Christmas 400 kilometres southeast of Beijing

The following note from a loyal reader in China is one of many special greetings that SooToday.com will be publishing over the holidays.

If you're a former resident now living 200 or more kilometres away, SooToday.com would be delighted to post your 800-word-or-less message.

It's absolutely free, but the deadline is midnight on New Year's Eve.

For details, click here.

*************************** Sheng Dan Kuai Le.

Even though I have lived outside of the Sault for most of the last decade or so, this is officially the first Christmas where I won’t be at home.

Since August I have been teaching at a Canadian international high school in Xingtai, China (about 400 kilometres southeast of Beijing).

People always ask me if I am homesick and if I miss Canada.

I’m not sure why I am met with incredulous looks when I consistently answer: “Not at all.”

It’s the truth though!

I love China and honestly don’t miss much from home.

Anything I used to get at home I can get here.

The only difference is that here is it exponentially cheaper.

And if you’re willing to overlook the fact that nearly everything here is a knock-off of some famous brand, you can outfit yourself with a brand new wardrobe and house full of high-tech electronic gadgets for next to nothing.

And who could miss Canadian food when we have so many alternate choices of deliciousness over here??

Before I came here I was a fairly picky eater.

I quickly learned that I would likely starve if I kept that up though.

Thus, my expanded and much more adventurous palate was born.

In my brief time here I have sampled things like cooked and raw beef and fish, scorpions (which come on a skewer, still alive, waiting to be fried up when you order them), beetles, stinky durian fruit, cow tongue, stomach, spinal cord, chicken feet, pig hooves, chicken hearts and livers…..ok I’ll stop now.

Interspersed with the less appealing cuisine I have tasted, there have also been some wonderful additions.

The fruit and vegetables in China are better than anywhere else I have tried and the selection is unreal.

You can also purchase any manner of street food within seconds of walking anywhere.

My favourites are grilled corn on the cob, baked yams (sold whole and put in a plastic bag for you), baozi (Chinese steamed buns stuffed with all kinds of yummy things), and tofu – lots and lots of tofu.

I even found a Canadian restaurant in Beijing that serves the beloved staple: poutine.

My city has a population of about seven million people (it’s considered a small town in China) and there are exactly 15 foreign teachers living and working here.

Each of us is a celebrity just based on the fact that we aren’t Chinese.

I get free things everywhere I go, everyone knows where I work, and people say “Hello” as a means of practising their extensive English knowledge.

My personal favourite is the amount of people who stare at me.

I have had people literally stop their cars and bicycles to gawk at me.

I even had a man trip once because he was trying to walk forward while craning his neck backwards to almost Exorcist-like extremes so he could watch every move I made.

Christmas isn’t celebrated in China like it is everywhere else in the world.

They do recognize it; not in days off of work (I only get Christmas Day off because it falls on a Saturday), but in attempted spirit.

The restaurant below my apartment has been decked out in tinsel and Santa pictures since the middle of December.

Their pièce de resistance is a shiny banner proclaiming “Christmas Merry.”

They get points for trying and bonus points for smiling broadly and pointing to it anytime I walk by.

The “braving the crowds at the mall” shopping experience is quite different in China.

Different as in non-existent.

There are thousands of people shopping in the stores on any given day anyways.

The difference is that here no one is hustling and bustling to shop for gifts.

Here they are shopping for their regular daily essentials.

If you think surviving Black Friday is a feat, you should try Daiyan Supermarket on a random Tuesday.

A sure sign that the holiday season is approaching in the grocery store is the display of boxed meats.

You know how you can buy a pre-made, pre-stuffed, pre-cooked turkey in Canada?

Here the pre-made meat of choice happens to be - are you ready for this...

Dog.

I really wish I was kidding but, alas, the rumours are true.

You can pretty much get any form of meat, bird or fish here.

Except for turkey, that is.

Turkey here is known by my students as “big chicken.”

I feel like a big part of my job is not only teaching but also providing insight into another culture.

Because of this, I’ve been doing my best to promote a full western cultural immersion with my students for the past week.

And what better way to study the customs of a different country than by watching movies that accurately depict the intricacies of family and Christmas traditions?

Elf, Home Alone and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation fit the bill here.

The city has tried very hard to make all of us foreigners feel welcome and festive this Christmas.

The Education Department in Xingtai organized a party for us where the students performed songs and readings, and they gave us all gifts like coffee and Dove chocolate.

I have also made many friends who know that Christmas is a very important holiday in Canada so they have been rescheduling their lives around making sure I have a great holiday.

Well seeing as this is a forum to send a holiday message to my loved ones, I want to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Mango, my cat.

I miss my little fur-ball buddy.

I also want to send best wishes to all my friends and coworkers at Women in Crisis and Galaxy Cinemas, the staff and students in St. Basil’s GRACE and ILS classes, my ladies in the WHL (I know you’re representing in my absence  – Let’s go OC!!), and anyone I’ve left off the list (it wasn’t on purpose).

And, since you’ve twisted my arm, I guess I am sending the same greeting to my parents Pat and Patti, my brothers Rick, Matt, and Chris, my grandma, and everyone else. Haha.

If you’d like to follow my adventures, I have been keeping a travel blog at http://travelpod.com/members/tricialebel.

I look forward to being back in Sault Ste. Marie next summer, but for now I am dedicated to showing China what the world looks like through my eyes.

The land of dragons and emperors will never be the same!!   Tricia Lebel

P.S. I’m in the picture here with our school recruiter, Tracy and our Chinese principal, Lu.

*************************** Look who else has written to us this year

大家好! Happy holidays from Taiwan! Snowed in for Christmas. In England Christmas 400 kilometres southeast of Beijing