I don't want to live on the moon

Christmas tree and lights outside of a Shenzhen department store

Merry Christmas!

Teaching + traveling + preparation for parents' day at the ISS this morning (yes, on Christmas Eve) have given me little time to consider the Christmas season that is in full swing at home, 7,7478.48 miles away. So up until now the pre-break craziness has kept me from feeling homesick, and much of the time even remembering that I am not home.

Then, this morning, as the last students left the ISS with their parents, Cindy (Chinese teacher) asked me about my Christmas plans. I admitted that I didn't really have any. The school director would host a dinner for the foreign teachers on the 26th, and we were doing a Secret Santa gift exchange, but the rapidly approaching holiday still felt overwhelmingly foreign. In her friendly conversational way, Cindy asked what I would normally be doing, and I explained: the 23rd I celebrated with my immediate family, the 24th with my dad's side, the 25th with my mom's. I told her that my family had already celebrated Christmas, and had compensated for my absence by hanging my picture on the tree, and that if I were at home I would probably be out cross-country skiing with my family right now. At the end of my rushed sentences, I felt my voice growing flat and distant, and I had the same sensation as during the kung fu dance practice: either quit or cry. I think Cindy realized this and she halted her questions.

When I signed a Sept-Feb contract, I knew that Christmastime would be the hardest time to be away. So for now, I'm going to treat the holiday just like any other happy China day: I'll go out to lunch for some nice (take a guess!) Chinese food, practice my kung fu dance with the other teachers, go for a run in the 70 degree sun.... and listen to Ernie, on repeat:

Well, I'd like to visit the moon
On a rocketship high in the air.
Yes, I'd like to visit the moon,
But I don't think I'd like to live there.
Though I'd like to look down at the earth from above,
I would miss all the places and people I love,
So although I might like it for one afternoon,
I don't want to live on the moon.

I'd like to travel under the sea.
I could meet all the fish everywhere.
Yes, I'd travel under the sea,
But I don't think I'd like to live there.
I might stay for a day there if I had my wish,
But there's not much to do when your friends are all fish,
And an oyster and clam aren't real family,
So I don't want to live in the sea.

I'd like to visit the jungle,
Hear the lion's roar;
Go back in time and meet a dinosaur.
There's so many strange places I'd like to be
But none of them permanently.

So if I should visit the moon,
Well, I'll dance on a moonbeam, and then
I will make a wish on a star,
And I'll wish I was home once again.
Though I'd like to look down at the earth from above,
I would miss all the places and people I love
So although I may go,
I'll be coming home soon,
'Cause I don't want to live on the moon.
No, I don't want to live on the moon.