Christmas in Changsha

This year was the first Christmas I spent away from my family and friends back home. Whenever I thought about how Christmas was coming I was a little upset that I wouldn't get to enjoy a Turkey Dinner with my family or a night out in my hometown with all my old friends. China doesn't really celebrate Christmas so it was really strange because it didn't feel like Christmas at all. There was no Christmas music blasting from every shop or decorations hung up, not even snow! I even had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day -at first I was upset about this but at it turns out I am glad it was that way. Christmas Eve arrived and it was a very fun day at our school. Nearly almost every student (there are 2,000 of them) were wearing Christmas hats and the topic of my English lessons for the day was Christmas. For dinner, the school surprised us with a lovely western meal. It was so nice that they recognized the importance of the holiday for us and treated us to spaghetti, roast chicken, and vegetables. The principle of the school also gave us an apple to eat. In Chinese, Christmas Eve means Peace Day and people eat an apple (which they call a ping an-lit apple safe) which is said to give one good health for the year to come...a cute Chinese gesture. In the evening, instead of having lessons every class had a Christmas party! I chose to organize and run the party for my favourite grade 5 class and had such a riot with the kids playing Christmasy games and singing Christmas carols. Christmas Day I woke up and headed to another campus to teach my grade one classes who are the cutest kids ever!! I taught them how to say Santa and Rudolph and Merry Christmas and played some fun games with them in light of the holiday! I felt so much love from my students over those two days! I constantly had kids coming up and wishing me a Merry Christmas and received so many hand-made cards and presents from some students. It was absolutely amazing! It was a very different experience spending Christmas in a country that doesn't really celebrate but to be honest it helped me to realize the real reason for the season. It's about appreciating the friends and family you have around you. I didn't wake up Christmas morning to a tree with tons of presents underneath but the gift of sharing the joy of Christmas with so many of my students is much more rewarding.

Merry Christmas to everyone back home from China!!