Year of the Horse

Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday on the calendar here and my school closes for three weeks. The national calendar gives a week off and almost all Chinese nationals go home to spend it with their families. With all the migrant workers in China heading home, I've read it is the biggest human migration anywhere.

Usually I consider it a good time to leave the country. All the tourist spots in China are overcrowded and most non-tourist spots are closed. More than half the expats I know travel abroad for the holiday. This was the first time I stayed in China for the Chinese New Year. Last year Danny and I traveled all over Northern India. The year before that I went home to the states; Danny stayed in Shanghai and told me about the ridiculous amount of fireworks set off around the city. With a newborn big trips weren't in our plans this year. We make it out of the house for about an hour or two a day and usually that is just so we can get food or other essentials.

It is the year of the horse. Last year was the year of the snake. Apparently, since Jonah is a snake baby according to the Chinese calendar he is now two. They grow up so fast! Two years ago was the year of the dragon and according to my Ob/gyn lots of people purposely timed it to have dragon babies.

We haven't done anything to celebrate the new year. I'm honestly not entirely clear on how it is celebrated other than spending time with family and setting off fireworks. I know the color red and fireworks are meant to scare away a legendary monster that comes once a year. I think the fireworks weren't quite as abundant in Shanghai this year because people cut back on them due to all the pollution. There are still more than at any fourth of July displays I've ever seen and they went on a whole week instead of one day. The fireworks are much more random and sporadic, there aren't shows with grand finales, just lots of random fireworks. They go off all over the city sometimes dangerously close to people and buildings. I'm not quite clear on it but there are a few specific days during the week of New Year where you set off fireworks for different reasons. There also seem to be very few regulations in Shanghai on who can set them off and where. This random tent popped up a few blocks from our house to sell fireworks; when we walked past the tent there were four police men buying fireworks. If you look closely in our photo you may notice a police man. I'm still not sure if it is legal.

I was worried all the fireworks would scare Jonah but he seems to be pretty much indifferent to them. Danny on the other hand has barely been able to sleep.

The Chinese New Year and my maternity leave are almost over. Crazy how fast it went! Jonah is 6 weeks old already (or 2 years if you follow the Chinese lunar calendar). I go back to work on Monday. We finally hired an ayi to take care of Jonah yesterday so I feel sort of ready for work now. She seems really nice but it still is no fun leaving him with a stranger. Our ayi starts tomorrow so she has two days of training while I'm home before the holiday ends and I start work. Xin nian kuai le.