新年快樂 - Xin Nian Kuai Le
Happy Chinese New Year!!
We had originally planned to go to Cebu, Phillipines over Chinese New Year, however we decided to cancel it in order to save some money to finish our basement. Unfortunately, Sunday Chad did something to his back and has pretty much been laid up everyday since. However, we have been fun around our clubhouse and at home playing our new games from Christmas.
We gave both Mr. Hou and Susan their hongbao's for Chinese New Year. It's customary to give them a month's salary in a red envelope. It's also good luck for the total to end in an 8 and only to be in bills, not coins. We also gave out chocolates to our receptionists in our building, as well as the ayi and bus drives, and then finally to the kids' teachers. You could really go and on with the gift giving, but you have to draw the line somewhere :)
Chinese New Year is the biggest migration of the year. Everyone from Shanghai leaves to go visit their families back home in the rural areas. Which is great for us as there seems to be less people around, but also bad since a lot of stores/businesses are closed this week.
Another bad thing about CNY is the fireworks. I guess the worst days are the 1st day, 5th, and last day, but we have only experienced the 1st day so far. That day they started during the day (which makes no sense to us), but then around 8pm they started getting louder and more frequent. Then finally between 10pm-12:30am it sounded like we were in a middle of a war zone. Being in the city the sounds just echo and makes it even louder!
Eating at McDonald's on a weekday at 12:00.. Notice the background. It is actually quiet!! Being here for New Year has it's perks :)
We went to Xintiandi to watch the dragon dance that was going on. It was a little chaotic at times and didn't help that Chad was in pain from his back, but we all still had fun :)
He went around to the different restaurants that had some lettuce and a gift hanging at the entrance. He did a dance to try and grab it and then ate the lettuce.
Eating the lettuce
After dinner, Rilynn and I went to Yu Yuan Garden to see all the Chinese New Year decorations lit up at night. Chad had to go home and rest his back.. Good thing Brady didn't come though because it was way too packed!
Wearing mommy's hat :)
Before the lights turned on..
LIGHTS ON!
At Yu Yuan there is a tiny bridge that crosses over a little pond. There are a lot of decorations on the pond so it would be cool to see, however there were TONS of people. I asked Rilynn if she wanted to cross it and she said yes so I held on tight and we were pushed through. I had to be her shield though as a fight broke out with a couple vs. a man. Thankfully she didn't see anything. You'd think we'd be safe next to the officer at the time, but he didn't move to try and break it up!
The officer who wanted to pose for a picture, but not break up a fight :)
Dragon lit up
