Kaohsiung, Taiwan

It's New Years Day in Taiwan. It might be the most important holiday here and is characteristically a family-oriented affair; sort of Thanksgiving and Christmas rolled into one. Yesterday, New Years Eve, we had a big meal at my cousin's in-law's place (where she lives and where I hang out a lot using their wireless and playing with the kids). I kept a low profile since I didn't want to inconvenience anyone by making them feel they had to tend to me and speak to me in English, and just enjoyed myself where I was.

After dinner, I went with my uncle and step-aunt to the airport to pick up my cousin Gary, Audrey's older brother, who was flying in from China for New Years. We go way back. When my brothers and I first visited Taiwan almost 25 years ago, we stayed here and that's when we first met Gary and Audrey. I was one disturbed puppy back then and I can't imagine I made a very good impression. And it's true, Gary and I, although very cordial and friendly, aren't as close as we could be, and the mutual adoration that Audrey and I have developed through the years is more of a fluke.

Back at my uncle's building, close to midnight we went up to the roof where they have a little shrine room and offered prayers to the ancestors and gods, and then at midnight, lit off some major mondo Chinese-style fireworks. And goddam, the fireworks you can get in the U.S. are wimpy compared to these. After Gary lit the first string, he bolted past where I was standing and I understood why real quick. Shit was loud! Scared the bejeebus out of the dog (and believe me there ain't no mo' jeebus in that dog). People were shooting fireworks off all over the place and ships in the harbor were blowing their horns. It was quite festive. A city-wide celebration no doubt.

Today, people are out in droves. Traffic on the street by my uncle's building is madness because every New Years they close off one of the adjoining streets for a market that lasts two or three days. A lot of family visitation goes on today, and even I was out for a walk this afternoon when my uncle called and said I could go to my Uncle Jiro's temple because my cousin Peter was hanging out there. So I thought 'why not?' and strolled over and hung out with him and my aunt for a while. It's a Taoist temple, I think. There weren't too many people there - I thought there would be more because of New Years, but maybe people do their praying in the morning.

Neither my aunt or Peter speak English very well, but that's OK. I did learn that my mother has a Master's degree that she got in Japan when my father was working on his Ph.D.

View of the New Years market from the top of my uncle's building, February 8, 2005; 11:55 P.M.: