Now Christmas being over, and most of the people still experiencing the aftershock of eating too much delicious food the last days and some people already back to work (poor mommy), I decided to share a last Christmas story with you. It’s a special one.

A few years ago I had to spend Christmas in China again. But not alone in a small dormitory in a Shanghai university; no, I went to a Kungfu school during the Christmas break. In between all the daily training there was not much time to think about Christmas at all. And honestly, there was not even a lot of Christmas atmosphere going around.

But we, all the other foreign students, planned a nice Christmas party for the Chinese kids and our trainers and teachers for Christmas evening.

We bought a lot of sweets and put them into bags. I forgot how many Chinese kids there were, but we had a bag for everyone. Christmas evening we all gathered in the dining hall. You could feel the excitement in the room. The kids were giggling and moving around on their chairs. The sight of the foreigners all dressed in red and with funny Christmas hats on must have made them think we were crazy. The performances we had prepared would prove them right. There were group dances to Christmas songs like Jingle Bells, but also Eye of a Tiger! Me and a friend even performed to All the Single Ladies (yes, I was still single by than). Also the Chinese kids did have something to show us. There were songs sung and poems recited. And then the big final: Us giving every kid one of the big bag with candies we had prepared. It was gone in few minutes.

It was a joyful evening; but not over yet. After all the Chinese kids went back to their rooms to sleep, our trainers took us out to the big city. Going to the big city was a special thing by itself as we were just allowed to go there once a week anyway.

To give us a surprise for Christmas our trainers thought it would be a nice idea to go to a western restaurant. They actually had steaks there. The food was more than bad, but of course that was not the point. We were all enjoying ourselves so much. No one in that moment was missing their own family back home. We all were a big family now. And it was such a thoughtful thing that our trainers took us out that night.

That evening was also the first time my other half made his move. In a joking way he handed me a fake flower from the table. And I can’t explain why, but looking into his eyes, it just hit me. That Christmas I gave him my heart.

A few years later we were finally celebrating, the so much talked about, traditional German Christmas with my family.

The following two tabs change content below.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Anna Z.

Anna Z. is a freelance illustrator and portrait artist in her late 20s, with a passion for Martial Arts and Chinese culture, and is the creator of Lost Panda, a blog to China and Art. Together with her husband, a Chinese national, she writes about daily life in rural China, focusing on cultural and social differences and the joys (and sometimes difficulties) as an intercultural couple. Apart from China related topics, she publishes her artwork, photography, art material reviews and tutorials to help more people discover their creative side. She is fluent in German, English and Mandarin Chinese.

Latest posts by Anna Z. (see all)

• Why You Need a VPN in China - March 4, 2017
• “Sheng Da Pang Sunzi 生大胖孙子” The pressure of having a boy in rural China - December 11, 2016
• “Your baby must be cold!” – Comic - December 4, 2016
• The Thing I Wish I Knew Before Marrying into a Chinese Family - November 20, 2016
• ‘Sitting the Month’: Postpartum Traditions in Rural Anhui - October 30, 2016