Stories of the Middle Kingdom

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.