Christmas in China (圣诞在中国)
That’s me four(四) months(月) in China already! Time has flown by. Guess what the topic for this month’s blog is. That’s right, Christmas! This year Christmas(圣诞) was really different to the usual, obviously, even just the fact that there were no Christmas decorations(装饰) outside. Christmas isn’t a big thing here in China and most don’t celebrate it. Those that do celebrate(庆祝) don’t see it as the family holiday that we do, they see it as an event to go to out with friends or go on a date.
However, we did what we could with what we were given. Some people bought Christmas decorations and hung them up in their rooms. My Christmas decorations were sent(寄) to me from home and I was supposed to receive them weeks(数周) before Christmas. Unfortunately though my parcel(包裹) got stuck in Beijing(北京) and I ended up getting it the day after Christmas. I’ve still put them up though since my family made them for me.
On the morning of Christmas, we gave out our secret Santa gifts then a few of us went to church for the Christmas service, something I had never done before. It didn’t really feel like Christmas at all for me since I couldn’t do any of the things my family usually does at Christmas. So, I thought that if I couldn’t do my family traditions(家风) then I would try out someone else’s for a change and see how it differs from mine. So, we went to church, not knowing that the English mass wasn’t at 11:30am but was in fact at 7:00pm. So, we ended up not actually doing the Christmas service and just sitting in the church for a little while.
After that we went to get brunch at Costa/Paris baguette. I ended up spending 80 yuan on three pastries from Paris baguette and a coffee(咖啡) from Costa, which is way more than I would normally spend, but I thought that since it was Christmas, I deserved to treat myself. We split up when we finished and Emilie, Peter, Abi, and I went shopping as Peter needed to buy something. It was on the subway(地铁) home that I realised I had left the pastry that I hadn’t eaten in Costa.
Once home we had some time to ourselves until dinner, so I used this to call my family. I had already opened my presents(礼物) they had sent me, but I got to watch them all open theirs. Then all the scholars gathered, and we had our Christmas dinner, we had decided to just buy what we wanted and eat it all together in the common area we’d decorated to make Christmassy.
Overall Christmas brought a roller-coaster of emotions. Of course, I was excited for Christmas and it was fun spending time with the others. It was nice to have a different experience from the usual Christmas at home. However, I will admit that I was extremely homesick and there were some points that I wasn’t having the best time. It was my first Christmas without my family and although I knew it would be difficult, I didn’t expect it to hit me so hard. Fortunately though, the others are all so nice and comforting that it felt like I was with a different kind of family. The thought that I have a family here who I can see by going next door or even just in the hallway is very comforting and has helped me whenever I feel homesick. So thank you to all the people with me here in China, I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to spend this year with.