Taiwan - Party Day

The party for my grandma's 100th birthday was later in the day. At the crack of dawn, the catering crew came over and started cooking.

We took grandma for a stroll in her wheelchair.

This was the view of a neighboring farmhouse. Everyone in the neighborhood has known each other for all their lives.


Spent the night on the farm. My Dad decided to hang up the mosquito netting. I was surprised as it was probably 65 degrees at night. He said that the bugs were still flying in that weather. Better safe than sorry.

The ladies who were cooking for the 100+ diners.


Then it was time for the tomb visit. About 1/4 mile down the road is a row of tombs, one of which holds my grandpa. I tried to ask the question, but my Dad and uncle who went with me never really did answer the question. But I believe that folks are buried above ground in the tombs, hence the ginormous size of the tomb.

Whenever you visit, it's a bit sad. Below:


You can see the tombs where it's obvious that people no longer visit or can tend to a tomb.

And below is a neighboring tomb that is constantly being tended by relatives nearby.


My Dad and uncle pointing to the name of all the male descendants of my grandpa that are chiseled into his monument. My Dad says I'm listed along with the sons since I'm the oldest of the oldest.

Row of tombs. Grandma can't be buried next to grandpa since there is no space next door. They've already got her plot bought and ready for her (knowing my grandma she got the ball rolling on that).

And back at the kitchen, the ladies are still prepping.

And setting up the chairs and linens.

A shot of the back of grandma's house. This is the equivalent to the "garage" for storing stuff.


The family shrine. My aunt dragged me back there with some other relatives and lit incense sticks.

The big picture. It took me a while to realize that they had arranged all the aunts and uncles according to their age. The order from left to right (seated) is:

#4 aunt, #3 aunt, #2 aunt, #1 aunt, grandma, Dad, #1 uncle, #2 uncle, #3 uncle, #4 uncle.

#4 aunt - she and I don't know each other very well as she is the youngest of the aunts. I remember meeting her in 1977 and she was a bit "out of it" since she'd just had her first kid and was going through sleep deprivation. This is probably the 3rd or 4th time she's seen me since 1969.

#3 aunt - she's the one who is extremely close to me. She babysat me when I was a baby and she was a teen.

#2 aunt - she's not as close to my Dad or her mom. She married a nice man, but basically lives mostly on "his side" of the family.

#1 aunt - she's pretty friendly with me - and I think it's partially because she's very close to my Dad and grandma.

#1 uncle - I was shocked to see him. I hadn't seen him since the mid 90's, but he's really changed. He's "shrunk' and a bit gaunt - and he didn't say much at the party. I was worried he was sick. My parents told me that he's suffering from depression since his oldest child (my older male cousin) is slowly wasting away due to disease (and the future is gloomy). He actually goes jogging in the morning, but doesn't eat much because he's sad, and thus he's down most of the time.

#2 uncle - he along with #3 aunt are the closest to me since he also babysat me when I was a baby and he actually lives about 5 miles from my parents' house in Houston. So, I see him often. Unfortunately, he's always comparing his oldest son to me (to my benefit and his detriment).

#3 uncle - like #4 aunt, very little interaction with him and thus we aren't close.

#4 uncle - he was born when my dad was in high school. He studied at college under my Dad and he's a professor as well. I was talking to my Dad about his interaction with his youngest brother. My Dad said truthfully, they have a teacher-student relationship rather than a brother-brother relationship since they are so far apart in age. It's really odd, but he looks about 90% like my Dad at the same age.

And then the dining began!

The food was definitely "country fare". They had dishes I'd never seen before in a Chinese restaurant, which was appropriate because these are country folk who don't expect Peking Duck with their meal. I wasn't feeling so hot that day, so I actually ate very little. And because they were cooking for so many people, some of the food was a bit lukewarm when it showed up and it really don't turn me on that much (I guess I've been Westernized - dammit!).

And this was a friendly, neighborhood dog "Arrow" who wandered in after the party was over. He wasn't obnoxiously obtrusive, and no one minded him. He wasn't shoo'd away, he was just ignored.

The funny story was I met him and his owner earlier in the day. First I saw him trotting along with his owner (about 75 years old) who was riding on a bike. Then, later the owner was just walking the neighborhood and the dog was walking dutifully next to him. He allowed me to pet him. And then the neighbor pointed at me and then the dog and said something I couldn't understand. The owner was saying a word in Taiwanese I didn't understand and pointing at my hand. I thought he wanted me to let the dog sniff my hand again (???) and nudged me a bit closer. And when I got closer, all of a sudden "Arrow" put his paw in my hand and we shook hands.

It's funny, the owner named him "Arrow" in English, although I'm sure the owner didn't speak English.


The problem with having so many cousins and being away from them is that it's hard figuring out who is who. In that picture above, I think the left-to-right order is:
cousin, cousin, cousin-in-law (his kids next to him), 2nd cousin, 2nd cousin, 2nd cousin and cousin Julie who bumped me up to business class.

The son my uncle is worried about.

And before I left Texas I told Wifey, "I wonder if the bath area is the same old faucet-hose and then a mini-tub to catch water?" When I first visited in 1977, there was an outhouse and this wash room. And then when I visited in the mid-90's, the outhouse was finally replaced with a toilet with plumbing (yay!), but the wash room was still the same.

Wifey answered me, "Of course she has had it replaced. It's been a long time!"

Nope, this still works for grandma and her kids. At least they have a hot water heater now and you can actually got hot as well as cold water.