Best Christmas Present Ever

TAIWANESE CULTURE NOTE: Here in Taiwan, Christmas is an imported Western holiday that is mainly commercial. It's kind of like Cinco de Mayo in the United States. The winter break doesn't start until mid January and ends in February (in order to correspond with Chinese New Year, which is a big deal here), so in a lot of ways it hasn't felt like Christmas this year. We went to school on December 23rd and will be going to school on the 26th. My host family doesn't celebrate Christmas (they aren't Christian), and December is just a regular school month for most Taiwanese students.   

HOWEVER.....

This weekend, I got the best present I could have wished for: Derek Shyr!!!

Two USN alums of the Class of 2011 in Taiwan! It was fantastic to see him; the Shyr family is here over Christmas break. Listening to an American talk about multi-variable calculus in English is great. There isn't anyone on this island that could have held the same conversation. It was also really awesome, because now I can understand what he and his mom are saying when they speak Mandarin. It was a day I'd been looking forward to for a long time, and we had a lunch at a great 小龍包 （xiaolongbao) restaurant. It was so delicious!

After lunch, we went to a car show. This was my first one; there were a lot of scantily-clad, skinny Asian women showing cars and speaking Chinese. Some were really hot. Mrs. Shyr told us that a lot of them had surgery to get bigger eyes and more Western-style noses.

I can't say how surreal it was to see someone from back home. Derek and I were teammates on the swim team and classmates in a ton of AP classes (He's probably helped me in math almost as many times as Mark). Now, we're alumni and friends, and this weekend, we were both in Taiwan. Small world, small island.

Another CRAZY thing that happened in Taiwan recently was that I had a chance meeting with another USN alum. John Loftus, class of 1998(ish), randomly came to my Chinese chess class about a week and a half ago. I asked where he was from (because he is white), and he said the United States. When he then said he was from Tennessee, I screamed, "ME TOO!" Then he said "Nashville" and I shouted. "I GRADUATED FROM USN!!!!" and.... SO DID HE! It was literally the most unexpected thing that's happened so far. He remembered Mr. Durnan, Mr. Robins, Zaf, Dr. Lavine, and Mrs. Melchiore. I ran over and hugged him immediately; apparently Mr. Loftus has been working in Kaohsiung for a few years, and he was actually going home to Nashville for the first time in three years for this year's Christmas. We exchanged information (I'm the first person from Nashville he has met since he's been here), and I emailed him a list of around 20 restaurants he should eat at when he is home for the holidays.

Speaking of which, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!  聖誕節快樂！ Feliz Navidad!

(My Christmas tree and presents. Thank you Andrews family and Kathy Greene!!!)

Love,

McKenzie

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Visiting High School

This weekend, our group woke up early on Saturday and attended the 19th anniversary party of a local high school named 鳳新高中 (FengShanGaoZhong). Though I'm unsure why, we were presented as honored guests from the United States. Students pulled out their cell phones and cameras to get pictures of us on stage. After the opening ceremony was over, students approached us to take pictures, and a teacher who also volunteers with NSLI-Y gave us a tour of the campus and the celebration that was taking place. A main building housed student artwork that was absolutely amazing! 

All of these pieces were done by high school students! 

 This guy made an Ursula costume from "The Little Mermaid."

Outside the school, there were tons of students selling sausage, fruit, teas, sodas, french fries, tacos, noodles and other goodies.  It felt like being at a Taiwanese Night Market. In Kaohsiung, there are multiple 夜市 (yeshi...aka night market) that have tons of vendors selling food, clothes, and games. It's a bit like a county fair, only they operate every weekend and some weekdays. A local delicacy is "stinky tofu". The chances are if you come to Taiwan, someone with ask you, "Have you eaten stinky tofu?", and then "Did you like it?"

 A photo with some of the performers from the opening ceremony. 

Thank you so much for following this blog! Blogger shows me how many hits "taiwanplusmack" gets, and the screenshot above is fantastic. 

Love you all!

Mack