Christmas Party!!

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Last Friday night, we all jumped on the bus and headed to a large theatre for a wonderful night of Chinese entertainment. The show consisted of more than a dozen acts including traditional Chinese instruments, classical opera, Peking opera, acrobatics, ballet and singing. It was quite formal but we really enjoyed all the shows. The whole spectacle was organized for all the foreigners who are living in Wuhan. The next night, the temperature plummetted to a bone-chilling -5 degrees and the wind picked up but the temperature inside the Broughtons' apartment was balmy as we got together for a staff Christmas Party. Almost thirty of us exchanged gifts and pigged out for a few hours on a huge selection of appetizers, main courses, desserts and alcohol.

Of course, the gift exchange followed tradition according to the following rules;
1) Draw from a hat a number between 1 and 30.
2) When your number comes up, choose something from under the tree or steal someone else's previously chosen gift.
3) No gift can be stolen more than two times.
4) No hitting, biting or scratching allowed.

It soon became apparent that their was an underlying theme to the gifts...booze. Everything from French wine to Amaretto to Bailey's went from person to person along with a variety of other stuff. It seems this is an underlying theme at every teacher party! We ended up with a bottle of Dooley's and an electric foot warmer; the bottle of Amaretto was stolen from us. This way of exchanging presents is a great way of livening up a party. It took awhile before the stealing started but once it did, it snowballed. Nobody was safe from the greedy paws of their peers. It took a little coaxing to convince a couple to grab from others but they soon turned as nasty as the rest of us.

Wednesday afternoon, the school is having a Christmas concert with students and teachers putting on sixteen different acts. Christmas Eve, Nancy and I are heading to a local restaurant, Giannos, for a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. It is possible to find such a beast around here. This place actually has been handing out flyers advertising the event. I imagine they will be pretty full for the evening. Christmas Day will be pretty much a non-issue except we hear that one of the big local department stores has a huge sale on the big day so we might have to check that out!

I need to say at this point that none of the photographs on this page are my own; I forgot to bring my camera. Thanks to Sandy and Margaret for letting me use theirs.

I'll take this opportunity to wish all our family and friends back in Canada and the States a Merry Christmas and a great holiday. We have all been talking about how much we are really missing the big chill that is hitting Canada...not. By Christmas Day it is supposed to warm back up to 13 or 14 around here, so that should be pretty nice.

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Comments

[Robert]

Seasons Greetings
Special Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to both of you.