Kate's wedding day

11/13/2010
We ate at the wonderful buffet again and packed our bags. We will spend the night at Kate and Chen's new house. One of her cousins, Dean, came to get us. Dean speaks excellent English and has been a student in Denmark. Another cousin Michelle also came, but I think she didn't speak much English.

When we got to the new house, we went up to our room on the 4th floor. The wedding party was on the 3rd floor for pictures in their bedroom. They were trying to get them to kiss. She had on her white dress and veil, and he had on a tux. They left for Chen's mother's house and we went over too.

Wedding picture with Kate, Chen, and his family

There was a lot of picture taking going on and some fireworks. We met Chen's mother and sisters. The sisters had been in school in New York and spoke English well. The mother was very kind, but couldn't talk to us at all.

Joyce and Aileen arrived to take us shopping for a while. We went to a big department store near the train station, so Lan Li and Ally met us there when they arrived. We bought several things and had a snack before leaving for Kate's house to get dressed. Joyce and Aileen went to find a hotel, and Lan Li and Ally went to theirs. We knew all four of them in Canyon; they were in Garrett's tutoring group and came to our house many times. Aileen is a kindergarten teacher in Hsingchu and Joyce works in the business office of the school and teaches one class in a university. Lan Li and Ally live in Taipei. Lan Li works in PR and arranges events; Ally is a lawyer.

The wedding dinner was at 6, so that meant it would start about 7. We got there just after 6, and Chen's mother showed us to a table. We later moved to a different one so that there would be room for the 6 of us. I took pictures of what we ate. There was fish and soup and vegetables and beef and other seafood and noodles and a little rice. We ended with fruit and pudding. During the dinner, Kate started in her white dress, changed to the blue, then to the peach.

There was a mistress of ceremonies and some musicians. Several games took place and Garrett even got a prize. At one point most of the people at the main table got up and went to each table in turn (about 45 tables with 10 per table) to drink a toast to the newlyweds. One time the bride and groom came in, they brought candies and cotton candy for the children. When the dinner was over, everyone passed by the bride and groom who were passing out candy and having their picture taken with groups of guests.

First course

Abalone
We went back to the new house and took a tour of it as many of the other guests were doing. It is a really wonderful home on 6 floors with garage and storage on the bottom. The second floor is the main public area with a big L-shaped kitchen, dinings area, living room. There is a small patio outside the living room and a storage room and utility room by the kitchen. The kitchen has stove, oven, microwave, dishwasher, island, refrigerator, and some glassed-in cabinets for Chen's Starbucks mug collection. The livisng room has a huge TV and places for displaying their treasures.t

Starbucks mugs

Living room

The third floor is their suite. The doors were closed, so no one went in. The fourth floor had our room and a small TV room, 2 baths, and a room I couldn't find a use for. The fifth floor was similar to the fourth, but had a balcony. The sixth had Chen's office and a pool on a patio. The house has an elevator, marble floors and crown molding painted with designs. The windows slide open and there are individual a/c units in most rooms. Chen's mother planned and built the house.

Traditional Chinese furniture

11/14/2010

Kate woke me up to say there was breakfast in the kitchen and that she was going to have her hair and makeup done. We showered and went down. Chen's mother came in a few minutes and asked where Kate was (I guess; she doesn't speak English). I pantomined makeup and she went upstairs. Chen came down in a few minutes. I told him if I had a patio outside like his, I would eat breakfast there every morning.

Bonzai on patio

Joyce and Aileen came to get us for a little sightseeing and to get our luggage before the wedding lunch. We went to Lotus Lake and the Confusius temple. Aileen and Joyce explained what the temple was for as we walked through it. He is revered as a teacher and philosopher and later as a government official who believed in justice and equality.

Confucius temple

We had some trouble finding the restaurant. It had 3 floors with a wedding party on each. There were lots of people there, friends and relatives of the bride. I don't know how many tables there were. The six of us were joined by another WT graduate, Hank, and Kate's university advisor and his wife. Garrett got to make a little speech when we were introduced.

Garrett making speech

With Kate's professor and his wife

This party was similar to the groom's party: 3 dresses, toasts at the tables, lots of food, candy. Kate wore the peach dress first, then the pink, then the purple. She looked beautiful but was very tired. We left with Joyce and Aileen after the picture taking.

Meat and seafood course

With Lan Li and Ally

Pink dress

Purple dress

The four of us drove to Hsingchu; the trip took about 5 hours, some in extremely heavy traffic. We stopped once at a roadside traffic stop: gas, shops, restrooms, etc. We had coffee and some little Twinkie things. We stopped at Costco in Jhudong for pizza and ice cream, then went on to the train station to meet Neil and Silvia.

They brought us here to a hotel near their home and stayed to visit a while. Susan has grown taller and had her hair cut. She is still as pretty as ever. Ryan is walking and a very busy little boy. He played with everything he could get his hands on: telephone, remote control, waste basket.