耶誕快樂 Merry Christmas from Taiwan

Christmas is not celebrated in Taiwan so it was a very strange holiday for me, and the first I'd spent away from my family.  Multiple family members getting COVID cancelling holiday traditions dispelled all my FOMO though.  Here, there is no time off from work or school, so I had class on Christmas Eve (Friday).  Later in the evening, I attended a Christmas party hosted by my department, which is all international.  It was the most festive I'd felt all season, with a Christmas buffet, gingerbread house-making, and a white elephant gift exchange.  

At midnight, my friend and I went to Catholic mass in Chinese.  There had been an English mass earlier in the evening, so the entire congregation at midnight mass was Asian.  All of the prayers and lyrics were projected onto the wall behind the priest so I could follow along reading the characters.  We sang all the same Christmas songs but in Chinese.  I could read characters fast enough to sing most of the words, except for Joy to the World which turned out to be too complicated in Mandarin.  I was very happy to be able to understand the entire homily.  During the sign of peace, in a very Japanese fashion, we bowed at the people next to us and said "平安！" peace!

Note how Taiwanese people wear hats indoors

Saturday morning I went for run in the 65 degree sprinkling rain typical of Taiwan winter (my Taiwanese friends were aghast anyone would be outside in such cold), had a Christmas Day breakfast of sushi, and then spent the day at an American friend's party.  I managed to find a casserole dish and all the ingredients (including baked-and-ready-to-eat white sweet potatoes from a convenience store) to make a sweet potato casserole in a toaster oven.  It was lovely to eat homemade food, exchange a couple presents with friends, and play mahjong on my new set.  My claim to fame is how many Taiwanese people I've taught to play this traditional Taiwanese game with which I'm obsessed.

Teaching a Taiwanese friend to ice skate while it's 80 degrees outside

A worker carries a sign reminding crowds to wear a mask

Earlier in the week, a friend and I went to New Taipei City (it is fairly large and surrounds Taipei on all sides) to check out Banqiao's Christmasland, of which Taiwanese people are quite proud.  There were many lights, but it was overall very small.

Greeting and photo from university