Chinese New Year

This week is Chinese New Year, also called (curiously) Spring Festival. Anything Chinese is pretty much shut down and those stores and services that cater to foreigners run limited hours. The good news is that we are off from work ALL WEEK. Noah is in 7th heaven because we've stayed home for 3 of the 5 days so far. It's hilarious--today he was the only kid at home and spent a large part of it watching tv, playing legos (alone), and surfing the 'net. Tonight he was so funny and easy-going and funny! He's rested and he's at home--and he's loving it (although here he's just realized he's not going to get home in time to watch Ben-10 on TV, so he's not feeling the love).

I wish there was some way to capture New Year's Eve on tape. Last week fireworks stands sprouted up all over town and we shelled our our RMB for our share and headed to a nearby lake with friends on Saturday night to shoot them off. Sunday night, from 9:00 or so on was like a war zone. Non-stop booming, non-stop firecrackers, and flashing lights. The sound was like thunder, rain, and gunshots, interspersed with lightning. This went on non-stop for at least 5 hours (then I went to sleep). It was unbelievable. It's actually been happening all this week, too, but it's finally started to die down.

So what do billions of people do here on New Year's Day? Well, they eat. And eat. And eat. We headed out to an area called Liulichang, to a street fair. Along with a few other people. We ate something like peanut brittle made with sesame and sunflower seeds, and sugared crabapples. We passed by sweet potatoes, grilled octopus, and some strange giant fruit cake being toted around via bicycle. It was kind of like being at Grand Old Days, minus the brats but with lots of warm clothing. It's not a place for animal lovers--people sold little bunnies, hamsters, birds, and crickets (they were huge for good luck). My "wow, we're really in China" moment came when I started following a man pulling a cart of hides. They were really pretty and I thought that the kids might like one for playing, dress-up, or whatever. I just couldn't figure out what they were...and then I saw the tails. They were golden retriever hides. Ouch.

Not much for sale that was worth anything to us. Lots of junky trinkets (Ava and Bella, of course, loved them). The big favorites seemed to be pinwheels. Go figure. Mostly people walked up and down the very crowded streets, chatting and laughing. It wasn't what we expected--I thought we'd see dancing, music, acrobatics, etc. Maybe we need to head to a temple fair this week and compare. One of the more frustrating things about living here is that there seems to be potentially so much to do, but then it doesn't seem like we've hit the right spot. Is it because our expectations are too high? Is it because we're not at the right places at the right times? We chose this "fair" because we heard it was one of the bigger ones and we assumed that meant "big" in terms of attractions, but maybe it meant in terms of sheer numbers. Given the number of historical and cultural attractions here, I'm frustrated because we just don't seem to see as much as I think we should (and don't forget Noah's very high need to be at home a lot).

(I'm not a big sweet potato fan, but the smell of them roasting is so yummy! The guy roasts them over charcoal (on the back of a bike) and then weighs them on a little scale and you pay by the gram. They are so cheap and very filling!)

We stopped at a restaurant for lunch. We ordered fried rice (not something on a lot of menus, but tasty in a "Chinese restaurant in America" sort of way), pork in a pagoda shape (very beautiful, but ended up being strips of fat surrounding some green stuff), chicken and chilis (spicy and beautiful, but 95% gristle), and beef noodles (yummy). The beer was so-so, too. When the food is good, it's so so so good, but when it's not--and it's impossible often to tell by the menu! Steering clear of the obvious choices (donkey penis, jellyfish in crusted vinegar, solidified duck blood with chicken feet) it's hard to predict the quality of meat in the food. We all tried to put the positive spin on things (and honestly, it's better that we all eat like this rather than having a Pizza Hut nearby to fall back on) but inwardly the adults were hungry, too! Back out to the street to snack on more brittle and naan-like bread.

I think I've mentioned the sugared fruits before. Ava is just crazy about them. If you get them just dipped, they are better than if you try to eat them hardened and get it out of your teeth. The hawthorne apples are really good (and Ava's favorite) but you can get grapes, strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, watermelon, dragonfruit, and even tomatoes! At 3 yuan (about 50 cents) it's a great bargain and a sugar kick for cranky kids (and dare I even call it healthy with the fruit angle?). Both the Chinese and Minnesotans share an affinity for food on a stick so I guess I should feel comforted by seeing everything skewered--although, truth be told, I feel much more daring around deep fried Twinkies than I do around scorpions on a stick!

After a day of culture-soaking, what better way to wind down than by celebrating at a good ol' American TGIF! And I'm afraid to admit that ordering food that actually was what was described and pictured on the menu (and then having it taste exactly as you expected it to) was a big fat slice of heaven. Cameron was nauseous

after eating a whole cheeseburger, his system not being used to all that greasy fat! We all agreed it was fantastic--but expensive--and relegated it to a rare treat.

I don't mean to sound snipe-y about about life here. We are really enjoying the opportunity to experience life in this part of the world. It's just much harder to feel a part of life here--so much of what we do is centered around school and work consumes a lot of time now that we are both working fixed full-time schedules. One of the things we loved about Tanzania was that we lived in much closer contact with Tanzanians. Even though we were obviously drastically different in so many ways, our work and living situation put us (and most everyone we knew) in daily contact with people. We learned enough of the language to get around, and Arusha was easily managed because of its size. All of that has changed here. The city is enormous, the language much more difficult, and we live much more in an ex-pat bubble. I think we're still surprised at the adjustment here, when everything is much more convenient. So I don't know if it's better or worse or what. It's just different--and adjusting to very different family needs now with our work schedule, three kids in school full-time, and the demands placed on the kids with their schoolwork has definitely changed the way we do things.

I do hate change. Remind me I said that when I get the bright idea to move again.