Christmas in Taiwan

I spent my first Christmas away from home, in 1994, in Taiwan.

My college roommate was half-Taiwanese, half-American and had fulfilled a study abroad requisite there while I was in Ecuador in 1992. She returned after graduation, and as I was likewise already living in the same hemisphere as of July of 94, she invited me to the southern city of Kaohsiung to spend Christmas.

Granted, Taiwan is not a Christian country but Christianity is alive and well as it politically exercises a rather great degree of independence from China. There were lots of Christmas services that we could attend and it was a new experience for me, very different from Japan. It was the first time being in a country in which I did not speak or have some basic operational idea of the native language.

Her boyfriend (now husband of 11 years) joined us and, together with a co-worker of hers and her boyfriend (I felt a bit like a, well, "fifth" wheel...) took off one day to the southern coast where there is a beautiful national park and the southernmost point of Taiwan, that looks like a cat's nose. We went out for some amazing food--I believe we had wontons, and I had way more than I should have. As the day wore on I started to feel worse and worse. My throat became sorer and sorer and I started to lose my balance. If I had been drinking I would have understood how I felt, but I had not a drop of alcohol in my blood. By the end of the night I could eat nothing more nor could I even stand up; we had gone to shoot pool, something I enjoy from time to time, but I couldn't even focus and didn't have the energy to stand anymore.

We got back to her apartment and I fell into a restless sleep. I awoke in the middle of the night and stumbled into the bathroom, I could not breathe. I was falling against the wall. My throat had swollen and I had to awaken my friend as I was terrified.

This was the day I was to be back on the plane to Japan and I had to get to the hospital. I don't know what they did, gave me a shot of something, probably a placebo but who knows, to make the swelling go down so I could breathe and be fit to fly. I had a rather long layover, seemingly endless, in Taipei, but obviously survived and made it back to Japan in time to rest for a few days previous to the New Year's celebrations.

In researching and learning about my relatively newly-discovered food allergies, I found out that reaction in Taiwan was probably anaphlaxis from MSG. MSG happens to be derived from soy, something I didn't know then but now, since as of just about three years ago my soy allergy became manifest following the birth of my son, I have made all attempts to avoid in my life. MSG acts almost like a drug in that it tricks your brain into a heightened awareness state; thus all senses are almost overloaded (including that of taste) and consequently foods are made to taste absolutely wonderful when consumed under this influence. Much like a drug, people constantly taking in MSG in their diets will, over time, gain tolerance and thus not suffer the strong reaction one whose body is not accustomed to such a strong additive. MSG goes by some "code names" as well and I know when I've had some because my tongue will swell to the point of hardly being able to talk and I will usually end up with a strong headache.

*-------*

Now, 13 years later I am awake, it is 3:30 a.m. and I suppose now is the best time to get myself up, clean up the playroom and magically make the Santa gifts appear. Make myself a cup of hot tea, then go back to bed.

There is sacrifice in making magic happen...