Chinese New Year

Alright, alright, I'm back. The reason I have been so busy, and the reason that I have so much to tell, is that this is a combination of Winter School Break and Chinese New Year holiday so that we get almost a month off! The only rub is that they periodically schedule meetings or other events to get us back to school to break it up. All in all, though, it has been great.

In reverse chronological order, I'll start with the description of the Chinese New Year celebration. The Year of the Pig began with the feast on the eve -- Feb.18. I was invited to the home of one of the teachers that I know from school. I had the feeling that she had "drawn the short straw" and I realized why. Chinese New Year is traditionally spent with the other side of the family. It appears that most of my friends "other sides" are in other places in Taiwan. In fact that seems to be true for most of my town -- the place seems deserted.

The dinner was very nice but did not include the making of 1000 dumplings which I remember from other new year's dinners. I was told that that is a northern tradition and this family is from the south. So we just ate a lot, then went home.

I was expecting a huge fireworks show that night since I can see them almost every night from my unobstructed 7th floor window. Turns out they were not until Sunday night. We had also been warned that everything would be closed but that also did not happen. My town looked pretty much as it always does on Sunday morning.

Everything is decorated, though, with red ad gold streamers so it looks very festive. Also everyone gets new clothes, haircuts, etc. to start the new year so everyone looks sharp.

Children are given small red envelopes with money inside and sometimes chocolate coins wrapped in gold paper. I had 4 all made up to give to my favorite little ones but -- of course -- they all left town.