ITP - 73: Christmas Around the World

Greg: Hey, welcome to a very special edition of the ITP podcast.

Kent: I am Cat the Cat Guy and with me today is JP Mint coming to you from Mexico City.

Jacqueline: Good evening, JP Mint.

Jacqueline: Good morning. From the second Mile High City, I think after Denver, it’s super awesome to be with you guys today.

Kent: And also with us is the single guy, Greg coming to you live almost from right across the street.

Greg: Give it up for the single guy, Greg.

Greg: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you.

Kent: Christmas. Christmas it is. And with luck, with a Christmas miracle, we’ll have Matt the Family Guy dialing in. We’ll cross our fingers and if that doesn’t work, JP Mint will do her very best imitation of him.

Jacqueline: I will try.

Kent: As stated previously, today’s episode we don’t have a special guest. We have the host of the ITP podcast and we’re talking International Christmas. Can I hear a woo hoo for International Christmas?

Jacqueline: Woo hoo.

Kent: So I have my Christmas book right here. It’s this tiny little Christmas ornament that I take out every year and I write inside the year and the place that I had Christmas because I realized I was going to start losing track.

Especially if I lose my marbles, I’m definitely going to lose track of where I spend Christmas. So that is my little Christmas book that I brought.

In what will you be writing in your Christmas book this year, JP?

Jacqueline: This year it is going to be a first entry of Queretaro, Central Mexico, with my mom and whoever else happens to drop by.

I am hosting yet again a Singles Christmas. Anybody singles or couples without kids tend to when you’re overseas and you don’t have children it will be nice to have a gathering.

And so I am hosting a gathering at my house this year and I’m hoping that I think I have about 7 RSVPs so far. So we’re going to have turkey and open some gifts and watch some Christmas movies and I already warned them I’m going to be in my pajamas all day because that is my Christmas tradition.

Kent: What are some of your Christmas traditions, Greg? What a Christmas traditions for you. Where are you going to write in your book this year and what is your Christmas tradition?

Greg: Where? What do you—are you saying family traditions or Greg the single guy like overseas without his family type traditions?

Kent: Yeah, that last one.

Greg: The last one. So me like overseas on my own, the tradition is really go travel somewhere. You know, I don’t put up a tree or anything. I have a little Lego Santa Claus. It’s the only thing I put up.

One year I put up a Pez-mas tree in my fifth grade down in Honduras. That was all my Pez dispensers on a Christmas tree. The kids got a kick out of that.

But I travel so much, I really don’t have a lot of decorations, a lot of like meals or anything. It’s just like enjoy who you’re with, wherever you’re with. That’s my philosophy. And Christmas has been all over the world. Every year it’s somewhere else and it’s exciting.

Kent: I always know it’s Christmas because I would say for the last seven years and in two different countries I will add over the past 15 years, I play Santa Claus. I have no idea why. It could be because I’m loud and have a big belly but other than that I’m not sure what it is.

But I’ll tell you what I just finished up last week making appearances Santa Claus all of the—I got about 30–40 kids and families gather around and and we sort of, you know our listeners will know that we that the single guy and I live in a Muslim country and so Christmas isn’t this big outward display.

Some of the houses in the neighborhood put up lights. We have a party at a local restaurant where Santa makes an appearance and I will say, I will say this, that I get dressed in my Santa costume downstairs and then I walk up the stairs, you know where the kids are ringing the bells.

But as I walk to the restaurants, it’s really quite something. Many of the people, any of the Muslims who live here are wishing me a Merry Christmas and getting their pictures taken with me as I walk by.

So I will say this, that even though it’s not a big celebration here in the country that we’re in, I think people are everywhere in the world appreciate and enjoy the festivities that Christmas brings with it.

My wife and I, we’re pretty low key. We usually go out for a dinner. This year we’ll probably take a little day trip or night trip to a surrounding country and enjoy a meal. Maybe a night out. And it’s just the two of us. We don’t do anything too fancy. We just enjoy each other’s company.

I’ve also worked in two Muslim countries. In Turkey, we just had the day off and so the day before and the day after we were in school if it didn’t happen to hit upon our weekend.

And then my next school in Muscat, Oman, we actually had two to three weeks off right around the Christmas and New Year.

So here’s a question for both of you. Do you have the day off or the two days or three days leading up to it? So what are your breaks like?

Jacqueline: So for the kids every year it’s two to three weeks off. For the teachers it’s different.

For the teachers there are no official days off. You could spend your from your pool of vacation days or if you choose we continue to go into the quote unquote office even when the kids are gone.

And so there are many teachers who are working even on Christmas and New Year Day if they happen to fall during the regular work week.

Now this year I had so many personal vacation days saved up the school basically said you got to take these. And so this year I’m taking 18 days off. I’m taking three weeks off with no work not even going into the office.

Greg: What’s your story like this year’s—Spurs vacation days?

Greg: I’m the same as you since we’re at the same school, but our school is so vastly different than other international schools because we work for a company. And that’s where you get that—he’s talking about having days off without the kids.

So our kids now are leaving on the 14th, that’s the last day of school, and they don’t come back till the 9th of January. We all work for the company, so if you choose to work all those days, you could.

But I tell you what, Jacqueline, in the past, like other schools I’ve worked at, I’ve always had at least a week off for Christmas or Christmas to New Year’s at least. I think the 23rd was the latest I ever worked up into close to Christmas.

But usually most schools have that Christmas break. They might call it winter break. We don’t call it Christmas break with our kids necessarily. We’ll say winter break, winter holiday. And that’s why I travel a lot too, because usually you have one to two, sometimes three weeks depending on the year at different schools.

So what about the last school you worked at, Jacqueline?

Jacqueline: This one here that I had in Mexico was a two week break. Yeah, because it’s—as you can imagine—Mexico is very Christmas-centric.

I remember seeing Christmas decorations before Halloween, if you can imagine, here in Mexico. So that’s a big, big deal.

In fact, today marks the beginning of sort of that Christmas cheer because today is the day that Mary became a saint. So December 12th is a huge day in Mexican culture. It’s called Virgen de la Guadalupe.

And what I’ve been seeing these last couple days are pilgrims walking on highways behind trucks with Mary, sort of a statue of Mary on the back of a truck with all the decorations, and then all the pilgrims following in behind that truck, walking or cycling.

And just to honor the day that Mary became a saint. And then that goes all the way to January the 6th, which is the Magi, the—I’m not entirely sure what they call it—but it’s the day, I think, that the three wise kings made it to Bethlehem.

Kent: So what does Christmas Eve and Christmas Day actually look like in Mexico?

Jacqueline: So here, as far as I can tell—because I can’t be an expert on it—but as far as I can tell is that Christmas Eve is the big day. Christmas Eve night, they have their big dinner and they open their gifts.

And then Christmas Day is just a day to relax because it is usually the day off for most people, and they’re just enjoying the day off and maybe continuing to be with family.

But Christmas Eve night—I remember in sort of Latino culture, because my Brazilian friends also did a big party on Christmas Eve night in Turkey—so that’s a big night.

For myself with my mother here, she just joined me a couple days ago here in Mexico City. We’re going to spend Christmas together in Queretaro with some friends. And Christmas Day for us is the big deal.

Christmas Eve night, we might walk around and kind of enjoy listening to all the parties going on in the neighborhood.

Kent: Mama Mint—let’s have a shout out for Mama Mint there.

Jacqueline: I was super excited when she accepted my invitation, because I said any chance I could get you back in Mexico so that I don’t have to go to Canada in the minus 11 degrees that it is right now?

Right now it’s a beautiful 22 sunny degrees outside, and it didn’t take much convincing to have her come down to Mexico.

Kent: Let me tell you about one of my favorite little Christmas excursions. Have either one of you done the European Christmas markets?

Jacqueline: Germany, yes.

Kent: Very, very nice. And for the ITP crowd, I bet many of our teachers who are working in and around Europe will have gone to some of the Christmas markets. But if you haven’t and it’s kind of in your ability to get there, they’re a ton of fun.

And it’s mostly a local thing. I mean, there are of course some tourists, but it’s the locals who set up the shops. It’s the locals who show up and have the meals and drink the mulled wine and shop for the presents.

There’s usually some ice skating nearby. It’s going to be cold and wet, sometimes snowy. But usually from this time right now until about December 23rd is when these markets are in high gear.

And the biggest ones are, I believe, in Germany, but there’s others like Amsterdam, maybe the UK, some other countries, and they’re just the best.

We had the best time, my wife and I. We went to about four of them as we toured around in December in Europe, and we had just an awesome time.

Greg: So do you do glühwein pure or glühwein with the whiskey? Because there was one where they actually put in a little bit more alcohol than the red wine, and it is potent. It knocks your socks off.

Kent: Well, I don’t know. I have to declare both, because my experience was the last time I went to a German Christmas market—I think it might have even been with Matt and his family.

What I remember distinctly was that I was drinking the glühwein, and then we went into this little pavilion and there was this Jack Daniel’s stand. They had this white label I had never seen before.

It was specifically only in Europe that they were trying it out, and they were trying to compete with the glühwein and get it into their culture. So you could have this hot whiskey drink, and it was so delicious.

But I still go back to the glühwein.

Jacqueline: And you get those souvenir mugs, right? You carry them around and then you can return them or keep them. I have a few of those as well.

Kent: Yeah, I’ve got a little boot. I’ve got a couple of round mugs. They just bring back those great memories of kind of freezing, especially if you’re coming from somewhere warm, and then that glühwein just warms you up from the inside.

Greg: I bet you’ve got lederhosen too.

Jacqueline: I have a dirndl. That’s the girls’ version, right? I bought that in Austria when we went to Oktoberfest. I had to get one.

Kent: What are some of the traditional foods you feel like you need for Christmas?

Jacqueline: Turkey for sure. A glazed ham or even duck. Some years it’s been chicken if I can’t find turkey. But if I can get a nice roasted turkey, I’m really happy.

We have this cheese in Canada called Imperial cheddar. It comes in a red container with a black top. It’s really sharp, and if you leave it out, it’s spreadable. I love it.

And plum pudding. My stepfather used to light it on fire and bring it in on a tray. It was like a whole performance.

Greg: For me, it’s not really about the food anymore. It’s more about the travel. But I do think of glühwein and having a beer.

Kent: What about strange Christmas meals while traveling?

Greg: One thing that shocked me was Europe shutting down completely. Everything closes on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. You can’t find restaurants open like in the US.

Jacqueline: I remember one year in Korea. I invited my cousin over, and we tried to recreate Christmas dinner. I made corn on the cob, and it turned out to be chicken feed corn. It was so hard, not sweet at all.

We just laughed. It was our attempt to recreate something familiar that didn’t quite work.

Greg: I’ve had that in South America too. That corn is not what you expect.

One Christmas in Guyana, I was staying at a bed and breakfast, and they served us a gelatin dish that turned out to be cow hoof. I tried it, but it was awful. Everything was closed, so we just ate bread.

Jacqueline: That’s rough.

Greg: In Venezuela, they had pan de jamón, bread with ham and olives. I didn’t like it, but it’s traditional.

And in Cambodia, I had green beans with red ants. Honestly, they tasted pretty good.

Jacqueline: We did Christmas in Cambodia too. My parents came over, and we went to see Angkor Wat. We had Christmas dinner at an Irish pub. That’s a good tip—there’s usually an Irish pub somewhere that does a Christmas dinner.

It was more expensive, but we got turkey, mashed potatoes, everything. Palm trees in the background, drinking local beer. It was great.

Kent: All right, let’s take a moment for a little commercial about how to get in touch with us.

You can find us at itpexpat.com. You can email us at [internationalteacherpodcast@gmail.com](mailto:internationalteacherpodcast@gmail.com).

We also have a Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/ITPExpat and Instagram at itpexpats.

Thank you to our listeners. We have over 100 countries represented. We’re not monetized—we’re just here for you.

Let’s get back to the show.

Kent: We need to welcome one of the founding guys—Matt the Family Guy.

Matt: I hope it’s not too late.

Kent: Never too late.

Matt: We had a pre-bedtime crisis. It needed an inept father to step in.

Greg: We’ve been talking about Christmas around the world. Any memorable ones?

Matt: One that stands out—we were in Venezuela, and the school had our passports for processing. They couldn’t find them, and we thought we wouldn’t make it home for Christmas.

That didn’t go over well. People had flights booked.

It got resolved last minute, but it was stressful.

Kent: It’s been a while since we’ve heard from you. What have you been up to?

Matt: I moved out of education into leadership development. Still teaching, but working with adults.

I also finished another master’s degree in professional sports administration. I’ve been trying to get into professional baseball.

I went to Nashville for a Major League Baseball event and met some executives. We’ll see where it goes.

Greg: That’s awesome.

Matt: After 25 years in education, it felt like the right time to do something for myself.

Kent: Does that tie into your kids getting older?

Matt: Definitely. We always said we’d stay until our youngest was five. Now he’s older, and we’re thinking about next steps.

Kent: What are your Christmas plans?

Matt: My family is going to London. I’m staying here.

Kent: What about New Year’s?

Greg: I try to wake up in a new country every year.

Jacqueline: One year in Dubai, we got stuck in a massive crowd trying to get back to our hotel for fireworks. We ended up watching from the street instead of our balcony.

The next year, we learned and watched from the beach.

Kent: Let’s wrap up with hopes for the new year.

Matt: For teachers, this is hiring season. Be ready, go to job fairs, be open-minded.

Greg: Great advice.

Kent: That’s a wrap.

Greg: Thanks to Matt. Thanks to JP Mint—jpmintconsulting.com. You can find my book on Amazon.

Kent: This is Kent the Cat Guy wishing you a Merry Christmas.

Jacqueline: One year in Dubai, we got stuck in a massive crowd trying to get back to our hotel for fireworks. We ended up watching from the street instead of our balcony.

The next year, we learned and watched from the beach.

Kent: Let’s wrap up with hopes for the new year.

Matt: For teachers, this is hiring season. Be ready, go to job fairs, be open-minded.

Greg: Great advice.

Kent: That’s a wrap.

Greg: Thanks to Matt. Thanks to JP Mint—jpmintconsulting.com. You can find my book on Amazon.

Kent: This is Kent the Cat Guy wishing you a Merry Christmas.

Greg: And from all of us here at the International Teacher Podcast, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season wherever you are in the world, and we’ll see you in the new year.

Matt: Happy holidays, everyone.

Jacqueline: Merry Christmas.

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