ulrichjohannes

Being away around Christmas time is something which bothers a lot of people and Christmas is usually a homecoming to get together with family and old friends. A lot of people are asking me, how it’s like to not be home on Christmas and if I’m homesick and missing my family and friends.

The answer is not that simple. First of all, I’m living in an East Asian country in which Christians are only a very small minority. That means that there are no Christmas holidays and a lot of people actually don’t know when Christmas Eve actually is. Christmas is more a pop culture thing with blinking colorful lights at shopping centers (somehow comparable to Valentine’s Day). Therefore life is as usual and no difference to other times of the year, while in Europe everything becomes more quiet, nice decoration is everywhere and Christmas markets are welcoming their visitors. So without looking at the calendar its quite difficult to say that Christmas is actually approaching.

Also the weather is not helping to get into this Christmas mood. The days before Christmas, it was perfect summer weather with blue skies and around 28°C. From that perspective and because I’m used to cold temperatures around Christmas, I didn’t feel that it is actually Christmas and the whole situation is comparable to a flower, which is blooming in December due to an unusual high temperature.

So basically my inner calendar didn’t say that it is Christmas time. This was also the way I felt. I skyped with my family on Christmas Eve and it felt more like time travelling than actual Christmas for me. The whole christmas thing is just too far away to actually realise it. So in the end, the actual event of Christmas didn’t triggered any kind of homesickness or feeling of missing somebody, because it wasn’t actually Christmas time for me. (But I’m also a person who doesn’t get easily homesick.)

Nevertheless, I miss winter quite a lot and I would also love to go skiing, drinking hot wine and eating Christmas bakery with my family and friends.

Apart from the Christmas topic. The last weeks at university were quite busy, because several term projects, presentations and final exams were due. Also unfortunately the first people are leaving Taipei and heading back home, which is of course sad. Apart from that I will travel to the South of Taiwan to enjoy some beach action, work on a term project and plan my trip in January and February.