The Chinese New Year is this week (it starts at midnight on the 25th), what I'm about to tell you is absolutely true. Or at least it's what people here have told me about how the Chinese celebrate the Chinese New Year. For those of you who don't know (like me) the Chinese New Year is one of the largest Holiday's in China (if not the largest). It is based on the Lunar Calender, but I found that on Wikipedia, so it might not be true. It doesn't go for only one day, no no no, it goes for 15 days! Also if you can recall, their love for fireworks that I've talked about in previous posts is nothing compared to the spectacle during this time. I've heard it is about 4 to 8 days and nights of constant fireworks... supposedly it's so bad you can't get sleep and not only that, but for 2 weeks after it's illegal to set off fireworks so that people can sleep. Again, this is what I've heard from people who've experienced this, as we have not yet had the privilege. A guy who runs a store near our home just told me today that for 6 hours there will be fireworks right outside our apartment on the 25th (from 6 p.m. to 12 p.m.). Basically the 4th of July in our front yard! Another thing I heard from some people who were here last year at this time is that some people will actually shoot fireworks from their apartment at other apartments. I want to give it a try!
In other news Sydney and I (Matt) have started playing school and we are going through all the basics. It's funny, because she really enjoys playing school for some reason. If I tell her in the morning that we will play, she won't forget it, no matter what. She counts really well in Chinese (so far to 5, but that's a good start) which is fun to watch. Also, today we watched one of her movies in Chinese which was interesting.
To end I would like to share a Sydney quote. The other day she woke up from her nap and was sitting on the couch. And like her Daddy she is slow to wake up. So as she's sitting there I say, "Sydney do you want to go the park?", to which she replies, "Not yet, wait for me to wake up". At that moment my heart was filled with joy, because I saw a little bit of me in that reply.
That's it for now,
Matt, Heather, Sydney and little Aubrey
P.S. I have some footage from our trip to a play place that is seriously one of the best places on earth. Keep an eye out for it because in the next week or so I would like to upload it. I also have some video of our city that I shot a few months ago that I might upload so that you can see our city.
