Full Moon Festival

I smell BBQ but I’m not at Arrowhead stadium or Bryants. I taste beer but I’m not at Harpos. Fireworks exploding in the air but I’m not at Lake Viking. It’s not Independence Day, so why is everyone celebrating like it is.

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, that’s why.

To the Taiwanese a full moon symbolizes happiness of family gatherings. So that’s what they do. You cannot find a street in Taiwan that does not have a family gathered around a small grill, drinking beer, and setting off fireworks. All things I am very familiar with, but it doesn’t seem familiar at all. Something about it is just different.

Most days walking around Taichung all you see is overworked people overworking. Parents working several jobs, or jobs with long hours. Going in at 7am and leaving at 8pm isn’t uncommon. The kids have it even worse. School from sun up to well after the sun goes down. When I asked some of my grad students (high school aged) what they liked to do in their free time, they responded that they have no free time. They aren’t lying. After school they go to another school, then to a cram school. After that, hours of homework. On weekends, more school.

(Any politician wondering why America is falling behind on test scores just needs to spend one day in Taiwan. It isn’t because our kids are dumb, or our teachers suck. It’s because we let kids be kids.)

So it is such a refreshing change to see everyone with their families. Smiling. Laughing. Having a good time. It’s a much too rare occurrence here.

But fireworks and grills aren’t the only things burning. Have you ever heard someone say, “I am burning through money”? Well here it has a different meaning. They burn money to keep the ghosts away. Legit. I’m not even making this up. Taiwanese believe in ghosts and are insanely afraid of them. So it only makes sense to burn money in an attempt to keep them away, right?

People also carve pomelo’s during this holiday. Kind of like carving pumpkins on Halloween.

Random things:

-Friday was Teachers day in Taiwan, because it was Confucius’s birthday. So my kids gave me a ton of treats and cards.

-A new teacher took over one of my grad classes, so I got my Friday nights back. YEAH

-Next weekend I am going to a BBQ at the owner of my school’s house. Should be a pretty good time.

-In two weeks I am going to Hong Kong. (Gosh, living in Southeast Asia is so awesome.)

-I ate chicken feet today. Looks super gross, actually tastes good. I probably ate 10-15 of them. Nobody else would try them….Chickens!!  haha It was very gelatinous, and the skin was a crazy texture, but I would recommend them.

I painted this on my scooter helmet....as if people don't stare at me enough already.

-Go MIZZOU!