Happy new year! ~ Again!

I’m doing a flash-back now to bring you back a couple of weeks to write on the Chinese New Year Celebrations. For the New Year Eve, we were all invited to Michelle’s parents home for dinner. When I say We, I mean a total of six (6) expats. Now that’s a lot of people to fit in a tiny apartment. And waiting for us were a few of the family’s grand parents, uncles and friends. So we all gather around a table and pick at the various dishes and we drink warm beer and enjoy this very unique moment. Of course, Michelle was busy translating 3 to 4 different conversations at a time. After the meal, the amount of fire works and fire crackers were increasing so we decide to go for a walk around the apartment vicinity. The parents live at the shipyard housing complex in one of dozens of five story high buildings. In-between the rows of buildings are grids of alley-ways and narrow streets. This is where everybody else was. Hundreds of people (adults and kids) were all busy lighting fireworks all around-us. The sounds of the blasts were numbing and the show of lights against the pitch black sky was really amazing. Also, hanging at almost every window were the famous red Chinese lanterns lit-up giving a mysterious warm glow. This truly unique experience made us all appreciate this opportunity to be in China during this annual event. Once things started to quiet down outside, we went back to the apartment to find out that it was time to start making the dumplings. Chinese tradition is that dumplings must be eaten at midnight. Most of us tried our hands at making these wonderful dumplings ~ it isn’t as easy as it looks either! We didn’t wait ‘till midnight to eat. And even if you weren’t hungry, you couldn’t resist eating them. Because we had to get back to the yard early the next morning, we left Michelle’s place at around 10ish. Once back at the hotel, you could still hear and see dozens and dozens of fireworks. They kept us awake until about one (1) am. And then they woke us up again at around 6 in the morning! All day and for several days after that, people were lighting crackers and fireworks ~ busy keeping the bad spirits away for the new year. Now the novelty is wearing off and this is becoming simply annoying. You walk around to get to the restaurant and jump 2 feet in the air ‘cause a fire cracker behind you scares the crap out of you. What’s the point in lighting fireworks during daylight? ~ I guess it’s not for me to understand…just another of Chinese people’s mysteries.
…The ride to the airport is bumpy this time. I’m traveling in a rickety suspension-less van. I skipped breakfast and I’m getting a little nauseous… Hopefully, I’ll be able to connect and post this now very long-winded blog!