Weekends

Hey again!

So as some of you may know, this past weekend was my 2nd host cousin's wedding. It was the first wedding for her generation in her family, so it was a pretty big deal! She mentioned it the last time I visited with my 2nd host family in JiaYi (south Taiwan) and said that she wanted me to come.

Now, the first time I went to JiaYi, in February, I met her boyfriend. The second time, April, they were engaged and now they're married. I actually like him a lot. He thinks I'm so weird though!

We arrived on Friday night. Then one of the uncles, who likes to tease me!, started asking me when I was going to get married and I said I had no idea, so he decided I would get married when I'm 26. Then he offered to come and make stinky tofu at my wedding.

We had to get up early the next morning to help set up. It was only 8:00 and it was already so hot! And the wedding was outside! My host cousin wanted me to help her with her hair and makeup along with the other cousins and aunts. It's really hard to curl someone else's eyelashes without actually poking their eyes out. She only had one dress, unlike the traditional 3 dresses that most Taiwanese brides have.

After this, I went outside to help set up then more people started arriving. They are always shocked when they see foreigners in JiaYi. It's as if they're silently saying, 'what are you doing HERE? You should be in TaiChung or Taipei!' After a while, they told me to go inside and wait with the bride and groom because it's air conditioned inside. We ended up playing Uno until lunch was served, then I had to go back outside and eat hot food. It's so weird how Taiwanese people always complain about how hot or cold it is, but yet, when it's hot out, they eat fried chicken and soup and stuff and when it's cold, they eat shaved ice with fruit and DouHua (Most amazing thing ever! Tufu, jellied fruit and peanuts!! Iced, of course). So the food was really hot. But they served ice cream for desert, which was nice.

Shortly after this, and more visiting with the family, the uncle decided I'm going to get married when I'm 20. I made the mistake of giving him my business card the last time I visited, and he reminded me of this, so now he knows where I live. Oh well, at least I'll smell him coming if he brings stinky tofu.

This was my last visit to JiaYi. Everyone said they would miss me, I'll miss them too! But I'm just upset because when my 2nd host family dropped me off at my 3rd host family, my new host mom snatched me away so quickly that I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye! Hopefully I'll see them in USA, or even better, Canada next year!

Today was school, the 2nd last day of Chinese classes and tomorrow me and Julie are making cookies and crepes because the rest of the school has exams!! I'm so excited!!