Monday, June 15, 2009
You're probably wondering why in the world was she eating from a toilet? Is that even sanitary? Well, it is at the Modern Toilet, a restaurant chain brought over to Taiwan from Japan where I, and the other PYA students, ate dinner with a group of Cheng Te High School students. Walking over, all that my host student, Vicky, told me was that we were going to a restaurant that looked like a toilet and served food that looked like poop. I wasn’t sure if something was being lost in translation or to take her comments literally. Did she mean the food looked really gross but tasted delicious? Were we actually going to eat out of a real toilet? Entering the Modern Toilet, we walked into a room lined with bathtubs with glass on top that served as the tables and toilets with fancy lids as the chairs. Surrounded by a land of modern toilets we assumed that it only made logical sense for them to be in the real restrooms so a few of us excused ourselves to go wash up to only discover that we may not have been eating at a “proverbial hole-in-the-wall”, but we were still using the “proverbial hole-in-the-ground” so common in Asia. I couldn't help but laugh at the irony.
When the food arrived we finally understood what Vicky was coyly describing. When she said you ate out of a toilet, we should have taken her literally because we did eat from bowls shaped like mini toilets, but fortunately when she said the food looked like poop, the description only applied to certain items shaped like dung in order to “enhance” the experience, although not the appetite. The whole bizarreness of the situation seemed strange at first, but it gradually grew on me as I began to view it as a fun, quirky place to eat.
While the whole ambience of the meal was quite entertaining, the true highlight was getting to hang out with the Cheng Te High School students. Since Vicky attends that school, several of her friends joined us for dinner. They taught me Taiwanese card games--some of them similar to the ones we play at home--caught me up on the latest Taiwanese movie stars, and helped me aggrandize my Chinese vocabulary. They were all very warm and receptive to me, trying to help me order, ensuring that I understood and was included in the conversation, and doing whatever they could to make my time with them more enjoyable. I loved this time together because it was the first opportunity I had to really spend time with a large group of Taiwanese students that were just hanging out and having fun without a scheduled agenda. I always have a blast with Vicky one-on-one, but it was particularly enjoyable to see a group of close friends interacting in all their goofy glory; makes me homesick for my friends. It was like a truer view of their daily life.
However, dinner was not the first time I had met Vicky's friends. In fact, the delegation had spent the entire day at Cheng Te High School and gotten to know many of the students there. When we first arrived, we were quickly whisked away into a classroom. As soon as we entered, they began cheering and clapping for us, treating us, especially the boys, like celebrities. Wherever we would go girls would swarm the guys wanting to get pictures with them, and they would loudly cheer for the guys if they ever did anything. For instance, when the guys were playing basketball against some of the Cheng Te students, a great roar would come from the crowd whenever our guys scored a basket. The presence of Americans obviously fascinated them.
When walking down the halls, people sitting in classrooms would stare and wave at us, and whenever we were in a room, clusters would gather around the windows of the classroom peering in for a glimpse of us. While I am sure that we were mere objects of interest to an extent, all of the students welcomed us with open arms, hoping to form friendships rather than just gawk. Many asked for our emails or Facebooks, wanting to go beyond shallow acquaintances to deeper relationships with us. The significance of the role we play as ambassadors for Plano and America became clearer. I could see how our short time in Taiwan was making a difference and helping bridge our two countries together through love, understanding, mutual respect and admiration.
When the food arrived we finally understood what Vicky was coyly describing. When she said you ate out of a toilet, we should have taken her literally because we did eat from bowls shaped like mini toilets, but fortunately when she said the food looked like poop, the description only applied to certain items shaped like dung in order to “enhance” the experience, although not the appetite. The whole bizarreness of the situation seemed strange at first, but it gradually grew on me as I began to view it as a fun, quirky place to eat.
While the whole ambience of the meal was quite entertaining, the true highlight was getting to hang out with the Cheng Te High School students. Since Vicky attends that school, several of her friends joined us for dinner. They taught me Taiwanese card games--some of them similar to the ones we play at home--caught me up on the latest Taiwanese movie stars, and helped me aggrandize my Chinese vocabulary. They were all very warm and receptive to me, trying to help me order, ensuring that I understood and was included in the conversation, and doing whatever they could to make my time with them more enjoyable. I loved this time together because it was the first opportunity I had to really spend time with a large group of Taiwanese students that were just hanging out and having fun without a scheduled agenda. I always have a blast with Vicky one-on-one, but it was particularly enjoyable to see a group of close friends interacting in all their goofy glory; makes me homesick for my friends. It was like a truer view of their daily life.
However, dinner was not the first time I had met Vicky's friends. In fact, the delegation had spent the entire day at Cheng Te High School and gotten to know many of the students there. When we first arrived, we were quickly whisked away into a classroom. As soon as we entered, they began cheering and clapping for us, treating us, especially the boys, like celebrities. Wherever we would go girls would swarm the guys wanting to get pictures with them, and they would loudly cheer for the guys if they ever did anything. For instance, when the guys were playing basketball against some of the Cheng Te students, a great roar would come from the crowd whenever our guys scored a basket. The presence of Americans obviously fascinated them.
When walking down the halls, people sitting in classrooms would stare and wave at us, and whenever we were in a room, clusters would gather around the windows of the classroom peering in for a glimpse of us. While I am sure that we were mere objects of interest to an extent, all of the students welcomed us with open arms, hoping to form friendships rather than just gawk. Many asked for our emails or Facebooks, wanting to go beyond shallow acquaintances to deeper relationships with us. The significance of the role we play as ambassadors for Plano and America became clearer. I could see how our short time in Taiwan was making a difference and helping bridge our two countries together through love, understanding, mutual respect and admiration.
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