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The Taiwan Diaries
Volume 12
(07.25.03)
Well, only one more diary after this. I'm really going to miss writing these!
Fourth of July? No, Election Time!
Election season has just kicked off here. The elections are in December and the candidates filed and have now opened their headquarters involving much fanfare. One candidate has their headquarters on the next street over from my apartment. As the crow flies it can't be more than 100 yards away. Well, their opening involved fireworks. Not just the blackcats that are popular with weddings and other things but a HUGE display. Think almost like Zilker on the 4th. Now imagine it in the middle of a city block! It was insane. It lasted a good twenty minutes and our whole block was filled with smoke. Not to mention the burning embers that were flying around. We had to go inside to watch to keep from getting burned. We also had to pull all our laundry in off the line so it wouldn't catch fire! It was just the weirdest thing that that was allowed in the city. We could still smell the smoke in our stairwell the next morning.
I HATE Diet Coke with Lemon
Most of you know about my love affair with Diet Coke. I can't make it through the week without some. I guess there are worse habits. I hope many of you agree with me on the fact that Diet Coke with Lemon is completely disgusting and tastes like Lysol. Well, Diet Coke with Lemon has made its debut here in Taiwan. There isn't much of a market for diet drinks here. I don't think diet translates into Chinese. None of the women really need to diet and frankly what kind of man (besides Sam McJunkin--you are excluded) would drink diet coke, really? Since it would be impractical to have 2 diet drinks on the shelves, the convenience stores and supermarkets have replaced regular Diet Coke with Lemon Diet Coke. It is terrible. I haven't had any Diet Coke in 2 weeks! They already deprive me of Mexican food and now they are trying to deprive me of my other love! What's a girl to do?
Salt Anyone?
Ages ago Taiwan was a big exporter of salt, but then they joined the WTO and crisis began in the salt industry. I don't understand the situation enough to explain it to you but what I do know is this. It was no longer lucrative for one company to continue exporting salt with all the regulations imposed by the WTO. So the owner of the company got all the salt that he had and put it into a big mound and opened it up to the tourists. So in the middle of Taiwan there is this HUGE white mountain of pure salt, chunky rock-like salt. I went there a few weeks ago and it was incredible. We climbed all the steps (made of salt) to the very top and there was a Christmas tree on top. I suppose it was as close to snow as the Taiwanese get!
Factoid
The 7th lunar month in Asia celebrates a month long festival of sorts called Ghost Month. The Buddhists believe during this month people in the afterlife can come back to Earth and roam as ghosts. People here also burn ghost money for their relatives in the afterlife. This money helps their relatives enjoy more things in the afterlife. So during ghost month people burn loads of ghost money. Loads more than any other time. Communal containers are put in front of temples and on the side of the road. They are metal bins at least 8 feet tall and maybe 10 feet around. Inside there, people put their money and pray and they set it ablaze. As if it isn't hot enough here already. Not to mention the EPA would have a field day with these bonfires. No one mans them really, in case they get out of control. They just blaze for days and then they light it up again with more money.
Hot in Here
Well, the rain finally stopped. I couldn't be happier. Everyone else though is another story. They all complain that it is so hot. Well, it is hot and riding on a scooter in the sun is hot. Some days I walk into work and say "Wow, today's a scorcher!" and everyone agrees. But it's not any hotter than home. I'm okay and everyone thinks I'm weird. My kids and I were talking about the heat and I asked them how hot it was and they said 34 or 35 (that's Celsius--about 94F). I told them where I live it is 40 (103F) in the summer. And I personally have seen it get to 44 (110). My kids almost fell out of their chairs. They said they would never visit Texas. I convinced them to change their minds though as our spring is very tolerable if not magnificent!
Well, be on pins and needles for the finale next month, Vol. 13. I've updated my website with pictures of the salt mountain and several others. Check it out: www.killen.org/Shellie
Until next month,