OUT WITH THE PIG, IN WITH THE RAT

Apologies for being such a slouch about posting lately. I've been on holiday for the Lunar New Year (falling officially on the 7th of February this year, but bookended by a week or two of vacation for most Chinese and by a generous month at my school). I've relished all the free time but have discovered that what were entertaining diversions just last week suddenly seem more like work. I haven't felt like blogging, doing research, or trying to catch up on the news and instead have been spending more time making and writing postcards, typing up my notes from the last semester plus of classes, and enjoying my tea and foodstuffs a little more.

My mother and her boyfriend will be arriving for a visit on Friday and leaving the day after my brother gets here on the 15th. Thus I'll be acting as full-time tour guide and translator until just before school starts up again. We'll spend a few days in Shanghai, which I am extremely excited about, perhaps taking a day trip to Hangzhou. Most of our time will be occupied in seeing the many sights of Beijing and going out to the Great Wall. Weather permitting, I am hoping that my bro and I can take a day trip out to Dragon's Head, where the Wall meets the Sea. Despite his legendary camera shyness, I promise that I will post visible documentation of the legendary Nicholas before the month is out.

Beijing has been rather nice this last week. Almost everything is closed, so the traffic is much reduced, and most of the estimated 10,000 construction projects (yes, that is the real number) going on in the capital seem to have shut down. The air seems just a little better, although the nonstop firecrackers and fireworks probably aren't helping.

Better yet, everyone seems to be in good spirits. The Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday of the year, but it isn't celebrated as you might imagine. Those colorful festivals/parades with the dancing dragons that you may have seen in Chinatown are strictly Cantonese and are only seen in the South, or in Chinatowns. For the great majority of the country, the holiday referred to as Chunjie (春节）, or 'Spring festival' is a time to reunite with your family (last week saw nearly 190 million travelers trying to do just that despite some nasty winter storms), make and consume dumplings, and watch the special programs on TV all day long.

As you may know already, we are leaving the year of the Pig and entering the year of the Rat. Perhaps you are finding it a little difficult to get enthusiastic about the year of the Rat so allow me to help with some exciting rat facts from a local expat magazine:

• A group of rats is known as a mischief
• One pair of rats can produce 2,000 offspring in a year
  
• In related news, 2004 saw the development of food-flavored birth control pills for rats by the Sichuan Centers for Disease Control.
  
• Rats laugh (but then we knew this already, right blammo?), emitting high-pitched squeaks of joy when they are expecting and receiving physical pleasure (which includes receiving morphine, having rat sex, wrestling one another, and being tickled).
  
• Rats have belly buttons
  

Also, 猫哭老鼠 (mao ku lao shu), or 'a cat weeping for a rat', means 'to feign compassion'. Ain't Chinese swell?

Happy Chinese New Year everybody!

祝你们春节快乐！