It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!
The last month of 2019 has been very busy for me. I’ve been studying for my exams which I will sit at the end of December and rehearsed for a class performance that I’ll be performing after Christmas. I’ve also enjoyed my free time by getting into the Christmas spirit as well as planning to travel to different parts of China.
So to get into the Christmas spirit, my roommate and I bought decorations from the supermarket to make our room feel more like Christmas. We created our own mini Christmas tree using a Starbucks cup holder, a chopstick and a tin. A few of us went to see Frozen 2 in the cinema were there was Chinese subtitles at the bottom. I was quite proud of myself as I could understand a few of the characters. Another movie I watched before Christmas was The Grinch. It was hilarious as all the scholars crowded into one room to watch the film on the ceiling.
On Christmas Eve, I spent all day wrapping presents for my Secret Santa and my friends. We also had a party on our floor and invited other students from our classes to join. The floor was decorated with fairy lights, baubles and a little Christmas tree. We also played a game called White Elephant which was hilarious as a lot of people were taking other people’s presents rather than opening presents from under the tree. At the end of the game, my present was a box of Maltesers.
On Christmas day, I woke up and opened presents from back home. I felt home sick that morning as I wished that I could spend a few hours back home with my family. I got ready to go to class and helped decorate the classroom by blowing up balloons. Since it was Christmas, we had a class party and combined both F classes together in which we played games. After class, I gave presents to my friends then facetimed my family back home. I was happy to hear from them, but it did feel weird that I wasn’t there. The one thing I really missed was sitting around the table and seeing everyone together. For our Christmas dinner, all the scholars sat down and ate soup as well as ordering food from other restaurants. We also swapped our Secret Santa presents in which I got a blanket, an eyeshadow palette and a pink cup and bowl.
For our Class Performance, both F1 and F2 classes got together to sing songs from each country we all came from. This included from Kenya (肯尼亚), Costa Rica (哥斯达黎加), Turkmenistan (土库曼斯) and of course Scotland (苏格兰). We also included a Chinese song called Seaweed Dance (海藻舞). As part of our performance, all of us brought something from our home countries such as flags, t-shirts and scarfs. For the scholars, we wore Scottish tartan scarfs.
On New Years Eve, all the scholars went up to the 8th floor to celebrate New Years with our classmates. We all celebrated the beginning of 2020 by having a mini party in the common area. After a while, a few of us went back to our floor and celebrated the new year by playing Scottish music such as Loch Lomond. The following morning, I facetimed my family wishing them a happy New Year due to the 8-hour time difference.
Even though December was a hectic month, I’ve got to admit that it’s been my favourite month so far in China. The upcoming days to Christmas was stressful trying to revise but also enjoy my free time with everyone. I’m looking forward to travelling during my holiday and can’t wait to see the different cities.
Until next time!
Jody x
