Lunar New Year

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! Xin nian kuai le, gong xi fa cai–all that jazz. I’ve had basically the entire week off: school had exams this week so I didn’t go teach, and then the health center was closed from Wednesday to Friday because of the festivities.

Lunar New Year is celebrated here much like it is in China, even though most people here do not have any Chinese roots. My host family’s home has been in a frenzy ever since the 2nd, the “da nian san shi” or “big year 30″, a day equivalent to New Year’s Eve only in terms of the date on the calendar. The biggest celebrations happen on that day, and carry on with full force for the rest of the week. You can see how my host dad has been celebrating: he hasn’t been sober since Tuesday morning!

In addition to the beer cans littered everywhere, there are tons of family members and friends over. I don’t know who anyone is, because no one introduces anyone, but I’ve picked up the habit of calling everyone what my younger sister calls them, and thus have saved myself the mistake of mis-saluting anyone.

Right now everyone is in the living room gambling to this card game they call “biah”. I watched for a few minutes and was able to pick it up, so it really isn’t that complicated–I’d say it’s a mix between go fish and BS.

While I am a big fan of family gatherings, though, there is only so much idle observing I can handle before I need to retreat. I mostly understand what everyone is saying, but my speaking skills fall far below being able to communicate easily with them. And besides, what DO I have to talk to Grandma about? Not really anything. They’re my host family, but they’re not my family family.

All this new year celebration really makes me miss China and the clan back there. Mah-jong is much more stimulating than this “biah” game, and when I’m in China, I can effortlessly understand people and communicate with them. Also, they are my family family, so naturally they care more about what’s going on in my life. I can’t wait until I actually go in June. This reunion is about a year late, and it’s going to be off the hook.