Dec II, Weeks 20, 21, & 22: New Years, Same Cities

Happy holidays and Happy New Year! It's been a little chilly in Chiayi, but at least it's nowhere near as cold as Kinmen was. For the past few weeks, I spent my weekends visiting friends in Kaohsiung and Taipei, and I spent my weeks hanging out with cohort members and having dinners.

On Monday, December 11th, I taught at Budai, then went home and had dinner with my roommate. The day wasn't bad, but I wasn't feeling great, so I decided to rest the next day. I spent Tuesday doing a couple of chores, then my roommate and I cooked dinner. The following Wednesday was going to be a cohort potluck/holiday party, so I used dinner as a chance to test run my recipe: braised pork belly (紅燒肉). I hadn't made the recipe much since moving to Taiwan last year, but it was just as delicious as I remembered.

I spent Wednesday back at Guogou, and classes went better than expected. The most interesting part of the school day was in between classes. Most of the students auditioned for a holiday assembly for December 29th, so they took turns standing and singing in front of the whole school. Some of them did a wonderful job and seemed excited to perform for their classmates. Others, however, were less excited.

During pottery class, I finally received my glazed money frog (金蟾)! It's a little patchy, so I think I'm gonna reglaze it. I also glazed part of my myna bird before heading to the city. Most of the cohort and I had dinner together at a Sichuan restaurant, then we went to the Beimen apartment for some games and PowerPoint Night (part one).

I had a lovely evening as we watched presentations on horoscopes, storybooks, "Most Likely To", anime, Disney characters, roommates, and cohort Survivor. The latter was reminiscent of the cohort Hunger Games presentation from last year. Somehow, I wasn't the first to die this year.

The next day, I taught more art, had my kids play Blooket, etc. It was a pretty chill day. Then, we had a little Puzi dinner party. Another Chiayi ETF, my roommate, myself, and some other ETAs came over, and we cooked to Christmas music. The city ETF made salmon with tomato and basil in the air fryer, I sautéed some carrots, and my roomie and the other ETAs worked on an apple crumble for dessert.

We were going to watch a movie together, but we ended up doing a riff off (a singing game from the movie Pitch Perfect) instead. I can't sing particularly well, but it was fun to sing together. I've also missed cooking with people.

I didn't do much on Friday. Classes went well enough, taught AI art to one of my ninth grade classes, and taught my English songs club the Cupid Shuffle. Then, I had Korean fried chicken and rewatched the first Hunger Games movie with the other county cohort members.

On Saturday, I went to Kaohsiung with my roommate for some cookie decorating! We caught the HSR south, had some tasty Malaysian food for lunch with the Chiayi City ETF, then went to our advisor's apartment. It was nice getting to know the other advisees, and it was even nicer getting to decorate some cookies! My works of art included a Barbie cookie, a snowman and gingerbread man love scene, and an actual cookie monster.

The other Chiayi ETFs and I spent the rest of our time in Kaohsiung hanging out with old cohort friends, including former Yilan ETAs-turned-Kaohsiung ETFs. We chatted all evening, then hung out and went holiday shopping. We went to the Christmas market at Aozidi Park, a stationery store, and E-Sky Mall, and I didn't buy a single proper gift. Argh.

At least I had a nice hotpot dinner back in Chiayi with a visiting Changhua ETA.

On Monday, the 18th, we had faculty and grad photos at Budai, then I had my kids do a scavenger hunt. They loved it! The students ran around the third floor desperately searching for ten pictures of Elf on the Shelf (which some students liked and others found creepy). Then, I went to the doctor since I wasn't feeling great, then I ran some errands.

The next day, I went to the 地攤 (street stalls on the ground) near my apartment for fruit, then held more scavenger hunts for two other classes. It was a pretty standard day. Later that evening, I called last year's Kinmen cohort to catch up, and it was lovely! It sounds like everyone in the US is settling into their jobs and apartments, applying to grad schools, and seeing family. I can't wait to see them again.

Wednesday was wonderful. School went well, then the cohort had our Christmas potluck party. I made more braised pork belly (紅燒肉) and also picked up my partner from the HSR station. I hadn't seen him in a little bit, so I was happy he could come to the party! One of his Mandarin classmates also came, which was nice since I hadn't seen her in a while either. She seemed to have a good time getting to know everyone and having dinner.

Later, we had our Secret Santa gift exchange. I gave my Secret Santa a set of risographs and a little keychain, and I received a Sumikko Gurashi plush of a Tonkatsu, whom I've dubbed ZP (豬排). I've also decided that ZP is the "son" of the Tonkatsu (?) plush I received last year (named Yoyo).

BeReal (bottom left) photo credits to Brittany Chen, 2023

The rest of the evening was filled with PowerPoint presentations and various performances. My PowerPoint, of course, was on how many turkeys each Chiayi cohort member could take on in a fight. I estimated that personally, I could fight perhaps six, but my roommate would likely fight -2 turkeys—she's terrified of them.

We also had three duets, a Chinese dance performance, and a bachata performance. Everyone did a great job, and I loved vibing with everyone. Sadly, it had to end all too soon. Fortunately, I was able to bring my partner to school the next day. I only had one class, so the two of us spent most of the day in the office doing work, but I liked having him around. It was pretty chill. Some of the kids said hello to him, and the two of us went out for turkey rice for lunch.

After school, the two of us and his Mandarin classmate came to dinner with my language exchange partner. A couple of other ETAs and their language exchange partner came too, then five of us played badminton at Chang Gung University nearby. My partner and I did surprisingly well against the other ETA and our language partners.

Friday was cold, cold, cold, cold. The cold front that had swept in the previous day made Chiayi even colder, so I spent the whole school day freezing. I had hoped that being in the south this year would mean that winter would be relatively warm. I had hoped wrong, apparently.

Classes went well enough. I went back to Puzi to have lunch with my partner, who stayed home, then finished teaching my classes at Guogou. I also received a bag of tangyuan for the winter solstice (冬至, dōngzhì) and a croissant from a ninth grader, which was nice. Then after school, I went to Taipei with my partner, we went to Ximending for dinner, and we got Coldstone ice cream for dessert. It was pretty good! Honestly, I don't think I've ever had Coldstone ice cream in the states.

I spent Saturday vibing around Taipei with my partner, then I went to a second doctor because I still didn't feel great. Hooray for extremely cheap healthcare! The two of us then walked around Kishu An Forest of Literature and browsed the market there, then we had dinner with his Mandarin classmate.

My partner and I went to Christmasland in New Taipei afterwards, and we mistakenly ended up at the Fuzhong metro stop first. It was... disappointing. And mildly unsettling with some of the candy monster statues. We then walked to the correct Christmasland area around Banqiao and city hall, and it was much better. There were arches of lights, giant gift boxes, glowing angels, lightshows, market stalls, and a giant, glittering Christmas tree.

Sunday, December 24th, was for last-minute Christmas shopping, so we spent most of our time in the Eslite Spectrum Mall in Ximending. I got a 地瓜球 (sweet potato ball) keychain with cats for my roommate, then I bought a book for my partner, then more gifts for my partner. I also may or may not have bought myself a nudibranch plush. Its name is Junior.

Back in Chiayi, I had a traditional medicinal hotpot dinner with two other county cohort members, then I stumbled upon the feast laid out for Matsu near the temple. The feast was incredibly elaborate; there were plates upon plates of sweets, dim sum, fried fish, roast duck, and rice balls, detailed sculptures carved from watermelon, cucumber, radish and carrot, and even a model palace wallpapered with thousand yuan bills.

It felt weird having such a lowkey, sort of lonely Christmas Eve. I liked hanging out with my partner, having dinner with other cohort members, and seeing the Matsu feast, but it didn't quite feel like the holidays to me. It also felt weird because even though we were abroad last year too, we had a huge party (Chrolanukkah (Christmas, Olivia, and Hanukkah)) from Christmas Eve into Christmas Day.

Despite having to go to school, Christmas Day was a little fun. Not the part where I felt intensely unwell and had to lie down, but the parts where I got to do Christmas cup stacking with the kids and hang out with them were nice. I also received a couple Christmas cards from kids, a little bag of goodies from the seventh graders, and a triangular origami Santa from a coworker.

Back at home, my roommate and I exchanged gifts, and I received a pair of dragonfruit socks! Our landlady also kindly left us some bags of gifts. For dinner, the two of us went to the city to meet up with (most of) the cohort. I missed seeing people and we had fun eating and chatting together.

Photo credits (top right) to Brittany Chen, 2023

My roommate and I decided to go to Costco after dinner, and it was my first time going in Taiwan. It felt just like being in an American Costco, actually. When we left, it even felt like the US was waiting for us outside instead of Chiayi. Although the holiday season's felt a little weird this year, I'm grateful for the community we have here, and I'm glad I've been able to find little bits of holiday spirit and the US here and there.

Tuesday was a pretty standard day. I had my first Mandarin lesson with a tutor after school, then I had dinner with my roommate and went to a sweater sale. We met up with a city ETA and her visiting brother, and the four of us spent probably an hour sorting through the various sweaters, cardigans, skirts, hats, etc. on sale there. I ended up with a cream-colored cardigan and a gray sweater skirt, but my roommate ended up buying quite a few sweaters.

The next morning, I bought one of the massive green dragonfruits from the local morning produce stalls. The rest of the day was ok. Then, we had our final workshop and a group dinner. We had lots of tasty food, then spent a couple of hours chatting.

The rest of the evening was spent playing the cohort's favorite game: basketball. We had tons of guests this time, and unfortunately, they were all tall. Or good at basketball. Or both. Despite doing terribly throughout the game, I had a good time playing with other ETAs' visiting family members and just trying my best.

Thursday was one of Chiayi's rare rainy days. I was soaked on the way to school, but classes went ok. Then, I went to a Puzi café called ISA Coffee with the other Kinmen ETA-turned-Chiayi ETF, and we had macademia hot cocoa and tiramisu.

We also went to the sweater sale so she could buy more sweaters, had dinner, and hung out. I liked seeing her again; this year, we live too far from each other, and it makes me sad.

Friday, December 29th, was Budai's 69th anniversary. I went there instead of Guogou, and the kids had a ceremony and a mini sports day in the back auditorium. They had three relay events: jump rope races, basketball passing relays, and basket tosses. There was also a teacher's basket toss, and my team lost. I did pretty well at tossing shuttlecocks into the basket, though, so I suppose I'm ready for the Olympics now.

Lunch was a small feast, which included claypot rice, teriyaki fish, key lime pie, and crème brûlée. Yum. Afterwards, the entire school went to a nearby park area and spent two-ish hours looking at birds. Fortunately, I quite like birds, so I was delighted to look at all the different egrets, spoonbills, and pipers.

I learned that one of the visiting bird experts did his military service in Kinmen, so he was happy to chat about Kinmenese birds with me. I also got the chance to talk to some of my kids more, including some ninth grade girls who wanted to sing Christmas carols and a seventh grader who loves the NBA.

On Saturday, I spent the day wandering Taipei and meeting up with different friends. I got brunch with my partner, my roommate, a former Kinmen ETA, and a present Kinmen ETA, then we went to a market at Taipei Grand Mosque. We also went to Jike Market at Da'an Forest Park Station and a couple of stores in Xinyi. Then, we played Nintendo Switch Sports and some Overcooked with my partner's roommates at home. Not a bad day.

Sunday, December 31st, was spent vibing around with more people. Since so many friends were staying in Taipei, a lot of us met up, split off, and regrouped throughout the day. In the morning (afternoon, really), some of us got Turkish coffee at a place called Saturn Landing, then we had lunch at Fonda México.

My partner, another ETA, and I went to the Taipei Rose Garden and the Collectible Botanical Garden (although I'm still not sure about what makes the latter "collectible"). Although the weather was a bit overcast, I liked seeing the different plants and walking around. Some of us also walked through Dajia Riverside Park by the Keelung River and went to a café.

Our plans for the rest of the night were drastically more chaotic. We walked across the Dazhi Bridge in the shivering winds, met up with some home friends, accidentally ran into over twenty other Fulbrighters and associated friends, sprinted to catch a bus that didn't go where we wanted, etc. Despite the confusion of it all, I made it with eight other people to Taipei 101 by 11pm.

We caught part of a performance by Hwasa (from the Kpop group Mamamoo) as we arrived at Taipei Civic Plaza. I was too short to really see anything, but she sounded great! We spent the next hour waiting for midnight and finding somewhere to watch the fireworks from (which ended up being the exact same place as last year).

When midnight struck, a spiral of glistening red fireworks shot out from the various terraces of Taipei 101, followed by a cascade of golden sparks and a spray of red and green ones. Although the building's light show was much more minimal this year, the fireworks themselves were certainly just as spectacular. I think my favorite fireworks were either the soft, spiraling gold and pink sparks or the multicolored flares that erupted from each level of the building.

The rest of the evening (morning, really) was spent battling the crowd to reach a small rave under a bridge in the north of Taipei. It was nice to see people, but the logistics of traveling that far with so many people in Taipei was a nightmare. Somehow, I ended up walking over thirteen thousand steps, or five miles, by 5am. Yikes!

When I woke up around noon, I was exhausted. Happy New Year's Day to me, I suppose. I hung out some friends, and we went to a bakery, got bubble tea, and checked out some souvenirs. I took a nice nap on the way home, which was nice, but then my roommate and I found out that the massive green dragonfruit we bought has worms in it. Oh, joy.

As usual, I've been exhausted but happy over the past few weeks. I've liked having guests, seeing friends, meeting new people, cooking, and hanging out recently, but I still don't think the holiday season's felt the same this year. It's hard not having as many friends close by, and honestly, both Christmas and New Year's felt a little lonelier. I still miss my old cohort, especially our parties and constant companionship.

Even so, I'm still grateful for having people to celebrate with and spend time with this year, and I'm glad I could finally see some home friends. Here's to a happy new year (and rest of the semester)!

Writer's Note: This blog post was originally written on Thursday, January 4th, 2023.