This coming Sunday is the Moon Festival holiday. There are different stories about how this holiday got started...a day to make sacrifices to the moon, some god's birthday, a harvest festival. Regardless of how it started, in Taiwan it's one of the few holidays that has a specific way to celebrate....BBQ!
Around the moon festival time people will get together and have bbq's out on the street. Usually in front of their house or business. You can eat pretty well this week as usually each family, business, and group of friends has one, so there are always ones that people can go to week long. It's also joy and punishment for your nose as walking down the street you are hit with a combo of tasty meats and tons of smoke.
As you can see in the picture, a bbq is a bit different than in the west. There are no large grills, just the small ones that you put on the ground. The meat is usually chicken, and very thinly cut pieces of pork and beef. There are hardly ever grilled vegetables or anything that is eaten with a bun.
This really is a special time, cause also unlike the west, bbq'ing isn't very common here. Some people will do it occasionally but for the most part this is the only time of year it's done. This makes it very special, and around this time you will hear many people reminisce about past moon festivals and their fun times bbq'ing with old friends and family. It's quite charming.
For me though, moon festival is the most depressing holiday. It is a yearly reminder of how my Chinese has not improved and how I've squandered another year's chances to practice and improve. The reason for this is because ever since the first moon festival I saw here, I always thought that one day I'd like my Chinese to be good enough so I could just go up to some random people who are bbq'ing and strike up a conversation and share their food with them. And each year moon festival comes and I see people having bbq's and I am reminded of how little I improved that year.
Yes I could probably sit go to any group and be offered food as it's a very joyous holiday, but that's not what I want. I want to be able to "earn" the food by being able to talk to them in Chinese and tell them stories and share in the conversation. I don't want to be some mooch who sits there eating and doesn't speak.
Well I am a bit terrified cause this year could be the year. After a year of studying, perhaps I'm able to do this. Provided everybody only discusses the topics I learned in my books and uses the vocabulary I know. Actually the people in this picture were quite nice. Once they noticed I was taking a picture, a few of them started to pose for the picture (those photos all came out too blurry). However at the time I was running late and didn't have the time to stop and intrude. Also I had yet to make up my cards to hand out which say what topics I am capable of discussing in Chinese.
