This is our first Chinese New Year (CNY) in China. Once you live in China, you begin to learn your Chinese animal calendar. The pig is everywhere. A big pig in front of the grocery store, a pig at our entrance, pigs at every corner. It reminds me of the children’s book, “Pigs a plenty, pigs galore”. That would describe Shanghai as we begin the New Year.

Chinese New Year Celebration began at Emmy’s school, Concordia. I took Elle with me to watch the performance.

Mimi, Elle & Emmy

We decided to stay in Shanghai over the break. Emmy and Jim have the week off from school/work. It was interesting to hear all the fireworks ALL the time. The fireworks are set off to bring good luck and send away bad spirits. There are certain nights that are more important and require more fireworks. We watch the fireworks over the pearl tower from our kitchen window.

We had a fun Chinese New Year week. Most people leave for a week in the sun. However, this year, it seems most of our friends stayed. We were just playing at Yanlord instead of a beach. On Sunday, we went to the Westin brunch. This a big brunch with entertainment and free flowing drinks. We started at 11:00am and left at 4:00pm. There is a kidâ€™s room with an ayi for the kids to play. Judith and I have the youngest children, both at the age of 2 Â½. We needed to check on our little ones or see them walking back to the table to find us, therefore, we had requested a table close to the room. Upon leaving, the boys of the group decided to go for more beer. The ladies left with the children. We moved the ladies party back to our home. Judith, Betty and I sat in the kitchen talking, laughing and drinking. The children, all 6 of them, ran free in the house. When the boys came home, the house was destroyed. We went to bed as the mess would be there in the morning. A fun day spent with friends.