New Year Round 2

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While most of you back home are getting into the romantical mood for vday, here in China most everyone is with their families, eating dumplings and getting money in red envelopes. The era of the ox is over and today officially marks the beginning of the Year of the Tiger! And, the tiger happens to be my year, which can't hurt considering that the Western calendar's new year has not been off to a great start for me (beginning with my camera being stolen back on New Year's Eve). My Chinese New Year's Eve last night was "quiet" in the sense that I celebrated by just having some friends over for tacos and a Glee marathon (very tradition in the Chinese culture), but also not so quiet in the sense that I have never heard/seen so many firecrackers in all the 4th of July's of my life combined. All. night. long. After a somewhat sleepless night I awoke this morning to a magical winter wonderland - it actually snowed here in Suzhou! Even though the poor insulation and horrible heating of my condo has me sitting here bundled up like I'm about to go skiing, it really is beautiful and still exciting for someone who can count their snow trips on one hand. Too bad it couldn't have happened in the middle of a school week so we could get a snow day!
Just about everything is closed this week for the holiday, and I'm actually in the middle of a 3 week school vacation. I'm on a four day layover in Suzhou - I'm off to the Philippines the day after tomorrow, after just returning from Beijing on Friday. I can't wait for my tropical adventure, I will probably give the beach a big sandy kiss when I get there, but for those of you who don't know my mom was visiting last week and it was really hard to say goodbye. We had an amazing time and amazing weather (which was a big concern since it is blizzard season). Some highlights included seeing some fantastic art in Shanghai, showing mom my favorite spots and restaurants in Suzhou, watching the Saints win at an 8am Superbowl party in Beijing, climbing the Great Wall, and loving everything about Beijing from the grilled scorpions a stick to the ultra friendly people. Pictures will be coming once mom gets settled back home and can send them to me, but she also brought me a hand-me-down camera (thanks dad!) so I will have plenty of photos from the Philippines when I get back!
Happy Chinese New Year!!
xoxo

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Photos

Shanghai looking pretty for the new year
Did you know Chinese New Year is actually the beginning of spring according to their lunar calendar. Too bad it was still freezing cold and clearly winter!

my neighborhood market
I feel very at home in Suzhou, it was fun taking mom around like a local.

inside the Forbidden City
Besides the huge main temples, the Forbidden City mostly consists of courtyards, living quarters and hallways like this

The Star is Everywhere!
At least it tries to blend in here. Our hostel was just down the road but we only went here twice in four days - not too embarrassing!

Comments

[Andrea]

New Year
Good to hear your visit with your mom went well. How much more Manderin have you learned?