A Halloween field trip
Aaron and I spent part of our Halloween getting to know our community a little better. We joined the Tsing Hua University chapter of the Tzu Chi Foundation, a worldwide Buddhist charitable organization, visiting a home for people with cerebral palsy and other mental and physical disabilities. We took a bus to the group home in Jhudong, about a half hour outside Hsinchu, where the patients live and receive nursing care.
We then helped the folks, two volunteers to each individual, board another bus to a nearby Catholic charity home. That’s where the big Halloween party was taking place on the front lawn. Halloween’s not widely observed here, but there’s definite awareness of the holiday, with some kids wearing costumes at school or jack-o-lantern posters on a few storefronts. We watched little girls perform dance routines to American hip hop, followed by some of the disabled folks modeling their costumes (a cross dressing guy, a policeman, princesses and the like). A group sang songs, accompanied by acoustic guitar, including “(Good Riddance) Time of Your Life” by Green Day. At one point, because we were at a Catholic home (the Buddhists are open to working alongside other religious groups), there were some hymns and the illumination of a cross atop a building.
I was helping out a young woman named Ya Chi, along with a really lovely Tsing Hua senior studying chemistry and finance named Elizabeth. We hugged Ya Chi, gave her tea, fed her some noodles, scratched her back and tried to help her enjoy the day. This was the first Halloween party we’d been to where Aaron adjusted a fellow partygoer’s wizard hat and helped clean off his chin, as “Get Low” blared in the background and all the guests yammered in Mandarin
It was a nice afternoon.
