會臺灣的日子 . . . take 2.

I don't know where to start. So I'll just start with the night before the "big day."

Mom and Jeff hadn't arrived yet, I don't think. They were arriving that night. Admittedly, it was a pretty darn good dinner. Incredibly filling, too.

And Mr. Bigshot (aka, Frank Hsieh - the losing presidential candidate from the last run of Taiwanese elections EDIT: Thanks to SuAnn, who corrected me - this is Mr. Su, who was the vice-presidential running mate to Mr. Frank Hsieh - apparently all Asians look alike. Heh. Just kidding.) with the adults. Cool, I guess. He has a lot of pull politically (obviously), so he helped out our family with streamlining some of the funeral arrangements.

The Big Day - aka, the Funeral.

We had to get up at 5:00 a.m. to make it to the funeral site at 6:00 a.m. I don't have that many pictures from this day - most of it I spent bowing and trekking through soaring temperatures and humidity and trying not to melt under the extra layer the grieving family wears (I don't have pictures of it, but it looks sort of like a traditional black robe that's fastened on the sides with the little knot-buttons).

Before the ceremony, we took a bunch of pictures.

The family, preparing and setting up. I should photoshop Jon in here somewhere . . . Maybe where the bodhisattva is? By the way, I did so much chanting I learned the word for bodhisattva in Chinese: 菩薩 (púsà). I swear that, during the chanting, we said it at least fifty times.

Most of the cousins. Do I look bowlegged, sort of? O_o

The youngest Yangs.

Politicians send these banners to send their condolences (preprinted, with the deceased's name sort of filled in - I'm sure there's a factory of these banners somewhere. Disturbing, yes. But that's business.) Jeff looks confused.

My parental units are adorable. Especially the white shoes. Rockin' the white shoes! Haha.

I have NO idea why this was here. If anyone wants to enlighten me . . . please.

Here are all the cousins (minus the two slackers in America -- haha, just kidding! Love you guys! Missed you guys terribly, Sophia and Jon!). Me, Jeff, Abe, Cindy, William, Jimmy, and SuAnn.

--


After these pictures were taken, we donned our robes and began the ceremony of honoring Grandpa 楊亭華. First all the extended family members were called up the aisle to 拜拜 and pay their respects. It was super intense. His tiny sister was there - barely able to move or bow - his nephews, nieces, cousins, etc. For the family and friends, one stick of incense was handed out per person. The first person would don a red sash, and then offer up a plate of apples (I don't know why), and then they would all bow three times, then pass the incense back up to the front to be placed in the urn in front of Grandpa's picture.


After the family members bowed, then our funeral director called up each of the politicians up one by one. Instead of a small, individual stick of incense, they were each handed the large stick to bow with. It's actually very interesting. Because politicians are very sensitive, easily-offended creatures, they get riled up if they are called out of order (example: a Senator of the Country would be offended if the local mayor was called before he was, etc.). So it's up to the funeral director to be very tactful and knowledgable about politics so as to not call the wrong order. Interesting, yah?

Once everyone was done, we walked the body over to the crematorium. We jumped over burning bamboo, washed our hands, took off our robes, and ate a peanut candy. The girls also had a little red flower pinned in our hair - we weren't allowed to pick it up if it fell off, and we had to take off before we entered the house. Don't ask me why - I don't know.

Then we went home for lunch. Or second breakfast - however you look at it.

Wasn't he adorable? さよなら, 阿公.

會臺灣的日子...

Let's start at the very beginning...

William on the way there.

Cindy drinking some refreshing 水.

Aunt Judy and Uncle Percy (don't really know what they're looking at).

The day after I got there, it was off to the funeral home we go! More like... funeral factory... the place used to be a Honda (or other car) dealership, so all the funerals and wakes were in little stalls. We had quite a large stall . . .

阿公<3 We started off the day by waking up his spirit and feeding him. My dad announced my arrival to him, as well. As the day rolled on I discovered that it is the job of the sons (or grandsons) to announce the arrivals of visitors to Grandpa and to light a stick of incense for each visitor for them to show their respect. I'm not religious in any sort of way, but I kind of like it. The paying the respect part, that is.

Rest in peace, grandpa. I know you're out there watching out for me. Take care of yourself.

A large bouquet from the last election's presidential candidate, Frank Hsieh (he's a family friend . . . somehow my family in Taiwan has all these political connections. It's weird when, at the funeral, all of the politicians came in one by one to pay their respects - especially because my grandfather was apparently friends with both the DPP and the KMT sides, which meant a lot of relatively important people came by).

Did you know, according to Buddhist tradition, men are not supposed to shave while in mourning? So I arrived in Taiwan to find all my older male relatives (aka, my dad, see above) looking horrifically scruffy. Haha. See, Jon? This is what you looked like last time we were in Taiwan. Except worse, because I think my dad and Uncle John might actually be able to grow more hair than you. Hahaha!

Case in point? Uncle John the scruffmeister and Buddhism teacher extraordinaire. Uncle John is our resident "crazy uncle" (in the best possible way - without him I don't think I'd know how to play mahjongg or love to sing karaoke). He's not religious, and it was clear from his attitude that he found many of the traditions and requirements of a traditional and proper funeral to be excessive and unnecessary, but he's a good man and understands the importance of the rituals not only for grandpa but also for everyone who is in mourning. I have great respect for my Uncle. During the days we were sitting around the shrine, waiting for people to arrive to pay their respects, he basically taught everyone in my generation (the "Cousins") about Buddhism while we sat around 阿公's body. Surreal.

Dad outside of the shrine and resting place for 阿公's body.

Another piece of trivia: the eldest son's first son is simultaneously considered the youngest son of the previous generation (so they're brothers?!), and most of the funeral responsibilities usually will fall on this person. He and his wife are identified by a special cloth wrapped in red that is pinned on the left sleeve. All the other descendants with the family name and their wives also have a identifying cloth pinned to their left sleeve (coarser weave for men, finer weave for the women), but only the grandson has the red marking.

In this case, my Uncle Percy took care of the majority of the funeral arrangements because there really is no way anyone was expecting Jimmy - who grew up in the US and probably knows as much about Taiwanese funerals as I do (that is, squat-diddly) - to really take over such an important event. Or chain of events, shall I say.

I didn't take pictures of all of it, but we sat in rows for days chanting. I arrived with an extra day before the funeral, so I only had one day of chanting, but there are many more days prior to that during which a buddhist monk (male or female - although most of the ones we had were female for some reason) comes and chants and prays.

Jar of incense.

As I said, it was a warehouse.

Dear Mom,

不想要讀書, 所以休息一下, 照幾個像片給你們看... :D

嗯.... 來吃吧!

你們應該已經上飛機了. 趕快回來打電話給我! 我很想你們了! <3

TOO CUTE (take 2)

CUTE

HAHA!

Tentative Schedule

Click on the image to make it bigger. I am currently signed up for the colorful sections. This is 15-credits' worth of classes. The minimum is 12.

The one in the grey is evidence. I haven't gotten into it yet (waiting to put myself on the waitlist). If I get into that class as well as onto a law journal, then I'm going to drop everything that you see on Friday: Law and Bioscience Seminar + Trademarks/Unfair Competition.

What do you think?

The night before...

我很想你們! 還好我很快就看到你們了.... 可惜是因為阿公的...-_-;;

<3

My Humble Abode.

漂亮的Laguna

很漂亮喔.... 你們來的時候就可以在海邊玩!

Dear Mom,

An old picture.

And a new one (from today)... don't I look grungy?

Dear Mom,

Dear Mom,