the CCTV building in steel and glass. yum, pollution at its finest.
the inside of the famous national theatre
water cube, in the flesh.
birds nest.
top of the white pogada temple, the most interesting part of the whole place.
from right to left, me, my sister, my cousin
me and my sister
fireworks!
Happy New Year! for those of you who are confused, the Chinese New Year was earlier this week. It is now the year of the cow. So far, the Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, has turned out to be a mix of new years, Thanksgiving, and 4th of July. Family, food, fireworks, and a new year, all in one big holiday! The fun (and eating) started on Sunday, New Years Eve. We went to a relative's house in the afternoon. My sister, cousin, and I went to a Temple Fair, basically a carnival on temple grounds. We had a good time wandering around watching everything and buying crazy hats, in the pictures above. I figured, hey, people stare at me anyway, might as well give them a good reason! After a absolutely massive dinner, it was time for fireworks. I stepped outside and immediately thought I was in a war zone. Huge blasts were coming from every direction and huge light bursts lighting up the sky. I stuck close to my family and was a little jumpy. They offered to let me light a few fireworks, but I refused. Didn't seem like a good idea at the time, or now for that matter. after 10 minutes of firework after firework, some of them even ours, we went back inside and we headed home. When we got home I found, to my dismay, that more food was in the making. We made Chinese dumplings to be consumed at midnight. Consigned to my fate, I ate more. I finally collapsed into bed at 1 in the morning, serenaded to sleep by the sounds of fireworks and car alarms.
The next day, we went to lunch with more family. After consuming more food than I would have liked, we headed back to their apartment, where my sister, cousin, and I collapsed on the couch in mid-conversation and fell asleep. We were awoken a few short minutes later to go to another relative's house for dinner. Great, more food. By the time I went home that night, I felt like a round ball. I rolled in to bed, again falling asleep to more fireworks and car alarms.
The next day went in pretty much the same order. Over all, i was pretty surprised by the amount of fireworks that went off this week. Even now, 4 days after new years, there are still fireworks, and it is daytime! I thought that after the first night, there couldn't possibly be any more fireworks left in the whole city, but I was wrong. The amount of food was also utterly ridiculous. I learned to eat really slowly. If i didn't eat, random relatives would just put more and more food on my plate. If i still didn't eat, they would assume I just didn't like that particular dish and give me another one. Eating quickly is just a bad idea. But, if I ate slowly, I could appear as though i was consuming more than I actually was, and keep everyone happy.
For the Spring Festival Holiday, school children get 4 weeks off of school, and SYA is no exception. We spent the first week with our families, and next week we are off to Yunnan, a providence in southern China on the border with Vietnam. Yunnan is kind of like the Chinese Florida, most Chinese go there for a warm vacation and it attracts a lot of foreigners. I am super excited to go, and this time we are flying instead of a 50 hour train ride. I can't wait to see the sun again.
sorry about the long silence, but life has been pretty hetic over here. We had 3 weeks of school in between breaks, and our teachers tried to squeeze in as much as possible. I will write again when i get back!
Stephanie
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