Sarj Bloom got married during his TDC tour and he recently sent me a photo of his marriage certificate, along with a few comments:
It wasn't easy getting married in Taiwan -- tons and tons of paperwork.
We got married in the chapel in the compound in the morning and then we went downtown to City Hall and got married at the Chinese court. You can see the signature of the American Consulate representative on the certificate.
There were about six couples getting married and I was the only American. There was no rehearsal and near the end of the ceremony we were told to bow to the judge, then turn around and bow to the people in the court, and then bow to our spouse.
Well, I got a big laugh because I got disoriented and I bowed to the back of the woman on the other side of me. I was embarrassed for a short time.
I know how you felt, Sarj. After I retired from the Air Force, my job required that I travel to many parts of the world and I was always very sensitive to local customs and tried hard not to be
The Ugly American. I think I was successful most of the time, but probably made more mistakes than I was aware of at the time.
2 comments:
I once had a Taipei City Hall certificate just like that. It was from 1972 (I was a civilian). Now just a long ago memory. Thanks for posting.
George , I hope it is a good memory. Most of mine are. The ones that are good get even better as years go by.
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