Day 52: Another Night Market

Uncle brought us to the night market in Longtan, the nearest city in this area. It's only open on Thursdays, and Uncle decided to go because it's my last Thursday night here. :( The family used to have a stall in the night market where they sold tea leaves, teapots and teacups. They said business used to be really good when the country's economy was better. These days it's only the snack food stalls who do really well in night markets.

It was like other night markets, with lots of stalls selling the usual Taiwanese snacks, clothes, random things like betel nut, scented oils and cleaning items and "perya" games where you can win prizes. The only difference was that I could hear Tagalog almost everywhere! Auntie said there really are a lot of Filipinos working in Taiwan, mostly in the urban areas. I just didn't notice it because we lived in... the countryside.

We also played a game of shooting balloons, and I got to take home a cute little prize. It was funny watching Uncle because he was so serious about playing. I told him it was just a game, so just enjoy playing!

(picture taken in Manila!)

When we got home, I asked Auntie to show me her wedding photos and if there are any family photos. She showed me an entire album with maybe 5 kinds of outfits! She said the time they got married was when pre-nuptial photos was starting to become popular. She also advised me not to print too many photos during my own wedding. :p Strangely though, they did not have a single photo of the entire family. The closest was a group picture taken during one of the activities they joined. It included the four of them but there were like 50 other people in the picture! The other was a picture of Uncle with the two brothers when they were young. And since I won't be seeing the older little brother again, I wouldn't be able to take a complete family picture either! >.< So now I don't know what to put in the picture frame that I brought and planned to give as a gift. *fail* Auntie also showed me the love letters Uncle wrote to her more than 2 decades ago. It was my first time to read a Chinese love letter, and I couldn't figure out most of Uncle's handwriting. But I more or less figured out bits and pieces, and I can't believe Uncle even mentioned Confucius! LOL I wonder if he even remembers the mushy stuff that he wrote back then! There was also Auntie's high school yearbook, where she pointed out a page that had this phrase that "applies to us": Even if we can't do anything about meeting and separating, let's treasure this short eternity.