Things have been extremely hectic here of late, due to college applications, the start of a new school semester (with a really strict and difficult teacher) and new students to teach. I am now tutoring a student at Taipei American School (a private school taught all in English) in American History. Her family is extremely wealthy, owning a three-floor apartment in the ritziest area of Taipei, and so they pay me about 33 dollars an hour to do this (which is about $14 more than I usually make). She's a nice girl, and easy to teach, although her mother always goes on and on about how stupid she is. I'm not sure if this is just Chinese parenting or her mother really thinks so. Her father is rarely home; according to our Taiwanese friends, most wealthy Taiwanese men have at least one mistress, so maybe that's why. In any case, it's interesting.
Christmas in Taipei is upon us, such as it is. While Christmas has recently become trendy here, they don't really understand what they're doing. For instance they have installed multiple large Christmas trees at the nearby shopping center, all emblazoned with Johnny Walker (the whiskey) advertisements. Also people buy presents here, but they only buy them for their friends (because if you buy presents for parents, they must be extremely expensive and lavish, out of filial duty). My teacher was surprised to learn that people in America think Christmas is mostly a family holiday. Actually the Chinese aren't much for presents in any case. They prefer to give each other money, in special red envelopes (white ones are only for funerals). Very practical!
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