Taiwan itself was really interesting. Local people were so nice that Matt and I kept thinking they were making fun of us because they would speak really slowly to us and be overly helpful. But our friend Ariel informed us, no, that's just how most Taiwanese people are to everyone all the time. Taiwan was also very very clean and orderly. Definitely a change of pace for us compared to living in Tianjin!
During the wedding festivities, we got to enjoy lots of delicious seafood. Matt was in love (and I'm not talking about with me...)
We also experienced the Chinese tradition of the groom coming to "earn" the right to marry his wife. I had heard about this tradition from some of my Chinese students, but this was my first time to witness it. Peter brought his groomsmen to his fiancee, Harriet's apartment on the morning of the wedding, and the bridesmaids made them perform various challenges before Peter was allowed to see Harriet. It was a lot of fun and really interesting to see different wedding customs.
After Peter answered the questions to the bridesmaids' satisfaction, he still had to shout his love for Harriet as loudly as he could. Then, FINALLY, he was allowed to go in the room and see Harriet!
The next day, we hung out with David and BG in downtown Taipei before we left to go back to Tianjin and they left to go back to Nairobi.
We tried to see Avengers 2, but the theater was almost sold out and we would have had to sit in the front row, so we decided to just sit outside near the Taipei 101 tower, chat, and eat Krispy Kreme donuts.
And yes, I did buy a dozen to bring back with us in a carry-on bag to Tianjin. Don't judge. Krispy Kremes are a totally legitimate treat every once in five years. Let's just say, I'm glad there are no Krispy Kremes in Tianjin...