Monday, January 26, 2009

Happy 牛 Year!

I received my official welcome tonight at dinner. Molly's aunt and uncle came over for New Years dinner. We cheers all night, first starting in English -- 1. Welcome Clala (that's what they call me) to China! 2. May you like China! 3. China will treat you well! 4. To making money for the children -- then they drifted into Chinese and my understanding of the dinner comprehension dropped significantly.
The tv was on in the background. Everyone in China watches the same program every New Year. My favorite skits:
1. dancing pandas with yoga balls
2. two farmers singing with two generals from the army, my host mother was very proud of this one
3. a grandmother jumps out of a chest over and over again, Molly keeps cracking up
At midnight we went to set off fireworks. I no longer think Massachusetts is crazy for making fireworks illegal. I woke up this morning (8 a.m.) to fireworks and am not sure I'll be able to fall asleep. It's now 2:30 a.m and they are still going. All of Beijing sounds even more like a war zone than it did this morning. Every street had fireworks going off and people running around and celebrating the new year. It was hard to see because there was so much smoke everywhere and my clothes now reek of sulfur.
(This year is the year of the ox. Ox is "niu" in Chinese, so there are signs around Beijing that say, "Happy 牛 (new) Year!" I love them.)

2 comments:

  1. Clara, what are the internet restrictions like in China? How much does the government control and censor?

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  2. So far, nothing. But I haven't tried searching for anything Chinese on the Times website or wiki or anything. I'll try it and get back to you!

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