Happy Chinese New Year!
Well here it is the last day of the Year of the Dog, a real bitch for some (me, I just work for one) and once midnight rolls around it'll be the Year of the Pig. Chinese New Year literally starts with a bang or multiple ones, that seems to go on for hours.
Like many foreigners (weigworen), I am convinced that the Taiwanese will never know if they are being invaded by China. They'll hear the sound of gunfire and mistake it for some celebration or another. The local emergency rooms are prepared for powder burns, missing fingers and accidents involving alcohol. Sounds just like Canada Day at home, only with mahjong. This is Mom and Dad's way of winning back all red envelope cash (Hong bao) they've given out.
A friend of mine (unmarried) was bragging that he received over NT $ 30 000 from his parents and grandparents. However, he lost over NT $ 40 000 playing mahjong later that night.
Getting back to the pyrotechnics. One would think that after thousands of years that the local ghosts/demons would have been conditioned to the loud bangs, but it's a tradition that the Chinese have engaged in for millenia. God Forbid, that the Chinese change.
This year the holiday runs from February 17 through to February 25. Although the holiday is only 5 days long the government has decided to make Friday the 23rd a holiday as well. However, most people must work the following Saturday to make up for the extra day off that they have been given. They still refer to Saturday and Sunday as holidays rather than the weekend and often if you get a proper holiday during the week, you are expected to make it up by working on either a Saturday or Sunday.
For me and mine, this will be a quiet week of doing very little, except for housework(our house is four floors and in constant need of cleaning), lesson planning and homework. Once upon a time everything, and I do mean everything shut down here during the holiday. Now, many businesses only close for a couple of days.
Well that's all for now. Hopefully there will be more to come later. In closing I just have to wonder what Chinese Muslims think of this year? I guess I'll go have a ham sandwich and ponder this. TTFN
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3 comments:
Hey Dave, Excellent post, you need to keep these coming, tease us into coming out and visiting you.
PS: you may want to turn on a verifier to prevent being spammed.
Hi Dave!
I just saw how to leave comments here and I shall give some!!!!!
By the way, testosterone is good! If some people did not have it, they would not get out of bed in some parts of the world (like Brandon Man. and Glasgow to mention just two...).
Take care
Costas
Hi Dave I just found how to respond here, but the software is daft!!!!!
Anyhow, take care Costas
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