My Fulbright Year in Taiwan

Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋節 was originally a harvest festival in Chinese culture. Traditionally, it was a time for the family to gather and have a big meal, celebrating and giving thanks for the harvest. Sound like any particular American holiday? Modern Taiwanese celebrate the holiday with a barbecue.

After Stacy and I got the fire going, we cooked an enormous amount of food. Here we are cooking Taiwanese sausages, which are sweet and despite what my brother-in-law Chi says, are made with pork, NOT rat meat. 😀

Stacy’s mother wanted to try it, so we bought a bottle of the local grain wine from Yilan that is fermented with a special “red yeast” 紅麴. To an American’s taste buds, it’s pretty unremarkable. In order to make it taste good, you mix it with apple-flavored soda pop. I am not making this up.

It isn’t a Hoopingarner family gathering without a little musical showing off. Which is usually the idea of the parents, by the way. We “volunteered” Evan and Ian to play some tunes. Stacy’s father had transcribed some folk songs from his childhood into Chinese musical notation, and then while the boys played on their instruments, he accompanied them on his harmonica. Stacy’s sister especially requested that Evan play the oboe, because she had never heard one close-up in person. The boys also did a little improvised jamming, which impressed the aunts and uncles.

The next day we drove back to Yilan in Stacy’s brother’s car. He’s studying in Holland, and generously offered us the use of his car while we’re in Taiwan. Next post, I’ll write about the adventure of racing a typhoon from the south of the island to the north end.