Thursday, February 18, 2010

Holiday

Holidays can be joyful yet stressful at the same time.  The Taiwanese culture is a group culture, and my family is not an exception.  This includes doing things together, multiple conversations going on simultaneously, everybody wants to be a part of everybody's life by giving advice all the time, and making sure that the advice is taken and followed.  Whew!  As much as I am an outgoing person, I am pretty aloof from all conversations.  I just watch and take off when it is too much to handle.  I tried many times to be more like my other siblings but could only do so much to accomodate.  Having said so, I am trying my best to be involved in family outings and gatherings.  In fact, I cherish these opportunities because as time goes by, the chances of doing so will diminish. 

Sometimes I feel like I am living two lives.  When I am away from home, especially when I am abroad, I am a totally different person who is more cheerful compared to when I am at home.  Therefore, my desire of wanting to be connected to my root often is compromised by my other desire of wanting to be free and happy.  There is never going to be a happy medium.   

Enough of the rambling.  Here are some photos of my family's recent outings in Taiwan.
The BBQ from the Chou tribe of Alishan.







The Taiwanese yellow cows.  We don't see them anymore.  This wagon was just for the tourists.






I loved these Bolivian musicians.  Bought two CDs and had their autographs.  Maybe they did not understand my Spanish...they had my name wrong.  Too bad bloggers took away the video inserting function.  Here is a short clip of the performers. 



Then we went to the mountain for a change of scenery.  I do not know if these were plum blossoms but they surely looked amazing.
That was my dad strolling in the gardern.  We could see the mountain afar.  Quite mysterious and typically Asian. 








Here is another shot of the mountain in the cloud.  My parents loved this.







The tea garden.











It was almost dark when we finished dinner at this unique restaurant that featured a buddhist design.  We had a nice day with light rain accompanying us while driving down to the city.  I sang "Tomorrow" from Annie to my niece Corine in the car.  She sang along and I wish she could learn to sing this song because she had such a beautiful voice.  It is one of my all-time favouriate songs among my new Bolivian music collection. 





3 comments:

  1. Dear Dr. Teng,

    Actually, sometimes I feel frustrated about Taiwanese culture (especially I'm a local). I could not easily understand to those seniors of my family. I only can followed what they said. Therefore, when I express my own words, I may become like a stranger in my family. So...weird~Nevermind, let it gone with the wind.

    Wishing you and family a prosperous new year to the year of the tiger!

    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Chris,

    Thank you so much for visiting again to share your thoughts with me. Groups of people differ and each individual different. Did I remember to share this with the class? I guess all we can do is to do and be what we can at various circumstances. I also remind myself to respect differences because I want others to do the same with me, too. What do you think? School must have begun again for you. I wish you lots of fun studying and enjoying your youth. A very happy new year to you Chris. Please visit again. It is always nice to hear from you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very great post. I simply stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your weblog posts.

    ดูหนัง

    ReplyDelete