New Year Preparations

That's right. A new year is coming soon! The Lunar one!

Year of the Ox will begin on February 12. I love lunar new year. Many people worldwide call it Chinese New Year, but more people celebrate it than just the Chinese, and since moving to Vietnam, I call it Tết, like the locals.

I've hung decorations on the door, and under the garden umbrella. We're slowly putting money into red envelopes (when we get appropriate-sized bills) to hand to the kids we know. And the cleaning has started.

In China I had heard of the tradition to clean house before the holiday. Everything at the start of the new year should be clean and bright, new if needed. One student told me about spending an afternoon shortly before the new year cleaning light fixtures: dusting the lamp or shade, but also removing the bulbs and dusting them. The light in your house should be bright to illuminate... something. 

So after 2021 began, I decided to deep clean one thing a day until Tết. If it's already a day to do laundry or bathrooms or mop, I don't add an extra task, but on days with no chore, I find one. 

So far I've cleaned the lights that I can (most of our ceiling lights are recessed so can't be removed); I've been dusting more regularly and thoroughly; I've done the windows and the glass doors within the house, I've orange-cleaned the kitchen surfaces (this gets done regularly, but not as often). The big chore was the fans.

We live in the tropics, and our house has no ceiling fan. So we have six floor fans spread throughout the rooms. They are in use most of the year. Even when it's cold, you need to keep the air moving so mold spores don't settle, so the fans get filthy. I dust off the tops periodically, but a couple times a year we take them apart, soap down the blades, and take a brush to the inside and outside of the grills. We did that yesterday.

What a difference! If cleaning the lights makes the light brighter, cleaning the fans gives the lights something bright to shine on. Plus, the air is cleaner without blowing dust back into the room.

Happy New Year!

Chinese  New Year is pretty big here, as you can guess.

The. Single. Biggest travel holiday in this HUGE country.

So, we chose to avoid the crowds by traveling early. We went to Taiwan early in February, returning to Beijing before the actual holiday.

Why Taiwan? I tell you, Taiwan won the toss-up because we need new phones that will function on the Chinese system, but purchasing here means they would include, by default, the "Golden Firewall" and block our favorite western apps. So Taiwan was a good choice.

Now, 20-ahem years ago, my family lived in Taipei. I was sent to a high school in the States, so I was only there for the summers, but still, I thought it might be conveniently familiar. BWAHAhahaha.

I was happy to be a tourist.

I'll share the trip in pictures below, but just a few observations:

1. Taipei 20 years ago is where I learned how to cross a city street. "If there's no car coming, cross, wherever you are, regardless of the lights or nearby crosswalks..." This habit has been a great benefit to me here in Beijing. However, in Taipei now, people actually cross with the light, always. It was weird!

2. BUT... crossing with the lights is a necessity, as the traffic moves very fast. In Beijing, traffic is a bit slower. Maybe it's the quantity of vehicles; maybe it's the greater numbers of bikes, scooters, 3-wheeled delivery trucks, etc.

3. Taipei is noisier than Beijing. Beijing is a city of 21-25 million, depending whose stats you read. Taipei is about 3 mil. (New York City is about 9 million, for comparison.) However, the motorcycles and motor scooters here are often electrically powered, and many cars here seem to be flex fuel. It makes sense, because Beijing has developed so much in the last 10-20 years, there aren't many loud, old vehicles!

4. This is not a new observation, but a deeper understanding of what I knew already in high school: Taiwan is clearly separate from the People's Republic of Ch*** in many ways that I can't discuss here, but now that I'm learning Mandarin... I STILL can't read any characters in Taiwan. It is a different written language.

5. The island of Taiwan is bisected by the Tropic of Cancer. This led me to believe we were taking a tropical vacation! It was foggy and rainy most of the time, and only in about the 50s. Still, a lot warmer than where we came from!

Okay. The trip. We spent one day in Taipei, shopping for electronics, and then launched on a 5 day tour of the island.

First night - Taipei, the hotel claimed "bathtub in every room"

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Temple first, then pagoda, about a 25 minute hike away. SO FOGGY!

 

 

Sun Moon Lake was SO foggy!

Same lake, the next day.

 

This temple was destroyed in a hurricane in the 80s. It's been rebuilt.

An active monastery. Fo Guang Shan

 

These Jade Buddhas are the largest such collection.

They had a million of these!

 

The southern tip. Bounded by the Pacific Ocean, Bashi Channel, and Taiwan Strait. OCEAN!

 

Banyan Tree. My new favorite.

 

Shrine for money burning. (in effigy)

 

In a big historic site in Tainan

 

Taipei 101 = 101 story, tallest building in Taipei.

The view from Taipei 101.

 

My curry lunch in a toilet themed restaurant!!

Happy New Year...flashback

When I started this blog two years ago, I completed this New Years Meme that I found on the blog Mommy Wants Vodka. Two years later, and nearly Year of the Horse, Happy New Year!

1. What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?
I went to the circus! The Univer-Soul Circus, to be precise!

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't think I made one for 2013. For this "Year of the Horse", I've decided I will do/see something new each month to learn about my new city.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
It seems that all my new coworkers had given birth the year before. No lie, 6 babies in one year at my firm!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
A couple of people at my former church. There was a scare with my Aunt, this year, but no deaths.

5. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
Local girlfriends

6. What countries did you visit?
None, but a few states.

7. What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory, and why:
12.17. It's the date that Brett moved to Indy - just 15 minutes away!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Overcoming my fear and successfully hosting a major company dinner.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Making new friends. I still have no "hang-out" friends.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Whiplash when I fell on the ice - no wait, that was already this January. Umm...Nothing major.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My electric kettle. Every morning I use it, and because it doesn't sit on the stove-top, it doesn't get grease-splattered!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Give me some ideas. In this country, we've been lamenting our poor political leadership for so long, I can't think of anything positive.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
My EX-sister-in-law.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Travel across state lines to see Brett. That's over now, though!

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Planning our trip to Delaware so I can do the Polar Bear Plunge again! The trip is coming up in a few weeks, but the planning has been exciting.

16. What song will always remind you of 2013?
"Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus, which I've never heard in it's entirety, but it had so much press. Holy Cow.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier.
ii. thinner or fatter? About the same
iii. richer or poorer? Richer. Having a job will do that!

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Blogging

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Vegging in front of the TV.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
At my parents, at my parents, at Brett's brother's, at church. Oy vey.

21. There was no #21. I don’t know why there was no 21.
I’ll make up my own question like everyone else.
What do you feel you missed out on in 2013?
My family reunion.

22. Did you fall in love in 2013?
I fell even more in love with Brett than I did in 2012.

23. How many one-night stands?
Many. All with the same guy. :)

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Big Bang Theory is still the winner, but I've also become hooked on Grimm.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nah.

26. What was the best book you read?
The Weird Sisters. At least it was the most memorable.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
No discoveries this year.

28. What did you want and get?
A fantastic apartment!

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I can't even think of what I saw...

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I don’t do my birthday. I  might do something this year, because it's a significant one.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If the fitness center at my development had working machines.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
business-casual, with a heavy dose of sweats and flannel at home!

34. What kept you sane?
Prayer ...and alcohol. (I like this answer. I'm keeping it.)


35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I've always secretly doted on Drew Carey.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The impasse about the budget. Americans have all become giant, inflexible, sticks-in-the-mud. If nobody is every willing to compromise, nothing will ever be accomplished. BOTH need to give a little.

37. Who did you miss?
All my friends in Delaware. A lot.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
My 5yo niece Titania! She's a doll. She sparkles and smacks; she's full of spunk... and reminds me at times of ...me. haha.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013:
Family is the most important.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"Waking up too early
Maybe we can sleep in
Make you banana pancakes
Pretend like it's the weekend now"
(Banana Pancakes, by Jack Johnson)

Year of the Dragon

Alrighty! Year of the Dragon!
Good things! Excitement!

(…in an attempt to perk myself up... Yeeha!)

My research (haha) cautions that “due to the mythical nature of the dragon” gains during dragon years may be hard to hold onto. It will be exciting, but hard to tell reality from myth: Easy to make the gains during years of the dragon, but harder to hold onto. So have fun, but watch out in the future!

I lived in East Asia years ago, so – although it’s not like this is something everyone talks about – I became interested in how their signs based on a year differ from the western astrological signs based on a month. I have a great book that goes into detail about the Chinese sign, and then tells you what your western zodiac + Chinese zodiac combination supposedly tell about you.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t buy into astrology. It just interests me as something to know about. (I pride myself on being a wealth of trivia.) Here’s why I don’t believe it:

Man determined the constellations in the first place! So what if the Jupiter IS rising in Aries, we’re the ones who decided that particular collection of stars goes together, and if we hadn’t, or had made the boundaries different, Jupiter would be rising in some other constellation. Hahahaha.

There’s a great subplot in So Long and Thanks For All the Fish (book four of the HHGG trilogy) where the journalist is going to interview some famous astrologer about how a newly discovered planet effects the zodiac. I love it. It was the first thing that crossed my mind when some random scientist – or group thereof – decided to demote Pluto.

Then, with the Chinese Zodiac – now, I’m not going to knock anyone’s religious beliefs - The story of Buddha inviting the animals to a banquet sounds as unlikely to me as the story of crossing the Red Sea probably sounds to someone who doesn’t believe the Bible, so for argument’s sake let’s assume the Buddha story is true. Even still, how does the order of the animals’ arrival translate into power over a particular year?

But I’m latching onto the mythical positivity that is theoretically attached to this year. Go Dragon!

Maybe I should feng shui my house while I’m at it…

Something's Gotta Change

More like "Everything's Gotta Change"

I’ve lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere. Obviously I like it, or I wouldn’t have stayed. Usually I move every few years. I’m getting itchy feet. Does that happen to you? And I’m ready for a major move, not within the same region. I did move about 4 years ago, but just locally, a little closer to work and my social life (such as it is). I have two friends out west who I would love to be closer to, both in locations I've never inhabited. (Moving back to a previous home is like re-uniting after a break-up. We broke up. It's done. Move on.) One of these friends is actively trying to get me there, the other simply hinted when I visited that she was showing me how much fun we would have if I lived there. I’m so ready.

The last time I made a big move, the economy was better, and I was young and carefree. I just packed up my car and called from the road to say, “I’ll call ya when I stop”. And I started life anew in a new place. ...looking back, it was surprising how many people thought I was moving because of them, instead of because of something within myself... It all worked out then, but nowadays I’m a little cautious about the whole moving-without-a-job-lined-up thing. …and I have more stuff, so the move won’t be as simple.

But I’m SO dissatisfied right now. Reconnecting with old friends has at least given my social life a little uplift, but I’m dissatisfied with my current domicile, my job, and my church. The homefront may improve as I get into my “organization resolution”, but the house itself is part of the problem. I’ve known for some time that I need to seek a new place of worship, too. That will be hard, because I love the people and have some good friendships there. Not to mention I’m “involved” there. I’m just not being fed spiritually. And my job. Well, it would be great to do something I love, but in the meantime I’m in a dead-end job that I – okay, I like what I do, but I can’t live on the meager salary forever!

So. Change.
We’re heading into the Year of the Dragon, folks! A year for celebrations and big events – lots to do, lots to love, and lots of hard work to maintain any gains made in the year. I’m all for it! Yeeha! Bring it on! …but oh, I could use some help with the little details.

Okay. That’s it.
I hereby harness the energy of the coming dragon (on the 23rd ya’ll). Wait. Two weeks until he arrives? I guess I will just make my plans and watch to see which direction the energy emanates from.

Okay. In this brief interim I will have to keep looking ahead just to keep my head above water, because frankly, I’m floundering.