Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous

What a weekend! All of the Fulbright grantees convened in Taipei along with many other people to celebrate Double 10 Day or 10-10 Day, a national holiday that commemorates the end of the last of the Chinese dynasties. While for many Taiwanese this holiday is appreciated as more of a day off from school/work, all 51 of us Fulbrighters were invited to attend the official Double 10 ceremony on Friday morning, as well as a formal reception in the evening. So we hit up Taipei with style and class, red-carpet style (Left: Fulbright arriving on the red carpet at the formal evening reception.)

We arrived at the morning ceremonies not knowing quite what to expect, other than "marching" and "something like the Fourth of July." It turned out to be speeches by President Ma and some other important Taiwanese people, as well as a large parade highlighting prominent high schools, athletes and dance troupes in Taiwan. Security was tight, so as we proceeded through several checks looking for our seats, we kept moving closer and closer to the stage. We ended up sitting in the minor league VIP section next to the stage. Everyone received silly-looking Taiwanese safari hats which were completely necessary as we ended up sitting in the beating sun for several hours. (And developing some impressive tan/burn lines in the process! Click here for pictures from the event.)

After a lunch of Thai food we went back to the hotel to nap and prep for the reception. The entire hotel was pretty much entirely Fulbright, so as we got dressed, people shuffled between rooms, or at least into mine for make up, hair and other styling tips. The result: classy ladies and gentlemen! (Left: Mary and me posing with the Buddha in the lobby of the hotel. Note the great back on my dress!)

We arrived at the President just as an entourage of cars pulled up with, we assume, President Ma. We frolicked for a while on the red carpet, overwhelmed by the magnificence of the building, the incredible welcome and the fact that our badges identified us as VIPs. There was a slew of picture taking to highlight our celebrity status (Pictures: Brittany strikes a pose while Faith and I smile in the crowd) and ooh-ing and ahh-ing as we were escorted to the front of the line. For a bunch of recent college graduates, it can't get much better! And actually, our treatment emphasized the role of Fulbright in Taiwan. Though not officially recognized diplomatically by the U.S., relations are still viewed as important between the two. The Foundation for Scholarly Exchange, which administers the Taiwan Fulbright programs, is definitely valued for that cross-cultural sharing.

Once in the reception we were immediately greeted with a large table of Haagen-Daaz ice cream and toppings for make-your-own sundaes. Brittany and I were so excited to see ice cream (many Asians are lactose intolerant, so good ice cream is kind of rare and rather expensive) that we immediately got slid into line. As I was contemplating toppings for my sundae, though, all of a sudden there was a swarm of photographers snapping shots as an important looking man walked towards me, shaking hands with people as he went. The two men right in front of me shook hands with him, so I stepped forward also, feeling kind of sassy for asserting myself when I didn't really know who he was. Brittany also shook hands with him, and as he passed it occurred to us that we had just shaken hands with President Ma. We quickly shuffled to take his picture, and I captured this beauty on her camera (I'm taller). Even though President Ma doesn't have great approval ratings, he was still very well received in his rounds about the room and we were thrilled to shake his hand and take his picture, especially since last year the Yilan ETAs said they might have seen him, but the encounter was brief and from a distance. How exciting!

The party as a whole was loaded with other celebrities and foreign dignitaries, as well as random old men. I met a former Taiwanese ambassador to some small island, a Friar who runs a dance group right near my apartment building in Luodong, some African princes and princesses and, my personal favorite, Van Fan or Fan Yi Chen, the star of Cape No. 7. Paige and Brittany's new friend Apollo helped us literally chase him down, but after we were introduced as American fans, he stood and spoke with us for a while. He was with his manager, Jason, who was also very cool and we exchanged business cards before leaving. Even if we don't get to meet up with Van Fan again, we all agreed that it would be great to connect with Jason another time when we visit Taipei.

After the reception, a bunch of us hit up some karaoke at this huge KTV palace. We had birthday cake to celebrate Ann's birthday (the day before) and Brittany's upcoming birthday. The funniest part of the room was the stripper pole that was right next to the screen.

We left KTV around midnight and went to a club for some dancing. At one point the DJ started calling people up on stage, presumably to dance, so I volunteered because I was having such a great time dancing. When we got up there, though, and the music started going, the other Taiwanese girls started taking their bras off and dropping their shirt straps. I was a little confused, but kept my clothes on. After about 30 seconds, the music went quiet again and the DJ came out to get the audience to "judge" us. I got voted off the stage because I still had my shirt on, but it was a good thing because for the next round the girls all had to dance topless in front of this crowd of about 80% men. Yikes! It turns out that volunteering for things when you don't really understanding Mandarin might not be the best idea in the world...

The next day we woke up late and went to Danshui, a small city on the outside of Taipei. It is on the river and has these incredible views, as well as a bustling "board walk" area right next to the river. (Left: Adam, Brittany and Alana looking at the lights come on over the river.) We strolled around for a bit, ducking in and out of shops, before heading to find the Mexican restaurant in Danshui. I had randomly stumbled upon the website for Eddy's Cantina and was excited to check it out, but after all of the work that we put into finding it (Mexican food isn't very popular here, so most of the locals didn't even know the restaurant existed, let alone where it was...), the food turned out to not be so good. We did, however, make friends with the proprietor who told us where to get nacho chips and actually sold us a bag, as well.

On Sunday we checked out of the hostel and walked around Ximen for a little bit before heading back to Luodong. And there, at the end of our star-studded weekend, we stumbled upon a huge crowd surrounding a stage. It took a while to figure out what was going on, but then with my hip sense of Taiwanese pop culture, I realized that Jay Chou, a popular singer/actor, was having an autograph signing on a stage in the market area. It literally took us fifteen minutes to cross from one side of the crowded street to the other because there were just swarms of people everywhere. I tried taking a picture of Jay as people quickly shuffled by, but instead got this shot of a girl having her poster signed. Still, imagine that on the other side is another huge Taiwanese celebrity, brining this weekend's total to three major encounters, plus a bunch of smaller ones. What a holiday!