Apr I, Weeks 36 + 37: 地震 Season (Dìzhèn Season)

Hello everyone, and welcome to earthquake season! The past two weeks have been full of various wild weather phenomena, including Taiwan's biggest earthquake in over twenty years. Fortunately, we all stayed safe, and I still had fun hanging out with people.

Monday, April 1st, was another beautiful day in Kinmen. Actually, it was kinda foggy and rainy, but it wasn't bad. I took my partner and his friends to the excellent scallion pancake place in Jincheng for breakfast, then the Chiayi ETA and I headed to Jinhu. Along the way, we also visited the Huqian Wind Lion God. It was much smaller and cuter than I thought it'd be, and someone had endearingly stuck offerings of candy in its teeth.

The two of us wandered along the eastern coast of Kinmen as we visited Xibian Beach, Tian Hou Gong, and the yelling fountains. We saw lots of ghost grabs, pretty shells, and a giant statue of the sea goddess Mazu, among other things. Although the weather was a little uncooperative, I think the ETA had a pretty good time in Kinmen.

For dinner, I had some wonderful potstickers with local friends, then headed to the airport. Mother Nature played an April Fool's prank on me and delayed my flight so long I worried it was canceled, but luckily, it wasn't! I made it back to Taipei safely, then promptly fell asleep.

I spent Tuesday doing various errands, Mandarin tutoring, etc., and just generally getting ready for my trip the next morning. For our Tomb Sweeping Day and Children's Day holidays, my partner and I were planning to head to Hualien City and visit Taroko Gorge. Hindsight is 20/20, isn't it?

On April 3rd, 2024, exactly an hour before my train would've left for Hualien City, Taiwan was struck with the biggest earthquake it had experienced since 1999. Epicenter: right next to Hualien City. I was still in my partner's apartment on the sixteenth floor when the earthquake began. At first, I thought it was one of the fun little earthquakes we've had before: just a couple seconds of shaking, nothing more. Then, the shaking began to move vertically, and I became much, much more aware of the heavy chandelier swaying above my head.

I dove under my partner's desk and started frantically texting friends, family, panicking, etc. I did get to meet my partner's newest roommate as we both cowered under our desks and exchanged pleasantries from afar, but otherwise, was too busy worrying about the building coming down to do much else. Thankfully, the building we were in was earthquake resistant (as many buildings in Taiwan are), and the greatest damage was from a bunch of tiles breaking off of the outside.

Somehow, the true magnitude (no pun intended) of the earthquake eluded me, so I still tried to make it to Taipei Main to catch my train. The MRT was stopped, so I caught an incredibly expensive taxi, during which the taxi driver filled me in on all the details of the earthquake and I gradually realized how bad of an idea going to Hualien was.

I spent the rest of the day being bored in Taipei and mourning the last long break from teaching I was ever going to get in Taiwan. At least I was able to spend some more time with my partner and his roommates (which included doing very, very poorly at Mario Kart), and we even went to IKEA together. The vanilla ice cream was oustanding, as usual: rich, light, creamy, incredible, and only twenty yuan ($0.66)?! Incredible. Amazing. Never been done before.

Thursday was Costco day. The four of us set off to Beitou for some Costco food, which included some tasty caramel bubble tea and Hokkaido caramel ice cream, then wandered the store. The most important part of the day was that I finally got my partner some newer, more attractive glasses frames (which I've been meaning to do since last year). No more clunky 2012 frames! Shoutout to Taiwanese Costco for free eye exams.

The next day, my partner and I went to some cafés. The first one was called Xiao Chu is flying!, or entry time, and it had a wall of postcards you could choose from to order your food and drinks. Once you placed your order, you could also keep your postcards, or even choose to sign and mail them. My partner and I got a latte, a foamy honey milk tea (colored with butterfly pea flower), and a wonderful crème brûlée. In addition to everything being delicious, the café was very cute, and there was a little tent with a calico cat inside.

The second one we went to was called NOW Coffee and had much more of a gray, minimalist work aesthetic. It was still nice, though, and I had a tasty mixed berry sparkling soda. Then, we went to Mala Hotpot with my partner's roommates. Everything was delicious—meats, veggies, drinks, desserts— and I liked seeing the other two's reactions to having such tasty all-you-can-eat hotpot for the first time. Yummy times.

Since I was feeling a little cooped up in Taipei, my partner and I did a day trip to Hsinchu on Saturday. We scooted to Beipu Old Street in the mountains and had some Hakka food for lunch. The salted pork and bantiao were delicious, but one of my favorite parts of the day was trying and making our own Hakka pounded tea (擂茶, léi chá) at a place called Puyu Hakka Leicha (璞鈺擂茶).

We received some snacks (mochi with tea powder and some rice cracker snacks), a large grooved mortar, a pestle, and a collection of different leicha ingredients. First, we ground the tea leaves, then the sesame, pumpkin seeds, and tea powder together, then we added hot water and puffed rice. The leicha was pretty good! It was rich, heavy, slightly bitter, and slightly grass-y. I wouldn't have a ton of it, but it was fun to make, and my partner really liked it.

It started raining a little, but the two of us made it safely to Green World Ecological Farm. The farm was a bit kid-centered and a little less diverse in animals than I had hoped, but there were lots of cool birds! I saw macaws, pelican-like birds, emus, Victoria crowned pigeons, toucans, kookaburras, and more. Overall, not a bad time.

We got a little lost driving in the mountains afterwards, but we made it back to Hsinchu City eventually. Lots of fog and rain, argh. For dinner, we went to Chenghuang Temple Night Market. We tried their rouyuan (肉圓), which are dumplings with gelatinous, translucent skin, as well as luroufan, tofu, and some thick soup. Although Hsinchu was a big foggy, rainy, and a pretty sleepy place overall, it wasn't a bad day trip. I liked the food, and I liked the old street. Also, after visiting Hsinchu, I can proudly say that there're only three counties left until I've visited every county in Taiwan!

The next morning, I was back in Puzi, and I spent the day at a café with my roommate. We ended up doing work at a bakery place called Animal Friends, where we had some tasty drinks and cute cookies. I got a lemon aiyu boba drink with a teddy bear-shaped ice cube, and my roommate got a milk drink with a bear-shaped ice cube.

After most of the afternoon had passed, we did some chores, then cooked some steak, cabbage with pickled mustard greens, and egg noodles with scallions for dinner. Very yum. I also called my family afterwards. I missed them, so it was nice to catch up!

Monday, April 8th, meant going back to school. Sadly, going back to school in Budai also meant experiencing small earthquakes every hour or so. Everyone was pretty nonchalant about them, though, and school went okay. My students clapped for me at the end of one class, so that was... confusing. After school, I drove around Budai and explored the coast. I had a poetry submission deadline on Wednesday night, so I spent the next couple of days cramming for poem writing the same way that most people cram for exams, and it actually worked.

On Monday, I went to the beach at Haimeilao Wetlands and watched the sunset, then visited the Zhounan Salt Fields. Then on Tuesday, I went to Budai Harbor and Baishuihu for the sunset. It was a beautiful two days full of salty sea breeze, ruins of old brick houses, and wading birds. Although I also spent time doing seemingly-pointless things, like watching timelapses of salt crystals growing or the sunrise over Budai, I had a good time getting back into poetry! I've really missed writing.

Wednesday was finally the Chiayi County English Competition. I couldn't make it to watch the student I'd tutored, but I did get to watch her via LINE call (thanks to another Chiayi cohort member). Sadly, she got the hardest article, so she only placed in the third tier, but she still placed! Most of the other students from both Guogou and Budai placed in one of the top three tiers for their divisions, and one of the Budai students even placed in the top one.

During pottery, I chatted with my ninth graders and worked on my new bird sculpture. The ninth graders were very sweet, and they showed me some songs they liked and one even showed me a video of her learning different Kpop dances. I'm a little bummed to see the kids graduate so soon; they only have two-ish months left.

Thursday was a pretty normal day. Classes went well enough, then I had rollerblading. I'm getting a bit better, which is nice, but I'm still not great. Friday was also pretty normal. Classes weren't bad, then I ran an errand before picking my partner up from the TRA station in Chiayi City and having teppanyaki for dinner.

The next day, I woke up briefly at 2:45am thanks to one of a couple large earthquakes emanating from Budai. Luckily, I managed to go back to sleep, then my partner and I went to Democracy Turkey Rice for lunch in Chiayi City. We also went to a café called Miho Coffee (美好咖啡店) for some tiramisu and sparkling berry drinks, and my partner practiced some Taiwanese with the store owner.

After we finished our snacks, the two of us started the long drive up Alishan. Since it was my partner's birthday weekend, he was excited to finally see the mountain and try some tea! We went to Yuanfa Tea Factory, which is owned by the same people who owned the hotel we stayed at, and saw the tea fields, then explored Eryanping Trail. It probably would've been beautiful had the entire mountain not been shrouded in fog. It was so heavy that it was hard to see more than a couple feet in front of us, but we managed to scooter safely to where we wanted to be.

We tried some wasabi tofu, which was Alishan's famous wasabi slathered on silken tofu, and also had Indigenous food at YUPASU Tsou Restaurant. The food was delicious, and we had platters of pickled radish, greens with goji berries, chicken soup, a tray of smoked duck, boar sausages, and salted pork, and also a bowl of lemon sugar agar jelly. Despite the air still being thick with fog, my partner and I made it back to our hotel, and we also saw some of Alishan's fireflies.

The next morning, I woke up at 5am to see the famed Alishan sunrise. It was a spider-filled little hike up through a bamboo grove, and I didn't get to see the sea of clouds, but watching the sun rise over the mountains and tea fields was still stunning. The night-cool mountain air warmed to shades of orange and pink, and gradually, the burning sun itself climbed over the faraway peaks and into the sky. Honestly, I spent probably a solid 60% of my time there just fighting the early morning/altitude sickness-induced nausea. Not fun. But I'd do it again, I suppose, if it meant I could watch another Alishan sunrise.

After the sun had risen, I decided to go back to the hotel and go back to sleep for a couple of hours. My partner and I decided to visit Fengchihu and its old street for some brunch, then drove to A-Jiang's House for some Alishan tea. Thankfully, all the fog from the day before was gone, so my partner got to see how beautiful the mountains were in the daylight.

We spent an hour or so sitting and sipping tea, my partner did some work, and we had some tasty snacks. It was a nice afternoon, and I was a bit sad to leave the mountain so soon (despite the lingering nausea). The drive back down the mountain was lovely, but the drive from there to the HSR station was a little long. Oh well.

Once I'd dropped my partner off at the station, I headed to Taibao for a little game night. We played Avalon, Codenames, and some Sporcle, and chatted, plus I got to try another ETF's homemade ice cream. It was pretty good, and it was nice to see people and catch up a bit.

Although there've been lots and lots and lots of earthquakes, fog, and rain, I've still had fun hanging out with my partner, friends, and cohort members. I'm still kinda bummed that I probably won't be able to go to Taroko before the end of the grant period (apparently the damage is incredibly extensive), but hopefully, Hualien recovers soon. As of writing this blog post, Hualien's still experiencing multiple earthquakes every day, but they're getting smaller at least.

The silver lining to all the recent weather mishaps is that I've been able to enjoy some of the smaller things, like spending time at cafés and watching sunsets. With the grant period rushing by faster and faster, it's been nice to slow down a little. There're only eleven weeks left as of the end of this blog post, and I feel like I'm running out of time to visit the places and spend time with the people I want—I'm not ready to leave yet.

Here's to savoring the time we have left in Taiwan.

Writer's Note: This blog post was originally written on Tuesday, April 30th, 2024.