Week 4: Mooncakes, Mid-Autumn Festival, and More

This week, we celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival/Moon Festival (中秋節) as well as all the August birthdays we couldn't celebrate earlier.

For the collective birthday bash on Sunday, the cohort went to Ou Cuo Beach in Jincheng. Although the bus took forever, we all made it to the beach and most of us spent the time sitting in the sand and chatting. We also explored the beach in hopes of seeing the half-buried military tank, but since the tide was coming in, we could only just see the top of the turret. The rest of the day was pretty chill, then we all took the bus back to Jincheng station and had dinner.

Since classes had just started last Tuesday afternoon, Monday and Tuesday were the only two full days I hadn't taught yet. One of my LETs was out sick, so I had to teach three of the Tuesday classes largely by myself, but I think they went pretty well. Tuesday was also the first day I rode on the back of another ETA's scooter. Admittedly, riding on the back of someone's scooter when they've just gotten their license is a little nerve-wracking, but everyone's a great driver so far.

On Wednesday, a professional string quartet visited the school. Throughout their entire performance, I think the only thoughts I had were that their vibrato was stunning and also that I missed playing violin—the rest of my brain was devoted to enjoying the music. After teaching for the day, I went with another ETA to English Village to prep more materials and teaching, then went to scooter practice. I'm still not doing great, but I think riding on the back of other peoples' scooter definitely helped me get a sense of how to make sharper turns.

Also, I finally got my ARC (Alien Resident Visa) on Wednesday, which means I can start to do things like register for a gym membership or apply for a citizen card (which makes ferry fare much cheaper)! I got a box of mooncakes from my school as well, which was thrilling. No more paying $50 for four mooncakes (or even $30 for four)!

Thursday was the last day before Mid-Autumn Festival, so most of the kids at school were a little antsy, but the day went well. For lunch, the school served several foods, including pomelo (柚子), which is one of the traditional foods eaten here during Mid-Autumn Festival. They're a little tough to open (and eat), but they're not bad. They taste much less tart than a grapefruit, but also seem to have much less taste overall than similar fruits. Something else I've realized from eating pomelo here is that whichever large fruit I conducted my fourth grade science fair experiment on was not a pomelo.

After finishing my classes for the day, I went with another ETA to see the coast of Xiamen, China from the westernmost point of Taiwan. In our search for a beach, we ended up in the wrong place and I may or may not have fallen off a (parked) scooter. Apart from the scraped ankle, I survived the rest of the trip in one piece! We also got to see Xiamen from afar. After that, some of us got dinner at an Italian place and met up with the others at a bar to celebrate the three day weekend.

Besides going to a barbecue, I didn't do much on Friday. I woke up early-ish, ran some errands, then spent most of the day feeling nauseous. I think several other cohort members were starting to feel sick as well (not with COVID), so it seems like we're probably all going to get each other sick soon enough.

Once I went to the barbecue, I had a pretty good time. The food was good, and I missed being able to see everyone else in the cohort since I'd stayed home. We enjoyed lots of freshly-grilled skewers, marshmallows, and some impromptu karaoke (featuring the song "The Moon Represents My Heart" (月亮代表我的心) by Teresa Teng), and we also got to meet some of the local FETs (foreign English teachers). Afterwards, a bunch of us went back to one of the apartments and just hung out. I also got to take a long call with another friend a little later.

I'm still not entirely sure why I felt so nauseous on Friday. When I was feeling nauseous in the quarantine hotel or at the club in Taipei, I had specific reasons, but on Friday, I didn't have any. I'm also pretty sure I'm not actually sick (with either COVID or a cold) because I don't feel like I have any other illness symptoms and I took a COVID test today (Sunday) as a precaution before I go to school tomorrow. Hm.

Anyway, on Saturday and Sunday, I felt—you guessed it—nauseous again! Only at specific points in the day, but yes, I did feel horrendous. On Saturday, I was pretty good, but I felt a little nauseous around lunch time, which was unfortunate since our coordinators had treated us to a nice lunch. Lunch itself (the parts I could eat) was delicious! We also got to see the coordinators' families and chat with each other.

Following lunch, half of us ETAs decided to hike Taiwu Mountain, while the other half of us had already hiked it in the morning. Taiwu Mountain is the highest point in Kinmen as well as home to a famous temple (and a nice cafe). Although the hike was paved, it was a bit steep, and I had a tough time in the midday sun. The views were beautiful, though. As we climbed, we got great views of the rest of the island, and we could pick out which county was which.

My favorite view was from an overlook area with a pagoda close to the top of the mountain. Since we were hiking around sunset, everything was gold and hazy, and the ocean glittered around the edges of the island. My least favorite view was probably the gigantic spider the size of my face that I saw half an hour later.

After the pagoda overlook, we reached Haiyin Temple, which is Kinmen's most famous temple. I liked admiring the gold Buddha statue and the different architectural elements around the temple. We also admired several cats that seemed to be affiliated with the temple, all of whom were lovely but not interested in us.

We all regrouped at a nearby cafe, where we ordered honey water and chatted amongst ourselves. The owner was quite friendly, and he offered us several pomelos and some peanut rice puff snacks. Once we had finished snacking, we headed back down the mountain and had dinner in Jinhu. Then we went to Jinning and watched the movie Over the Moon.

I think one of the biggest hurdles for us this week has been having five people with scooters to give rides and eleven or twelve people without scooters who need rides. Everyone with a scooter has been incredibly generous about offering rides; I just feel bad about needing them so often.

Much like Friday, I didn't do much on Sunday. I went for breakfast and mango shaved ice with some other ETAs, then headed home and felt nauseous again. I can't remember what I did, but somehow I forgot to eat lunch, and I had to get some tea stained eggs from Seven for dinner instead. Which I had a hard time making myself eat.

I felt a little better once we visited the local music festival, though. The music wasn't as loud as I thought it'd be, and the festival was pretty chill. Along the sides of the park, there were little stands selling food and trinkets (as well as handing out bug repellant cream). I stayed for a couple of hours, but most of us headed out before 10pm to get ready for school tomorrow.

Even though this week's been a little tough juggling feeling poorly with celebrating with everyone, I'm glad I've been able to hang out with the other cohort members. With any luck, the nausea goes away soon. Happy Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節快樂!)!

Writer's Note: This post was originally written on Sunday, September 11th, 2022.