miaoli

i really haven't seen that much of taiwan which i am sort of ashamed to admit. i did however, take in my first taiwanese wedding. my friend tony's brother was getting married so he invited me to attend. his family lives in miaoli about 2 hours south of taipei by train. tony had told me a little about his hometown so i was expecting it to be more out in the country than it is. his family's house was much larger than i expected. a big 4 story cube. it it overlooks a small rice field. tony's family was super nice to me. when we first got there they kept telling me to sit down and his father kept offering me cigarettes (but i don't smoke) and fruit to eat. that night we all went out for a big taiwanese meal at some restaurant. when you have a meal like this the courses just keep coming and coming so you can't eat too much until you know when it will end. after the meal we went back home and the future in-laws went to a hotel. just like in the west it is bad luck for the bride to see the groom before the wedding. the next day we got up early. neighbors and friends throughout the day came by with red envelopes of money for the wedding couple. a bunch of us went in a caravan of cars and jeeps to pick up the bride and her family. firecrackers exploding as we left. at the hotel tony's sister pinned a flower on me like i was part of the regular wedding party. i was surprised as i had only met tony's brother twice before the wedding. when the bride was finally ready we took some pictures and then headed back out in the train of cars. on the way back to the house we had to change our direction because we ran into another wedding caravan and it is bad luck for a bride to see another bride. back at the house the bride and groom step over hot coal that is at the doorstep(it's there to keep the good in the house and the bad out) and then go to the altar of ancestors to let the ancestors know that there is a new member of the family. then the bride went up to the "bridal suite" with her bridesmaids where they recieved the guests. and children could go toast the bride with tea and she she would give them a red envelope. this went on for a few hours and then we all walked up to the banquet hall and had another huge meal. the wedding couple got up on stage as did their parents and some other people who gave speeches. tony's brother looked like he was going to explode he was so happy. after the speeches they all came down and walked around to each table offering a toast. shortly after this tony and i had to rush off to catch our train to taipei as we both had classes to teach that night. the whole day and a half i was in miaoli no one let me pay for anything. on a side note one of the more amusing things i saw was in tony's bedroom. when he first showed it to me i just started laughing. the first thing you see when you enter tony's room is this giant tapestry/poster of brooke shields! and not recent brooke but brooke from the old calvin klein ads in the 70s. ("nothing comes between me and my calvins"). the things you learn about your friends when you see their childhood rooms. :)

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