Winter Holidays
Once again, I have neglected to update this site for another two months. I really have no excuse this time because I had a three-week Christmas vacation. Well, at least it's here now. Thanks to those who email me and remind me to keep updating. It's easy with the busy Vancouver life to get carried away and not take time to sit down and think about what's been happening.
So what has been happening? Well, let's start back in the middle of December. That's when I handed in my last assignment for the fall semester. Just like many other times when I have days off, my parents grab me for shopping errands and for lunchtime meals with other relatives. I actually saw a lot of my grandparents and my uncle over the break. It's good to see that they are in good spirits.
Just before Christmas Day was the Chinese "Winter Festival" on December 22nd. I don't know if it's commonly celebrated on the Mainland, but it's quite important to many Hong Kong Chinese families. So that night, we had a nice family dinner with my sister and brother's families visiting.
Christmas was actually very quiet this year. Thank goodness. Last year, I was just too busy visiting so many people I had not seen for a long time. This year, I was just home and spending time with family.
Christmas Day in Canada is one of the quietest days of the years because almost nobody works. There are still buses and police officers out and the hospitals don't close, but everyone else is at home relaxing. The only exception, though, are Chinese restaurants. Most Chinese restaurants are open on Christmas Day. Why not? They get good business. Many people come in for "morning tea" and "dim sum."
After Christmas Day is Boxing Day. In Canada, Boxing Day is a day for bargain shopping. People will line up outside stores early in the morning to get good deals on all kinds of merchandise, especially electronics. The stores are extremely busy on shopping day. Personally, I don't feel like I need to join the crowds on Boxing Day because I think that the stores will have just as good prices in January. So I don't care anymore. Although, when I was younger, I did wake up 3am to walk to the store to buy something. It wasn't worth the trouble.
After Christmas, I went away for a few days to a city in my province called Kelowna. Kelowna is the largest city in the area of the province called the Okanagan Valley. The Okanagan Valley is home to Lake Okanagan which stretches north to south between two mountain ranges. They say there is a monster called the Ogopogo (BC's version of the Loch Ness Monster) that lives in the lake. The Okanagan is also famous for orchard farms and wineries. Kelowna is a 5-6 hour drive from Vancouver. At this time of year, there is snow in the mountains, so one must be careful when driving. Fortunately, I didn't drive. I took a bus there. I was in meetings most of the time while in Kelowna. It was a very challenging time and there were many good lessons taught.
Then I got back to Vancouver on New Year's Eve. I was really tired so I didn't try to stay up too long. I went to a friend's house where most of my friends had gathered to play video games all night long. Now, I know I cannot stand to stay up all night, so I left early. Early being 1:30am. But I know most of them stayed up until about 4am or so.
New Year's Day is just like Christmas. It's extremely quiet on the streets. Most of the time it's because people have stayed up so late the night before like my friends. And, once again, about the only thing open that day are Chinese restaurants. Honestly, they have really good business on these holidays.
As with all good things, the winter holiday came to an end and I have started more externships (practice work). I had a great first week back at work, but during the second week, I got really sick. I think I had the stomach flu. I missed three days of work. It was a really strange week. I hope the rest of the externship will be "less eventful."