happy chinese new year! xin nian kuai le!

we just returned from a festive evening ringing in the chinese new year. outside the apartment here in tainan, i can hear the sporadic booms of fireworks. next to the computer, little red envelopes collected throughout the evening, filled with gifts of cash from the "grown-ups" in attendance.

i'll have to write later about our mountain and taipei travels last week.... yesterday, ani and i took the high speed rail down to tainan from taipei. it was a little expensive (around 40 dollars) but what a nice ride! big, cozy seats, wide windows for watching the countryside zoom past; an enjoyable ride from one end of the country to the other in under two hours. upon arriving, we were greeted with blue skies and comfortably warm weather--a nice change of pace from the northwest-esque weather of taipei. dinner at the apartment, and then matt took us to his favorite local bar for karaoke and drinks.

we karaoke'd in much different style than i am used to. there were screens behind the bar, and big wireless microphones that got passed around from one patron to another. we handed song selections to the owner of the bar, ming li, and then sang our songs, sitting at the bar, facing the bartenders. it made for a bit more anonymity, freeing me up to sing such classics as WHAM's "wake me up before you go-go," the always-popular "sweet caroline," and, of course, "billie jean." ming li made us her infamous long island ice tea--and me, having not had a single drink in maybe a month or more, foolishly was entranced by the lemony goodness of said beverage... drank two, and found myself drunk. but luckily, not too drunk to forget the memories of taiwanese businessmen belting out love songs and singing back-up during my musical numbers ("the kid is not my son!" one guy sang loudly during "billie jean"). when i get back to taipei, i'll be sure to upload a picture giving evidence to the mayhem.

waking up late, with a headache, i took refuge on the couch before getting ready for the new year's festivities. we celebrated at the family home of one of uncle doug's associates, santiago, who--along with his dynamo wife, twinky--lavished us with generous hospitality. we started dinner with a plate of steamed spinach, kept whole (root and all). we each had to take one plant and put it in our mouths in one fell swoop, no chewing before we got the whole thing in. the chinese character for spinach is a homonym for life (or long, can't remember), so it's tradition to eat spinach this way to ensure a long, prosperous life and a good new year. the rest of the meal was amazing, noodles and fresh shrimp and sauteed vegetables.

afterwards we retired to the living room, where andrea was asked to serve ceremony-style, a 100-year old puer tea. valued at 200,000 taiwanese dollars for the whole brick (6000+ american dollars!!!), the tea was a beautiful amber color and had a smooth, roasted taste to it. andrea performed expertly, winning compliments from the group for her preparation of the tea and her knowledge of how to appropriately serve it. the red envelopes found their way into our pockets as we sat there, a very traditional new year's gift for unmarried young ones. we left the evening, then, with satisfied bellies and heavy pockets, the auspicious beginning of a prosperous and full new year.

tomorrow morning we head to a buddhist temple in the central mountains where we'll be participating in a weeklong meditation retreat. i'm a little nervous to meditate for an entire week, to not speak for a week, but the anxiety is less than the excitement i feel about participating in such an intentional and reflective experience. upon coming down from the mountains i'll make sure to back up a bit and write about last week's travels.