Top picture - The Christmas tree out in front of the new mall.
The next 2 pictures - Christmas displays inside the mall.
Tomorrow or Tuesday (depending on your location) is Dong zhi - Winter Solstice. It's been dark in the morning when I walk to school and gets dark shortly after I get home, so it'll be nice to see the days getting longer again. If there was precipitation in the air, they would get a lot of snow in Xi'an. It's regularly in the 20's at night and will get into the upper 30's or low 40's in the day, but sometimes not making it above freezing. The air has been particularly stagnant so the air pollution has been bad - sometimes getting into the heavily polluted range. Beijing seems to get it really bad, and fortunately we haven't reached their level (yet).
Tomorrow night, after school, the foreign staff is being treated to a Christmas dinner by our company. I received the (un)fortunate task of arranging it... so I decided on going to a German restaurant that recently opened up that has a nice atmosphere. While Chinese don't celebrate Christmas, they do put up some decorations in some stores and restaurants. Some nice restaurants will serve a Christmas Eve buffet style dinner, but they double or triple their prices making you wonder if it's worth it. I wanted to make it a Xmas Eve dinner, but the prices were too much! The school is giving us foreign teachers Christmas Day (Friday) off, although the school will still be in session. The Chinese teachers will cover our classes for us...
The latest I've heard is that we will be getting Friday, Jan.1 off also, making for another 3-day weekend! It has not been confirmed yet, though, so in typical Chinese fashion you cannot make plans ahead of time because you never know what they may decide on (for instance, they may say we will have to work on Sunday to make up for the Friday we get off...). It has been confirmed when the Spring Festival (Lunar New Year) starts, however - that will be February 1 through the 22nd.
On Christmas Day I got tickets to see a well-known Chinese singer who is starting a tour of China in Xi'an. Her name is Han Hong but other than that I know little about her. Just thought it'd be something different and unique for Xmas.
I actually have a few Xmas decorations up in the apartment this year. I never got around to it last year. There's a little 1 ft. Xmas tree, a plastic wreath, some lights taped on the wall, a couple of little snowmen, and a couple glass containers for candy (the candy won't last long). It is nice to have up some decorations, but I was thinking that maybe it makes me a bit more melancholy...
Played a little mahjong last night - haven't done that much this year. It's a good social game requiring 4 players - I need to do that more often!
Well, I'll be thinking of everyone back home over the holidays and wishing you all the best!
As Linus aptly says, "Peace on Earth and good will to men"
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