Our 10-day trip to Taiwan in December was, first and foremost a family trip. It’s the first time in 11 years that all five of us, my mom, dad, Steven, Henry, and I have made it back all together.

Well, there are six of us now. With Steven and Michelle set to be married this June in California, Michelle came along to experience Taiwan firsthand and meet the extended family. Taiwan’s population is fairly uniformly Taiwanese, so I don’t think my relatives really expected Steven to be marrying a “foreigner”, but Michelle’s totally cool and no one passed any judgment. Well, the mosquitoes did… they seemed particularly attracted to her exotic blood, and poor Michelle was bitten 31 times in one night!

You all know that family is central in Chinese and Taiwanese culture. My parents risked quite a lot when they opted to pursue the American dream with little more than my dad’s spot at UC Davis. Aside from turning their back on a pretty comfortable life in Taiwan, they also left their brothers, sister, and parents behind. Sure, they keep in touch by phone and sometimes fly back and forth, my parents were mostly on their own.

And they did fine, naturally.

But it’s been a while, 11 years since my dad has gone home to Taiwan. My uncle in LA didn’t make it, but all four of the other families, a huge majority of the entire Hung family, reconvened for a lunch. The siblings caught up, and we cousins got to talk a bit.

The distance has also affected my generation, of course. I might see my cousins for a few hours when we flew out to Taiwan, but even then a language barrier divided us. Of my ten first cousins, I met four of them for the first time this trip! I still don’t know two of them by name! I guess that’s what I get for being American.

Later that day, we had a fancy teppanyaki dinner with my mom’s side, the Wus.

One thing I learned on this trip: I have really successful uncles! It helps that both my parents were well-liked siblings back for a rare homecoming, but seriously, the entire trip I felt like we were being pampered like royalty. Nice hotels, fancy dinners, cars to take us around… wherever we went we got the best, even if we didn’t want it. It’s weird how there are pockets of glossily refined spots among the typical more humble and homely Taiwan.

Another thing I learned: family dynamics are quite different in Taiwan. With less space, children often live with their parents until they are quite old. Families who own storefronts often live directly above it. Children sometimes take over the family business; there are even camps for adult children to learn how to properly inherit their parents’ business.

For much of the trip, I stayed with my little cousin Ziqiao/Alice, my uncle Joe, and grandmother, who I sometimes now refer to (inaccurately) as the matriarch. The family dynamics of having three generations in the same house is interesting, especially when the grandchild is more than 8 decades younger than her grandmother. Besides that, lil’ cuz, as I have now started to call Ziqiao, can be pretty cute at times.

The final event: a wedding. My cousin Sophia was getting married.  This was one of the biggest surprises for me, and it’s mostly because the wedding itself was enormous. 600 people! 50 tables! Only 3 of the tables were set out for my family’s blood relatives, and the huge majority were reserved for people like business affiliates. Seriously, the wedding was so grand and impersonal. Near the end, Sophia, Johnson, and the four parents went around the hall greeting each table one by one with a toast. Behind them was an usher that was keeping careful time and urging them to speed up because it was getting late. Seriously?! They did make a spectacular entrance by coming down in a moving carriage suspended from the ceiling. That’s not something you see often at American weddings…

I realize I am a Taiwanese American, through and through. Mandarin was my first language, but I forgot it once school started and still regret that. I don’t expect to ever move back, but still, I like Taiwan. I like my family too, and I hope I can stay connected with them.

Part 2 – Travel

Part 3 – Food