Happy New Year, Year of the Snake!
We celebrated CNY yesterday at a vaguely Chinese restaurant in the small American beach town where grandma is a snowbird and my sister & fam live full time when not traveling the globe. It is quiet here this time of year and since there are very few Chinese people in this part of America, there is no Spring Festival. Except for us. We cleaned and showered the day before, refrained from knives on New Years Day, gave red envelopes, and did our best to notice and honor the new year.
We received many Chinese email greetings including the straightforward message above and many with variations on Year of the Snake wishes, so google translate was put to good use. One message from the friends who moved to BJ last summer included a little video they shot from their 15th floor livingroom. The fireworks were set off inside their compound and burst into light right at the same level as their flat. Amazing. And loud.
Fireworks aren't normally allowed inside the Fifth Ring Road but during the Spring Festival they're all over downtown. News reported that owing to the horrible January air, shooting off fireworks was restricted but that wasn't apparent from my friends' report.
LiLi and I have been missing BJ and China especially after showing our slideshow from the year there, and treating Grandma to a video of Beijing Huan Ying Ni (Beijing Welcomes You) which was produced for the Olympic Games in 2008. We played and sang that song over and over before we moved, but once we were there we never thought about it. Oddly. Now, returning to America, we find ourselves singing or humming it again. And seeing it sure made grandma want to jump on a plane. She's been to China a few times and lived in Hong Kong but not for many many years. Still, you see that video and must understand that Beijing is the center of the universe. Or I do. Also, there are parts of it that still make me weep. : )
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