Life and Travel in China

However, China is a poor country, poor in traditions. Of course, they don't have St. Nicholas Day... How much are they missing out on?! While Christmas has become very commercial here - Christmas trees, decorations everywhere, everything reminds them of America, our tradition of putting gifts under pillows is, of course, completely foreign to them. One friend thought that I bought myself a gift and put it under my pillow, she didn't understand the meaning of this tradition. My wife loves Santa Claus and Christmas in general, not only the gifts, but the whole atmosphere, the confusion and this unique atmosphere.

According to a Japanese statistics agency, Filipino maids (babysitters) earn an average of HKD 3,500 a month (PLN 1,094) in Hong Kong, plus, of course, housing and food costs. However, it turned out that in Shenzhen Filipinas earn about RMB 4,000 (or PLN 1,318). There are still few of them here, much more in Hong Kong, but still - people from mainland China living in Shenzhen are willing to pay more for their servants, they are obviously rich and want to show that they can afford to serve at home.

A new massage salon is about to open. I'm not exaggerating when I say that about a thousand people were employed there: waiters, standmen, porters, towel dispensers, foot masseurs, body masseurs, maintenance workers, etc. Yesterday, everyone gathered on the local stage to prepare a show for the opening of the salon. I managed to get there and took several dozen photos. It was fun, there was a lot going on! There was even a Chinese Michael Jackson and a fan dance. And of course, a whole army of beautiful masseuses. As soon as I deal with the outstanding photos, I will add new ones.

It is also possible to organize a decent Christmas Eve and Christmas in China. All you need is a bit of willingness, culinary skills and a few semi-finished products from Poland. I prepare chicken jelly, fish in jelly (gelatin from Poland), borscht with dumplings (borscht concentrate from Poland), vegetable salad, cabbage with peas and, of course, fried fish. What's more, I have a delivery of pork neck, ham and bigos from Poland. In fact, it's good that the holidays are, in a sense, commercial. Thanks to this, even in the middle of nowhere there are Christmas trees and Christmas decorations everywhere, and the staff in supermarkets, restaurants and other service outlets wear Santa hats. Of course, the vast majority of Chinese people don't know any Christmas traditions... maybe only those from American movies like eating turkey and stockings as gifts. Apart from the inhabitants of Hong Kong, hardly anyone has time off for the holidays.

In a fit of Christmas spirit, we went to the Catholic Church in Shenzhen (Meilin) ​​today. It was an unpleasant sight... A huge building, modern, a cross on the tower, no stained glass windows. Inside there is a huge hall for 500 people, benches without kneelers, maybe 200 people inside. No altar, just a stage, a piano covered with cloth, a lectern with the symbol of a cross, and an armchair next to it. Nothing else - no pictures, no figures, no candlesticks, just white, bare walls. Tragedy! And the worst thing was that there wasn't even any priest or nun. Some sermon from a movie was playing on a projector, on a screen that was rolled out there instead of an altar. And this is supposed to be a church during the holidays?! Shame! There wasn't even a simple Christmas tree and no decorations. If there is a living priest there at all (not the one from TV), he should be responsible for it, I would send him to Europe for training.