Dancing Dragons and Mooncakes

Just when I thought I’d seen it all, the Moon Festival happened. This holiday takes place during the full moon of August (in the Chinese calendar) which just so happened to be last night. In a way it reminds me of our 4th of July where families get together for a BBQ and fireworks are going off left and right. That’s where the similarity ends though. I joined Susan’s family in front of her parents’ house for a BBQ which consisted of people sitting on mini stools around a little fire in what looked like a hubcap. Rather than hotdogs and potato salad I was stuffed full of noodles, squid, pork, chicken, sausage, and these gelatin peanut balls that I could eat all day and night…. And of course the ever present, ever changing moon cakes. There was a girl there about my age and talking to her was such a trip. I think she was amazed to be talking to an American because every sentence started with “WOW”. I think it’ll be a shock when I come home where for some reason people don’t seem as amazed by everything that comes out of my mouth.
After dinner Susan took me to the beach but on the way we literally drove into a Buddhist festival on the street so we parked and got out for a look. I didn’t realized the magnitude of the even at first because I only saw the first hundred or so people of the procession. They were dressed up, with about 10 people doing a big dance with a dragon costume and other groups were carrying a all sorts of Buddha’s. We walked past these guys only to find about 5 city blocks of people in the middle of the road waiting for Buddha to tell them it was time for their group to start. (I guess he actually lets them know when it’s the right time). There were people completely covered in ash lighting huge piles of fireworks in the middle of the road. The craziest part was that the roads weren’t even closed to traffic! So here I am standing in the middle of the road watching a dragon dance while there are piles of firecrackers going off and cars and scooters trying to maneuver through the chaos.
When we finally got to the beach, which is actually part of a college campus, we met up with Susan’s friend and her son. They were all surprised that I was so interested in the monkeys at the park behind the beach. I was joking that I was going to go hiking with bananas and lure a monkey home with me. I guess that’s not an absurd reality because this guy told me that while he was at the college a monkey snuck into his dorm room in the middle of the night and stole his chocolate and bread. The bunny problem at JMU definitely doesn’t compare to the monkey problem at Chungshan University.

Tonight I am going for a BBQ at a Buddhist temple with Susan's family.... not quite sure why it's there but i'm a happy camper as long as i get fed!
and
Tomorrow I have an interview at an English school. Hope the Tsunami stays clear!

~Love and fireworks from the streets of Kaohsiung!!~