Snap! Crackle! Pop! Happy Year of the Dragon

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone. It was quite an exciting couple days. Let me recap them for you.

First, things all began last week, as everyone in Guangzhou bought their orange trees.

the orange tree in our lobby

Then it was finally Spring Festival Eve. A local coworker invited a few of us to her home for dinner and dumpling wrapping. She is from northeast China and has her mother living with her, so suffice it to say, the food was excellent and abundant. She kept feeding us. To ward off the chill in the air, she made bowls of hot water cooked with apples and hawthorn. I think I drank about a gallon. All right, that’s an exaggeration, but it was delicious.

My coworker, Michelle

While we were there, the CCTV New Year’s Gala began. This is four and a half hours of glittery spectacle that puts Las Vegas to shame. Speaking of putting things to shame, let’s talk about viewer numbers. The Superbowl is coming up soon in America, and we often talk about it as the most watched live broadcast ever. Wikipedia tells me that about 93 million people watch the Superbowl. Wikipedia also tells me that about 700 million people watch the Gala. Scale, my friends. Scale. You need a new one when you talk about China.

one of several displays at one of several giant malls

Now, I can’t really follow China television too well. The  Gala includes music, comedy, magic, skits, Chinese opera, and acrobatics. The opera and music I never understand, magic and acrobatics are refreshingly non-verbal, and as for comedy, just imagine me sitting in front of the TV with an expression somewhere between listening intensely and extreme confusion. At best, I take so long to actually comprehend a joke that by the time I think I know why it’s funny, it’s way past time to laugh. Ah, well. I still enjoyed it.

can you tell which ones are mine?

While we watched, we made some dumplings. No matter how many times people show me how to pleat a perfect edge, I am just miserable at it. My best efforts aren’t so bad, but it takes me about a minute and a half to fold. Meanwhile, the expert next to me has made about six. Alas.

But, as everyone points out, it doesn’t really matter what it looks like as long as you seal the edge so it doesn’t burst open while boiling. It’s true. They may be a little lumpy and misshapen, but they were delicious.

To get home, we walked a while through the cool night, passing close to the flower fair. I didn’t get a chance to go, but friends who did report it was a colorful, riotous mass of people, flowers, fish, and pinwheels. Pinwheels are for catching evils spirits and for casting back luck out. They are everywhere, in every size and color.

flower pinwheel

I hopped a bus for the last leg of the journey. The TVs on the bus were showing the Gala.

When I got home, it was about 10pm, so I turned on the Gala and made a cup of cocoa. I have to admit, this is the first time we’ve turned on our television. The batteries in the remote were dead and stuck in the casing, so we ignored it for a long time, but I finally pried out the old batteries with a screwdriver and replaced them.

At midnight, there was a countdown and then it was cheerful noise and happiness. Then there were several explosions outside my window. There were fireworks in the distance, mostly hidden by skyscrapers, but also firecrackers being setting off somewhere in my near vicinity. There is a New Year’s monster that comes to terrify/possibly eat children at Spring Festival, but luckily is it driven off by loud noises and the color red. Hence firecrackers. Then, someone just outside my window set off a few fireworks. I’ll tell you, looking down at fireworks is an interesting angle.

fireworks

Really, though, we saved fireworks for Spring Festival evening. First, a large group of us went out for hotpot (yum) and then meandered down to the southern side of the river, near the Shangri-la Hotel, to watch the show with about a million other people (I may be exaggerating. It might have been only 300,000 people or so.). They were, hands down, the most impressive live fireworks I’ve ever seen.

I think that about sums it up, except to say firecrackers are still going off at random times, the oranges on the orange trees turn out to be edible (bitter, but “good for your throat”), and the city is weirdly empty feeling at times (everyone has gone home for the holidays. It makes you realize how many people “from away” live in this city). Oh, and I’d like to remind all my fellow Dragons out there to cheer up. It may be a bad-luck year for us, but we can avert disaster by wearing red underwear. Everyday. From now until February 10, 2013. Yeah, good luck.

another dragon display at another mall