Christmas Party

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Well, today is Christmas. I remember nights long ago when I was a little kid anxiously awaiting this day. I could barely even sleep on Christmas Eve I was so excited with hope and anticipation for Santa and all the gifts. My strongest memories as a little boy are being with family, sitting around the Christmas table and having a big gift giving exchange after breakfast. That was always so fun and exciting. We would have holiday music playing in the background and each one of us would take turns opening a present. What always impressed me was how creative my family could be in choosing or making gifts.

In China, Christmas is more of a excuse to have fun, and a store holiday. All the department stores and many restaurants and English schools put up Christmas decorations in the spirit of sales. I did receive many little short text messages in my phone from people wishing me a Merry Christmas. People here, as far as I can really tell, are not religious. So Christmas is more of a commercial holiday that anything. But the people here use it as excuse to party and have fun too. The pretty lights and decorations are seen as romantic, so Christmas is also known as a second lover's holiday. People really don't see it as a family event, because in another month or so it will be the Chinese New Year, and that is the huge family get-together time.

Its good that my Uncle is getting married soon, because after February 18th, it will be Year of the Fire Pig, and many Chinese tell me it will be a bad year to get married. Fortunately, I don't have anything in the pipeline as far as marriage partners are concerned, so I'm not too concerned for myself.

My school had a Christmas party last Wednesday night that was really fun. About 30 students and staff went to a Karaoke Club (called KTV in China) at Jinyuan Mall, one of the largest in the world. The room was magnificent and there was plenty of food. I was surprised that my usually penny pinching school went all out this year.

Too bad two of the other teachers got sick and couldn't make it. So me and another teacher from Boston, Chris and I were the Master of Ceremonies for the event. We asked the students what they wanted from Santa, what kinds of gifts etc. The students gave answers that I thought were kind of funny. I think usually people ask for specific things, little things that we in the US would consider to be worthy of Christmas presents. But in China, I don't think they know what kind of things we give each other for Christmas, so they would say things like "Good health for my son", "a house", etc. Also, in China, people usually don't give presents such as a bread makers, bicycles, and books. Rather, they give money in little red envelopes called "Hongbao". That seems a little empty to someone accustomed to Christmas gift giving such as me, but they don't seem to have a problem with it.

Finally, there was a nice girl downstairs who invited me to dinner the other night. She offered to cook me up a home-made meal, which I have not had in a long time. So of course I accepted! We went to a store nearby the apartment complex I had never known about. It was clean and had everything I like there. I couldn't believe it, after all this time in Xiaoxitian, and I had never known about this place. Well, that's what you get when you can't read everything and don't pay attention.

Well, we went back to her place and she began cooking up a meal. She warned me that she had not cooked for a long time, and as I watched her try to find the ON button on her stove and the way she slowly cut at the vegetables, I believed her. She made a stir-fry with vegetables and noodles, but sadly, I had a hard time getting it down my gullet. The noodles were dry and thick with spice. It seemed like she tried hard to cook up a nice meal, so I tried as best I could to eat as much as I could. But I still left about half the bowl full before I needed a digestion break. I was surprised when she took the leftovers still in the wok and put them into my bowl, thinking that I wanted a second helping. But I said "Thanks!" and went on hammering away.

In the end, I was just happy for the companionship and chance to chat. The interesting thing is she doesn't speak English, so the conversation hinged on my Chinese ability. I am happy because I can actually accomplish that. Nearly four years ago, when I couldn't speak one word of Chinese, I tried not to think I was too old to learn another language. I am glad I was positive about it. I still have a long ways to go if I really want to be fluent, but I am proud to say that I can at least hold a casual conversation. I'll take that as my Christmas gift.