Just like many of you in North America, we had a short break for Christmas—just two days! Since Christmas isn’t a big deal in China, we were thrilled to have even Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off. Honestly, we probably wouldn’t have these days off if they didn’t fall on our regular days off at work! Regardless, we made the most of the days leading up to Christmas and those precious two days off.
The Friday before Christmas, our whole office joined in for a Secret Santa gift exchange. Although our Chinese colleagues weren’t familiar with the tradition, they participated and bought gifts for their chosen person. Sunday night, we and our colleagues enjoyed a tasty Japanese Teppanyaki meal, courtesy of Shane School, our employer. On Christmas Eve, we had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Donbei, hung out with a friend for a while, and watched our favorite Christmas movies: The Santa Clause, Elf, and a new one called Arthur’s Christmas. We went to bed eagerly anticipating if Santa would find us in China.
And he did! In the morning, we opened presents under our small Chinese Christmas tree, sipped on Baileys and Colombian coffee (Santa’s gift), and Skyped with our families. For lunch, we enjoyed one of the three precious boxes of Kraft Dinner we had brought from Canada, saved for special occasions. It’s funny how something so ordinary back home can feel like a treat abroad.
That evening, we celebrated Christmas with our foreign and local friends. We had a great festive meal with as traditional a dinner as we could manage: roasted whole chickens, bread stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, baked pumpkin, roasted potatoes, stir-fried veggies, apple pie, and strawberry cheesecake. It was delicious and we had an amazing time with wonderful company.
Soon enough, it was New Year’s Eve. Typically, we find ourselves in a country that doesn’t celebrate this holiday, and China was no exception. This year, though, we celebrated with other foreigners who wanted to usher in the New Year with a party. It felt like every expat in Yangzhou showed up at our friend’s house, and we all counted down to 2013 together. It was a late but memorable night.
However, we didn’t have much recovery time because we attended a Chinese wedding on New Year’s Day. Our friend and teaching assistant, Dora, was getting married and invited us. Exhausted and with slight hangovers, we quietly picked at our food and wished the loud music would end. Even so, it was a lovely celebration, and we felt honored to be included.
So far, we’ve celebrated Christmas together abroad in Vietnam, India, and China. We have to admit, this Christmas was the best yet! After all the festivities, we now have four days off to relax and work on our website. Although it’s only the beginning of 2013, the year has started well for us.
We’ve written a guest post, “Lost In Translation: Ridiculous Signs From Abroad,” for a well-known travel website, Vagabondish.com. Plus, we’re excited to have a three-page article coming out in Southeast Asia Backpacker magazine. It looks like 2013 is off to a great start for Goats On The Road. We’re also making some updates to our website and hope to have it revamped and ready for you soon.
Wishing all our followers, friends, and family an adventurous, prosperous, and healthy 2013!