Christmastime in Taiwan

Spending the Christmas season in Taiwan is a bit of a strange time. For one thing, it doesn't feel like Christmastime because the weather is all wrong. These days our weather has been in the 70s, which doesn't exactly spell Christmas to me. I keep forgetting that it is even December. Also, this is the first year in a while when Christmastime hasn't been heralded by a period of final exams. Having a Christmas break to look forward to certainly adds to the holiday anticipation. As for me, I will be working on Christmas, just like any other Thursday. Honestly, I don't mind too much...I think it will keep my mind off of missing Christmas at home, and I'm happy to spend Christmas with my kids.

Taiwanese people seem to all know about Christmas, but it's not the same kind of holiday here that it is in the States. I asked one of my classes today how many of their families celebrated Christmas at home, and only a few kids raised their hands. They knew about Santa and Christmas trees, and one or two kids even told me that Christmas is when Jesus was born. Some of them knew that Christmas involved presents, but most of them said that they didn't get Christmas presents themselves.

However, even if Taiwanese people don't generally celebrate Christmas the way most Americans do, there is one aspect of the Christmas season that Taiwan can definitely get behind. Because what is Christmas, really, if not an excuse to festoon everything with as much shiny, light-up stuff as we can get our hands on? Now that's what I'm talking 'bout. Our friendly neighborhood stationery store is both stocked with and decorated with formidable amounts of tinsel, and they have taken to blasting really unfortunate Christmas music as well (think techno version of The First Noel, and other equally painful things). My favorite Christmas decorations, however, are the ones that have been put up in the courtyard of our apartment building. Here is the view from our balcony:

Check out the left side of the picture. See that little guy? It's a light-up reindeer!

Two of them, actually. Also: THEY MOVE. Albeit veeeeeery slowly.

For those of you with a little extra time on your hands, here is a more complete video tour:

Special guest appearance by one of our security guards, who didn't realize that I was taking a video. Also please note the friendly light of 7-11 just outside our gate. My life revolves around that 7-11.