Dear friends,
For the first time ever, Brad and I had the opportunity to celebrate the Chinese New Year in Beijing with our Chinese friends! It was an amazing day. The Chinese New Year is the equivalent of the American Christmas and Thanksgiving combined. The roads, trains, and airplanes are clogged with people heading home to spend the holiday with their families.
We began our Chinese New Year by running 3 miles at 5:30am. It was difficult to wake up so early, but we logged our required miles for the day. It was actually quite intriguing, seeing the sun come up over the track, and watching the trains whir by with their box-shaped windows lit like a moving string of pearls. We arrived in Beijing by 11:30am. From Beijing, Peter and Shannon went to Datong (a 5 hour trip) to spend the holiday with a friend there, while Brad and I went to the Pearl Market to pick up a few things before taking the subway to Tony and Lily’s home.
Our afternoon and evening were spent with our friends Tony and Lily Zhang. They invited us to share the day with them and their families. Lily’s mother is staying with them for an indefinite amount of time due to her health, and Tony’s mother and father were visiting for three days before a trip to Canada to visit Tony’s brother. The seven of us had a great time. Lily and Tony shared stories, photographs, and books from their recent trip to the USA where they stayed with Newt and Claire, and even met my parents and brother. Tony and Brad used the time to plan our trip to Xinyang. Tony and Lily’s parents did all the cooking, and shooed out anyone who intruded! Dinner was delicious: jaozi (dumplings), lotus soup, real ham, shrimp, mint M&M’s, wine, soda, and “honey sugar flaky greasy lump” (we couldn’t figure out the English translation of that one). Tony and Lily translated between us and their parents, and we had a wonderful time.
After dinner Tony and Lily took us to the apartment of their friends who were out of town. Their friends generously allowed us to spend the night for free! We watched the traditional Chinese New Year program on television (China’s version of Dick Clark), and then tried to go to sleep at 10pm (we had an early start the next morning), but the fireworks were deafening! Beginning about 3 weeks ago, we started to notice the occasional crack of firecrackers and fireworks. With each day, the noise grew closer, louder, and more persistent, often waking us up at night or early in the morning. Running around the track I would jump at the sound of a “Cannon” blast nearby. By midnight on New Year’s, it sounded like we were under attack. I have never seen or heard so many fireworks in the entirety of my life. As we stood at our 15th story window in Beijing, we watched the fireworks explode between buildings, reflecting off of windows, echoing down the streets. In many places, children set off fireworks unattended. Due to the height of our apartment, many fireworks exploded right next to our window! The window and wall would rattle with every burst.
After about an hour of trying to sleep through the commotion, I gave up and went back to watching television with Tony and Lily. At midnight I took the camera to the window, and attempted to capture some of the effects in film. It was frightening, frustrating, and fascinating all at once. It made you want to cover your ears, and it made you want to gasp in awe. Nothing in my life could compare the cacophony of light and sound. Eventually at 1:30 I attempted to go to sleep again after the worst was over, but I still woke up throughout the night as further volleys shook our building. Traditionally, many Chinese do not sleep on New Year’s Eve, but will stay up all night long. Now we know why!
The next morning we were up at 6:00am to run our 3 miles and catch our train to Xinyang. The streets were littered everywhere with the shells of empty cardboard boxes, firecracker casings, and blackened sparklers. Despite the noise and mess, I have to admit that I think the USA could make better (and more aesthetic) use of gunpowder by following the Chinese example on this. Take away the people’s guns, and let them have fireworks. ;) We hope that you all had a happy Chinese New Year, and are looking forward to “The Year of the Rat.” Take care, and happy holidays!
Love,
Jess and Brad
For the first time ever, Brad and I had the opportunity to celebrate the Chinese New Year in Beijing with our Chinese friends! It was an amazing day. The Chinese New Year is the equivalent of the American Christmas and Thanksgiving combined. The roads, trains, and airplanes are clogged with people heading home to spend the holiday with their families.
We began our Chinese New Year by running 3 miles at 5:30am. It was difficult to wake up so early, but we logged our required miles for the day. It was actually quite intriguing, seeing the sun come up over the track, and watching the trains whir by with their box-shaped windows lit like a moving string of pearls. We arrived in Beijing by 11:30am. From Beijing, Peter and Shannon went to Datong (a 5 hour trip) to spend the holiday with a friend there, while Brad and I went to the Pearl Market to pick up a few things before taking the subway to Tony and Lily’s home.
Our afternoon and evening were spent with our friends Tony and Lily Zhang. They invited us to share the day with them and their families. Lily’s mother is staying with them for an indefinite amount of time due to her health, and Tony’s mother and father were visiting for three days before a trip to Canada to visit Tony’s brother. The seven of us had a great time. Lily and Tony shared stories, photographs, and books from their recent trip to the USA where they stayed with Newt and Claire, and even met my parents and brother. Tony and Brad used the time to plan our trip to Xinyang. Tony and Lily’s parents did all the cooking, and shooed out anyone who intruded! Dinner was delicious: jaozi (dumplings), lotus soup, real ham, shrimp, mint M&M’s, wine, soda, and “honey sugar flaky greasy lump” (we couldn’t figure out the English translation of that one). Tony and Lily translated between us and their parents, and we had a wonderful time.
After dinner Tony and Lily took us to the apartment of their friends who were out of town. Their friends generously allowed us to spend the night for free! We watched the traditional Chinese New Year program on television (China’s version of Dick Clark), and then tried to go to sleep at 10pm (we had an early start the next morning), but the fireworks were deafening! Beginning about 3 weeks ago, we started to notice the occasional crack of firecrackers and fireworks. With each day, the noise grew closer, louder, and more persistent, often waking us up at night or early in the morning. Running around the track I would jump at the sound of a “Cannon” blast nearby. By midnight on New Year’s, it sounded like we were under attack. I have never seen or heard so many fireworks in the entirety of my life. As we stood at our 15th story window in Beijing, we watched the fireworks explode between buildings, reflecting off of windows, echoing down the streets. In many places, children set off fireworks unattended. Due to the height of our apartment, many fireworks exploded right next to our window! The window and wall would rattle with every burst.
After about an hour of trying to sleep through the commotion, I gave up and went back to watching television with Tony and Lily. At midnight I took the camera to the window, and attempted to capture some of the effects in film. It was frightening, frustrating, and fascinating all at once. It made you want to cover your ears, and it made you want to gasp in awe. Nothing in my life could compare the cacophony of light and sound. Eventually at 1:30 I attempted to go to sleep again after the worst was over, but I still woke up throughout the night as further volleys shook our building. Traditionally, many Chinese do not sleep on New Year’s Eve, but will stay up all night long. Now we know why!
The next morning we were up at 6:00am to run our 3 miles and catch our train to Xinyang. The streets were littered everywhere with the shells of empty cardboard boxes, firecracker casings, and blackened sparklers. Despite the noise and mess, I have to admit that I think the USA could make better (and more aesthetic) use of gunpowder by following the Chinese example on this. Take away the people’s guns, and let them have fireworks. ;) We hope that you all had a happy Chinese New Year, and are looking forward to “The Year of the Rat.” Take care, and happy holidays!
Love,
Jess and Brad
