Rooftop Shinto Shrine, Hayashi Department, Tainan
A lantern written in Taiwan by a Japanese schoolchild: “I want to grow up soon”
在台灣1月是春節，台灣的最重要的假期，還有2個星期放假！
放假的時候，我的父母來了台灣見我，也是他們的第1次來台灣。我給了他們看我現在住的台北，也一起去了台南。因為他們會聽我的中文怎麼樣我很緊張，但是我沒想道我的中文是什麼時候都會幫他們的水平！我很多次給餐廳打電話訂位，給父母說明菜單，買高鐵票，什麼的。我很努力學中文，所以很開心！
1月是我的第一次去台南，真跟台北不一樣。台南有很多日本時代的東西跟地方，所以很有意思。我也在學日文所以我特別覺得有趣。我特別喜歡了林百貨，是日式的百貨店。在樓上有一個日本人做的神社！因為神道是日本的文化，台灣沒有那麼多神社，所以真有意思。台南也有很多孔廟，所以我們花了一天只看孔廟！我覺得孔廟的紅色非常漂亮，英國沒有這樣的紅色的地方。
我父母在台灣的時候我很像給他們介紹台灣的美食，因為是跟別的國家真不一樣。一個美食是夜市的地瓜球！他們說明還喜歡，特別喜歡有梅子粉的地瓜球！我很高興他們也喜歡台灣，也喜歡台灣的菜。
我很開心有機會給家人看我在哪裡，做什麼，學習什麼。
Barbeque in Taipei
The view of Taipei 101 at sunset from Elephant Mountain
January is a very important month in Taiwan as it is Lunar New Year – the most important (and longest) holiday in Taiwan. This year is the year of the rabbit and I was lucky enough to have my parents come and visit me to enjoy the two-week holiday. During Lunar New Year, Taiwanese people travel back to their hometowns to spend time with their families, and then after New Year’s Day, tourist attractions begin to fill up with people enjoying their main holiday of the year. This gave Taipei a wonderful lively vibe, although on New Years Eve you won’t find much open.
We were able to travel south to Tainan which is very different to Taipei. It is still a large city but doesn’t have the same metropolitan feel as Taipei. It also has many relics of the Japanese colonial era which was really fascinating to see as someone who also studies Japanese. There is a colonal era department store called Hayashi Department, which has a (Japanese) Shinto shrine on the roof. Rooftop shrines are rare enough, let alone a Shinto shrine being in Taiwan! It was really interesting to see. Some of the train stations in the area were also built in the colonial era, and completely look like any train station in the Japanese countryside.
To be honest at first I was nervous for my parents to come and visit me – what if they think my Chinese is terrible? What if I’m not a good guide for them? But as it turned out my Chinese had gotten much much better, I did so much making phone calls for bookings, translating menus and buying train tickets for them. I was quite surprised at myself at being able to do so well in Chinese now, and really found it fun. When you’re young and growing up its you who relies on your parents, so it was wonderful that I could allow them to rely on me now. We met a taxi driver who drove us about an hour to the eastern coast, and ended up asking him to kindly drive us to a few other places too. We spent most of the day together and I must have spent quite a few hours talking to him in Chinese. He was so nice in fact he tried to give us all of his snacks!
I had a really wonderful holiday period in Taiwan and the moderate climate has made January feel more like spring than winter.
Postbox on the rooftop at Hayashi Department, Tainan