We had international day on 30.10. and international food for lunch time and coffee time.
We made food with kitchen ladies in the morning on 30.10. This was the first time for me to cut huge fruits watermelons and pineapples. I haven't thought I was able to cut huge fruits that my mother always cuts them. It is not easy to cut pineapples, so we called that is killing pineapples. In Finland, I can do it.
In Taiwan, we have many kinds of food and fruits. We have many kinds of Chinese food and create new Chinese food as Taiwanese food. Fruits are always juicy and fragrant, and we can eat fresh fruits in whole year. Small eats are the big thing in Taiwan. If you ask some Taiwanese which Taiwanese is the best in Taiwan, you will make the fight among Taiwanese and break up their friendship.
Moreover, most of fruits are cut before eating. We also cut oranges sliced，and the white fibers are good for health. After mid-September, we can get pomelos and eat a lot to celebrate Moon Festival. Kids get funny pomelo's hat. In Finland, tropical fruits that shapes are similar but flavors are not same.
Green tea(綠茶) is a traditional tea in Taiwan. We always drink tea with fruits or moon cakes or pineapple cakes or other traditional cakes or seeds. We seldom have tea time. But when friends visit someone's home, we always drink tea and chat. To drink tea is to show our friendly. Most of people eat liquorice watermelon seeds (甘草瓜子) with tea. Taiwanese need to crack the shells first (嗑瓜子), and then we can eat the nuts. It takes a lot of time to eat, so we can chat for a long time.
Green bean sweet soup（綠豆湯）is a popular dessert in summer time in Taiwan. We always eat cold green bean sweet soup in summer time, so that we can feel relaxed.Kids like this dessert very much.
Nina and I made presentations for EKO introducing our home countries. In the beginning, we asked 15 questions about Germany and Taiwan. And then we showed our countries's ppts and videos.
I prepared my presentation and practiced playing ukulele for one month. When Heli told me play a song, I directly thought the most famous Taiwanese folk song 望春風 (Embrace the Spring Breeze) is good for introducing. This song was made in 1933 by Taiwanese musician when Taiwan was a Japanese's colony. When Taiwan was a colony, Japan government wanted to control our mind and thoughts so that the musical lyrics just describes the love that is about common people's life. But the melody is so beautiful, so most of Taiwanese can sing the song. I heard heavy metal music is very popular in Finland, so I showed ChthoniC (閃靈) that the band is from Taiwan. I was surprised that students were interested in this band.
Besides, I thought what it is Taiwan everyday and talked about how I can introduce Taiwan well with my Taiwanese friends. We have small conclusion about Taiwanese that they are friendly and shy and funny people, but it is not easy to say. Beautiful landscapes are easy to introduce Taiwan.
I was very surprised that Finns enjoyed our presentation and pictures. Because I forgot to show the film 看見台灣 (Beyond Beauty）in the beginning, I was a little nervous to present. And, I was not sure that they understood. But Finns looked so surprised sometimes. I guessed they also surprised they have something from Taiwan and why the small island have many things. When I arrived in Finland, I saw many people have computers and laptops from Taiwan, for example, Asus, Acer, BenQ. But most of them didn't know where products are from. And then, I thought I will introduce Taiwan's products someday.
I think I have to appreciate Ang Lee's (李安) film Life of Pi (少年Pi的奇幻漂流) and Po-Lin Chi (齊柏林) film 看見台灣 (Beyond Beauty）and photos, that their artworks helped me promote Taiwan.
