Tag: Christmas

The Holidays in the Middle East

Christmas decoration in the mountains of Oman

It may be that I was trained at an early age, but I always find it weird to be a warm location during the holiday season. Snow should be coming out of the sky, forcing me to bundle up in a warm coat, and watch the blinking lights from a safe distance. The malls should be crowded with holiday shoppers, and everybody should be in good cheer.

Jabreen Fort in Oman

But when it is warm out, it doesn’t have the same feel. I want to go for hikes, and explore the world around me. This was more the focus of this holiday season, and though it may have been different, in a way, it was more authentic.

Abu Dhabi’s skyline

In the hustle and bustle that we lose ourselves into during every holiday season, we sometimes forget that in reality, it is not about the snow, and pine trees. It is not about the presents, and the parties. It actually started off in a very humble manner, in the place where I am now living, and traveling through during the holiday season. Maybe, instead of having this Nordic experience every year, we should turn our attention to sand, and camels.

The Old House in Misfah, Oman

Despite the stringing up of power lines, and the introduction of indoor plumbing, the Middle East has not changed a lot over the two thousand years since the birth of the holiday season. There are many opportunities to find small old houses to stay in, sleeping on the floor, and hearing the voices of animals just outside your window. The community still gathers together in those places for meals, and enjoys the company of each other under skies that do not threaten you with anything more than a warm day. It is completely unlike anything that we think about when the holiday season comes to mind.

Staircase up to the Imam’s rooms in Jabreen Fort in Oman

Granted the Middle East is a predominantly Muslim part of the world, and the further that I get away from my home in Jordan, the harder it is to see the aspects of Christianity that I grew up with and became accustomed to. That does not mean that the holidays are not celebrated there. New Year’s Eve looks like the bigger celebration, especially in the bigger cities, but still there are aspects of Christmas around as well. It is just shown in different ways, and it reminds me of those ornaments that, as a child, we always placed on the bottom part of the tree. They were of shepherds, and camels, and donkeys, and of course, the whole crew to fill out the nativity, and those are everywhere to be seen out in the Middle East. It just reminds me of a Christmas celebration that is sometimes pushed to the side, instead of being celebrated more.

The Corniche beach in Abu Dhabi

Though I found myself wandering the desert, and relaxing on the beach this holiday season, it did not mean that it wasn’t any less special. Yes, it definitely felt different than what I was accustomed to, but it was still a nice way to spend the holidays.

Sunset in Abu Dhabi

The beauty of the season did not come in electric systems that were put to the test to keep lights blinking, but instead from the explosion of color in the sky that came from when the sun set. The warmth of the season did not come from bundling up close to a fire, but standing in the sand letting the sun thaw me out. The feeling of the season still came from those I was able to share it with which, in the end, is what the holiday season should be about.

Al Qana in Abu Dhabi

I did enjoy the time that I got to have in both Oman and Abu Dhabi. It is a side of the world that I have gotten to explore, and I do believe that this experience has given me a greater appreciation for the place in the world that I live in. I hope that you can come to the same agreement with wherever you find yourself. Be sure to appreciate the ones you are near, and look forward to not just the dawn of a New Year, but each day that follows it.

Thanks again, until next time.

Eternal Summer’s Version of Christmas

It is that time of the year again where the night sky is lit up with tiny lights and images of people bundled up against the cold get plastered on the side of every established business. Songs about melting snowmen and chestnuts roasting over a fire play over the lobbies of hotels and speakers at gas station all around the world. Kids bundle up in new pajamas as they make their lists for toys that they would love to have from the jolly fat man from the north, and parents fight holiday crowds and their bankbooks to make those dreams come true.

It is truly a magical time of the year.

I will admit that when I was younger that this was my favorite time of the year, and probably contributes a lot to my love of snowy days. One of my fondest memories growing up involved a Christmas Eve blizzard that trapped us in our house on Christmas day. I was very young at the time and I always thought that it had to snow on Christmas Eve and the light flurry of flakes that fell that evening as I walked outside in my new Christmas pajamas to pick up the night edition of the paper confirmed this belief. It started out innocent enough, but when I woke up on Christmas morning there was a big surprise of a couple of feet of snow that had not been on the ground before. I don’t remember at all what I got that Christmas because the snow was the greatest gift we could have ever recieved.

I have since grown up and after many brown Colorado Christmases, I now know that snow on Christmas Eve is not a guarantee. In fact, there are many places in the world where seeing snow on Christmas would be considered crazy. Some of the more memorable ones I have spent in recent years have come while I have been on the other side of the globe in Australia and New Zealand. It was a strange feeling enjoying the holiday in a place where I knew that it would never get cold.

I am soon discovering that this year will also be one of those years that will not have a chance of feeling like the picturesque holiday season. It won’t be completely bad because Thailand loves to celebrate this holiday just like any other country in the world. The malls are packed with people and deals, and they tend to pump Christmas carols everywhere you go. The stores also try to outcompete each other to show who can make the brightest of all of the holiday light shows. I wasn’t expecting it much, but I did feel that magical spirit start to bubble up inside of me while I walked around downtown and viewed all of the Christmas displays wherever I went.

The only difference is that I will never feel that cold that I so cherish this time of the year. I won’t even feel a cool breeze that might hint at a chilly Christmas evening. The closest I will be able to get will be to turn my air conditioning on high so I can bundle up under a blanket and watch some Christmas movie where they get to experience a white event. Despite this small problem, it will feel more like Christmas than a lot of places around the world. There will still be the people taking the time to spend with each other, the children excited about the arrival of Santa Claus, and the endless celebration that takes place during the month of December.

I know I am looking forward to it either way, and I hope that wherever you find yourself this holiday season that you are able to make the most out of this month as well. Have a great holiday season, and I will let you know about what is happening in the land of eternal summer as I enjoy mine.

One More Christmas Market – Nuremberg, Germany

As the holiday approaches, the markets in Germany get more packed as people go out to get that cheer that can only be found with mulled wine and sausage sandwiches. The sellers try to make their last sales, and the bigger acts are brought out to entertain the crowds. Last night was the last night for Germany’s biggest Christmas market, and I saved this one for last because all others would look tiny in comparison.

The city of Nuremberg seems to be designed to this specific event. Right across the street from the train station is a long walking mall that leads directly to the heart of the city, their city square. It is here where the city sets up rows of booths during the month of December, and sellers come from all over to sell ornaments, food, and of course, the biggest seller, mulled wine.

It is hard not to be distracted by all of the stalls and the wonderful smells that are coming from them, but looking beyond that, there is some of the best architecture ever collected in a European city. The cathedrals are sometimes overshadowed by the art nouveau facades that overlook the modern shops and restaurants. The place would be great if Christmas had not exploded all over the place.

Nuremberg also wants to hold on to the feeling of the original markets by making sure that the stuff that is offered is of traditional design. This includes the food and decorations even though I did see a couple of incense burners that were heavy metal in design. This only applies to the stalls that are in the main square too. There is a smaller part of the market that has stalls from all over the world that sells their favorite foods along with the traditional mulled wine, but they make sure to regulate this to another side of the cathedrals. My favorite was the stall from Atlanta that sold the traditional Christmas Pop Tarts. There were other stalls that lined the walking mall to the market, and they were not part of the same regulations and could sell whatever they wished. Either that or gimbap, the traditional Korean snack, has always been a part of the German holiday season.

It has been fun to put all of the regular tourist stuff behind to enjoy the sights, smells and feeling of the holiday season in Germany, and the Christmas markets have been a great part of this. The Nuremberg one was probably my favorite because it was the best organized and had some of the best food offered at any of them. And this was followed by the one in Rothenberg because of the feeling of the medieval city, but I am sure that there is no way for me to know what all of the markets in this country would be like. It seems like every city, and small little town puts on their own market, and it would take a month to be able to understand and judged them all, and I don’t know if I could drink that much mulled wine.

It has been a fun way to build up to the final big day on Thursday, and I am glad that I have been able to experience Christmas in this way. I wish all of you the same type of joy that I have been able to experience during your holidays, and that it holds surprises and new experience just as mine has.

Happy Holidays!

Inspiration – Rothenburg, Germany

Way back in 2007, a very broke couple decided to take a fifty backpacking trip throughout Europe. They went to eleven different countries, had many strange and eventful adventures, and saw many amazing sights along the way. At every stop they would ask themselves if they could live in each of the spots they stopped at. It became the seed that eventually led to them seeking jobs as teachers overseas, and transplanting in Asia. But there was one town that they came to that captured their hearts. It was a medieval city preserved over the ages, and ever since the couple of nights that they has spent there, they always want to go back.

Why would anybody who saw this place, not want to come back? The people were cheerful, the food was amazing, and the atmosphere transported them back into time. There was a wall surrounding the city that overlooked a moat that was originally used to keep invaders out. Though people still lived in these walls, they had retained the original buildings and the markets still had that medieval feel of large tables and fireplaces to keep them warm.

There was one store that really captured the heart of this city though. It was so popular that it had three different locations within the small confines of the wall, Kathe Wohlfahrt. It specialized in Christmas. It sold ornaments, cuckoo clocks, and various forms of decorations. Even though it was the middle of summer, the couple could feel the warmth of the holiday season just by being in this store, and they knew that one day they would have to return to this place when the weather was cold and snowy so they could experience it as it was meant to be, a holiday wonderland.

This was the seed that was planted in my mind twelve years ago, and ever since then I always wanted to return to Germany for Christmas. When we got the jobs in Thailand, it seemed like the perfect place to go to get away from the heat and really get to feel what it should feel like to experience Christmas. More specifically, I wanted to return back to this specific medieval town, Rothenburg, and see how they celebrated this holiday. I knew that they held one of the more popular of the Christmas markets, but I had no idea what that meant. This town packs to bursting with the people coming here to drink mulled wine, eat German sausage and spaetzle.

I was not disappointed either. It was exactly the way I envisioned it. Children were running all over the place as there parents gathered around tables to talk about the events of the season as they sipped their hot spicy drinks. The only thing that was missing was the snow. I found out later that this was not really a part of how the market has ever worked. This part of Germany is more inclined to have misty rain this time of the year rather than snow. It does come from time to time, but those moments are very rare.

It did not stop me from coming out and to enjoy this little corner of the world. The place was even more magical than it was when we were out here twelve years ago. The smells of roasted nuts, and fresh chocolate just added to the excitement of the day. I do have to say that a lot of the Christmas items were way overpriced, but that is due to the fact that it is only a couple of days until Christmas, and people travel from all over the world to spend there money here. But as long as you resist the temptation to buy any of these trinkets, the food and the drink is reasonably priced, and it just adds to the flavor of the day.

And when the lights came on, it made the picture complete. I was transported to those small little ceramic towns that people put up during this time of the year, and Rothenburg had to be the inspiration behind them.

I am glad that I have been able to come back here during this time of the year after that trip so long ago. It should be the goal of every Christmas enthusiast out there because they will get to experience Christmas the way they see it as they decorate their house. And if you are one of those enthusiasts, I hope that this post has inspired you to one day try to make it out here one cold wintery day in the future.

Waking Up to Christmas – Frankfurt, Germany

I am sure everybody has a person who is a teacher on their friend list on whatever social media site they follow, and it probably angers them a lot when they start getting those posts of those teacher friends showing pictures of the start of their vacation. If you are getting those, you at least see all of the memes they put up about how tired they are, and pictures of teachers running for the parking lots and bars as soon as that final bell rings. It is part of the reason that some people think that teachers don’t really work, but trust me when I say that the exhaustion level of teachers right before winter break is high, and it takes a good couple of days before they can even come to realize that they don’t need to sleep for twelve hours a night just to catch up on the sleep they have lost during the last month.

This is how I felt on Friday. The first semester at my new school in Thailand was fun, but I was also ready for a break. I needed time away from essays, and lesson plans. I also needed time away from the constant hot weather that I find in Bangkok. I longed for a cold, chilly Christmas environment, so I boarded a red-eye flight and went to the most Christmasy place that I could think of Germany.

First off, to demonstrate how tired I was, I actually fell asleep on the plane. I am one of those people that have a hard time sleeping on a flight because I have to squeeze into the seat first of all, and then it is always just a little too cool, and the jiggling that happens from the other passengers, flight attendants, and the plane itself keeps waking me up. But I was so exhausted that I slept most of the twelve hours that I was on that flight, and woke up early in the morning the plane gently touching down in Frankfurt, Germany.

It was not my final destination for the day, but I wasn’t able to check into that place until the afternoon, and it was too early in the morning to sit around and do nothing. So I did what any other traveler would do, I found a locker to ditch my bags, got really caffeinated, and went out to see what the town had to offer. And considering that it was Christmas time, I wasn’t going to go look for statues, cathedrals, and museums that most people look for while in Europe. I was going to look for the markets that I knew were out there, and I knew that Frankfurt has one.

I’ll be honest. I did not know what to expect with these markets; I just knew that they were a big draw around this time of year. What I found was even greater than I thought possible. Basically, there are these small mobile stall that they install on the sides of their walking sections of town. They are all decked out in Christmas lights, and they sell various Christmas paraphernalia. There are simple rides like merry-go-rounds, and if you ever get hungry, there are numerous stalls that sell German cuisine. The smells are just as good. If the simmering meats don’t bring you to the stalls, the smell of mulled wine will get your stomach growling. It is everything, I had seen on those cartoons as a kid as to what Christmas was supposed to be about. It had that warm feeling that kept out the cool, brisk air of Germany, and it was a one-hundred and eighty degree turn from where I was twelve hours earlier.

I loved the way that the Thai people built up their enthusiasm for Christmas, but it never felt quite right. It is hard to get into the season spirit when it is tropical weather outside, and you have to wear shorts just to feel comfortable. It doesn’t help when I have to dig through a stack of final essays before I can relax either because it does not give me enough time to unwind around a Christmas tree or prepare for the holiday. It was nice to put all of that behind and fly across the world to get that feeling once again. It makes me excited for December 24th for the first time in a long time. I guess it all comes down to going back to the source of Christmas to find that anticipation once again.

I hope that all of you can capture that feeling as well and I hope that you can find the time to unwind during this holiday season. Merry Christmas for Germany!

The Holidays in Thailand

Thailand is definitely a Buddhist country. Yes, there are hints of other religions represented in this country, but most of the citizens give their faith over to the man under the bodhi tree. The image of Buddha is everywhere and might even be more prevalent than images of Christianity in America. I like to point this out because it has come to me as quite the surprise when the Christmas season came around and I saw all of the decorations that were being brought out to prepare the people of Bangkok for this great holiday.

It is weird to see how much the people in Bangkok really get into Christmas. They obviously do not celebrate it for the same reason that many Christians supposedly celebrate the holiday, but they like the idea of giving each other presents and getting together at the end of the day to have a meal with their family. It does not matter what religion it comes from, it just matters that it gives them another reason to celebrate.

Of course, the Thai people put their own little spin on it. I still have run across the usual snowflakes, and pictures of Santa Claus. They have even brought out the big fake plastic pine trees to decorate them with lights and little baubles, but they have also added a menagerie of animals all painted in pastel colors that I do not usually associate with Christmas, but it does not really matter because it is still festive in its own special way.

I am not really sure I know why it happens out in Thailand. It could be that the companies like to promote the holiday to pack people into the malls so they can make a little extra money, or maybe it is there to respect the cultures of other countries around the world. It could be a combination of both of these things, but I think the real reason is that they just want to celebrate, and this gives them a reason to do so. It is a lesson that the rest of the world could learn from. Does it really matter why we celebrate Christmas anymore, or is it more important that we do celebrate? Should we discourage other cultures because they do not celebrate the same holiday that we do, or should we join them in their celebration? It might mean that we might get fatigued by celebrating too often, but in the long run is anybody ever really sad when they celebrate these holidays? We might be a happier world because of it.

I know it is the beginning of the holiday season, and no matter holiday you celebrate, I hope you have a happy one, but please take the time wish everybody else the same thing. Share in that kind of joy.