What year is it?

So, a couple of weeks ago, an old man came out of his apartment as I was walking downstairs and stopped me.  He put his hand on my shoulder and explained (in Chinese) that his two kids were in school studying English and wondered where I was from.  I told him I was American and that if his kids wanted to come chat with me here and there I would be happy to talk to them in English.  He was so overjoyed. 

So since then, Andy (9) and Sophie (13) have been coming to my apartment twice a week for an hour at a time.  We look through their textbooks (which are extraordinarily basic) and practice some sentences, colors, foods, etc.  Nothing special, really. 

So why the reason for this post? Because I asked Andy (in Chinese) what year he was born, and he kept saying 91.  "91?" I said, "would mean that you are 21 years old, buddy." Again, this all took place in Chinese, so I know he understood. "Jiu shi er" he said.  That is most definitely 91. 

Knowing that he is 9 years old, even a 9 year old could tell you that the year he was born must be 2002 or 2003 (depending on when his birthday is). 

I shrugged it off as just some sort of confusion either on my part or his, and we continued our lesson. Then, a few days later, I took some money out of an ATM.  When I looked at my receipt, I was very surprised to see this:

Ok, so let me first point out that the currency of Taiwan is the New Taiwan Dollar.  So for those of you in the US, I am not withdrawing 5,000 US dollars!  In fact, I'm withdrawing 5000 NTD, which is equal to about $160 USD.

But take a look at the date!  We can definitely figure out that my withdrawal took place on May 30.  But what's with the 101??!?!

I finally figured it out.  When it comes to the year, Taiwanese people don't always use the Gregorian calendar.  In many cases, they use the date of the founding of the Republic of China as their "beginning of time."  I find this to be very interesting, as it presents a constant reminder to the people of the importance of country.  Can you imagine if the in the US, we started measuring the year from 1776?  It's very interesting.

So when Andy was telling me he was born in 91, he didn't mean 1991.  What he meant was that he was born in the 91st year of the Republic of China.  Because RoC just celebrated its 101st anniversary this year, we can deduce that Andy will, in the next 6 months, celebrate his 10th birthday. 

Amazing!

Wu Fu Temple

I live near this beautiful Buddhist temple, I recently discovered, and I thought I should pay it a visit.  Obviously Buddhism is an underlying religion all over southeast Asia and Taiwan is no exception.  I will say this, though, I have never seen such ornate, detailed, and decorated temples as I've seen in Taiwan.  They are simply stunning.  Wu Fu temple is a well known place throughout Taoyuan County (where I live) and has been around for decades.  From the outside, it looks somewhat (well...exactly) like this:

 You can see the temple begins with a prominent gate, through which you can see the actual temple building.  Look at the level of detail and the brilliance of the colors!!

After entering any traditional Chinese building, you should never forget to look up.  Look at the detail of this ceiling.  And, amazingly enough, this temple (and most others) are not constructed using any nails or screws.  It is simply wood inserted into slats (similar to Lincoln Logs).  It's really interesting craftsmanship that has clearly stood the test of time:

Here is the main chamber of the temple, which is surrounded by dozens of individual shrines for gods of various purposes:

This picture really doesn't do this room justice.  Here's a separate picture of the main shrine in the very back:

Notice on the left side, you can see hundreds of statues of gods.  Each one has a different purpose and a different meaning!

Did you notice the tables with stuff sitting on them?  People will often buy fruit, incense, and gifts and leave them for the gods to partake if they choose.  Then, when they return, if anything is left (which is almost always) they remove it and enjoy it themselves.  Here is a very classic example:

 

Now, obviously if I was a god, I would definitely jack that pineapple.

Then I noticed something interesting sitting on a table.  It looked like a bowl full of fruit slices, but they were made of wood instead of being real fruit. Take a look:

My friend explained to me that you drop two of the slices to let the gods answer your questions. If, three times in a row, they both point to the right, it means a "yes" from the gods, and if they both point to the left, it means "no".  And the three-times-in-a-row requirement ensures there are no false positives or negatives. 

This is a very convenient, not to mention interesting, system for communicating with the gods.  But what about questions that do not have yes/no answers, such as "What will my life be like in ten years?" etc.  Well, Buddhism has just though of everything.  That's why Buddhist temples have these:

So, it took me a little while to figure out what was going on with this contraption, but here's the run-down of how to use it. 

1.  Pick a question you want the gods to answer.
2.  Pull out one of the metal rods from the top. 
3.  Use the wooden fruit slices to get a yes or no regarding the metal rod you've chosen.
4.  If it's a no, put back the metal rod and try again.
5. When you get a yes, look at the metal rod.  There will be a number on it.
6.  Open the drawer (the things with the red knobs are drawers) corresponding to that number.
7.  Your detailed answer from the gods is inside!

Amazing isn't it?  Almost as amazing as the snake pit this temple has:

Sorry, I know it's not a great picture, but you can definitely see a couple of snakes in the back, and a huge piece of shed skin hanging from that log.  Apparently the snakes embody the gods.  That must have been why they had TONS of them.  So be good to the gods, or they will literally bite your face and inject venom into you. 

Let me also show you the detail of the roof, depicting battle scenes from ancient China!

Cool right?  And lastly, let me leave you with this wall of stunningly beautiful flowers, which grow easily in Taiwan and fill the temple with a sweet, pleasant aroma:

This is just one temple of thousands in Taiwan and throughout southeast Asia. This whole island is so full of beauty, that this kind of place can be found even near the airport. In fact, there is a tiny (phone booth sized) Buddhist shrine right outside my apartment, where people often pray to the god who watches over the local area for success.  They also have a large oven for burning fake money, (which comes in any currency and you can buy just about everywhere).  I believe this tradition is done in memory of loved ones, but I have a lot more to learn.  I'll save that update for a different day!