The most common question for December:
What are you going to do for Christmas?

Personally, I would have liked to known to. I don't think we had much planned for the holiday. Mainly because the term was coming to an end soon and exam preparations were starting to weigh heavily on our minds. However, we got around to doing somethings.

First of all, there was the English Corner Association's New Year's party. That was a hoot. (Honestly, that word was not really in my vocabulary until I got to California.) I think I've talked enough about that party.

The next night, Christmas Eve, the Foreign Affairs Office invited us to a party they were having at their building. It was actually quite nice. They had done all the decorating themselves. The top of the walls were lined with Christmas lights. (Aside, what does a culture that does not really celebrate Christmas call Christmas lights? The question just kind of struck me.) Chairs and couches encircled the room along the walls and at one end of the room, the snacks were waiting eagerly to be devoured. It was basically a party for the foreign students, their teachers, the Foreign Affairs Officers, and us. It was just a nice, mild social mixer kind of event. Then some of them also started dancing. Seeing that I didn't exactly feel any John Travolta in my bones, I decided to decline. Us foreign teachers actually left early that night. Oh well.

On Christmas Day, I had visitors for much of the day. Some of my Freshmen had their visiting hours cancelled by the big New Year's party two nights earlier, so they came on Saturday. I must have talked to them for about three hours. We discussed everything from English literature to the ECA Party to something called HuangMei Opera. Then, I had a dinner with the teachers and some of our good friends. When we got back from dinner, we had cake. You see, we got two cakes for Christmas. One from the Foreign Affairs Office and one from the College English Center where we teach night classes. It was good to share the cake with everyone because I don't think the four of us could have wolfed down everything. After the cake was done, I had even more Freshmen visitors. It was a very eventful and busy day.

That was all I really did for Christmas. I did, however, get a lot of things for Christmas. They were mostly greeting cards from the students. I decided that our living room needed a little more life, so I taped up all of our Christmas and New Year's cards on the wall. They definitely add some life to the room. The other gifts I got include a silk scarf, three calendars, a doll dog, photos, flowers, and a vase to go with the flowers. Mind you, the flowers and the vase came from two totally unrelated parties. I really hope I have room to pack things away when I go home. I'm only allowed 20kg (44 lbs) max of luggage on non-North American flights!

Well, Christmas has come and gone. Another year is coming to, or, by the time you read this, has come to a close. Life is definitely short. Carpe diem.