Posts Tagged ‘holidays’

Holiday Season in NYC!

Merry Christmas!! Finally had time to take in the holiday season after weeks of finals projects, papers and exams. I didn’t get to enjoy as much of the Christmas spirit this year, but I still sneak in some pretty nice moments around the City. A trick for all: walking around New York City while listening to Christmas music on your iPod gives this surreal movie-like feeling!

This IS the most wonderful time of the year. Despite the commercialism of it all, I really love it! New York City is especially magical during the season. Hope everyone is able to find a piece of this magic wherever you are and can be with loved ones today!

Christmas lights at Columbia

Christmas Shopping Frenzy

Rockefeller Center

Macy's fancy display

Christmas Market at Bryant Park

Ice Skating at Bryant Park

Didn’t actually go skating, but it looked like a lot of fun! Walked by it on a random Tuesday night and it was pretty happening!

Nutcracker @ Lincoln Center

After my last final, I unwind with a showing of the Nutcracker at Lincoln Center! It was every bit as amazing as I remembered. I think I was just as excited as the 5-year-old girl sitting near me! Oldie but a goodie, never gets old!

Columbus Circle

lights inside of Columbus Circle

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There’s no place like home for the holiday. I’ll be home for Christmas, you can plan for me. Words of these classic Christmas tunes have never applied more for me this year. After two wonderful holiday seasons in the Peace Corps, it is nice to finally be with my family for the holidays.

If you haven’t been living in a box, you probably have read all the weather misfortune that’s lead to all sorts of holiday travel nightmare. I was this close to getting stuck in London. Heathrow Airport closed the day before my flight due to “severe weather”. A funny video quite accurately described the absurdity. Anyhow, I was one of the very lucky few whose flight left with only minor delay.

the calmer part of Heathrow Airport

Nearly 20 hours of journey later, I arrived in St. Louis. It’s good to be home. For the first time in years, our whole family is reunited at our own home. My mom had everything ready – the tree, the gifts, the lights, and THE FOOD. Oh boy, the food! There is nothing I miss more than mama’s home cooking!

We spend the days before Christmas doing a whole of nothing – last minute shopping, a lot of meals together, lots of catching up with one another, and a good deal of movie watching. We also made a trip to St. Louis version of the Winter Wonderland. Not nearly as crazy as the London version as it was just a Christmas light display. We drive around the park and enjoyed the lights while Christmas music was playing on the radio. It was lovely, and all the while, I couldn’t help but think: boy, that is a whole lot of electricity. My friends in Cameroon would think this is absolutely absurd. It’s hard to have lived in the present day with electricity shortage and see Christmas light display all at the same time.

St. Louis was graced with a blanket of perfect snow just in time for Christmas. This was the most perfect White Christmas that I can remember for a while. The snow was pretty, but just enough that the roads were still okay. Though not as if we were going anywhere on Christmas day. I imagine we did as most families on this day – we ate. There was so much food, and it was glorious!

So much food, we had to make a buffet line

the food is everywhere!

Since I didn’t go too far away for undergrad, I did not fully appreciate the preciousness of family gathering around holidays. Now that the occasion for everyone to be together is much less frequent, I am working on cherishing every moment of it.

I hope all of you had a lovely Christmas with your family and loved ones. The biggest lesson from my two years in the Peace Corps is that there is really nothing more important than the people in your life. Happy Holidays and hope everyone is ready to embark upon another year! We are heading into a new decade! As for me, I will be celebrating the New Year with my Peace Corps loves. We are having a reunion in Chicago! Less than six months since we left – this must be some record!!

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People take things for granted, that’s a fact. We are now in full swing of the Christmas season, and some people complain about the over-the-top-ness of the season. I was one of those those who complained until I lived in Cameroon for two holidays seasons where you have no idea it’s Christmas until the very day. I missed the cold, the snow, the trees, the decor, and just about every other obnoxious Christmas related things you can think of. Last week, a trip to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park cured all of that, and officially kick started Christmas for me.

I’ve visited Christmas markets in my previous trips in Europe – in Berlin, in Bath, etc., but my previous experiences would describe these markets as cozy, charming, lovely, quiet. Usually there were stalls of crafts and Christmas gifts, some people selling mulled wine, sausages and other Christmas market-type food. There were always pretty lights.

The Winter Wonderland, however, is Christmas markets as I knew it, on crack. It is so over-the-top and crazy to a degree that it’s nice; the holiday frenzy brings out the little kid in everyone. I was there with a few Americans, and we all said, “it’s too bad the US doesn’t have Christmas markets.” but then we quickly followed with, “well, if American were to do a Christamas market, it would look a lot like this.”

Winter Wonderland is less of a market, but rather, a carnival. Besides your typical stalls of gifts, food, and drinks, there are rides and games like you would see at a county fair – fluorescent lights galore. I admit it was all a bit much, but I really appreciated the festive spirit. Sometimes, it’s nice to simply be surrounded by happy people.

My friend Siobhan is finishing her service in Cameroon this week and will make her first stop in the “real world” in London to see me. She loves Christmas and I can’t wait to take her here and see how she reacts to it!

I am looking forward to a Christmas season with lots of holiday cheers, and most of all, with family and loves! These are simple things that I will never again take for granted.

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This is the front page of tonight’s Evening Standard. Even though I haven’t seen snow in nearly three years, the US Midwesterner in me still couldn’t help but laugh at this overreaction. Snow Storm? Really? It was more like… a dust of snow. None of the snow even stuck to the ground since the temperature isn’t low enough. Silly Londoners!

The snow put me in a strangely good mood. There is something so magical about snow and I love to simply staring out the window and see them fall from nothingness. The snow is the last piece of puzzle to get me 100% in the mood for the holiday season. Christmas in London is amazing anyway, think Love Actually! The snow, the cold, the Christmas markets, the over-the-top holiday decor and frenzy in stores – you don’t appreciate the full extent of the holiday spirit until you don’t have it anymore. I sure did miss the holiday atmosphere these past two years. Though I am having a bit of a hard time adjusting to constantly feeling cold, I sure am glad I won’t be celebrating Christmas in shorts and tank tops this year!

First view of snow from my window!

On my commute to the Tube - Tower Bridge

Tower of London dusted with snow

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With Thanksgiving in just a few days, and no plans to celebrate, I realized that I have spent more Thanksgiving holidays away from the U.S. than actually being there engorge in delicious Thanksgiving meal and then past out in front of TV watching marathons of the latest popular series (I don’t care for  football – the American kind).

I think I am actually reaching the point where I am not too affected by missing holidays. I think this is the way it needs to be as someone who move all over the world.

There are two options in dealing with holidays of multiple cultures. One, the way my family and American governments all over the world – you celebrate your home holidays and also the holidays of the local culture. In the case of my family, we celebrate all Chinese and American holidays, leaving us with a reason to have a big meal and hangout at least once a month. In the case of American governments, I have personally experienced the Embassy in London and now the Peace Corps/US Embassy in Cameroon – they have days off on both American public holidays and official UK/Cameroon holidays. Leaving them barely at work. Now you see why people are rushing to join the Foreign Service.

The other option, which is the only I have to adopt here in Cameroon – forget your home holidays even exist. Completely melt into your local culture. In Chinese, we call this 入境隨俗, which literally means: once you cross the border, you follow the local customs. (See? I do love the terse nature of the Chinese language. 4 characters said so much.)

There have been so many occasions over this past year when I simply had forgotten American holidays; ironically, I celebrate more Chinese holidays here because my “adopted Chinese family” always call me up to go have a meal for whatever occasion it may be.

So, my fellow globetrotters, how do you incorporate the holidays of your heritage and the holidays of your local place of residence?

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