observances so far of taiwan. . . mostly right now thinking about the strange combinations of feelings in a culture both ahead and behind things. different values of things. the fact that alot of things are falling apart yet you can get really high tech and logical technology here. and then those illogical combinations remind me of things with my parents. paranoia over certain things, but then they don't care about other things at all. i'm being vague here its true. but there is so much i guess.

today was bah-stang day. a holiday for all, a day when you eat this particular food- the rice dumpling, the bah-stang, a triangular shaped leaf wrapped flavorful rice roll with pork, peanuts, chestnuts, and shitake mushrooms. or a soh-stang would be the vegetarian variety. i went to my uncle's today, my aunt cooked roughly 12 dishes of food. they were all placed on a special roll out shelf in front of their home shrine and we paid respects with two sticks of incense each, my aunt and uncle both speaking at separate times giving thanks. then my aunt and uncle went to burn the ghost money outside- fake money for the ancestors. then we ate the food, cold by this point. the ghost money and many of the things they did were more of the Daoist form of Buddhism, at least i think that's what my mom said. Its not really the kind of stuff the rest of my family partakes in so much. (i know my parents have totally poopoohed the burning fake money thing and i would agree with that) but it was interesting anyway.

mm, i have more to say about today, but its time to stop sitting here getting bitten by mosquitoes.