Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, this church had a special service with speaking, singing, and dancing (little girls in costumes). Imagine my surprise though, when the person who greeted me outside the church was no other than...

...uh, Santa Claus. I never saw a curly mustache like this before. It curled like a ringlet. Odder still, Santa was female. At least she padded the costume, because there is no way that in real life she is as puffy as she looks in the photo. She passed out candy, welcomed visitors, and said "Merry Christmas." Odd, yes, but in a country that has no idea of what Christmas is all about (except Christians like her), we do not criticize any attempts at yuletide merriment.

Inside, the true meaning of the season took front and center stage. (They were just having fun with Santa. Despite how it might look to you, there is no confusion among these people about Christ being the center of Christmas.)

Unlike the choir in Taiwan, this choir would not be asked to sing in a shopping mall. That pretty much would not happen here. Nope, not in this country.

There were dozens of policemen around outside. Christmas Eve draws big crowds at churches, so presumably they were there for crowd control. That, and to scare away anyone who might lose their jobs if discovered in a church.

The good news is that some of the policemen, young men, were inside the church listening to other young people sing Christmas carols and tell the story of Jesus. Policemen around here don't often get to go to church, so I think it is great a few of them got to hear the story last night!

The Lovely Meems

I bought Mimi a soft pink cubicle last year, a plush dog house. She totally ignored it for at least 14 months. I was thinking about giving it away. But recently Mimi rediscovered it and is now inseparable from it. Except when she's outside, which brings us to the next photo.

Mimi wears her bright, cheerful sweater on Christmas Day. She also sleeps in sweaters at night when it is below freezing.

Mimi: "Hey Master, I think there's something in this bamboo grove. A cat probably. Can we go check it out? C'mon, pulleeeeze?!"

Me: Will you please turn around Meems so I can get a picture of your face?

Mimi: No. Cat! Let's go!

Christmas Trip

Not everyone in the world is required to make a work trip to another country the week before Christmas. Most people get to stay home, bake cookies, wrap gifts. But not me. I had to iron clothes, get motion sickness, and get a backache from strange accommodations to get me in the Christmas mood (sarcasm). I even had to sweat in a tropical climate. Sweating doesn't say "Christmas" to me.

I was in Taiwan. I'm all better now though. I got back to my own place prior to Christmas.

All in all, I like Taiwan. It's quite an interesting place. It doesn't have four seasons, but that would be its biggest drawback.

While in Taiwan, I went to the Taipei 101 building. It used to be the tallest building in the world. Now it is probably just the tallest building in East Asia (not sure). The bottom floors of the building are a shopping mall. I went there the Saturday before Christmas.

I don't know if you can see in the photo, but the mall is dripping with Christmas lights and other decorations. In the top photo, Omega watch makers decked out a pretty tree.

Shopping malls in the country where I live also look like this at Christmas time, so I feel like the above photos are representative of where I live. Yes, the majority of people in the country where I live have no religious belief, and the government officially promotes atheism, yet signs of Christmas abound.

Christmas is not a holiday in East Asia. People go to work just like they do every other day. Well, this year Christmas is on a Saturday, so not as many people will go to work on Christmas this year.

The choir above is in Taiwan, singing Christmas carols on a Saturday afternoon at the Taipei 101 building. If I didn't know better, I would have said this was a professional choir (they sang like angels), but I found out that they are the choir from a Baptist Church in Taipei, the choir of the church's English-speaking congregation.

60s Memory

It is Christmas Eve here already. Sometime back in the 1960's, my brothers and I were playing basketball on the driveway on the afternoon of Christmas Eve with my dad. My dad told us that in Japan it was already Christmas Day. The children in Japan had already been visited by Santa Claus. I remember being upset at the thought of some little kids already having received gifts from Santa while I was forced to wait a few more hours.

Now I know Japanese don't celebrate Christmas and don't get gifts at all. Ha-ha! I love this childhood memory.

How stairs make for an interesting day

Village walls

The policeman walks into the small coffee shop.

Police: Whose electric scooter is that out front?

ME: That would be mine.

Police: (he looks a little surprised, but he is polite): You need to move it somewhere else.

ME: OK. (I go outside to move my scooter, that is the size and weight of a motorcycle.)

Police: Move it over there. (He points up some stairs.)

ME: Uh….

Police: There. (He points again, like maybe I didn’t see him the first time.)

ME (surprised he doesn’t see a problem in what he has asked me to do): My scooter isn’t made to ascend stairs.

Police: Oh, that. (He thinks for awhile and tries to look cool in front of all the onlookers. I don’t think police actually help most people move bikes, but then again most people he’s ever dealt with did not have blonde hair and green eyes. I have totally confused him with my logic, people are watching, and he’s embarrassed.) OK, I’ll help you.

And then with the help of three people (two policemen and me), up the stairs my scooter went. I am almost certain the police won’t be around when it’s time to get the bike down the stairs.

Only in China are people asked to park their motorbikes upstairs!

The rest of the story

I leave the coffee shop, walk up the stairs, and unlock my motorbike. The police are, of course, no where to be found. I do not want to damage my bike or my body by trying to get the bike down the stairs.

I look the other direction to see if there are other options, but it appears to be a dead end. I get there, see something that resembles a doorway. I'm not totally sure, but I think if I can go out that opening with my bike, I don't have to negotiate stairs. I ask two guys sitting around if it is a dead end, and they tell me it is not. I ask if I can get to the main street from there. They use their hands to indicate that various twists and turns will get me back out on the main road.

So I go that way. I end up in a village with narrow passageways not quite big enough for both me and the children running and playing in them. The villages charm and fascinate me. But the villages are a maze. I turn left, then right, then weave in and out of alleyways. The sun is on my left, then on my right, then straight ahead. Soon, I have no idea where I am. I have been in the village maze of alleyways now for 45 minutes, which is only scary because it should only take me 20 minutes to get home from the coffee shop.

I am lost.

I think it is great fun getting lost, actually, except I'm afraid my electric bike will run out of battery power before I get home.

I ride and ride and ride. I hit a main road, but I don't know where I am. I turn the direction I think leads towards my apartment complex. I am wrong and go far the opposite direction.

My electric scooter ran out of battery power at the gate of my apartment building.

There is never a dull day in this country.