After years of America buying all of their Christmas decorations from China, China is now increasingly celebrating the commercial aspects of the holiday. There are Christmas decorations everywhere. (Most look like they came from the Dollar Store!) We receive many Merry Christmas greetings during the day from passersby. This has softened the blow of being so far from home, friends and family during this time of the year.
We have tried to keep the spirit of the season alive by listening to Handel's Messiah over and over. The Grinch has made numerous appearances to our Chinese students. Thanks to every student having a video phone, the Grinch is now posted somewhere on the Chinese equivalent of YouTube. Even though Christmas is beginning to be celebrated here, we still had a full week of teaching. We each had six hours of class on Christmas Day. We had not been up at 6:00 AM on Christmas morning for many years!
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Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
We'll see you in America for Christmas next year,
Richard and Suzanne
Starting January 5 we head off to Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Don't expect a blog posting until (if) we return in Mid-Feburary.
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ReplyDeleteThat is so awesome - such authentic "American" traditions. We miss you - and especially when we hear The Messiah! Your trip sounds great - Thailand is definitely on my list! Hopefully we will see you soon!
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