The Holidays
The American Holiday Season is over with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years in the past, which was not so much as a ripple compared to the tsunami of “holiday cheer” that consumes the United States. Starting with Thanksgiving, I did manage to find a place with a couple of friends to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner in Taiwan. The thought of an authentic turkey dinner after so much rice and noodles sounded too good to pass up and left me pretty excited for Thursday, November 26th. Not only was I ready mentally, but physically as well. I could sense my stomach (probably due to the yearly cycle of gluttony on that single November day) was more than ready to continue the tradition. To prepare myself further, I recall not eating very much during the day. So the time had finally arrived as I sat at the table. It started with a glass of wine and a ceasar salad. After about 15 more minutes my food had finally arrived…. the plate overflowing with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing AND!!! I'm just kidding. It was gone in about another 1.5 minutes. While the food did taste good and satisfied my palate in terms of traditional taste with that of turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing, it was about a quarter of what my stomach could have handled. After returning home for about 10 minutes, this year sitting uncomfortably because of not enough food, I decided to head back out to the Burger King down the street. I figured since I had already eaten American that night, I might as well continue. My whopper took about another 1.5 minutes before it disappeared and gravity set it right next to my turkey.All in all, good try Taiwan.
While Christmas did stir the locals a little more than Thanksgiving did, it was not nearly to the extent of the motherland where Christmas is literally thrown in your face. And to be honest I did enjoy this reprieve from the yearly gauntlet of Rudolph, Frosty, and another classic showing of Miracle on 34th street, to which I still have not watched in its entirety. Christmas in Taipei made its most significant appearance near the Taipei 101 World Trade Center, which came as no surprise given its international clientele. The area in which I live did have its fair share of Santa hats and an influx of Christmas cards on the shelves so it wasn’t completely absent. And I did spot a couple of stone-faced public bus drivers dressed in Santa suits. OnChristmas Eve I participated in Secret Santa at work and received a Christmas Starbucks coffee cup, a very useful gift given how much coffee I drink. For dinner I dodged Thanksgivings’ blunder of not enough food and went to an all you can eat BBQ place with a few friends and was stuffed at the end of the night. With that, Christmas day was like any other; class was still in session, both in learning Chinese and teaching English, shops were open, and business carried on as usual. Later in the day though I did catch a flight to Hong Kong for the weekend that I will describe in a later post.
New years consisted of going to Taipei 101 and watching the fireworks explode off the once tallest building in the world, which was a cool sight. Although, this was followed by a cryptic message in lights that remains on the building to this day. After the fireworks display, the words "Taiwan Up" lit up on the building puzzling, literally, everyone. After talking to a couple of my students we decided they were really trying to say "Go Taiwan." I don't know who was coordinating the post-fireworks message, but they botched it. Thousands of people gathered to watch this event, most of who promptly returned home afterwards. However, some friends and me went to a club in Taipei where I enjoyed some beverages, just as I would have back in the United States. The difference this year was that I only spent maybe $30, instead of $100+. All in all it was a good time.
In closing, the American holiday season in Taiwan felt more any other day than something of significance, and each had its own “oh yea…it’s insert holiday today,” moment. I look forward to Chinese New Year, though, which is the Western holiday equivalent and the true holiday season of the Far East.
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