Feb II, Weeks 29 + 30: Second Semesters and Sky Lanterns

Ah, the end of an era (and by era, I mean freedom to sleep past 7:30am). These two weeks brought the end of my Thailand trip, a brief jaunt to Macau, and the beginning of the new semester. I've liked coming back to Taiwan and seeing people I haven't seen for a little bit, but I've liked going back to work a little less.

Photo credits to Brittany Chen, 2024.

Monday, February 12th, was my last full day in Bangkok. My partner and I started the day by greeting our favorite reptilian neighbor, then we headed to Wat Arun. Despite the immense heat, it was a lovely day to wander the temple (and enjoy a refreshing mango smoothie). Several massive prangs soared above our heads, each spire and statue covered in colorful Chinese porcelain recovered from a British shipwreck.

Next, the two of us took a ferry across the river to a famous flower market called Pak Khlong Talat. There weren't many people inside, but I liked seeing the different arrangements of marigolds heaped over all of the stalls. Outside the market, there were even more flowers—roses, sunflowers, and baby's breath—and an entire street of florists and flower markets.

To escape the heat, my partner and I went to the Floral Café at Napasorn. The lower level was a bouquet assembly store, while the upper levels were a beautiful café adorned with gigantic fake roses, chandeliers, and vintage décor. We enjoyed some Thai tea and an affogato, then visited the ICP Flower Market outside. It was much more local and lively than the first one, and it was overflowing with white, blue, purple, and gold flowers.

We went to a little restaurant for some pad see ew, then stumbled upon a beautiful temple called Wat Ratchabophit. The temple was much more peaceful than the other ones we'd seen, so we got to enjoy the glittering pillars and roofs in peace. We also saw a couple of black cats lounging on the outer wall.

After trying some more delicious mango sticky rice, my partner and I caught a tuk tuk (auto rickshaw) to Wat Saket. As tourist-y as taking a tuk tuk was, enjoying the fresh air and the sights of the city was worth it. We made it to the temple around sunset, then climbed to the top to gaze out over the city.

Although the sky was hazy with smog, the sunset was still beautiful. The sky turned soft shades of blue, pink, and gold, little metal bells tinkled in the breeze, and the sun burned brilliant orange as it sank lower and lower against the horizon.

Watching the sunset with my partner was one of the most relaxing parts of winter break. I had spent every other day stressing and planning what to do next, so it wasn't until the very end that I felt like I could sit back and enjoy my time (sadly). The two of us spent the rest of the evening wandering Bangkok. Without the heavy heat of the afternoon and the crush of tourists and taxis, the city was wonderfully peaceful.

The next morning was another early wake-up, followed by another luggage-laden slog and airport lounge. At least we said goodbye to our resident monitor lizard first. I napped again on the flight to Macau, then checked into our hotel and went to explore the city. We really only had half a day, but I'm glad we saw Macau. Macau was bright and lively, and it felt like an interesting blend between Hong Kong, Mainland China, and the Iberian Peninsula. There were signs in Mandarin and Portuguese, black and white esplanades, and colorful pastel buildings, and the streets were densely packed, especially with the flood of Mainland Chinese tourists.

My partner and I wandered the city, then hiked up the Fortaleza do Monte (Monte Fort). As we walked around the fort, we could see the rest of the city stretching into the distance, including St. Paul's Cathedral and the Grand Lisboa casino. We headed down to the cathedral (which was really just the facade of a cathedral), then hunted for egg tarts.

They were incredible! Between the two of us, we had eleven egg tarts in half an hour. We also bought some of Macau's famous almond cookies, which were pleasantly crumbly and crunchy. Then for dinner, we rounded out our food tour with some excellent char siu and roast goose.

The next day was Valentine's Day! My partner and I didn't do much, however. We woke up at 4am, flew back to Taipei, then collapsed into multiple hour-long naps. The biggest highlight of the day was going to a fancy hotpot place called 馬辣 for dinner. We had mala and Shaoxing chicken soup broths, an excellent selection of meats, vegetables, tofu, and youtiao, and some delicious Häagen-Dazs ice cream. Yum.

On Thursday, I had to head back to Chiayi. After a month of travel, I was glad to see Chiayi again, and especially happy to see my roommate! We caught up in the apartment, then got ready for our first day of the second semester. I wasn't particularly thrilled to go back to school the next day, but at least I found some little gifts at my desk: our school's faculty photo (which turned out surprisingly well despite all of us staring into the sun), a carton of cherry tomatoes, and some snacks from one of my LETs.

Both Friday and Saturday (surprise make-up day) were thankfully chill. I didn't have to do much, just spent the day showing my kids some episodes of You vs. Wild (starring Bear Grylls) in English, then did a little lesson planning.

On Saturday night, we had a belated cohort Valentine's Day event. I was still pretty tired from break, but seeing people was nice. We all dressed up, partnered off into little "couples", then went to dinner together at a fancy restaurant in Chiayi City. Everything was delicious; we had a set menu with fruit salad, soup, steak, panna cotta, and more.

The next day, my roommate, partner, and I made some more delicious food by cooking brunch. We made pancakes with marshmallows and chocolate, sunny side up eggs, and cut up jujube, then my roommate finally finished watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. Although I didn't have much rest over the weekend, I liked seeing the cohort again.

Monday, February 19th, was the first Monday of the second semester. Classes went well enough, and I found out that I had a new student who moved back to Budai from Liujia Junior High. Then, all of the county Fulbrighters had dinner and played games together. It was a good time, and one of the county ETAs even made some delicious strawberry shortcake pancakes with homemade whipped cream.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty chill days back at school. Our most exciting event was an afterschool birthday dinner for our local Yilan ETA-turned-Chiayi ETF. We surprised the birthday enjoyer with two of his former cohort members, then went to hotpot dinner and played basketball. We couldn't play long since the court's lights shut off, but we did have some excellent birthday cakes and wonderful company.

The next day, teaching went relatively well. Then, after school, I met up with some Chiayi ETAs, then we headed to an Eric Nam concert in Taipei. I'd only just listened to the new album on the HSR ride to Taipei, and it was my first time seeing Eric perform, but I loved the concert! I think I fell a little in love with Eric and his backup dancers, actually. Most of the setlist was from his new album, but he also performed "You're Sexy, I'm Sexy" (which I love)!! He also bantered with the crowd a bit and sang "Happy Birthday" to some audience members.

Afterwards, the other cohort members and I got some bubble tea together. I hadn't seen one of the ETAs for a while, so it was nice to catch up with her, but sadly, she broke the news that she was leaving Taiwan at the end of the month.

I didn't do much on Friday. I mostly just laid around and tried to sleep (poorly), but at least I could get dinner with my partner and one of his roommates. Then, my partner and I saw the Taipei Lantern Festival. There were a variety of different light installations spread throughout Ximending and Beimen, including a large holographic dragon, colorful upturned fish, and tunnels of children's handpainted lanterns. We also watched a traditional rendition of Jay Chou's "Blue and White Porcelain" (青花瓷), then visited the displays dedicated to different cities (which were effectively just travel advertisements). They were lovely.

The next day, my partner, a crew of his friends, another Chiayi ETA, and I went to the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival. The festival is known for its massive paper sky lanterns, which guests write good luck wishes on, then release skyward. Although we couldn't get tickets to release our own festival lantern, our group still had fun together.

After a delicious pho lunch (served in stone bowls), we headed to Shifen, running into a bunch of other Fulbrighters and members of my partner's Mandarin program along the way. It was absolutely packed; it took a solid ten minutes to walk through an area that should've only taken four.

Fighting through the crowds took so long that our group didn't have time to see the Shifen Waterfall, but we did get to launch a small lantern at Shifen Old Street. We wrote good luck messages and our names on two sides, then painted a dragon and various Taiwanese foods on the others. Some of the handwriting and drawings were... less attractive. But they were fun to make!

Around 6:15pm, the festival's sky lantern release started. All of the lanterns were released in nine waves of several hundred, each wave accompanied by serene piano music. Before each wave, the piano music swelled, the lights dimmed and glowed, then the lanterns rose into the night sky in a golden river. From where we stood, we could just see as they soared over the tree tops.

Watching the different lanterns float skyward was beautiful and surreal, very reminiscent of Tangled. The less beautiful part was leaving. My partner, the Chiayi ETA, and I watched two waves of lanterns, then tried to leave only to be caught in a crowd for another two waves. I've never been to Disney, but I've heard the experience is quite similar. Eurgh.

It took like an hour to even get to the shuttle bus, then I had to spend one of the most nauseating hours of my life on said shuttle, but getting back to Taipei was a joyous occasion. The other two and I celebrated not dying on the bus by getting vegan stir fry (熱炒), then making some tangyuan to celebrate 元宵節 (Lantern Festival, or the end of Lunar New Year).

On Sunday, my partner, the Chiayi ETA, and I went to Three Owls Brunch with some other ETAs and ETFs. It was pretty good; I had a matcha latte, bacon, and French toast with fresh fruit, but my favorite part was the little dish of ice cream with a tiny chocolate owl on top. Very yum. Some of us then headed to Xinyi, where we got tickets for Taipei's (semi-)newly opened Pokémon Center, then hung out at the Muji Café until our time slot was called.

We were asked to line up according to our ticket number, then given a short time slot to peruse the store. It was much smaller than the Pokémon Centers in Japan, but there was some Taiwan-exclusive merchandise, including Pokémon-branded teas. I bought a pack of Mandarin Pokémon cards and a Yoyo Card, plus received a little card for a Pokémon arcade game, but my partner bought a ton of things, including each of the Pokémon teas and some figurine blind boxes.

The three of us went to Taipei Main for a little while, got some ice cream, etc., etc., then I went home and had some Korean fried chicken with my roommate. As tiring as the weekend was with all the crowds, I had a nice Lantern Festival with cohort members and friends.

Coming back to school from winter break's been pretty rough. Going from traveling to incredible new places and being able to hang out with friends to working an 8-4 job again has been a little unfun, and I miss seeing my partner every day. Also, I (and many other ETFs, apparently), have been feeling a bit of senioritis this semester.

I like teaching, and I like my schools well enough, but I'm definitely feeling a little ready to do something else after this grant period. It's still pretty scary to think about the future, but I suppose it'll happen eventually.

Until next time!

Writer's Note: This blog post was originally written on Monday, March 25th, 2024.