To read the rest of the Taking on Taiwan series, click here.
Most days, I feel like I am on a speeding train, with no stops in sight. I have, fortunately and unfortunately, made it so my life is bustling with activities and tasks to complete, which I am grateful for 98% of the time. It’s true: I love feeling like there’s always something to do or work towards. Without a goal or a destination, I feel aimless and I get restless, and then get irritable. But I made sure that upon 2018’s end, there would be no such hectic planning or too many commitments to attend to. New Years’ was more or less a hiatus from the norm.
We’d planned only a day in Hsinchu, but it was absolutely enough. Arriving just after midday, we found the first place that we laid eyes on for food: Taco House, which I would honestly visit many, many times if I lived in Hsinchu. It wasn’t anything like the Mexican food back home, but it was definitely delicious. That’s for sure. Then, without any goal or place in mind, we set off through the city. Our first stop: get our fortunes told at the City Temple.
In all actuality, on the way there, we managed to get lost in nearly a handful of markets that were scattered throughout the alleyways. But it was all the more fun that way, sneaking past packed street stands and vendors selling items ranging from fried squid to candy to selfie sticks to socks. We arrived at the City God Temple of Hsinchu, placed right in the middle of one of the larger markets in the city square. I had to do a double take when we arrived because I was sure that it couldn’t possibly be in the middle of the market, but there it was: standing there covered in hand painted colorful artwork and oozing incense smoke from every corner.
My best friend from Taiwan, Lynn, and I made our way right to the back, to where people were grabbing red painted pieces of wood that resembled wood. There is a process to fortune telling, different from getting your palm read or anything like you may have experienced before. You grab two of the red pieces, hold them, state your name and your question in your thoughts, and then move to this bucket of sticks, each number providing you with a different fortune. After you pick a number, ask the gods if that number is correct, and drop the red stones to the ground. The way they land indicates yes, no, or try again. Lucky for me, I got yes on the first try. Number seventy-seven.
Now, I’ll clarify and say that I don’t rely on the stars, fortune tellers, or a little piece of paper to tell me how my life is going to play out. I believe in this game of life, there are pieces or players, as well as game masters. What most people don’t realize is that the player and the game master are one and the same. What you want your life to become is literally in your hands.
However, I do turn to fortune telling at times, mostly to confirm my confidence in my plans, or to allow me to think clearly before making decisions. I will say, 99.9% of the time, I go with my gut feeling, even if a little slip of paper told me that I should, in fact, worry about the husband I don’t have cheating on me (which was actually on the piece of paper I acquired in Hsinchu, hilariously enough).
Upon leaving the temple behind, we set out throughout the city, wandering aimlessly and going wherever our hearts’ desired. We ended up watching Aquaman and admiring Jason Mamoa’s ripped body, went to a vegan fast food restaurant, and then found ourselves at our last destination for 2018: a small, quiet cafe complete with tea and coffee and board games, where we remained until the ball dropped, which we missed as we were too into our conversation to notice where the time had gone. But that, in my own humble opinion, is why New Years’ 2019 was probably one of the most memorable ones to date, in Taiwan and back in America.
