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This is the second time Canadian teacher Carol Turner has celebrated Christmas in China.

Turner moved here from St. Stephen in New Brunswick in August last year when she retired after more than 30 years as a teacher and school administrator. She is now working in Shenzhen (Nanshan) Concord College of Sino-Canada.

For this year's Christmas holiday, the school has given Turner and other Canadian teachers Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day off.

On Monday evening, the school arranged a gift-exchanging party for its 40 staff members, including eight Canadian teachers and 32 Chinese teachers of English.

"We not only exchanged gifts with our Chinese counterparts, but also sang Christmas songs, and ate Canadian munchies together," Turner said.

Turner explained that "munchies" was a Canadian slang word for a kind of snack made with potato chips, ketchup dips and other ingredients.

On Thursday evening, the eight Canadian teachers had a special dinner at the school.

"We're trying to keep the Canadian way of celebrating the Christmas holidays here," Turner said.

Turner and seven other Canadian teachers have made reservations for another get-together party Friday in a restaurant in Shekou to spend Christmas Eve.

"I haven't seen the menu yet, and there might be turkey, a traditional dish for a traditional Canadian Christmas dinner," Turner said.

For last year's Christmas holidays, Turner went to Guangzhou with other Canadian teachers, where they had a traditional Christmas dinner, which included turkey, mashed potatoes, carrots and peas.

"There are more Christmas decorations in the city this year, and Christmas seems to be getting more popular among local people here," Turner said.

Editor: Catherine