"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things."Henry Miller ~~

Ni hao!

Well, since I wrote last week, I haven't stepped on any barnyard animals or had juice thrown next to my shoes. My adventures have slowed down somewhat (in my opinion, that is).  As Spring Festival/Chinese New Year draws nearer, Hefei is glittering (under the numerous amounts of rubble, that is) with red diamond shaped signs, with the character for "happiness" shining in gold lettering.  These signs are meant to be hung on doors to welcome in the new year.  This year is the year of the COW ("niu"), according to the Chinese zodiac signs. All over, in the commercial areas, you can see cute little signs saying "Happy Niu Year".  The word Niu sounds very close to "new." Clever, eh?

Fireworks are shot off every night (and day...or morning, at 6AM). The street vendors have carefully set out an assortment of little red envelopes (you put money in these and give them to children), red hats and mittons (don't be cold in the new year!), and somewhat tacky paper signs with young boy and girl "emporers" and "empresses" riding cows happily. The streets are littered with paper ads (carelessly disgarded by the locals) for special New Year deals.

Near to Carrefour there is an old man begger. Instead of chasing people with a paper cup like most beggers in Hefei do, he stands on the sidewalk playing an er hu (traditional chinese instrument). I respect his willingness to at least try and do something, and so I give him any spare mao (like chinese cents) in my pocket as I pass by. He smiles his gap toothed grin, and says "Foreigner miss, thank you! Happy New Year!"

All right, I'll spill the beans! I am going with my boyfriend Bill to his hometown for Spring Festival. In Chinese culture, this is quite a big deal. It's bigger than bringing someone home for Christmas in America.  Bill is from Hunan province, in a small village. His parents are gearing up for our arrival. Since we are going a distance to Shaoyang, we had to purchase train tickets last week. This in itself is quite an adventure. Hefei is off the beaten path, so you cannot take a train directly to Shaoyang. Instead, we must take a train to Wuhan, then to Changsha, then a bus to Shaoyang. The train to Changsha is 9 hours, and the bus is 3 hours.

The concept of standing in line is a little different in China than America. In America, we que up and wait out turn. If someone cuts, either we scornfully comment or glare at them. This, my dear readers, is not the way of Old Cathay. In most of China, everyone crowds together and pushes their way up to the window. To be fair to Hefei, I must admit that there is a little more order (not much). There are questionable lines formed, though there are still many cutters. Guards in dark green uniforms are standing around, ready to blow a loud whistle and smack anyone who tries to push too violently.  Once it's your turn at the window, the train station attendent chews her gum uninterestedly, casting sideway glances at you, and hitting keys haphazardly on her computer. Because it's so close to Spring Festival, everyone is going home, so almost every train is sold out. Unfortunately for us, there were not train bed tickets left to Changsha for our overnight trip, but we did get hard seat tickets (thank god!).

There are several traditions associated with Chinese New Year. Actually, I should disclaim here and tell you that these traditions are different depending on if you are in North or South China. In the North, on the eve of Chinese New Year, you are supposed to shower and make sure your hair has been cut, nails cut, everything in order, to wash away the bad luck of the previous year, and to enter the new year clean and fresh. Also, at midnight on the chinese new year, it's a tradition in the north to eat Jiaozi (dumplings). In the south, they do not eat jiaozi, but they still shower. In the south, you buy new clothing to wear on New Year's day.

Hefei is considered "south central" China, so the clothing tradition applies. Thus, yesterday I went to Bu Xing Jie (shopping street) with Bill to buy some new clothes.  As I am a tall, "big" foreign girl, you can imagine I was weary at the prospect of trying on clothing meant for a much smaller, more "delicate" chinese girl frame.  Surprisingly, one of the first sweaters I tried on fit me, and looks decent. Bill bought it- he insisted (I think this is a southern tradition... the man pays...). I got a coupon with this purchase, so we went back to look for a second item.

Bu Xing Jie had about half the population of Hefei walking on it. There were so many people, I could barely wade through the crowds to walk. Everyone is hurrying around, trying to get to as many places as they can in the shortest amount of time possible. People run into each other forcefully. People knocked into me left and right. Fortunately for me, I am rather tall, and so if someone knocks into me, it's more likely they will fall over than me. HA! Foreigner: 1; Hefei local: 0

As I was walking (actually, being carried along by the crowds), suddenly up ahead in the distance, the crowd parted widely. There were several shrieks of fear. As I got closer, I saw what was going on.  The infamous begger and his one-armed monkey had arrived!!! The poor monkey wondered around, hoping up and down and waving his one arm at people (I don't know where his other arm went, poor thing). Girls jumped back in fear. The begger shoved his plastic cup at people, but mostly people wondered away. Angry, the begger man yanked the leash of the monkey. The monkey flew over several feet to the begger, in reaction to the yank. He crawled up the beggers leg and sat on his shoulder. The beggers shoved the monkey off, annoyed. The monkey jumped back onto the sidewalk and mad sad eyes at the people nervously passing by. Sadly, I wasn't able to get my camera out fast enough to get a picture of this unbelievable sight.

The next time I write, no doubt I will have arrived in Shenyang, or perhaps I'll have returned from my two week adventure in South Korea.

Expect more adventures, my friends.

Until next time, Zaijian!

~Monika