This year I skipped the midnight mass and went to Christmas Day mass instead. Instead I had Christmas dinner with Ghee Hwee & Eve. As usual, Ms Tan's culinary skills are excellent.
Christmas is such a non-event in Taiwan - Christmas Day mass as a small affair in the chapel filled with a few people, mostly foreigners and their small families - kids and all. So different from what I've used to. I know, the reason for the season is the Christ, but still there is a marked difference in the atmosphere. Would be nicer if it were grander so that the non-Christians, the lapsed Christians can be made aware of the significance of this day - the celebration of the greatest salvivic act of all time.
HP is shutdown over 25 and 26 Dec, so on Boxing Day, Emily took me and GH & Eve to 桃園 (Taoyuan) on Boxing Day. We took the bus in, dropped by her place - it was grand! She picked up her car and then we did a bit of a tour, driving to 石門水庫 and then 慈湖. Now 慈湖 is this lake where Chiang Kai Shek's mausoleum is. The original plan was to wait out reunification with China then bury him beside his mother. But as things are today, they decided to bury him somewhere in Taiwan but the DPP government started quibbling over details... So yeah, that's pretty much the state of affairs in Taiwan.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157611769410670/
Emily's pix - http://picasaweb.google.com/ycemilylai/Dashi2008Xmas#
On Saturday, 27 Dec, we did a little hike at 富陽公園. Had planned this some time ago and I was glad to finally get up into the mountains. It wasn't difficult and we made up 福州山and the nearby中埔山東峰. Both peaks offered fantastic views of Taipei city including the iconic Taipei 101.
We were blessed to meet a Mr Yang - actually we were only asking for directions to the top, and he offered to walk us up. Along the way we chatted about Taiwan political state of affairs (same view of how the DPP quibbles too much for the good of Taiwan). And he also provided a little history of the place. Apparently, the mountain we were on used to be temporary graves awaiting reburial in China. They bury 1st, and when the ships arrive, the graves are dug up and then shipped back for burial on Chinese soil. A little creepy but consistent as the Mucha mountains nearby are dotted with graves that remain til today.http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157611720869489/
Today is the feast of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. And I overslept! Gasp! Had to go to the farther church in Little Manila for the 12noon mass. It was in Tagalog, hang on it gets worse, it was also a wedding mass. Great. The Lord has a sense of humour...
I especially like the gospel of today - Col 3:12 Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body.And be thankful.
And the good thing is that the church is 10mins walk from the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. And the reason why I know this is because I ran down this road last Sunday as part of the 21k route for the ING Marathon. So after mass, I acquired a little culture with the local modern arts scene.
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