金門 Kinmen

An entire military museum of enormous paintings 
showing how the KMT held off the PLA in Kinmen

Visiting Kinmen was a bizarre 36 hours for many reasons.  A friend invited me to join the trip the night before, and the next morning I flew domestically in Taiwan for the first time during the height of the Covid pandemic here.  Going between museums, we walked along wide, freshly paved streets bordered by pristine landscaping but no sidewalks.  Added on to the fact that we were spitting distance from China, it felt like a twilight zone, not Taiwan.  The 梅雨 "plum rain" that drizzles lightly during Asian rainy season picked up gradually throughout the weekend.

珠山 Zhushan Village, an eerie neighborhood of perfectly preserved Qing houses

On one hand, the island feels like 17th century China, as the Qing architecture is so well preserved.  On the other hand, it feels like the 1940s Chinese Civil War, as Kinmen was the heavily militarized keystone from where the Nationalists planned to retake mainland China.  Defending the island from an invasion by the Chinese Communists solidified the KMT's hold over Taiwan, establishing the standoff across the strait that endures to this day.

An military fort that can only be reached at low tide

Pointing to Xiamen (China)

Civil defense tunnels running underneath Kinmen

The three of us stayed in the heart of Jincheng in an Airbnb that surprised us with only one bed.  The next morning we had 油條 fried dough sticks, homemade by the neighbor, dipped in vermicelli noodle soup.

Eating Kinmenese breakfast with our Airbnb host and
discussing the Kinmenese identity, distinct from the Taiwanese identity

Western-style mansions built by Kinmenese who went elsewhere in SE Asia for work
and returned with new ideas about architecture, labor, style, etc

Alexandra Sees Pandas in Asia

Alexandra sees pandas in Asia, 2012 and 2022, almost exactly ten years apart

And then my Taiwanese penpal, Milly and me, 2016 and 2022.  We've kept in contact for the past 12 years, since my freshman Chinese teacher assigned the class Taiwanese penpals.

愛情魔鐵 Love Hotels

I've gradually become aware of the depth of cultural difference between Taiwanese and American living arrangements and how it affects interpersonal relationships.  The most standard living arrangement here in Taiwan, like most of Asia, is all three generations under one roof, 三代同堂.  It is extremely rare that a Taiwanese person my age, whether in grad school or working, would not be living with their parents.  In fact, if an NTU student's family lives within a certain radius of the university campus, they are not provided a spot within on-campus housing, as it is assumed they will live at home.

Dormitories in Asia are radically different than the dorms in which I lived suite-style with all genders at Yale.  First of all, most rooms have four people--two if you are lucky.  Secondly, Asian dormitories, in line with the culture, are rather paternalistic.  They are a stand-in for the Confucian order normally maintained by the family, when students are away at school.

Many have curfews at which point the doors will lock, and students have no choice but to spend all night out or to beg leniency from the nightshift guard.  Some dormitories in China will turn off the electricity and Wifi at a certain hour, ostentatiously for the well-being of students who otherwise would study all night and not prioritize sleep.  The undergraduate dormitories on the NTU campus are separated by gender and do not allow opposite-gender visitors.  My dormitory here, which is specifically for international graduate students, separates women and men by floor.  All guests must sign in and leave by 10 pm.  Walking around campus in the evening, you will notice couples in the shadows near the entrances to the various dorms intimately saying goodnight.  This is a phenomenon seen around Asia, such that certain campuses in China have unofficially designated make-out parks.

Taipei is a highly populated city with an extremely expensive housing market renowned throughout the island.  As a result, houses are nothing like those in which we live in the Midwest in the United States.  Old apartment buildings shared among many families is the norm.  Most have balconies, which sound luxurious but are designed for drying laundry, so Taiwanese people will never spend leisure time on their balconies.  The extremely humid weather may also be to blame--similarly tragic, there is not a big alfresco dining scene in Taipei.  In Taiwanese apartments, kitchens are quite small, and ovens are never seen.  In contrast to Western baking, Asian breads are usually cooked via steamer.  Taiwanese people infrequently cook at home, as eating from street vendors is much cheaper and a fundamental part of the culture.  There is no central air nor heating, instead there are air-conditioning units mounted on the wall near the ceiling.  Upon entering someone's home the first thing you'd see would be a small shoe cabinet for you to deposit yours and put on slippers to wear around inside.

I have been eager to go over Taiwanese friends' houses, whether to cook or to enjoy relaxing in a non-dormitory setting.  However, since Taiwanese youth live in such small spaces with their parents and their (typically paternal) grandparents, the home is a more private place governed by family.  In Confucianism, the family is governed by the father, and should not be interfered with by others.  This is why the Domestic Violence Prevention Act was such a modernizing piece of legislature when it passed in Taiwan in 1998, making it the first of its kind in all of Asia.

There is no concept of dinner parties here.  My Taiwanese friends would rather play mahjong on the floor of my shared dorm room than host themselves.  It would be like inviting your friends to come over and hang out in your parents' bedroom.

Paired with a relatively conservative sexual culture, this has created a market for love hotels across Asia.  If Taiwanese people cannot host their sexual partners at their home, then a hotel that can be rented for three-hour periods is perfect.  I have a Taiwanese friend who has been dating her partner for months, and still neither one has seen the other's apartment.

This all felt so foreign to me coming from American dating culture, but deciphering a fundamentally new worldview is why living abroad is so dizzying, sometimes in a fun way and sometime in a I-need-to-vomit way.

These hotels also double as fun party spaces--I recently attended a couple of friends' birthday parties hosted in love hotels.  There is mood lighting, jacuzzis, fancy couches, disco balls, multiple TVs, and a big round bed in the center of one of the rooms.  Each hotel room has a private garage so you could enter the complex without ever having to step outside your car and risk being seen by others

Riding the love hotel elevator

台灣音樂祭 Spring Scream

Tomb Sweeping Holiday and Children's Day were recently, so I got two days off class.  Since I did not have any family to visit nor any ancestor's graves to which I could pay my respects in Taiwan, I went to the southern tip of the island for a music festival.  I had studiously listened to the Taiwanese bands' songs in advance to be able to recognize the music and sing along.

The weather was incredible, and the venue was beautifully beachside.  My friends and I could sit on the sand with our feet in the blue water all within earshot of the music.  Once again, I was impressed by Taiwanese crowd control.  There were even port-a-potties set aside specifically for women.  I've also come to realize that Taiwanese audiences love to mosh.  Even if it's just an indie band playing a hype but non-death metal song, somehow a circle pit will still form.

Leading a mahjong ring at the Airbnb of Americans

The third and final day of the music festival was cancelled because one attendee was diagnosed with Covid, but we still had a marvelous time renting an electric scooter to zoom over to the beach...and then pushing the scooter back from the beach when it ran out of battery.

On our way down south from Taipei to Kenting, my friend and I had to stop in Kaohsiung to catch a bus.  While there, we walked around the many temples of Lotus Lake, including the Confucian temple and the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas.

The tunnel inside of the dragon

I wrote my wish and added it to the wall in the Confucian temple

228 烏來 Wulai

Everyone in Taiwan had off February 28th in observance of Peace Memorial Day.  This marks the date of the 1947 massacre by the Kuomintang (KMT political party) that began a 38-year period of brutal martial law called the White Terror.  The KMT is the political party that towards the end of the Chinese Civil War retreated to Taiwan, which had been under Japanese control since the First Sino-Japanese War until the end of World War II.  In Taiwan, the KMT established administrative control as the Republic of China.  For much of Taiwanese history, the 228 event was censored, but since then it has been acknowledged openly by the government, so people can freely reflect and discuss.  Having a Monday off early in the beginning of the school year reminded me of MLK Day in the U.S.  Both commemorate tragic eras of national history, but usually I go snow skiing in the U.S. and this year I went hiking among waterfalls in Wulai, near Taipei.

Rice steamed in bamboo husks,
traditional to the indigenous tribe that lives in the area

Eggs hardboiled in the hot springs

農曆新年 Lunar New Year

This is the last week of my monthlong winter break, which in Asia centers around the Lunar New Year instead of Christmas.  It was exciting to be here for the single most important holiday of the Asian world.  The world’s largest annual human migration occurs as city-dwellers go home to visit their families, sometimes for the only time that year.  This is why domestic travel bans have such a big impact on migrant workers in China, who often have no other opportunity to see their children and parents in their smaller hometowns.

While the anticipatory air leading up to the new year was special, it was also nerve-racking knowing that most businesses would be shutting down for a full week, and Taipei was about to become a dead city with few places to find food.

Fun fact: if you go to MacDonald’s on the 31st,
they will give you a red envelope

1/30: Considered the last day of this lunar year.  Everyone cleans their house to prepare for 除夕 New Year’s Eve.  I swept my dorm in comradeship with the other 2 billion people doing it that day to welcome in a new year.  Then, I went with friends to the traditional new year’s market on the historical 地話 Dihua Street.

People often gift oranges in the New Year season

The historic LNY market was full of Taiwanese treats and nuts

1/31: 除夕 New Year’s Eve Everyone has a 團圓飯 or a big reunion meal with their whole family, then they 守歲 or stay up all night to see out the old year and ring in the new.  I went on a run through the neighborhoods this morning and saw so many people burning joss paper in tiny portable fire pits on the street in front of their apartments.  Joss paper is sheets of gold and red set aflame to honor those who've died.

2/1: 大年初一 First Day of the New Year This is the day when younger people will 拜年 or pay their respects to elders.  In practice, children will spend time with their grandparents, and their grandparents will give them 紅包, red envelopes filled with money.  Red envelopes are very symbolic of the holiday; bosses will use them to give bonuses to their employees, and friends will exchange them with cards inside.

2/2: 大年初二 Second Day of the New Year Traffic is especially busy on this day, because traditionally women will 回娘家, or go back to their families, while they were with the man’s family earlier in the week.

2/3: 大年初三 Third Day of the New Year Children have been running around wild with their cousins for the past week, so parents tell them today is 老鼠娶親, when the rats are getting married, so everyone needs to be quiet and go to bed early.

2/4: 大年初四 Fourth Day of the New Year

2/5: 大年初五 Fifth Day of the New Year A few businesses will start to 開市, reopen, on this day, so everyone is celebrating prosperity in the new year and setting off even more firecrackers.  There were firecrackers every day for a week straight; I have never seen so many in my life.

To use a Chinese karaoke book: first you find your language,
then the number of characters in the name of the song,
then the number of strokes in the first character

One Steamed Bun for 25
The phrase tells you how to pose for each photo

I attended a lunar new year party at my high school Chinese teacher’s sister’s house.  Her friends all brought home-cooked dishes and traditional sweets.  For the second time this holiday, I found myself at a Chinese karaoke party.  I sang 月亮代表我的心，which I keep on standby because all the Taiwanese aunties love it.  We played Rummikub, which is similar to mahjong.  Everyone took photos holding red envelopes and other decorations, and we took endless group photos.  They all told me about their single sons who were close, or not, to my age.  The atmosphere was so festive; it made me realize this is what I was missing during the Christmas season.

2/15: 元宵節 Lantern Festival Say the first week of the Lunar New Year is the NFL Playoffs, then the Lantern Festival is like the Super Bowl--which I regrettably didn't watch this year because it aired at 7:30 am and no one Taiwanese was remotely interested.  Various cities around Taiwan host light shows and release lanterns to celebrate (the Lantern Festival, not the Super Bowl).  I watched the lantern release ceremony in 平溪 Pingxi, a township outside of Taipei famous for their lanterns.  It is also traditional to eat 湯圓, glutinous rice balls, on this day.  They can have sweet or salty filling, and are served in a warm broth such as ginger tea, red bean soup, peanut soup or fermented rice soup.  I happily took part by eating my favorite which are filled with black sesame.