Merry Christmas

We had a joyful Christmas Day. Toastmasters Bill Wan, Nate Alvarez, Libby Chung and her husband, Director Daniel Ingi Petursson from Iceland were guests of honor at Christmas dinner table at Jimmy's house on Christmas Day.

Jimmy prepared a full table of dishes, from grilled fish, roast chicken, stir-fried grounded pork, hot pot, sesame buns, lettuce, pickles. We ate, drank, and talked about everything, to exchange information and experiences about people and cultures around the world. Daniel taught us to sing Christmas Carols in Icelandic. Nate played piano, and I sang all the Christmas songs in English and in Mandarin in a children's Christmas songbook.

Daniel sat next to me at the table. When he talked about Iceland, I was all ears. Firstly, it's not cold in Iceland, because it's warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Secondly, in Iceland, people don't have a family name. Daniel Ingi Petursson means he is the son of Petur. If Daniel has a son, he would be Danielsson. Thirdly, Iceland has the first female president in the world. That's why Daniel likes Tsai Ing-wen among the three presidential candidates of ROC.

Being a director, Daniel also recommended a dozen plays. Nate wrote down the list (a streetcar named desire, the glass menagerie, long day's journey into night, miss julie, a doll's house, three sisters, ghost, salome, the importance of being earnest, ulysses, the tricycle, picnic on the battlefield). It would be one of my new year resolutions to see them all.

Nate is from Boston. He was a music major in college. He studied international relations in graduate school. Nate came to Taiwan this year after traveling to many countries. He likes Taiwan because it reminds him of Dominican Republic full of vitality and diversity. It was Nate's debut show in Summer Shorts. Born to a Spanish mother and Irish father, Nate speaks many languages, English, Spanish, French, Mandarin. He also composes music. I think it would be awesome if we can produce a grand musical of 30 to 45 minutes for D67 Fall Conference Party 2012 in Taipei in November. It would be another one of my new years resolutions.

Many thanks go to Bill for inviting Jimmy and me to see the Summer Shorts Sunday evening, December 11th. Jimmy wanted to invite Bill for dinner. Bill invited Daniel and Nate to come along. I invited Libby and her husband to join us, because Libby used to perform in a few plays directed by Daniel. On Christmas Day, the more people, the merrier Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho!

PS: The wikepedia provides more than a hundred languages to explain Iceland, from Acèh, Адыгэбзэ, Afrikaans, Alemannisch, Ænglisc, العربية, Aragonés, Armãneashce, Arpetan, Asturianu, Avañe'ẽ, to Zazaki, Zeêuws Žemaitėška. How come a remote island country of a population of 320,000 is interesting to people in many parts of the world? I want to see the mud waterfall where a Chinese is interested in constructing a golf course!