Christmas in Taipei

This was my first Christmas away from home, ever. I was sad not to be able to celebrate with family, but at the same time managed to find a good group of people to share the holiday with.

In Taiwan, the 25th was just another work day. Well, Santa came ho-ho-ing by in the afternoon with elves to hand out treats, but other than that it was business as usual. Roshana, Emma, and Evan (fellow hostelers at World Scholar House) had to attend classes at the Mandarin Training Center as well. But Roshana arranged to cook up a holiday feast of spaghetti, coleslaw, and cake at the hostel afterwards and I was invited to join in, which I happily did!


I was late arriving because of the brutal transfers at the Zhongxiao Fuxing and Zhongxial Xinsheng MRT stations. There is only one MRT line that travels west-east across the city, and at peak hours the station platforms are completely jammed with commuters. I'm sure it's not as bad as Japan, but it's still quite an experience.

Cidric from France, Raz from Israel, Evan from the US

 It was a full house with Greg, his lovely daughter Iileitia, Emma and her parents from Holland (sorry, forgot their names!), Roshana, Winnie, Cidric, Raz, Evan, and myself. (The hostel manager Diane was also there, but in her room with her grandchildren enjoying a Christmas pizza.) The main room in the hostel is about as big as most people's bathrooms, so as you can imagine every surface was being used to serve the food and perch on while you scooped said food into your mouth. The only plate left when I arrived was a kid's serving tray. And the only eating utensils I could find were chopsticks. I was surprised to learn that it's actually super east to eat pasta with chopsticks - forget the fork and spoon thing!

Roshana and Winnie

After the pasta feast there was cake. Two cakes, actually, since both Emma's parents and Roshana had bought one. Roshana also busted out an awesome marshmallow and chocolate fondue, which fascinated the kids.

It was an early night for all of us because we had to be up for work the next day. On my way home on the MRT, I noticed that the lady sitting next to me had an odd-looking case. I mimed "badminton raquet?" to her and she mimed back "no, musical instrument." I tried to ask how many years she had been playing but I actually asked how many raindrops there were. Oh, well.

Then she did the nicest thing. She reached into her handbag and pulled out a DVD of her orchestra's last performance. And she gave it to me! So, not only was I sitting next to a professional musician, she generously gave me the DVD to enjoy - on Christmas night, no less!

Greg and Iileitia and yummy fondue!