By accident last night, I came across a party of maybe 60 tables that was just finishing up. I asked someone if this was a wedding party. He said no, that this was "BaiBai" which generally means praying to the ancestors. There were two stages of activities, the main one was like a Karaoke stage with glitzy lights in the background, professional performers and a significant sound system. The other was Peking Opera performed by an all women troupe. Guess which one had the better attendance?
For the past few days we've had the National Ghost Festival where Taiwanese sacrifice to their ancestors in hope that the ancestors will look out for them. Usually a business will display a table in front of the shop with offerings to the ancestors. The offering can be quite elaborate with pigs heads, cigarettes, beer, fruit, incense, ... all designed to show that the living have proper respect for the dead. Of course, the ancestors never really get any of the offerings. What substitutes is the burning of paper money(fake) and the smoke of the burning money goes up into the sky where the ancestors are.
So Tainan is not hot and polluted enough! For the past 2 days we've had these great burn buckets(some are made from 55 gallon oil drums) burning money. I hope the ancestors appreciate how that sacrifice effects we the living.
I've discovered a new way of ordering food. In many shops the dishes are prepared in front of you as you wait. This is a problem for me as I like to point to what I want.
For these type of shops I realized I could point to the items posted on the menu board. The Menu Board consists for each dish offered 3 or 4 Chinese Characters written horizontally with a price at the bottom. By recognizing just a few of the characters I can guess what might be coming. This is a good way of improving my vocabulary.
Above is a delicious duck soup which I knew had duck in it, but I still don't know what kind of soup it is. I tried to look up the missing characters but all my dictionaries failed me.Blogger tip, upload the pictures first in reverse order, then write around them.(The upload feature always uploads to the top of the document)
6 comments:
I love it! Your pictures are so good! I guess you know how to handle that camera very well now. This is the first blog I am reading in the evening.
The food looks really good. Do you miss hamburger?
I read everyday too....then I knew how American see Taiwanese culture...I actually sent the links to many of my good friends..They think "活到來學到老" is very cool, and I have a very interesitng uncle..: D
Pinfan
Hi Mike
Looks like you are getting along quite well. Lots of new experiences.
I love to read about what you are doing. And love the pictures. I've never read anyones Blog before. Still trying to figure out how to post comments.
Janine
Terry came over and got me all set up to see your blog. :)
2 comments
1)I remember Tomb Sweeping with Florences family inspite of no commen communication language between us.
2) Also remember when you, Eli, Ely and I went out to eat and between the 3 of you and your limited language skills we hoped what we ordered was "close" to what you hoped was ordered!!lol
Hi Mike
I got a netbook and have your blog bookmarked. The pictures are great and I like your running commentary.
Post a Comment