Personal Dork Assistant

Today Is The Big Day

Was roused out of bed at 3 am to catch a charter bus with the rest of the family. Got to the mortuary and had a mercifully short ceremony to seal the casket. Then it was a little while before the rest of the ZhuDong people came by to take the bus with us back to Taipei for the memorial service.

Yesterday was the final day of the pre-funeral ceremonies. It was only half a day, but after all the days before, the extra time on my feet was just torture. Thankfully they gave us a copy of the sutras to follow along. Even if I didn't follow all the chants and characters, at least it was something to occupy my mind. The day before we had no such luxury, and all I could do was to fidget and wish for the monks to turn the pages faster. They moved grandfather into the coffin at the end, and that was when mom cried.

Today must've been a fortuitous day for funerals, as the Memorial Halls No. 2 were filled with half a dozen services running simultaneously. Grandmother came by briefly to see the hall and the coffin, but she was distraught and Mr. Lee took her home quickly after.

The ceremony itself was more of the same, except now there was an M.C. running the show in front of a hallful of people. The monks wore their nice robes. A little old-fashioned social order was in order, as the worship order went: sons, wife of sons, sons of sons, daughter of sons, daughter, husband of daughter, and then sons of daughter (that would be us). Good thing we don't have a sister, otherwise she would've been waaaay at the end. That was only the start anyway, as we had to stand up front as various people came up to pay their respects. It was a lesson on doing business in Asia, as most of the folks were customers, clients, or benefactors of uncles' companies. Grandfather's actual friends were all lumped into one group near the end, actually. Although to be fair there aren't that many of them left at this point in time. Brocade Communications was the one U.S. company I recognized. One group missed their turn. I wonder if there will be repercussions. Not surprised by various technological and optoelectronics companies present, but I sure was surprised by the amount of banks and brokerages that sent people. Like half the groups that came up were financial. At least one of them wasn't there purely for form's sake, as the bank mom used to work for sent some people and they were the only ones who went by the women's side to shake her hand instead of coming to the men's side to greet the uncles.

After the ceremony was over, it was back to the bus for the ride up to the grave site. The Japanese restaurant that uncle partially owns made some kick-ass bentos for us to eat on the bus. The site is another hour north of Taipei, up some windy roads to a spot overlooking the sea. They weren't finished with all the fancy construction yet, but just statistically the plot cost almost as much as the apartment (albeit 20 years ago) and it's almost as big, too. Most of the time was taken up by the platoon of burly men hauling the heavy coffin up the hill and into position. There was a final bit of chanting, and then it was done. Another long busride home, we fed the monks, who did a final bit of chanting and incense-lighting to set up the altar at home before leaving. We took some family pictures, as long as everyone was there with nice clothes on.

Everyone went out to the Japanese retaurant for dinner. Got to experience some of the good-old daredevil Taipei taxi-driving as not everyone fit in the cars. It's like sitting in an F-Zero cockpit. Sat in the new upstairs section that wasn't there when I was back last. It has big rooms with regular seating instead of tatami seating, and a nice little koi pond in the middle. A surprisingly tasteful music mix, too, with some Beatles and Simon&Garfunkel. The food was great as always. Some really simple, minimal dishes, and some boldly flavored ones, too. The sashimi were the basics, not the super-fancy toro, etc., but they were still fat slices of tasty super-fresh fish. Got a first taste of single-malt whiskey, too. Strong stuff, and tasty in small sips. The flavor evaporates straight off the tongue with the alcohol. Even Alan got a (tiny, tiny) taste, as it was his birthday, albeit the 16th instead of the 21st. Didn't really drink enough to get totally smashed, but Sam and my faces were pretty red by the end. Good way finally sleep off the jet-lag, anyway.