E-mails become blog fodder- Christmas

I wrote a lot of e-mails today and decided afterwards that I should post parts of them so here they are.
Colin and I had a very calm Christmas. I went up to Taipei and we went to a party of Fulbright folks on Christmas eve. First event to remind me of a Reed event. It was a potluck and everyone just sat calmly around a too small room and chatted. Because the real academics (I mean the people getting PhDs and doing research) all came, it felt even more Reed like as the conversations leaned toward academic more than I am used to here. We then saw an English play put together by one of Colin's language exchange partners. It was a 9 hour series of plays and we only went to the last one, which was really depressing. Sort of like Beckett, but without the absurdity and beautiful language that make Beckett good.

Christmas day was almost hot, around 70 degrees, weird. We went for a run, made pancakes and then sat around the tiny plastic tree we bought and decorated and opened presents. We walked in the park and then made a Chinese/college-student Christmas dinner which we ate sitting on the concrete floor of Colin's apartment. All in all I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas. Colin was a little spooked though, as he kept expecting a whole herd of distant relatives to come knocking at the door. He said repeatedly "It's so quiet." I kept saying "how is it supposed to be?"

It is very funny to be at school here when I think I should be having my break, kinda kills motivation. I talked to Eben who is doing more school, but like me doesn't get a break til mid-January and he was really feeling the need for a break. We will go up and visit him for part of Chinese New Year. School is also winding down in as strange way. I've spent way too much time correcting students' corrections in their workbooks this week and it has made me very sarcastic. Luckily what I've heard, that Chinese people don't understand sarcasm, is not entirely true and when my co-teacher handed me another pile of workbooks and I said that my life wouldn't be complete without them, she thought it was funny and not weird.

I just sat with some other co-workers for a half hour or so and had tea. It's warm and raining making for perfect sit out on the covered patio, think and drink tea kind of weather. We will all stay later tonight because at 6 we will have a New Year's event for families so I guess there is no real rush to work.