Decorating for Christmas

Christmas decorating … DONE! What do you think?

I'm going to America for Christmas this year, so I didn't want to go all out decorating HERE. I'll help decorate at my parents' house instead. I am planning a Christmas party here, but I'm not going to put up a tree just for that.

So yes, my Christmas decorations are just as pathetic as my Thanksgiving ones were, it just seems so much worse because Thanksgiving decorations are not even really necessary. :-)

Thanksgiving

Last Thanksgiving, I was at the doctor's office getting an I.V. and fighting a bad lung infection, so it didn't take much for this Thanksgiving to be a whole lot better.

As you can see, I went all out on Thanksgiving decorations. I am one step up from pathetic.

I figured watching Christmas movies would be a good start to the day. So I watched "A Christmas Story" which I dug out of my cabinet. I watched it on my VCR, because it is a VHS tape. It was pretty grainy, but fun.

I first saw this movie at the movie theater in 1983, at Seminary South Mall Theater in Fort Worth. I went with my brother and a dorm friend from grad school named Connie. We knew nothing about the movie, and after the first five minutes we discussed leaving. It looked really boring. We'd already paid for our tickets though, so we stuck it out. By the time it was over we were crying and laughing hysterically. It has since become an American modern Christmas classic. I enjoyed watching the movie today and being reminded of when childhood was a simpler thing than it is in our electronic times.

 And then I made some pumpkin bread. It made a big mess in my small kitchen.

Then I wrapped them as gifts. (Just because I am eating gluten-free and sugar-free, doesn't mean the rest of the world has to.)

Also today I talked with my parents on Skype, gave my dog a bath out of necessity, and had a new office chair delivered to me. It's not a holiday here, so I wasn't ruining anyone's holiday by making them deliver my chair to me.

A random Thanksgiving memory:
In second grade I was in a play that we performed for other classes including 6th graders. I was either Prudence, Constance or Patience; one of those weird Pilgrim names. Only seven of us were chosen for this play, because we always finished our work early and the teacher had to give us something to do so we wouldn't be bored.

Ya'll have fun eating turkey and watching football!

OH! I almost forgot to tell you that I had a turkey meal with 16 American friends (10 adults, 6 kids) last Sunday. Several adults had to work on Thanksgiving Day, so we gathered on the weekend. So no need to feel too sorry for me or anything!

Chilling proof

It's that "pink box" time of year. It has turned cold here -- freezing temperatures and unusually high winds. I've had to pull out winter clothes and Mimi has found warmth in her soft fleece pink box. Even though she was wearing a sweater on this really cold day, she still yearned for a little more warmth.

I was really trying to hold off until December to start the main heating in the house, but alas, I had to give in a week early. The main heating doesn't get my house very warm, and I still have to wear lots of clothes indoors. My Chinese friends, many of whom can't afford expensive heating bills, wear their down coats indoors. I don't do that, but I have on my long johns and expect them to be a staple in my wardrobe, day and night, until May.

Mimi has two sweaters that she tolerates. I love this green one with a bright pink flower on it; makes her into one stunning doggy in the neighborhood! (All the other dogs in the neighborhood wear clothes in winter too.) This sweater is the first piece of clothing I ever bought for my dog, and is still my favorite. I usually don't keep Mimi in clothes indoors unless it is really cold. And I never keep her in clothes when I am not home; her feet have been known to get caught in the bodice so that she can't move. 

Do any of you wear long johns all winter long? I bet not.

Hectic fall

"Lord willing and the creek don't rise," I'll be back in 'Texas for vacation exactly three weeks from right now. I have a lot to do before then, and I'm not talking about Christmas shopping.

I am going on a quick trip to Taiwan early next week. Four days.

Then after getting back on Wednesday evening late, I have a party at my place on Saturday -- a Christmas party on the first Saturday in December.

About right now is when you are supposed to remind me not to ever have big crowds at my house because it stresses me out like a cat caught in a corner by a bulldog. I've told you over and over again to remind me never to do this again.

But inviting young Chinese adults to my house for Christmas is a tradition that reaps year-long benefits and helps build friendships. Despite the time crunch of having a party so soon after an international trip, and so soon before another international trip, I'm planning to do it anyway. I might lose my mind. Pray for me (I am totally not kidding … please pray for me.)

I do have a plan though. I pre-made my cookie and cupcake mixes last night. If I was in America, I'd run down to the grocery store and buy boxed mixes; yes I would! I might or might not be able to find a Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines cake/cookie mix here if I rode my e-bike 40 minutes across town in 40-something degree weather to the import grocery store, but it would cost me at least eight bucks per box and I probably don't need to remind you that money doesn't grow on trees. So, I made my own mixes, (since the other alternative, making your own money, is illegal) and when I am ready to really make them into something edible, I just add butter, eggs, vanilla and water (kind of what you do with a boxed mix) and stick it in an oven that's only a little bit bigger than a toaster oven. I can make six cupcakes at a time and about 8-10 cookies at a time. It will take forever to make enough goodies to feed a house full of 20-somethings. I'm still thinking it is worth it though. I sure hope so.

[If you want to make these cookie mixes, I recommend this website. For the yellow cake mix, try this website. You need to remember the websites, because if you ever decide to make these a second time, you may forget the ingredients needed in the dry mixes.]

Since I'll be in America for Christmas, and because my Christmas tree died in this past summer's heat wave, I will not be decorating for Christmas. I might find one or two little things to decorate for the party. My friends won't care.

This week my plan is to go across town to the import store to buy butter.  I figure I'll need 8-10 sticks of butter. (Here, they cost $2.50 per stick of butter. How much do they cost in America?) I'll have to start baking as soon as I get back from Taiwan. And this week I'll need to figure out party favors. Usually I get Christmas stockings and fill them with goodies, but I really need a more simple solution this year. Does anyone have any ideas? (Feel free to share ideas in comments. No one ever writes comments on here. I promise that no evil will befall you if you leave a comment. I pre-screen comments before they are posted, so there may be a short delay between the time you write and the time it is posted.)

I'll keep you posted on how things go.

Capturing fall

The cool air, the golden leaves, the filtered sunlight -- a camera just can't capture the feeling of fall like my senses can. Nonetheless, I wanted to share some of the beauty of fall in Bamboo Forest with you. I am grateful to live in a climate that has four seasons, but I wish fall would last the longest because I love it most.

Water town

Right next door to where I live, with a fence separating the two properties, is a small Buddhist temple (not pictured, but I'll show it to you some other time). On the other side of the Buddhist temple is a village, part of it along a canal. Like Venice maybe.

The above picture, therefore, was taken within a 3 or 4-minute walk from where I live. If there was no fence, it would be a faster walk. Psychologically, the fence keeps me from going there often. In four years, I've only been that way three times, the third time being this week.

I tend to think of villages being out in the countryside. But, in fact, many are in the middle of big cities.

The villages have been there for generations, and then the cities expand and build all around the villages, swallowing them up. Eventually, someone wants the land to build, and the villages are torn down and replaced by modern buildings. The villagers are paid enough to purchase a small home in a high-rise. But many miss the quaint village life when that happens.

In this village, I saw some of the tiniest dwellings I have ever seen in a village. Many village homes in the countryside are huge. But I saw some rooms in this village only big enough for a single bed, a half sofa, and a tiny table for eating. The rooms were smaller than my bedroom. They had no kitchens (they used the alleyway area to cook on portable stoves), and no bathrooms (nice public ones are built in the village though).

I forgot that such dire poverty existed so close to where I live. People inspected me, to see if I had come there to mock their lack of fortune. Many of the things that might have been interesting to photograph had to be relegated to my own memory instead of my camera memory card. I do not want to mock their plight. The tables could have been turned. It could have been me in their place and them in mine.

The canal water, for the record, is filthy.

These retired folks are playing cards (or maybe mahjong) outdoors near the canal on a pleasant fall day.

Full of life

Bright-eyed (WILD-eyed is more like it) and bushy-tailed, Mimi enjoys her 8th year of life (she turns 9 in January). She makes me laugh more than anything in this world. What a sidekick.

Anti-dog people can come back tomorrow for a non-doggy post. But for today, just let me have my moment….

Office decor

Here is my office for today. All Starbucks should look so beautiful, right? When I arrived before lunch, I staked out my desk in the far back corner on the left (see my computer-carrying backpack on the table). I was the only one here when I arrived, and a few quiet people came in later. Classic Christmas music is playing on the speakers -- Frosty the Snowman was on when I first arrived, and it got classier after that. :-) I bought my hot black coffee for $2.83 for a small cup. (Starbucks costs more here than in the U.S.) None of those fancy Christmas coffees -- candy in a cup -- for me, but not because of price -- I just don't drink sugar. I've been here four hours, and now I feel guilty for leaving Mimi home alone for so long. So I'm about to pack it up and head back. It'll be dark in two hours. I'm trying to get in the Christmas spirit, and that's hard in this country. Starbucks is the one place I can go away from home to get in the spirit. And lucky me, there are fifty gazillion Starbucks in the city where I live, very few as quiet as this one.

Insulation

My mom reminded me that most of you won't know that buildings in China are not insulated. Not even a little bit of insulation is in my concrete walls. That's why running the heaters in winter and air-conditioners in summer is expensive and somewhat ineffective. There is nothing to help retain the temperature, so once the machine is turned off, the indoor temperature quickly reverts to the outdoor temperature. On a sunny winter day, it is often warmer outside than inside. Either you can run your heater/air-conditioner non-stop, or in winter you can dress like an Eskimo every day.

Picture an bundled up Eskimo, washing dishes at the kitchen sink, mopping floors, typing on his computer. It doesn't really work well. I have no solutions.

If the Chinese are bothered by the weather extremes, you wouldn't know about it. They don't talk about the weather. (It is so weird, because Americans talk about the weather all the time. How can Chinese NOT talk about the weather? They talk about food instead. It's like when you meet a Chinese you might say, "hey the temperature is nice today!" And they'll look at you like you are a weirdo and ask what you had for breakfast -- or something like that.)

Let's see, where were we? Oh yeah, insulation. Bottom line is, very few if any trees died in the building of China. (Lots of concrete died though, haha.)

Where I live

This is where I live. I can't remember if I've showed you this before or not. According to my rough calculations, there are about 1200 homes in my complex (20 buildings with at least 60 homes per building). Not all apartments are the same size; most hold 4-6 people or maybe even more. Three generations usually live under the same roof.

For example, when I first moved in, my across-the-hall neighbors consisted of a little boy, his young mom, and her 50-something mother. Then later a young man moved in (the husband I presume); he could have been working in another city for a year or two, as is common here. Then later a 60-ish-year-old couple moved in. I haven't figured out who they are yet. So, at least six people live across the hall in an apartment the same size as mine. I think the older people also have homes in their home villages, but they prefer to be in the big city, taking care of the kid while his parents work.

Here's the down ramp to the underground level where there are garages and storage rooms. I cruise down this ramp with my e-bike after every outing so I can re-charge it. 

Just thought you might like to see my abode. My complex has a bigger population than some small towns in Texas.