Basking in the ambiance of Happiness- SayTaiwan all the Way

My life was colourful today. When you feel joy and happiness when surrounded by people who make your smile shine through, you will know the meaning of 'COLOURFUL'. Ghost day (festival) in Taiwan, a fabulous Sunday that left me basking in the ambiance of happiness. It was not my fault that I woke up at 2pm, it was my fault for sleeping at 7am. Well, woke up and freshen up I did, my host family were worried about my lack of appetite because I was not hungry. It was as well since my tummy could eventually not hold all I had to eat at dinner - so much varieties for a small stomach.

Quick rewind before dinner, yeah I woke up at 2pm, got to join the family for the ghost day prayer and burnt offering. We proceeded to where the activities were taken place. I am in love with this tradition. Lots of food and drinks for the ghosts, so they can eat these well selected menu in the spirit, there was fire already burning fire containers where all the papers representing dollars would be burnt. You need to have bundles of this spiritual legal tender for the ghosts to have money to spend in their world. I picked as much as I could for my late parents as I joined my Taiwan host family in the ritual. It was a unique experience, very to know that the departed are not forgotten. What made this event unique was the fact that everyone in Taiwan seems to be reaching out to their departed families on this very day. This is an experience I will never forget in a hurry.



It was announced that we would go for dinner by 6pm, so we had to get ready. I did what I had being waiting to do since I arrived 3 days ago, share the gifts I brought for my host family members! What an enthralling moment this was! I seemed to have chosen good gifts from different countries in Africa for my host family members! Good fabric, nice African prints and clothes, beautiful beads and a host of other great items! April and her sister tried out their outfits and they were so beautiful on them. James and April chose to wear their African attire to dinner and I felt so proud. Gisele got Kenya beads (Kazuri and Masai) and a musical CD by Nneka from Nigeria. Yeah, I did not forget to bring Nigerian currency as souvenir. Oh, where was I? Good. I got gifts in returns, a bag from NEPAL, two symbolic colourful artwork that represent good charms and a pretty pendant!


I picked my new bag with my carry-about-stuff in it and off we went to dinner! I am very lucky with my host family who happens to have 3 other family friends hosting Michaela, Dagan and Yussef from Czech Republic, ISrael and USA respectively. We all met for dinner at Stone Restaurant where once again we had to cook our food! Fresh and delicious and in abundance, I ate and mingled with optimal bliss! We had good times eaten our food with many members of Shui-Sen Lin (my Host), Jen- Ching Lin ( Dagan's host), Hsueh -Chiu Liau (Michaela's host) and Ying-TsangTseng (Yussef's host)' s families. We met some enthusiastic Taiwanese youth at Stone and we took our own continental family potrait before we moved on to the special Karaoke night in a handful of Balloon made into animals for us at the Stone Restaurant!




Our Karaoke night was the icing on the cake, we sang with no care, in the world our host families were with us and some of the family members chose to play snooker, yeah we tried our hands on table tennis too. My life was colourful today as I held nothing back. I enjoyed with people who were so willing to spread happiness. I had fun with souls who believes in love as the ingredient of great radiation of the universe in its glory!!!