A Cavalcade of Cousins and Cuisine

Today started off like many of the days before it.  A corn based variation of chi fan, but with a special sponge cake surprise.  It was my first taste of chocolate in two weeks, and was a welcomed familiarity to my tongue.  Today, I was to meet all the relatives from my dad’s side of the family.  I thought that it would be a dinner affair, but when people starting streaming in around noon, I knew I was wrong.  Much like family gatherings in the U.S., our reunion was based around food and was to be a whole day affair.  Some people would come and go, but most of the group stayed the whole day to talk, eat, and take pictures.

All of my uncles and aunts were there with some spouses, a few cousins and a few of their kids.  It would have been a pretty lonely affair if not for the saving grace of some English speaking relatives.  Three of them could speak English well enough to hold good conversations with, and I was filled in about life when they were young and my Grandmother was still alive.  One of my cousins said that she would wake up each morning and walk  up the closest mountain for a workout.  I walked that path the other day, and it’s not that easy, even at 33.  One of my uncles, at least I’m told he’s my eldest aunts husband, but he might be a great uncle considering he’s a WWII vet, gets up each morning at 4:00 to walk 2.5 km (5 mi).  He’s not what you could call lithe, but it’s still impressive that he can hold that regime at any age.  Apparently, the war took him to Holland, France, North Africa, and Germany, but he lived in the U.S. for  time selling boats and has worked in the shipping industry.  He’s a smart man, and tried to stump us younger generation with a mathematical pattern riddle.  Luckily I’ve studied combinitroncs so I had it figured out in a matter of minutes, to the admiration of my other cousins.  He spoke broken Engish in a gruff voice befitting a man with his life experience and I could easily imagine him in older times, sitting around a campfire, retelling tales of his youth.  Luckily I got some of his conversation on video. 

I’m not sure how the time flew buy, but six hours later seems like half that much and the next round of food was ready for consumption.  A few more cousins came with their raucous boys, which added to the entertainment value of the evening.  My Uncle Joe, eldest of the brothers, brought some old pictures of my mom and dad right before he left for America, in digital format, so I now have the record of his transition.  There are also a few of them from the last time I visited Taiwan, almost thirty years ago.  I think those pictures are some of the most valuable things I’ve gotten this trip, so I’ll have to make many redundant copies of them when I get home.  Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not going to upload all the older pictures to conserve storage space.  I only have about a gig of online space left, and a week might easily fill it.

The night finally wound down and people started leaving.  It’s odd thinking that it might be the last time I ever see some of them.  I might make the trip back next year for the anniversary of my maternal grandparents death, and it’s unknown if I’ll see my paternal relatives then.  Despite only seeing me for the second time in my life, they were all very welcoming and inviting.  It’s unfortunate that distance separates me from relatives on both sides of my family.  Thinking about the closeness I’ve seen in all the relatives this trip makes my life’s connections feel a little bit sparse.

Link to today’s album