Christmas Dinner

The two handsome men at my side are my younger brother, Graham, and my older brother, Brian. All three of us seem to be slouching...not too sure why. And yes, those are mustard and ketchup containers on the table (sadly for Wil, no HP...) but those were for some of the more "breakfasty" items at the buffet. 

All I want for Christmas....

Last weekend, Wil and I went to this pub/restaurant that served ploughman's lunches. I was, of course, ecstatic. We ordered a breakfast also, and for the first time since he left Canada, Wil held a bottle of HP sauce in his hands. He, too, was ecstatic. During the meal, he directed most of his conversation to it, as well. 

Christmas Traditions

Darren had just complained to me that his costume made him look like a butterfly. The girl behind him was in the Holland group. I wish I had a picture of the boy who was dressed as Sinterklaas in their group; he looks like Mr. Bean--a Chinese, nine-year-old Mr. Bean. 

Christmas Traditions

The young man in the kangaroo suit, as you may have guessed, was in the Australia group. His name is Jason, and he is quite nice. The other boy was in the Holland group (I think) and he is not in any of my classes, so I am not sure of his name. 

Seriously rethinking whether or not I want children...

As part of my contractual obligations at my new job, I was required to participate in the school's annual Christmas pageant. Naturally, I took over the responsibilities of the woman whose classes I took over. Nicole had been in charge of a group of six boys (nay, four boys, one insolent little bastard, and one insolent little bastard's follower) who talk about Christmas in Australia and then sing an Aussie version of "Deck the Halls". They were part of a larger group who were doing Christmas traditions in 4 different countries. As an extra-curricular job, Nicole had also taken the job of coaching the 'hosts': students who, in addition to their roles in plays or skits or what-have-you, were introducing acts. Everytime an act ended, I would have to push two of these hosts out onto the stage to make some generic comment about the act which had just ended and to introduce the next one. They all sounded very rehearsed (they were) and do not accurately reflect the grammer used by your typical young, Taiwanese English student. Now, I was under the impression that every time lights went out and performers came off the stage, the hosts had to go out. Not so. I accidentally sent out two hosts while some kids were--I don't know--in between acts of their ten-minute play or something, and the guy who was in charge of them, Todd, was like "What's going on?" I realized my mistake but it was too late. So I had to send them back out to say THE EXACT SAME THING when the play was actually done.....Oh God, so embarrassing. I mean, I know it is best to have a sense of humour about these things, but honestly...I can't help but feel like a royal tool. Jesse (the manager) said "Don't worry about it, I doubt anyone noticed anyway...." I think that the Australia group went ok, but I couldn't really see from where I was, and the sound was so bad that I didn't really want to. Wil sent me a text message that said "It would be worse if I could HEAR it..." In another play, the roof of the creche scene collapsed on the manger. At th end of it all, all the students and teachers had to gather on the stage to sing Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful, and Joy to the World. Did you know that O Come All Ye Faithful has like, three verses? I didn't. I asked Jesse how this pageant compared with others he had put on in the past, and he said that it was certainly not the worst, which, to me, begs the question "How bad can it get?" If I ever do have children, I will tell their teachers that Christmas pageants are against our religion. Then, I will knock on their doors on Saturday mornings and try to convince them that Christmas pageants should be against their religion, too. Not only do I not want to impose the stress of trying to fit my child into a bad costume on some poor teacher, I do not want to have to SIT through that crap.

On a happier note, Wil and I went out for dinner and Wil saw his first bottle of HP sauce since leaving Canada. It was quite a happy event.

On an even happier note (well, for me at least--HP sauce makes Wil pretty happy), my younger brother Graham will be visiting Taiwan. He will arrive on the 21st (which is his birthday). I am looking forward to seeing him.