The Chinese equation for celebration goes as follows:
Fire + (BoomBangPow*Infinity) - Sleep = PARTAY!!!
So I missed the first and second acts of the Chinese New Year celebrations, but made it back just in time for the finale- Lantern Festival. Now, I have a hard time keeping up with the many holiday traditions around here, but I think I've found my new favorite. And no, it's not the 21-gun salute of fireworks that began at 6 am. On this last day of the Spring Festival (Feb. 28th this year), the other tradition is to light a giant paper lantern and send it, along with your hopes and wishes for the new year, off floating to never-neverland. It's really neat to see a sky lit up with lots of tiny little fires, and the process of getting yours to actually fly away is pretty fun- it takes lots of lighter fluid (and a little hairspray doesn't hurt, either), many hands, and patience. Extra patience in our case, as Mother Nature graced us with another snow storm that evening.
Here you can see Carly and Peter waiting for it to heat up:
And...liftoff!
Thankfully it went around and above the trees, which is more than I can say for our first attempt from a few nights before:
After our lantern floated out of sight, Carly decided that she needed to add to the noise. She spent 10 RMB (about $1.50), and we made our own bit of magic:
Happy Year of the Tiger!
So to rewind just a bit, early February was also pretty exciting and eventful. After our annual IECS conference in Shenzhen (south China), Carly and I headed over to Hong Kong for a few days. Definitely the biggest and most diverse city I've ever been in- and it hardly felt Chinese at all, especially because they were driving on the wrong side of the road! Not surprising given HK's history, but still. We decided to skip out on HK Disney and hit the track- the horserace track, that is! It was my first time ever at the races, and it was a total blast- the weather was great, the backdrop was gorgeous, we wore our "Southern lady" hats, AND I won some moola! Who could ask for more?
Turns out these hats were gorgeous AND functional!
Here is my horse-#2- coming in third and winning me 40 RMB! (I bet 10)
Sunset behind Hong Kong Island:
"The biggest light show in the world":
And as if all that were not enough, I got to fly back to the States for two whole weeks to see my family and have some quality time with this cutie:
(my nephew Owen, 8 months old)
Life. Is. Good!
So I missed the first and second acts of the Chinese New Year celebrations, but made it back just in time for the finale- Lantern Festival. Now, I have a hard time keeping up with the many holiday traditions around here, but I think I've found my new favorite. And no, it's not the 21-gun salute of fireworks that began at 6 am. On this last day of the Spring Festival (Feb. 28th this year), the other tradition is to light a giant paper lantern and send it, along with your hopes and wishes for the new year, off floating to never-neverland. It's really neat to see a sky lit up with lots of tiny little fires, and the process of getting yours to actually fly away is pretty fun- it takes lots of lighter fluid (and a little hairspray doesn't hurt, either), many hands, and patience. Extra patience in our case, as Mother Nature graced us with another snow storm that evening.
Here you can see Carly and Peter waiting for it to heat up:
And...liftoff!
Thankfully it went around and above the trees, which is more than I can say for our first attempt from a few nights before:
After our lantern floated out of sight, Carly decided that she needed to add to the noise. She spent 10 RMB (about $1.50), and we made our own bit of magic:
Happy Year of the Tiger!So to rewind just a bit, early February was also pretty exciting and eventful. After our annual IECS conference in Shenzhen (south China), Carly and I headed over to Hong Kong for a few days. Definitely the biggest and most diverse city I've ever been in- and it hardly felt Chinese at all, especially because they were driving on the wrong side of the road! Not surprising given HK's history, but still. We decided to skip out on HK Disney and hit the track- the horserace track, that is! It was my first time ever at the races, and it was a total blast- the weather was great, the backdrop was gorgeous, we wore our "Southern lady" hats, AND I won some moola! Who could ask for more?
Turns out these hats were gorgeous AND functional!
Here is my horse-#2- coming in third and winning me 40 RMB! (I bet 10)
Sunset behind Hong Kong Island:
"The biggest light show in the world":
And as if all that were not enough, I got to fly back to the States for two whole weeks to see my family and have some quality time with this cutie:
(my nephew Owen, 8 months old)Life. Is. Good!
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