新年快乐- Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year! Or in other words, 新年快乐 (xīn nián kuàilè)!

I went to the Oriental market today and picked up a few items to give to friends we will be meeting up with tonight, as we celebrate the New Year in a cabin up the canyon. I even got jiaozi for us to make up there (the yummiest)!

Chinese New Year was always fun growing up in China because it meant we got an extra week of holiday off, right after Christmas break. We would often go to the Toronto's big party (family friends) and eat jiaozi (dumplings). Mountains and mountains of dumplings. We'd sometimes go on a trip, closer to home, or simply spend it in Beijing, or Hong Kong, wherever we were living at the time. My parents, who still live in China right now, are on their holiday in India (lucky dogs). The fireworks were always spectacular there. One Chinese New Year we bought one of those huge fireworks (you would probably use in a stadium) and lit it off in the road. It ended up almost lighting a nearby field on fire (oops). My Chinese friends at school would all get hong bao (those red envelopes) with lots of money in them from their relatives. Like literally hundreds of dollars. I have to admit, I wished (and still wish) we had that tradition too!

I ran a lot of errands today, and I don't know if it had to do with my mindset, but I literally saw only Chinese people out and about today. They were all dressed so nicely too. One woman with a light pink tulle skirt peeked out underneath her winter coat, along with shiny new maroon boots. A little boy dressed in a little traditional Chinese qipao set, who was being tugged along by his mother. I would look to my side as I drove, and twice there were Asian women driving along side me.

I loved going to the Oriental market down the street. Even after all of these years in the states, I still feel out of place, and I think I always will feel that way. Seeing familiar foods, hearing Cantonese and Mandarin amongst those aisles....when I miss China the most, I get these little bits of comfort and home to fill my nostalgic heart. 

谢谢