New Year with my Host Family!! (January 26 to February 14)

 

In China, one of the biggest events of the year is Chinese New Year, also referred to as the Spring Festival (春节). Even though the official first day of Chinese New Year this year is January 31^st, the celebrations and preparations begins a week or so before! As you walk through the streets, you will notice that stores are closing and people are leaving to go back to their hometowns! Even though it’s extremely inconvenient, it’s kind of awesome to think that China as a nation collectively agrees to close down their shops and restaurants (give up business opportunities) in order to spend time with family. I love that J

 

 

I moved into my host family on Sunday, January 26^th. My host mom is an English professor at Shaanxi Normal University (the school that I go to here in China) and my host dad is a Physical Education professor at another university. They are both in their 30s, so pretty young parents!

 

My host sister’s name is Happy, but we all call her “little tree” or 小树子 as a nickname because of a reason I forgot… whoops. She is eight years old and is in second grade!

We often go over to my host mom’s parents’ home, which is across the street from where I go to school! We call them 爷爷 (Ye Ye) and 奶奶 (Nai Nai), which mean Grandpa and Grandma. Nai Nai LOVES to cook so whenever we go over to her house, she always prepares THE BEST MEALS! Yummmmm….

It’s difficult to fit ALL THAT WE DID in three weeks into one post but I can try to summarize!

 

During the first week I was with them, what we did pretty much revolved around Chinese New Year! Two days before Chinese New Year, we went shopping for food and for gifts. Since so many stores close down once Spring Festival begins, everyone stocks up on gifts and foods for the New Year. Chinese New Year’s Eve was the most festive of all!

 

 This is the fried crackers that we made! It was a long process but we had ALL DAY LONG to work on it and all the while watching TV and talking!

On the night of the 30^th, we all gathered around the TV to watch the Spring Festival TV Program. ALL OF CHINA WATCHES IT! We eat and talk and watch TV! My little sister and I also went outside to 放炮 play with fireworks! It was SO FUN!!! (and totally NOT safe, or good for the environment…hahaha)

 

 

 

 When midnight came around, fireworks lit up the sky and the sound of the fireworks were so loud that we couldn’t even hear the TV Program anymore! Man, it was SO exciting! Ye Ye and Nai Nai gave me a red pocket, 红包 and my host mom and dad gave me a gift—a necklace! J Even though I didn’t have to, I decided to give my host sister a red pocket too, with American money!

 

 

 

For the rest of the week, we went to see the extended family and brought them gifts! In return to us visiting, they fed us and gave us red pockets! It’s such a relaxing holiday! In all, I would describe the Spring Festival in China as a combination of our Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween, Superbowl, July Fourth, and New Years! If you think about it, you EAT, you get gifts, you dress up in your new clothes, the whole nation sits in front of the TV to watch the Spring Festival Program, there are fireworks, and you are celebrating the beginning of a new year! So pretty awesome right?!! 

 

 

So for the other two weeks with my host family, we did a bunch of stuff!

We went to a botanical garden!

 

It snowed a ton the last week I was with them, so my sister and I played in the snow a TON! We made a snow bunny, snow man, snow bear, and snow chair!

 

 

 

 

 

 My little sister and I would have drawing competitions...I think she won.

 

We sang karaoke, also referred to as KTV here in China!

 

 

I attempted to cook them some Western foods, like pancakes, French toast and pasta!

Over the three weeks, my host dad taught me all 24 steps to the Tang Taiji movement! Man, that was a lot to learn in so little time, but he was an awesome teacher!

 

We went to visit the Wild Goose Pagoda!

 

We ate lots of delicious things, like Soup Balls (汤圆), fried flour chips (炸麻花)，dumplings (饺子)，shrimp chips (虾片), liang pi (凉皮), watermelon seeds, Chinese pancakes, and more!

  

The time with my host family was by no means smooth sailing. There were days where spending time with my host family made me really miss my family at home. And there were definitely days where I didn’t feel like I belonged to their family. Especially when my host sister was used to being an only child, there was definitely tension between me and her at times. Despite all that, I always felt very welcomed by my host family. They always told me, “Our home is your home.” They were SO good to me! Chinese New Year is such a family-oriented holiday and I can’t believe they were willing to invite me into their family and treat me as one of their own! They have made my first Chinese New Year in China an experience I will never forget!