Happy Chinese New Year!!! Welcome to my new blog!! I thought Chinese New Year was as good as time as any to start my online life (outside Facebook). At this stage, I haven't sent it to very many people, and as time passes I will work out what to and what not to include - so for my very first blog entry I'll start with the details of our Chinese New Year celebrations!!
We had a lovely night last night celebrating Chinese New Year's Eve with my friend Jodie, and her family. We had a big bowl of prawn crackers, a tuna dip (not very Chinese) with a big plate of crudites, chicken and shiitake & beef and bok choi dumplings that I boiled and pork and bok choi dumplings that I steamed, spring rolls that Jodie made, jiaozi that her Ayi made in advance, and we just fried and salad! A bottle of champagne to see us through the night and fireworks from every angle!! They came over about 6pm and the fireworks were already well in progress!! It was a crazy night here, and I'm glad we were safe and sound inside all night!! There were loads of crackers and actual fireworks - and they were being set off EVERYWHERE!!! It looked so pretty as fireworks framed buildings, and were reflected in building windows and the river. They left about 10pm (Jodie's younger daughter had already fallen asleep on the lounge) and headed home, and the fireworks continued and continued!!
We went to bed after we had cleaned up a little, and to be honest it was before 12, but we left our curtains open so we could continue to watch the fireworks.... and right on midnight some fireworks were set off in our driveway, and were exploding level with our flat, some of the 'shrapnel' even hit our windows!!! I never realised how bright fireworks really are!!
During the day yesterday we went to Lotus Supermarket, which is a quite Chinese supermarket compared to the French owned Carrefour, and it was nuts!! It was so full that we couldn't even navigate through with a trolley and a pram, so we 'parked' Mike and Ellie and the trolley and I ran around collecting the few things that we needed, knowing that the shops are closed today!! But looking at the Chinese people shopping you'd think they were stocking up to last through a nuclear war!! There were families with 3 trolleys full of butter biscuits!! We also saw a Fireworks Stall - smartly signposted with a no smoking symbol!! For RMB1000 you can buy a box of fireworks which would set off typically at about 15 storeys up, and would be a display lasting about 5 mins. You can also buy strings of crackers, and smaller ground level displays and even just sparklers!!! It is a bit sad to think that so many people buy these when they are effectively just setting money on fire! But fireworks (and the loud noise associated) drive the evil spirits away.
New year is also known as the Spring Festival, and the preparation involved is cleaning out your house from ceiling to floor and preparing masses of food to feast on, and then no work is allowed for the first 3 days (ie until Wednesday). You can't even sweep the floor (Lucky that is not our tradition after last night!). And this is why the food is prepared in advance because technically the feast food then only needs to be heated, not cooked!! It is the main time that families get together, so lots of Chinese people leave cities like Shanghai and return to their provinces. The government has gazetted a week holiday, but only 3 days are actual public holidays, and in order to get the full week off Chinese companies generally work (this year) the Saturday before and the Sunday afterwards. But because CNY is a movable holiday dependent on the moons this changes each year. The bangers and crackers are still going off this morning, so it's a bit noisy!!! Ellie came racing in to me this morning when some went off which must have been really close as they were very loud!! And just clung to me, then when Mike asked if she wanted to go and have a look she ran from me to him and jumped into his arms, but she did want to see what was going on. There are a number of nutters who swim in the river behind our apartment (even though it is freezing degrees!) and this morning, they have set off crackers wearing nothing but speedos!!
We are planning on a quiet week - more for my benefit than for not wanting to get out and immerse ourselves in Chinese New Year Festivities, but at 38 weeks pregnant and expected crowds it doesn't seem too smart. In advance of Chinese New Year, Mike's school put on a festival including a Lion Dance which we went to. Ellie was fascinated by the lions (dragons), and loved watching the dance, but was a bit scared when we went up to say hi!!
Kung Hei Fat Choi - is Happy New Year in Cantonese, and so in Mandarin we wish you Xin Nian Kuai Le (Happy New Year) and Gong Xi Fan Cai (Congratulations and good wishes for prosperity)!!
And to all my Australian friends and family - Happy Australia Day!!!
