We began our Chinese New Year holiday week with a three hour trip to Chiayi, but this one was different because we left at 3AM to beat the insane traffic that ensnares the island over the holiday. We prepacked the car and the kids shuffled out to the car in in their pajamas and went back to sleep. Much like I95 on Thanksgiving week Wednesday, the north-south highways in Taiwan go on lockdown as everyone heads home for the holiday week. We, however, made it home effortlessly and I napped heartily upon arrival.
We helped Hsiu-ling's family get ready for the giant New Years Eve dinner, and after the meal we lit fireworks to welcome the new year....incl bottle rockets that one never sees back home. New Year's Day was a triple holiday. Not only was it the beginning of the year of the Dragon, but it was Hsiu-ling's Dad's 84th birthday!! He celebrates his birthday according to the Chinese lunar calendar, which means this year his birthday was on January 23rd, which happened to be my Dad's birthday.
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| Family gathering |
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| Birthday boy |
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| Aileen with her elder cousins |
After New Years day we began what has seemed like weeks of visits with friends from all over...Hsiu-ling's friends from her previous work, friends from school, friends from our time in Shanghai. Lot of fun catching up and kids playing with kids. Hsiu's Mom also came up to Taipei and went with her own sisters and brother to clean and sweep the graves of her parents...a custom of the Hakka ethnicity after the New Year starts.. I too had lots of parties to go to as all the various government organizations and ministries that I work with kindly invited us to New Year's celebrations...though way too much karaoke takes place for my liking and one can only take so much Air Supply, Carpenters, John Denver, Beatles and the hits from Grease!!! These are the only Western songs they seem to have....time to learn some Chiense songs I think.
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