Words of Innocence and Experience

Tomorrow will be the Chinese New Year. Since I am going to celebrate it with all citizens in Taiwan, I think it is perfect time to talk about it.

There are various stories about Chinese New Year available online such as this (the design of the website is awful, BTW), and what I will blog about in this post is the real conditions in Taiwan.

The Lunar Calendar

As most people knows, the Chinese New Year is based on the dates on the lunar calendar, which illustrates the weather conditions throughout the year for farmers to take in mind. However, it is too hot for the advice on the lunar calendar to be valid. Still, people consult the lunar calendar to see if it is auspicious to get married, move to a new house, have a baby, etc. on a certain date.

This is what a lunar calendar usually looks like. —>

Traditionally, the Chinese New Year celebration lasts for 16 days (from New Year’s Eve to the Lantern Festival on the 15th of the first lunar month), yet workers here will only take six to seven days off. The holidays are already satisfying, and people often use the time to enjoy gurmate food, go sightseeing, or gamble.

Money

In addition to their monthly salary, employees here would also receive “year-end bonuses” for the New Year celebration. Companies working on high-tech products often compare the amount of bonus money given with one another, as if partaking in a competition.

Children also look forward to the Chinese New Year since adults are responsible for giving the former “lucky money,” wrapped in red envelopes.

Food

All family members must reunite and have a wonderful dinner together on New Year’s Eve. In order to purchase the materials for cooking the big meal, a lot of people jostle to supermarkets or shopping centers.

The meal must include fish. Other traditional dishes are “year-cake,” “long-year vegetables,” “prospering cake” (usually for worshipping ancesters), and so on.

I’ve finally made up my mind on what I’m going to blog about fom now on.

Inspired by an episode of podcast from Boagworld, I’ve realized that the content of my blog counts. Since not many Taiwanese citizens blog in ENglish, I’m going to do so. I will discuss the current news, trends in society, my experience as a Taiwanese college student, etc. in this blog.

The Chinese New Year is coming! Happy Chinese New Year!!!

Run my name though your computer
Mention me in passing to your college tutor
Check my records, check my facts
Check if I paid my income tax
Pore over everything in my C.V.
But you’ll still know nothing ’bout me
You’ll still know nothing ’bout me
–Sting “Nothing ‘Bout Me”

I have made the decision to keep a blog online numerous times. I can’t say whether I’ve succeeded or failed.

After the final exams, I returned home and checked my journal when in high school. In the blue-colored notebook, I noted what happened in my life freely. Most of the content was trivial, some thoughts foolish, yet they are all traces of my life.

I have two blogs. The first one, which you’re viewing now, is where I try to run with my personal style and touches. Some of the posts here are deliberate and contrived. The other one, which you can link to from top of the page, is a place where I keep information randomly. I’ve come to realize that there are too many excellent bloggers out there, and there is no way that I can achieve the same level as they do. What is left for me is authenticity.

From now on, no matter I’m posting here or on my old blog, I will try my best to be genuine.

It is scary to reveal myself. However, as Sting says in the song “Nothing ‘Bout Me,” even if people have read and listened to all his works, it is impossible to know him unless they have personal contacts with him. I guess this theory applies to me as well.

Post on!

I dreamed about G again last night.

After a conversation with an honest him the other day, I have decided to given up on him for good. How many times have I told myself so, anyway? Yet my resolution always falter at unknown powers…

I am still not sure about my feelings for G. His ignorance and rudeness never fail to irritate me. However, I am tempted by his innocence in a way. How good it would be to live in ignorance, not knowing the cruelty of the world.

My dream was very long. It began with a field trip of the school. How can there be field trips for college students? Well, dreams always have odd time sequences.

Our destination was a cottage by some stream. The cottage was rather spacious though, accommodating hundreds of students. A lecture was held inside the cottage. The lecturere was invited by my professor, Guy. Although I was reluctant to attend the lecture, my professor pushed me inside the house.

I do not remember the content of the leture, nor does it matter. I remember sitting inside the house while looking out of the window at the boys, who were playing in the balcony or jumping into the water from the height of second floor; some were swimming.

After the lecture, I went home. Again, dreams make no sense. My home is quite far away from my university. I cannot just go home after school. Anyway, I went home, and then for some reason I learned that G was hurt and was hospitalized. As soon as hearing about the news, I got onto my bicycle to rush to the hospital. Before I left home, Grandpa (he passed away more than 10 years ago, ah dreams…) handed me a little something and said that the patient could massage himself with the little toy. I took it and started my short trip.

I remember riding on my bike at an unbelievable speed. I was fraught with worries. When I arrived at the hospital, I saw G’s parents and other relatives there. At first I tried to avoid them, yet it was impossible. So I made my appearance from behind the walls and saluted his parents. They were nice people. I told them I was there to see G.

“Oh, he has so many friends,” they laughed heartily. “Some people just visited him a while ago.”

I presumed that the people who came earlier must have been from his club. I found the number of the room he stayed in, knocked on it and entered it. There was a girl inside who seemed to be his cousin. G was asleep, so I talked to his cousin.

“So many people have come,” I said.

“Well, yeah,” laughed the girl, “it’s like traveling to some place, haha.” What an odd answer!

And then G woke up, and his cousin walked out of the room, leaving G and me alone.

“Hey,” I said, “are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” he smiled, “Should be out of the hospital tomorrow.”

“Oh,” I said, taking the tool my grandpa gave me out of my pocket. “Here, this is for you. You can use this to massage yourself and should feel better.”

He seemed moved at my action. When I handed him the tool, he took my hand tightly, not letting me go. I would have been shocked or embarrassed had this happened in real life, but I wasn’t in my dream. He took my hand under his cheek on the pillow. He was so warm. I guess he was running a fever.

After he fell asleep again, I walked out of the room. I said goodbye to his parents and relatives and went home. Then, the dream was over.

What a horrible dream! I don’t want to care for G anymore. Somehow he keeps showing up in my dreams. Oh, Morpheus, please have mercy. If you make him appear so often, how do I forget about him?

Clean
The cleanest I’ve been
An end to the tears
And the in-between years
And the troubles I’ve seen
–Depeche Mode “Clean”

It’s New Year’s Day
My weary heart would elate
My laziness will not stray

Shocking! The coming of exams
Challenges my ability
The unstable shifts of events
Consume my energy

It’s still the beginning
Still the time of making wishes
And watching most collapsing
To Ashes
And feeling blessed
By the few fulfilled

Wow, a new year has arrived. In the beginning of the year, I feel energetic and full of hope.

My previous entry is about the subject matter of this blog. After some thinking, I guess the content of this blog should match with the title more. Therefore, the categories and the writing style will differ from now on. I will retain the old posts (I’ve spent time writing them, some of which even have your precious comments) while writing in a new way.

Please stay tuned~