Chinese New Year

Sorry, this is the only pic of decorations I have right now

How I spent Chinese New Year's Eve (for lack of a better English word):

• Heard lots of fireworks
• Had a sleepover with some friends and watched a movie and ate martabak (aka heaven on earth)
• Listened to my friends make up a dance and countdown to the new year
• Stayed up till almost one talking with them :) 

How I spent Chinese New Year:

• Went to mass with my teacher and her husband, heard 4 different languages in the span of an hour and a half, learned more about the ritualistic nature of Catholicism, was banned from participating in Communion, and ate an orange that had been sprinkled with holy water (don't think it helped me much!)
• After mass, we went to the store, where her husband (as always) taught me about all different kinds of foods here, how they're cooked/eaten, the health benefits, etc. He's so kind and teaches me so much!
• Exhausted, I came home to read a little and take a nap before lunch. However, a group of kids came over who had come over the day before, so no nap. We had so much fun talking, reading books, and sharing stories :) I miss kids!!
• Was supposed to go to a new friend's house for lunch, but she didn't get to our house until 3pm!! Needless to say, we finally ate at like 2:30 because we were starving, so she just came to our house to visit a little bit instead.
• Watched Pride and Prejudice disc 3 of I think 6 with the roomies while listening to the rain :)
• Finally took a nap
• Went to my supervisor's house for dinner (7 layer Mexican dip!!! that's more exciting than you might think seeing as all ingredients Mexican are very hard and expensive to come by here) and meeting

Pretty sure that was FAR from traditional for Chinese New Year, but I did learn about a lot of their traditions. I'm excited to go to Singapore in the next week or two because the celebrations will still be going on, so I'll get to be a little more up close and personal.