Teaching and Learning in Beijing : Happy New Year! 新年快乐！

Yesterday we spent our day off from school wandering around Tiananmen Square and its surrounding hutongs. We enjoyed spring-like weather and, since most people had already "migrated" back to their hometowns for the holidays or were inside preparing their New Year's Eve feast, we felt like we had the city all to ourselves! We were a little disoriented when we discovered there were seats waiting for us on a nearly-empty subway and realized that we wouldn't have to push our way through the Square to take a good picture.

Shocked by the empty subway station!

Wandering through Zhongshan Park

This guard asked to be in a picture with us!

Around dinner time we took the bus over to the home of a girl I tutor, Suzy. Weeks earlier her father, Jack, invited Jacky and I to spend New Year's Eve with his family. We arrived and were excitedly greeted at the door by the whole family including Suzy, dressed in a beautiful traditional red qipao. We gave them a large box of nuts (a traditional New Year's gift) and gave Suzy a red envelope with an $2 bill inside (it's a tradition to give young children red envelopes with money inside on New Year's Eve). They invited us to the dining room table to make dumplings. We were amazed to see the dough was green! Jack explained that his mother had infused vegetable juice into the flour when making the dough, resulting in its green color. He told us that every year she makes the dough a different color. Generously catering to my vegetarian diet, the filling for the dumplings was egg and cabbage. Jack coached us in how to correctly stuff and close the dumpling, and was impressed when he saw that we already (sort of) knew what we were doing. While making the dumplings, Jack explained that dumplings are the traditional dish for Chinese New Year's Eve. When he was younger, they ate dumplings with their dinner and then again at midnight. Throughout the conversation we were frequently interrupted by the sounds of fireworks being set off just outside the apartment. At first, Suzy ran to the window yelling "Lotty!" signaling me to come join her to watch. But after the first few rounds, we all became accustomed to the blasts and the fireworks quickly became background noise.

Suzy watching the fireworks

After quickly boiling the dumplings, it was already time to eat dinner. Jacky and I were invited to sit down and watched as Jack, his wife and his mother brought out dish after dish...after dish...after dish. It was truly a feast. As we ate Jack explained that in Chinese culture, hosts can't be happy unless their guests "eat happy." So we made sure to eat as much as we could and say "hao chi" (literally good eat, equivalent to saying delicious) after every bite. The grandmother (who doubles as the family's chef!) kept a watchful eye as we ate, and every now and then would say "chi ba," playfully demanding us to eat more. While we ate, Jack offered us traditional Chinese rice wine. Being warned by friends of its high alcohol content and intense burning taste, we've never had the guts to try it. But he poured us a tiny shot and raised his glass. We laughed nervously, shouting "ganbei" (cheers) and tapping the glasses of our hosts. I don't think we'll be buying any for ourselves any time soon, but I didn't mind it!

With Suzy

Jack changing the door decorations for the new year

CCTV's programming

After we ate we all headed to the couch to watch CCTV's New Year's special. We sipped on fancy red tea as we enjoyed impressive dance and musical performances, even a puppet show! It was truly a spectacle. But before we knew it that rice wine was hitting us, and we were nodding off with Suzy on the couch. While Jack drove us home, we watched out the car windows, awestruck by the fireworks shows going on all around us and people burning offerings for their ancestors at the sidewalk corners. We stepped out of the car, literally into the middle of two fireworks shows going on in the middle of the road. We ran home laughing in amazement through the red firework debris, the constant banging of thousands of fireworks simultaneously being set off ringing in our ears.

We spent the rest of the night glued to our large bedroom window, up on the 25th floor of our building we felt we had the best view of the show. We both agreed that it was the most incredible thing we've ever seen--unceasing fireworks in every direction, for miles and miles, being set off into the early morning. Standing there, watching the constant flare of fireworks lighting up every corner of the city, we felt the joy and hope that was felt throughout the city, and the entire country on this New Year. We felt the light of gratitude for being able to experience such a unique celebration and for being able to spend some of this next year right here in Shijingshan, a place that has become so dear to us.