Taiwan translated

One of the first marks we made on our dining room world map was a big "do not enter" symbol over China. Neither of us had a strong desire to visit China, but more worrisome were the number of letters I'd posted to the Chinese government regarding various human rights abuses. Not sure if you've noticed but they don't take that stuff too well, and I figured they just might be organized enough to have my name on some, shut-these-people-up list. Either way, a risk I'd just as soon avoid.

Coincidentally, a small island off the coast of China was starred as a definite stop. Before now, Taiwan was a place I usually saw after the words, "Made in", and beyond that I knew very little about the country except that Aran's Uncle moved there and loved it.

With all that said, I naturally had minimal expectations and was happy just to be hanging out with Paul and his girlfriend, Eigi.

As we boarded our flight to Taiwan, I noticed most of the passengers held passports that read, 'Republic of China - Taiwan'. Admittedly, I didn't realize how complicated relations were between Taiwan and their land-based neighbour to the North. Curiosity led me to some (albeit, questionable) Wiki research.

Taiwan is considered the Republic of China, whereas mainland China is the People's Republic of China, where they do not recognize the government of Taiwan as legit. From the sounds of it, Taiwan's status is up for discussion. It's touchy, but right now the majority of Taiwanese seem happy to be independent of China. And from what I can see, Taiwan is doing alright on their own.

One of Eigi's favourite past times is listening to radio and TV forums that openly criticize the current Taiwan government, so they've embraced freedom of speech a lot better than China. In the Olympics, you'll recognize Taiwan as Chinese Taipei. Unfortunately, due to pressure from big bad China, the international community has not embraced Taiwan as part of the UN, (but North Korea is allowed in the club? Go figure), nor have they allowed Taiwan membership with the World Health Organization.

But as Eigi would say, "That's okaaay".

And so we have had the opportunity to experience Chinese flavours, culture, and language, without me risking jail when speaking my mind!

Living and travelling around the country with Paul and Eigi has given us insight that we would have otherwise missed. And I am so happy we came here.

I think Aran would agree that our favourite moments have been in and around Kaohsiung, visiting local spots with local folks.

Our first Sunday in Taiwan, we enjoyed some good eating with Eigi`s family. We watched as Eigi's mom and Uncle Jojo prepared 'ground chicken' by building an oven out of dirt and stones. Then they buried seven whole chickens along with cobs of corn, eggs and sweet potatoes in the ground to cook. After a few hours of drinking beer and eating soup and noodles, it was time for dinner! Out came the shovels and the delicate process of unearthing our meal began. We carted everything in wheelbarrows and buckets through the guava orchard back to the house, where the 'digging in' continued. Forget the chopsticks, we followed suit as the family dug in with their hands, tearing apart the chickens and munching away.

Uncle Jojo was toasting us every few minutes and then banging back his pijiu (pee-jo), aka beer, along with a family friend who kept looking at Aran, saying "shaui ge", which means, handsome brother, a term of respect, but it sounded more like Slugger, so we stuck with that. Actually, we've been playing the "sounds like" game a lot in Taiwan. Making up English phrases that sound like Taiwanese or Mandarin. For example, when we go into 7-11 for the usual "B-double E-double R-U-N, Beer run, Beer run", we're always greeted with "huan ying guang ling", which means, "thank you for gracing our door with your presence". Aran, being the goofball that he is, shouts an enthusiastic, "Good Morning!", in return, which is exactly what the Mandarin sounds like, but makes absolutely no sense for him to say.

Aran, Paul and Jojo got good and drunk. And we had a blast trying to repeat Taiwanese (not to be confused with Mandarin) phrases back to them. I'm proud to say I can now tell the difference when listening to old ladies chat on the bus! We learned, "say say", for thank you, which is very close to the Mandarin, "xie xie", (sheh-sheh), and, "wa ga yi", for I like that. And if we got the pronunciation right? Well, we just made their day! Excited laughter and clapping ensued, followed by "Gan bei!", Taiwanese for "Bottoms up", to initiate chugging another glass of beer. I'd be bilingual if French class had been this fun.

When dinner was over, a fire was lit to cook up some fish...why not eh? It was so fresh and delicious and we all picked at it with our chopsticks until every bit was gone.

A week later we got to spend another awesome night with Eigi's fam. This time for birthday celebrations at KTV. Imagine a small room, the walls lined with couches all surrounding huge tables covered with loads of food. Add about 20 Taiwanese people, 3 Canadians and a lot of beer and you’ve got yourself a good night in Taiwan. That was my birthday party. Turns out I share the same birthday as Eigi's niece, Sandra, so it was a double party. Taiwan beer for the adults, and flavoured fruit beer for the kids.

Drunk Uncle Jojo sang classic Taiwanese tunes and Eigi danced while belting out energetic beats! The teenagers stuck to sappy love songs and in between, Aran, Paul and I picked out some tunes from the limited selection, including Que-sera-sera, Man on the Moon, Ob-la-di-ob-la-da and Ticket to Ride! The highlight of the night was the birthday song, all in Taiwanese except for the bit that goes, "Happy Bursa-day! Ha! ha! ha! Hey! Hey! Hey!". I say, 'bursa', because the Taiwanese don't do the 'th' sound, and so, 'bursa', it is. We have been singing this song randomly since that wonderfully, hilarious night.

 

This trend of drinking has encouraged some exercise and as such, we’ve been going for runs early in the morning through the local guava farms and little villages, made up of a few houses and a temple. I'd look forward to the corner where an old Taiwanese man and his friends would be sitting, without fail, under the same tree, ready to give us the thumbs up and shouts, "jia you!!", literally, "add oil", encouraging us to keep going!

And everyday, Paul has been teaching us plenty about Mandarin and recognizing essentials like Beef Noodles, and Homestay. Our lessons have not been limited to words and signs, but ensuring we pronounce the the tones correctly, which can make a big difference in what you are saying. We've learned that Chinese characters represent ideas, not words or sentences like English. The symbol for bike, for example, is literally translated as 'iron horse'. And trains are 'fire vehicles'. My favourites are 'straight up machine' for a helicopter and 'very door' for the emergency exit. 'Western gourd' is a watermelon, while 'grape teeth' means Portugal. Are you laughing yet?

We have been. The hilarity in translation is everywhere. Like in the well-intentioned signs translated into English for tourists. See right for an awesome example we found at a rest stop during one of many road trips around the island.

And while Mandarin is a language with a structure very different from what we know, I wish so much that I knew how to speak it as well as Paul does. I wish I could chat with the old ladies on the bus. I wish I could ask Eigi and her mom questions and really tell them how awesome their food tastes. I love the Taiwanese people. So friendly and welcoming, always willing to talk away to you in their language even though you have no idea what they’re saying.

Then again, it doesn’t take a genius to understand kindness and sincerity, so the language barrier here hasn’t been too tough to handle.

 

Xie xie, Paul and Eigi