BEIJING BLOGGIN': Shin nian hao!

Or, Happy New Year! We’re about ten days into the Year of the Rat now, and I’m just back from a seven days off (after working seven days straight to make up for the time off so it was well-deserved). The Lunar New Year holiday lasts for five days, with New Year’s Eve (Wednesday, 6 February) being pretty much the most important night of the year. Families reunite for the holiday and typically spend this evening feasting on a huge meal and watching TV together. Me and another foreign teacher went for a lovely dinner with three local colleagues who, for some reason or other, had decided to stay in Beijing. We sat for hours, scoffing delicacies such as spicy doufu, beautifully marinated mushrooms or savoury chicken soup (with most of the chicken in it). Even though none of us were with our families, we were still much luckier than the thousands of migrant workers who were still stuck in travel hubs like Guangzhou railway station due to the bad weather that had hit much of central and southern China. Of course they were somewhat put on display in the government-produced New year’s special, being shown with the big meal that was organised for them. But propaganda or not, it’s still pretty depressing to be spending what’s essentially Christmas Eve alone and a million miles from home.

The Spring Festival (as they refer to the New Year holiday here) was pretty quiet overall (apart from the absolutely unbelievable amount of firecrackers of course, which are still going on, setting off car alarms everywhere they’re thrown). My boyfriend has moved over to China to start his job and spent a few days with me before moving on to his new hometown Shenyang (birthplace of Gong Li, you better believe it!) Unfortunately dragon dances and the other colourful displays usually associated abroad with Chinese New Year aren’t really the done thing here, and we missed the few that were on. Instead we went to the lovely fair that was put on at Ditan Park and finally managed to visit the famous (and very impressive) Lama Temple as well. Hadn’t seen a Buddha statue as golden or tall in my life. In fact I hadn’t ever seen a real-life Buddha monument so it was a stunning, and humbling, experience. It was also my first time of ever being in a Buddhist temple and seeing people pray. I found that very peaceful and relaxing to watch and a welcome change from the busy, gold-flecked bustle of the usual, tourist-frequented Catholic churches.

On the Monday night Himself and myself went for a walk around the Houhai lake and spotted a health-crazy (or possibly just plain crazy) senior citizen standing, in his swimming shorts, by an unfrozen side of the lake, obviously about to jump in. He didn’t seem to mind the small crowd that had gathered to watch his antics, smiling at people instead as he kept pouring water over himself. Apparently you get people doing this in Scandinavia as well, and apparently it does have health benefits. That, however, doesn’t make it any less crazy to me. Brrr!

Himself left on Wednesday evening, and is (quote) “freezing my balls off” (end quote). I have returned to the work’s everyday madness and am busy as ever.

Can’t wait for the May bank holiday week.

Bis dann,

Nadine