Christmas Island

Living in Taiwan has provided me with a lot of "first time" experiences. The first time I've taught. The first time I've been self sufficient (mostly, anyway). The first time I've eaten pig's liver or blood congealed in rice (which is surprisingly flavorless). And this week I realized it's also the first time I've spent Christmas away from home.

It hasn't been terribly off-putting, partly because I've been distracted this week by adding ten teaching hours to my weekly schedule and partly because the atmosphere here isn't quite Christmas-y. I have been engaged in a number of Christmas activities, and in honor of the season I'll share them now.

1. Baked cookies with my classmate, Amelia, and her two roommates. Lots of (burnt) sugar cookies and more successful ones made from oatmeal and jam. While we waited for the cookies to finish in their Easy-Bake-sized oven we did arts and crafts decorations for their tree using spare passport photos and construction paper. We also looked up tons of old Christmas movie songs online (Amelia - Mr. Magoo; me- Muppet Christmas Carol).

2. TLI, my Chinese school, had a Christmas party, complete with turkey stew, chocolate fondue, deep fried sweet potatoes and curried vegetables (just to cover the highlights). One of the school officials got things rolling by blowing a Horn of Gondor she bought in Israel (my apologies to religious studies folk, I've forgotten the instrument's name) and singing carols in Chinese.

3. Christmas brunch held by a friend of a friend who is now a friend. Eggs and veggies, country hash browns, raspberry and cream cheese stuffed french toast alongside mimosas and coffee and Bailey's. All before hurrying to work. The event was changed from ladies-only to "almost ladies" to accomodate me and another guy. I've never before been grateful to be considered an "almost lady."

4. Joy, the buxiban where I teach English, also had a Christmas party. All teachers and students brought a dish and a gift, respectively for potluck and raffle. When two Chinese teachers asked if I was bringing hamburger and french fries I indignantly decided to make use of the packaged Cajun food I got in my birthday care package. While the smell of instant red beans and rice gave the apartment a homey smell, the pot cooled to a pretty solid mass by the time of the party itself. Most of the kids snubbed it. Sure, they'll eat tofu that is literally rotten (cho dofu) but what I do with beans is weird. I won a glitter pen in the raffle though. The boy who contributed it doodled a skull and crossbones in the attached Christmas card.

5. That same night I was introduced to a wonderful holiday tradition - Christmas Adam. The celebration follows the logic that December 24th (Christmas Eve, if you will) is for family, so the 23rd is for friends. Mostly the same brunch crowd with many extensions, and I have every intention of passing Christmas Adam along to my friends once I'm back home.

6. Christmas Eve at Katie Beth's, Christmas morning at Elizabeth's (yet another expat from New Jersey) and Christmas dinner (after seven grueling hours with children) prepared by Maggie, a very sweet Taiwanese woman engaged to a burly South African named Dawid. Taiwanese food, wine, Love Actually, and then a 3 am phone call to the US to catch the Darby Christmas party.

It may have been an unusual Christmas, and potluck fried rice may not measure up to my dad's green beans en brouchette or my uncle's stuffed potatoes, but Taiwan made for a pretty good Christmas. At the very least, I wound up with a glitter pen and a knit cap (thanks, Elizabeth). Now let's see how New Year's will measure up.

Happy holidays, everybody.