The buyer wants to see the house again. So today's plan was to visit my great aunt, who lives next door to the house-for-sale in Shipai, then roll up our sleeves and spruce up the place a bit, throw a little lipstick on that pig. But first a quick trip to the fruit market to pick up some guava and oranges, as it's bad form to enter a person's house as a guest empty-handed.
My great aunt had just stepped out when we first arrived, so we went over to a noodle shop around the corner for a quick bite.
Vermicelli with wontons and fish balls. It does look plain but it was surprisingly tasty and complex.
The fish balls were filled with meat and exploded with a different flavored soup than the broth when you bit into them, and the broth itself, which had chopped vegetables and garlic on the bottom, seemed to get darker the further you ate into it.
A couple hours of housecleaning and some minor carpentry work later... the place still looked pretty shoddy. But hey the effort paid off because the buyers are interested again; the final decison comes Monday. My great aunt is as strong and spry as anyone I've seen in their mid-80's. She reminds me a lot of her sister, my grandmother. While we worked she whipped up a traditional home style meal.
I wish I could say that these belonged to my father and that after taking the photo we went out back to the yard and tossed the ball back and forth a bit and then he took me out for a milkshake 'cause that's be really deep and stuff.... but none of it would be true.
While cleaning up we found a dusty old suitcase in the back of a closet. Inside there was a fancy tea set and a bunch of clothing--mostly my grandmother's but some of grandfather's pants and a couple pairs of my father's army drawers. Dad put the clothing into a large bag to throw away. It hit me that my father was throwing away, now, and will be selling his childhood home, his history. He'd probably call me an idiot but it was just so sad and poignant, the nostalgia and sentimentality of it all. I'm a bit of an overthinker. The house has been the subject of a lot of family drama over the past couple months. It's really been stressing him out and I know he'll be relieved when the sale is complete, but still it must be tough to go through. I wish it didn't have to be.
There was also an old trunk that turned out to be full of my aunt's family photographs from the 70s and 80s. I sat cross-legged on the floor and went through them as my dad finished cleaning up. They were mostly of my aunt and her now ex-husband, his mother and her parents (my grandparents) at various locations, vacations and family meals. It was interesting to see the hairstyles, the bellbottoms, the tight shirts, the short shirts... damned hippies.
I swiped three photos. I'll get around to scanning them one day, maybe.
The only shot of my parents in the pile.
My grandparents as I'll always have them in my mind's eye.
Bonus: my grandfather and that really sweet Sergio Georgini jacket.
A commemoration from the synthetic rubber company my dad worked for before emigrating to the states. I just realized it's an ashtray as well.
Later in the afternoon we ventured over to Taipei 101, once the tallest building in the world, still like nothing you've ever seen. I didn't take any photos inside because the stores were basically what'd you'd find at any Bloomingdale's or Lord and Taylor -- Coach, Cartier, Mont Blanc, etc. (I think? I've never been to Bloomingdale's or Lord and Taylor). But still, A for effort. Just pure swank.
Then I met up with my cousin and her boyfriend at a Japanese pancake grill. I've had these before but never prepared for me tableside.
Okonomiyaki: Japanese for mouthgasm.
We hit up a popular shredded ice joint afterwards
We walked around the shopping district for a bit, I checked my e-mail at the Apple store, then we headed over to watch the fireworks.
We planted ourselves at the steps of the SYS Memorial with the youth of Taipei for the much-hyped New Year's fireworks display at the 101. It was strange to me, such a large gathering of people in a public place, and something I couldn't get across to my companions. In New York there would be blockades, police in riot gear and bomb sniffing dogs. The crowd was well-behaved, most folks sat around chatting and playing cards. There were people selling and setting off fireworks, all legal here. Just a completely different culture.
A circle of singing, dancing and flag-waving Hare Krishnas. A couple unsuspecting bystanders jumped in and danced along, probably thinking these were just some super friendly happy folks. Hil-arious.
Pre-game warmups. Civilian fireworks.
The main event (all of it shooting out of the building).
The fireworks had its moments but it was a very short show. The display supposedly cost around $1 million US but I didn't see where all that went. Impressive nonetheless, though. I do have to figure out how to get my camera to take a decent nighttime outdoor picture. Photography fail.
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