The Holidays in Beibei

Celebrating the holidays in China are a little different celebrating them in the United States.  The biggest problem when it comes to celebrating the holidays is the lack of certain food items and other decorations that you might need.  But, that lack of certain items is what makes celebrating the holidays in China memorable.  The adventure of finding what you need from the store or being creative and making substitutes is all part of the fun.    

Thanksgiving was the most difficult Holiday to celebrate in China because it requires a lot of cooking and many of the food items that we consume in the U.S. either can’t be found or require planning way in advance and a lot of money.  So to prepare for the big meal, the Foreign Students Office transported me and the rest of the English teachers to a big supermarket in Chongqing called Metro to buy what we needed.  We were able to find everything but cranberry filling and a turkey.  Not having a turkey wasn’t so bad, we decided to substitute some roast chickens and ducks that could be bought on Thanksgiving Day.  The food situation was figured out.

We still had classes to teach on Thanksgiving, so we did not have the luxury of having the full day to cook and prepare for the big meal.  But, because everyone had split up responsibilities for cooking or acquiring certain dishes, the feast was organized on time.  This was the most diverse Thanksgiving dinner I had ever consumed.  We had stuffing, gravy, rolls, roast duck, roast chicken, some Indian dishes (cooked by a Pakistani teacher), roasted sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, rice porridge, and carameled apples.  It was quite a feast.      

    

Celebrating Christmas in China wasn’t too difficult, the Christmas season had arrived in Beibei.  All of the shops, supermarkets, etc….. all had Christmas decorations, Christmas music and staff dressed in Christmas outfits.  I had never seen Christmas in Beibei before.  When I studied abroad in Beibei two years ago I couldn’t even tell that Christmas was around the corner.  From my understanding, Christmas is the new fad in China (at least in rural China now).  

To celebrate Christmas Jess (my girlfriend remember) and I started the day with a nice breakfast and then opened the Christmas presents that we got each other and then presents that my mom sent both of us.  Then we relaxed for the rest of the day watching Christmas movies.  In the evening Jess and I participated in a Secret Santa get together with many of the other teachers in our building and then went out to eat a fancy Chinese meal. 

It is easy to get home sick during the holidays (I have experienced my fair share of it) when you don’t have your close friends and family around.  But, celebrating the holidays in China has allowed me to get away from tradition a little bit and make some unforgettable memories.