Sorry this is late! I've been very busy recently (two 6 day weeks in a row followed by a long weekend away) but I'm finally getting around to updating my blog!
So I recently experienced my first ever Christmas away from home and also my first in Taipei. Christmas is recognised here but seems to mostly just be seen as a chance for shops and streets to decorate themselves a little (which is fair enough as Taiwan is a predominately Taoist and Buddhist population). However, our school definitely went all out in terms of celebrating the holiday. Classrooms were covered in decorations and every child brought in a stocking which either they had made or bought. We had Christmas music playing on the loudspeakers throughout all of December and exhaustive rehearsals of our Christmas performance! The Christmas performance itself was on a Saturday where all of the children showed off various dance routines they'd been working on to the parents. The other foreign teachers (that's what they call us) and myself were in charge of hosting the event. We made up a narrative in which we were elves working in a stocking factory who needed the help of the children and their Christmas cheer to fix our broken stocking machine! Although a little stressful at times (we had to write a full script which required two rewrites) it was generally pretty fun and really cool to see all the dances the kids had been working on!
Our school's Christmas decorations and chairs set out for the Christmas performance.
The main train station near my house had set up a Christmas land which was full of Christmas games and music as well as a huge light up tree!
The Christmas tree at Banqiao station.
On Christmas eve, I went with my friends Eliza and Tyler to the Grand Hyatt Taipei to enjoy an all you can eat Christmas buffet. The hotel itself had a huge opulent Christmas tree set up as well as a little Christmas store selling various Christmas goods.
The food itself was amazing! Western food is typically pretty expensive in Taipei and sometimes can be a little disappointing in terms of quality. However the food at the Hyatt was delicious. I think I had about seven or eight plates, most of which consisted of roast beef and roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cornbread and sweet potatoes glazed with maple syrup! I don't think I've ever felt so full in my life.
A flying Santa and reindeer at the Grand Hyatt.
The Grand Hyatt's Christmas tree!
A gingerbread house at the Grand Hyatt Christmas store.
Just one of the many plates of food I had on Christmas eve.
The extent to which our school decorated for Christmas actually meant it was one of the most Christmassy places we could be on Christmas Day which made working on Christmas a lot more fun! It was a normal work day, but I made a bunch of Christmas games to play with the kids and we sang Christmas songs together and I was definitely in the Christmas spirit (as were the kids!).
So all in all, it was a different Christmas experience and I definitely missed being home and with the family, but I definitely had a great time all the same!
聖誕快樂 !
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