Happy New Year!

No, this is not my apartment burning down. This is a picture of the loudest, quickest and most dangerous firecracker that I watched (and heard) being burned last night. Actually, I started hearing them being set off yesterday afternoon. Their boisterous noise kept insisting that I remain awake instead of allowing me to slip into the blissful sleep I was attempting. The incessant noise continued throughout the afternoon and into the evening, culminating on the eve of Spring Festival (February 17th) with so much noise my ears were begging for relief. The crackling still continues tonight, as families finish off the remains of their festival fun.

Yesterday evening, on Spring Festival Eve, I was invited to join the family of a head mistress I know. Ms. S, her husband, and their son Rich escorted me to her father-in-law's apartment where we joined her in-laws, brother-in-law and his wife, along with their daughter. There I experienced my first Spring Festival celebrations!

When we arrived, conversation began around some fruits and nuts, however much of it was in Chinese. Only Ms. S and her son spoke any English so conversing was a process. By the time dinner was served, we had all resorted to watching the cultural shows on television. Although these too were in Chinese, most of the programing was dancing so it wasn't essential that I understood the dialog. The elaborate costumes and intricate choreography of many of the dances shown reaffirmed my belief that beauty and grace are deeply intertwined in the heart of China.

Dinner came in an elegant presentation, filling the small table with ten dishes! There were only 9 of us in the apartment so there was more than enough food to go around. Many of the dishes were traditional Chinese foods that I had tried before. For the new experience list, however, they also served Xia (shrimp) and Xierou (crab). Although I have had shrimp before as a part of other dishes, I've never had it whole as it was served last night. And crab, well, I had no idea even how to eat it! Rich soon became my laoshi (teacher) and although I wouldn't order either at a restaurant on my own, I have to admit that neither was unbearable. The work to eat a crab though didn't seem worth the effort.

Near the end of dinner, two other relatives arrived. (I apologize for the lack of names I have to give you all, but I could barely remember at the time how to pronounce half of the Chinese names thrown at me, let alone learn the spelling.) Where is Tim's memory when I need it?

After dinner I was told I should take a nap (amidst the two televisions tuned to separate channels, the men talking and the cutest little girl jumping around excitedly trying to tell me all her secrets to which I could only respond with a nod and a smile)...yeah right. So after laying down for a while I joined Rich, Ms. S and the two cousins at a round of Chinese cards. The game was similar to Presidents but harder for me to find a strategy since some of the rules were different. I then taught them Egyptian War and Ms. S's niece, who was 'helping' her, kept exclaiming (in Chinese) "All the cards are mine!" every time Ms. S won the trick. It was super amusing until she started loosing and finally left the table. After quite a long struggle with me, Rich won (tear) and then proceeded to play again with his cousin who would jump with glee each time she took some cards.

About an hour before midnight we all began making JiaoZi (dumplings.) I was instructed by about three different people to make them three different ways but in the end I think all of mine still looked the same (a far cry from correct.) Rich still said mine were better than his so that was good enough for me. Typically for the New Year a few of the JiaoZi will be filled with gold coins or some other special ingredient to signify luck. Then those who find and eat such a JiaoZi will have luck for the coming year. As I was making the dumplings I was given the honor of including little nuts to fold into my JiaoZi.

As the JiaoZi cooked, a group of us went outside to light the fireworks. In the courtyard of the apartment complex there were at least three other families doing the same. The noise was dizzying and the mother in me couldn't stop thinking about how many things could go wrong (buildings on fire, a spark hitting a little child, a rouge cracker crashing through a window...) However, the excitement of Rich's little cousin won out, encouraging the child in me, as did the lens of my camera!

Following the firework spectacular, we rejoined the older adults and all rang in the new year with a midnight meal of JiaoZi. I was encouraged to eat as many dumplings, as quickly as possible, in order to find the ones with the lucky nuts. Since I was the one who had filled the lucky JiaoZi, everyone was frantically looking for the ones that looked as if I had created them (i.e. the poorly wrapped ones.) In the end, I found no lucky JiaoZi, Rich found three (he's a marathon eater) and a few fake ones had to be created after the fact for his poor little disappointed cousin.

At the end of a wonderful evening of great food, great company, and great entertainment, I left for home exhausted but satisfied at such an authentic Spring Festival experience. Since the following days until the lantern festival are still considered part of the Spring Festival, I have a feeling that my experiences with this holiday have just begun.