Christmas, Good Grief!

Christmas is this Thursday. I'm not at all in the Christmas spirit, as was previously touched on. I know I'm not the only one out there who is having a difficult holiday season, and I'm not complaining about it.

I have to work on Christmas Eve, as well as Christmas day. I probably won't see many of my friends on Christmas, and I know I won't see my family. There probably won't be any presents for me besides the ones my mom sent (thanks mom!), and I won't eat turkey, or egg casserole, or drink egg nog, or any of the other activities that I've come to love.

I watched the Charlie Brown Christmas cartoon today with some of my students, and I realized how alike Mr. Brown and I are. I too, have a funny looking tree, and everyone around me seems to be buzzing about Christmas without any true meaning behind their words.

But what Charlie and I have is an ability to see the best in a situation. Linus tells Charlie that out of all the Charlie Browns in the world, that he is the "Charlie Browniest." He calls Charlie on being such as sad sack, and turning a wonderful celebration like Christmas into something bleak and depressing. Everyone's got things that they could be depressed about. I do too. But I've also got a lot to be happy about. I've got a job in the midst of an economic crisis. I've got a girlfriend who adores me, and I've got a place to live and food to eat. I have all kinds of distractions like movies and blogs, and I've got pretty decent weather for Christmas week.

I'm looking on the bright side, and I know that once Christmas is over, my situation will be the same. I'm thankful for what I have, and even though the season isn't what it could be, what I want it to be, I can still be positive and focus on the positive. I don't have to be the Charlie Browniest.

Here's an amazing Taiwan photo I found. Click it for a link to the source.

Members of the Tao tribe hoist a new fishing boat into the air during a traditional launching ceremony on Orchid Island, Taiwan

Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra

Christmas decorations are going up here in Taiwan. Trees, lights, giant Santas and snowmen, and candy canes. Fifteen foot reindeers leap out of the facade of a local department store. McDonald's employees wear Santa hats, and those tunes you know so well play from every PA system all the time.

So much attention paid to decorating, and yet it feels nothing at all like the Christmas that I know. It doesn't feel special at all. I understand that the real meaning of the holiday and the atmosphere it creates in places where it is truly revered may be lost in translation to many Taiwanese. I don't expect Western traditions and culture to always carry over to other places. I'm just confused as to why so much effort is put into the visual manifestation of Christmas here in Taiwan. 

I mainly see the decorating and Christmas references in stores and restaurants and places trying to sell me stuff. It seems that Christmas advertising must be  alluring to the average consumer here, since the stores are pretty much unified in their embrace of Christmas imagery. There are even specialty shops popping up that sell ornaments, trees, signs, and other brickabrack. It would seem that the Taiwanese are just as nuts about Christmas as Americans.

And yet when I mention it to any of my students or local friends or coworkers, it seems that they have a good idea of what it is, but no personal ties to it or tradition in celebrating it. I ask kids what they get for Christmas, and most say that they either don't celebrate it, or don't really give or get presents. Apparently the big gift giving holiday is Chinese New Year. Cash is exchanged in red envelopes, and kids and adults go shopping for new clothes or PlayStations or whatever they fancy.

So if the major consumer holiday is CNY, which is a full month after XMAS this year, then why is so much effort put into Christmas related advertising here? Is there a consumer force backing it up, or is is simply a novelty factor? Maybe it's all of the surplus decorations and fake snow and plastic trees making their way across the straight from China. Whatever it is, it's not enough to inspire any warm fuzzy feelings in the cold bones of this foreigner.

More dogs.

My friend Iwen is looking for a home for two more dogs. One is a husky and the other a beagle. If you know anyone who would be interested in adopting one or both of these dogs should contact me, and I'll provide you with details and contact info.

The last dog of hers that I posted about on this blog (Elsa, yellow lab) was sucessfully flown to some friends in Estonia.

The Gasman Cometh

We've had our gas shut off for about a week now. Something about the gas line being too old, slow gas leak, something or other. I finally got around to calling a repairman to come and fix it (with a little help from Ariel.)

The repairman showed up this morning a full 30 minutes early, and started to speak to me in a rapid mix of Chinese and Taiwanese. I assume he was asking about the gas lines and such, but he could just as easily have been trying to discuss the best way to flip an omelet without it breaking. My comprehension of Chinese is okay, as long as the other person speaks slowly, and sticks to the script of questions that I know how to answer.

How long have you been in Taiwan?
Over one year.
Ah, your Chinese is really not bad!
Thank you, I don't go to class.
So, do you like Taiwan?
Yes, I like it here. The people are friendly.
What do you do for a living?
I am a buxiban teacher.
What do you think about our current political climate?
Err...what...umm...nice weather today.

Finally, after realizing that I was just smiling and saying "yes, okay" over and over, the guy got to work on my gas line. He was trying to wrench the sink from its anchor on our kitchen wall, and after a lot of effort, finally broke down and called a coworker for backup.

This gave him a break to come over and sit with me in the living room, where I had been reading a book. He produced a small plastic bag from his coveralls and offered me a piece of "Taiwan ko-shiang tang" or "Taiwan chewing gum." It was, of course, not chewing gum at all, but betel nut, a palm nut wrapped in palm leaf and chewed by working class Taiwanese as a stimulant.

photo from wikipedia

He was surprised to hear that I knew about bing lang, and that I knew to remove the cap before chewing on the pulpy seed. Normally, when chewing bing lang, one will spit the resulting red juice into a cup (or on the ground if one is truly uncouth.) This gentleman suggested that I swallow it, in order to gain the warming properties that betel nut chaw has on the body. I opted out of that, since I really only accepted it out of politeness in the first place.

We had a chat, and chewed our nuts, and then his coworker arrived. They fixed the gas line, he showed me the fancy new on/off valve, and he left. Working the same schedule every day leaves me little time, or maybe just little will, to change anything about my daily routine, so having something different happen in my pre-work hours was kind of nice.

Political Turmoil on the Island

There has been a lot going on in Taiwanese politics in the last couple of weeks. Former president Chen Shui-bian was arrested last week on money laundering and corruption charges. It's a big deal in the local media.

Also, a visit from Chen Yun-lin, a diplomat from mainland China, to Taipei sparked protests from thousands of students. They are upset not only about president Ma's strengthening ties to the communist mainland, but also about the unnecessarily large and hostile police presence in Taipei surrounding Chen Yun-lin's visit.

You can read more about it in the news, and Michael Turton does a good job chronicling the developments on his blog.

Halloween

My school. 21st Century, celebrated Halloween on Wednesday. We took an hour or so to walk around the neighborhood with the kids and trick-or-treat. It sounds like fun until you consider the differences between this and actual, American-style trick-or-treating.

We were going to pre-determined locations that we had spoken to in advance and supplied with candy. This was necessary, as it was the middle of the afternoon, it wasn't actually Halloween, and because the holiday gets very little attention here except for English schools and bars that throw parties on Halloween.

Our stops included two banks, a McDonald's, a Huyndai dealership, a 7-Eleven, and a store that sold essential oils (labelled 'chemical srtore' on our itineraries.)

The fact that we had to go to these businesses, in the middle of a business day, with a gaggle of candy-hyp[ed kids in costume was bad enough, but on top of that, the kids were supposed to perform a song to the employees at each stop. I will tell you, seeing the faces of the customers, especially at the banks, was both amusing and a bit embarassing. They were not amused.

Anyweay, on to the photos. I didn't get any during the actual outing, since my costume had no pockets for my camera, and since I was told that there would be another teacher taking photos for all of us.i'll upload those to the album when I get them.











You can see more photos of Halloween, and of my school on other days, in this album.