Everyone had said Taiwan was overreacting. They had begun to screen all fights from China since the end of December when there were rumors about the disease. Now, Taiwan is being utilized as an example for all other countries in their efforts to combat corona virus. In the beginning when this first started during Chinese New Year, I admit I was nervous being so close. It is custom to visit family during that time, so there is and always has been a lot of travel between the two countries. I felt like a sitting duck. At that point I even traveled back to 關山(back home) to get my passport in case there was a need to leave the country and come back home if it got bad while I was staying in 台北(Taipei).
Now I see all my worries weren’t needed. Taiwan had cancelled all schools for two weeks after break to accommodate the time in which you develop symptoms and put into work different safety standards. I have discussed these before, but they mostly included having your temperature checked going into schools and any governmental/health-oriented buildings. If you were sick you were required to wear a mask (customary here). All people were to self-quarantine if they have been to countries in which the outbreak was present. With all these check points present Taiwan has had very little community spread, the exact opposite of what medical professionals had hypothesized, and instead have kept a pretty constant rate of infected patients. It has been sitting around 70 patients for a couple of weeks now (which has risen to 100 before Taiwan closed borders to foreign nationals recently).
What has changed is how other countries have reacted and been impacted. We were getting what seemed like daily emails from the State Dept. telling us they had our best interest at heart. As the cases increased back home we got an email on Friday telling us all Cultural Exchange programs were being cancelled and all participants were being asked to return home. It was a blow. I still have a couple months left on my grant and I need so many more interviews for my documentary but no one wants to do them because of fear of the virus. Fulbright Taiwan stopped most of my worries with another email. Although the State Dept was encouraging us to return home, Fulbright Taiwan said it was our choice. If we chose to stay we would still have National Health Insurance here, get out stipend (we get this regardless if we go home or not in Taiwan), and they assured us that they have our backs and would continue to monitor the situation further if we decide to go home in the future. I breathed a sigh of relief. We weren’t being forced, but getting the choice that best suited us.
With 50 cases compared to the incomprehensible numbers back home, I think Taiwan is safer. I know of only a few Fulbright Taiwan representatives that chose to return home. One is a scholar who wants to return to take care of his young family, completely understandable. Some are ETAs just like me located in Kinmen Islands, a set of Islands closer to China than Taiwan with less access to good medical help. Everyone else seems to come under the idea that Taiwan is probably the best place to be right now.
Other countries have not been given the choice we have had. A friend in Philippines’ Fulbright was given 48 hrs to leave the country as she described it morphing into a military state. Overnight curfews with jail time attached if they are violated were started, all malls and restaurants were closed except for take-out, and people have been getting nervous resulted in the pulling of all Fulbright grantees. Once you leave your country though, you can’t return so any research you haven’t finished will stay that way with no time in which to finish your project. Fulbright Brazil grantees are in an even worse predicament. There grant periods started only a few weeks ago, they had just started to get acclimated with their communities and will now be pulled out and forced to go back to the US. South America has a very low amount of cases and yet these grantees (some how deferred jobs and now have no health insurance or place to stay because they gave that up to accept their Fulbrights) are being brought back to a country where they are in more danger. There has been a petition amongst other Fulbright countries to help because seeing as they just started their grant the country is even going so far as to say that they won’t get the promised stipend that we were promised when accepting the grant. Instead the get the money for the first month and nothing else. I am so thankful to have Taiwan behind us. To have a government that wants us to stay and keeps us safe unlike these other countries.
As much as corona has changed the way the world is working now, in Taiwan very little has changed. This past week, Sean’s mother visited Taiwan and I got a chance to visit on the two weekends she was here. I had a blast. We visited memorials, flower markets, and biked the bike path around Taipei. It was almost like corona didn’t exist at all. The only clues were our temperature being taken every time we entered the hotel. I really enjoyed my weekends and it was even harder to go back to school between my visits. The detail that made it bearable was the fact that Sean’s father made cookies for us and I got my own box. The box was a plastic container with probably seven layers of m&m cookies. It should’ve lasted me a while or at the very least fed my entire school. It has lasted me up till now so around a little more than a week as I munch on a cookie every night. OK fine, more than one cookie a night, but Taiwan doesn’t do cookies in the same way. You are more likely to find cakes that are closer to Western baking than cookies unless you buy Oreos. It was a nice surprise.
I think my favorite parts of the visit was Taichung (台中) the county I visited over break with Crystal and finally being able to participate in a tea ceremony. I took my first personal day off work on Friday and instead took the train Thursday night to Taipei. I’ve taken that train before (leaving at 5:30 and getting in at 10 pm), but only on long weekends. Unlike those packed trains, I think the train I took was almost completely empty. I had three people in my car. Sadly, my ticket had me seated next to someone. Looking back, I probably could’ve moved even though it wouldn’t be the seat on my ticket because no one was really getting on, but I get nervous taking another seat because I don’t want to accidentally fall asleep only to get woken up by someone poking me. So that’s how I found myself spending the long train ride, sitting next to a pothead on the train.
Now, I was surprised as any when the young man around my age passed me his phone with a typed message asking if I wanted to talk. I said sure because why not? Otherwise I would’ve ran out my phone battery watching the downloaded episodes of Friends. His first question I could’ve predicted. Where are you from? I gave my whole story about being from the US, but living in 關山. He happened to be from the city nearest to me and was home for a quick visit with family. The next question threw me for a loop. “Do you smoke?” Here this could mean cigarettes, pipes, vape, and I guess drugs. Drugs are illegal in Taiwan. I don’t mean it’s a slap on the wrist if you do pot, you get jailed. It’s a big deal and the American government literally warned us multiple times before starting our grant period that if we were caught having done drugs in Taiwan that there would be nothing to do and we would go to jail. I just love that with all the warnings, precautions, and jail time attached to weed and other drugs in Taiwan, that this young man just assumed I did drugs because I was from America. He even went so far as to ask why I didn’t!?
The whole conversation turned away from life in Taiwan to just him discussing clubbing, his dealers, and how when he studied abroad at University in DC (I think he mentioned Catholic American University or something along the lines of that) his roommate introduced him to smoking. I completely checked out of the conversation and was happy when he decided to take a nap for a good portion of the rest of the train ride. His explanation for his nap: he had plans to go to a club and get high- who would’ve thought. I just found it interesting that sometimes the US’s access to pot is what people remember most.
Despite having been to Taipei many times before, I felt like I was seeing another side to the city. The first day we took Sean’s mother to see the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, my favorite place in Taipei to bring tourists because I find it just beautiful. However, having been there before on my first time to Taipei, my friend Aubrey’s visit, Morgan’s visit, and now Mrs. Frangos’ visit, I had never found or went to the museum dedicated to Chiang Kai-Shek himself. They had a lot of his own clothes, notes, and even two of his cars. I found it astonishing to look at the dates of the pictures and events that took place for Chiang Kai-Shek to rise to fame. For those of you who don’t know, Chiang Kai-Shek was a leader of the military which helped overthrow Japanese and reunify China in the Second Sino-Japanese War. He then became a dictator in a way, a very hard leader and was one of the reasons that Communism grew in China. Although he tried to punish communists, in the end Chiang Kai-Shek retreated to Taiwan with his army thinking that at one point he would lead his army again to bring China back together. Obviously, that didn’t all happen because China is still communist and Taiwan is completely separate, but his sentiment was still there. I knew the basics of what happened before in that he is the reason that Taiwan has all the museum pieces from China in its’ National Palace Museum, but I hadn’t realized how recent all the events were. Chiang Kai-Shek retreated to Taipei in 1950. That was so recent that people immigrated in large numbers, offsetting the population makeup of Taiwan from aboriginal people to those of Chinese descent.
I enjoyed getting to go alongside Sean and Mrs. Frangos to the flower market which has only just reopened due to worries about the virus. Most people know, but for being an Environmental Studies major I still can’t seem to keep a plant alive (even succulents!). However, the Taipei flower market always makes me feel like I should try again with some obscure plant I’ve never seen or to buy one of the perfectly manicured bonsai trees. It’s interesting because as a foreigner each flower stand treats you a little differently. There are stands that will graciously answer your questions about their plants. We even got a woman to talk about a bonsai tree that her family has been grooming for 50 years and each generation is responsible for its care. On the other hand, we have other shop owners that hate us because we are foreigners. They assume we can’t buy anything because we are only visiting. Sometimes they will even follow you and constantly remind you not to smell the flowers or take pictures. I understand where they are coming from in the idea that we could potentially just waste their time, but I do live here and could theoretically buy a plant.
Usually being a foreigner, especially a white foreigner, comes with its advantages. I had brought a bag of microwavable popcorn my grandma sent me to Taipei thinking that Sean had a microwave unlike me. Instead of making it in his room, we brought it to his mother’s hotel for a small little movie night. Mrs. Frangos brought it down to the desk to ask if it was possible to make it for us. She disappeared for a while and we didn’t know what was taking so long. Finds out that when they cooked it, they burnt all the popcorn to the point that Mrs. Frangos handed it back to them to dispose of as it was smoking so much and her hands had the smell of burnt popcorn. They apologized profusely, but it happens sometimes so none of us were mad or not understand. Well, I guess the hotel staff is more used to their guests yelling at them because in 20 minutes we got a call in the hotel room saying that they got a new bag of popcorn and would be bringing it to the room. I have looked for months for microwave popcorn so the hotel must either have connections to the black market, they called their families to see if they had any, or they sent someone to Costco the second it happened to see if they had any (Costco is like 30 minutes away – an hour round trip). Either way through their hard work we got popcorn in the end. I’ve got to say I don’t think I’ve ever thought something was cooler than a hotel going out to get me popcorn. I guess that’s what celebrities feel like or just guests in a near empty hotel.
By taking my first personal day, I was able to accompany Mrs. Frangos and Sean to Taichung, a county on the west coast. Neither of them had gone before so I was in charge of the day’s schedule having had the experience of one trip. Being directionally challenged I opted to walk from the train station to Rainbow Village (the pretty pictures from a month back). It didn’t look like a far walk on Google Maps, but let me tell you when its around 85 degrees walking for 4 km is a little too long. Drenched in sweat we finally came upon the village. Unlike the last time I visited in which the entire village was overrun with tourists, we were among maybe 4 other tourist groups making up less than 20 people. It was nice to have the opportunity to take our time with pictures and walking around. To top it off we even got to meet Grandpa Rainbow himself, the man that began the painting of his village in the first place. At the ripe age of 96, he sat in a chair handing out small paintings and drawings of his work. We got to take a picture with him and like all photo opportunities in Taiwan, Grandpa Rainbow gave us multiple poses. We had peace signs, Korean Hearts, and another pose that looks like stroking a non-existent beard if you ask me. It was hilarious that despite his age he still took part in the photo and selfie culture in Taiwan. It was also interesting that the other tourists didn’t take the time to learn the history of the village because no one else seemed to jump at the chance to meet him and instead just walked past without a second glance. Their loss and our gain.
Like last time, I visited the ice cream store again. As much as I say it was for Sean and Mrs. Frangos to see and try all the flavors, I’m lying. I really wanted to go back to get one of the chocolate flavors. With no line, I tried many new flavors. I got grape ice cream and I don’t think I have ever tasted something that said it was flavored grape and it actually tasting like a grape as much as that ice cream. Big surprise, I got two different flavors of chocolate and the same Roselle flavor as last time because its quickly becoming my favorite ice cream flavor. Unlike last time, I actually took the time to look at the other sweets the ice cream shop offered. There were eight different fudges ranging from walnut to a mixed fruit with fruits like lychee and loquat in it. Once Mrs. Frangos told the worker that she was a tourist, but that Sean was a student and I was a teacher living in Taiwan we started to get all these extra tastes of everything. I tried a oolong tea, a piece of white chocolate fudge with something I couldn’t name in it, and a cookie. It’s a good day to be a tourist when the numbers have dwindled so much.
The trip to Taipei also gave me the time to finally participate in a tea ceremony. I love my tea and the idea of doing a flight of different teas is the best way to spend a rainy day inside. Like the tea house on Maokong Mountain, we were given a full menu of different teas described like wines. Some of the teas on the menu included Lotus in a Golden Wind: the tea is processed by hand, using traditional methodology. The infusion is clear, presenting a shade of deep amber. It tastes fine, rich and sweet with a hint of peach. The long-lasting aftertaste lingers adding resonance and comfort. These descriptions made me laugh. There was even a tea that had its flavor from the bug that ate its leaves in the beginning so when it grew back the taste was stronger. We ended up going with their different teas: Morning Sunshine, Dong Ding tea (a Oolong tea), and a tea from Ali Shan (a popular mountain in Taiwan). My favorite was Morning Sunshine. As crazy as it sounds it did taste how morning dew and flowers smell.
On picking our teas, a waiter came to our table to teach us how to perform a ceremony. The water is heated in a big kettle and then once boiling it is used to heat the tea pot and the “sniffing glasses.” Each person is given two cups, a sniffing cup and a tasting cup. Once the tea pot is warmed you pour the water into another container and then added all the tea leaves given to us of one of the flavors. You then add the water to the tea pot. After waiting 10 minutes you then pour the tea into each person’s sniffing cups and then pour the rest into the same container as before. I didn’t fully understand the importance of “throwing away” the tea that wasn’t poured into the sniffing glasses as it seemed fine to me, but I think it was just part of the ceremony that all the tea should be hot and not luke warm. You then smell the sniffing cup like you would to a wine if you were sophisticated and not just drinking boxed wine. Only then do you pour the sniffing cup into the tasting cup and get what ends up being a shot of tea. Each round of taste takes around 15 minutes and most tea leaves can be used 3-5 times getting more bitter as you go. We stuck with 3 times because after that the teas would get too bitter before moving onto the next flavor. The entire process of drinking our tea took long and it is a great activity to meet friends over because you can just talk in a very soothing room over tea for hours.
To end the trip on a high note, I got to swim in a rooftop pool. I think most hotels have rooftop pools to save space, but whatever the reason it was fun to be outside regardless of how cold it was. I ended up becoming the adult I always hated growing up who just sat and talked in the hot tub instead of swimming to not get my hair wet. It’s a sad time when you become something you told yourself as a kid you would never do. I ended my last night in Taipei with going to a bar for the first time in Taiwan. It was a spur of the moment thing which resulted in Sean and I showing up in a long sleeve T-shirt and leggings, definitely not the attire typically worn in the bar. The whole bar was very extravagant and I don’t think on a normal night in which we didn’t have the virus we would’ve been let in. All the drinks were separated by Asian country. They included the tastes of each like pineapple and mango drinks in Thailand. Sean wanted to get a Taiwanese drink seeing as we are in Taiwan and ended up with a drink with whiskey and gin in it. His glass was super manly too, coming to the table on a coaster made out of a tree slice and sprinkled with tree chips. Me, on the other hand, wanted to get a drink I would actually like and settled on India. What does India have that’s so special you ask. Masala Chai. I had a Masala Chai with some sort of alcohol it’s in. It’s been the only time I have seen chai on the menu and jumped on it. Both Sean and I agreed, my drink was better than his and I finished the whole thing along with the biscotti.
I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with Mrs. Frangos and have definitely grown to love being in a country which loves tea as much as I do.
Comentários