The Chinese New Year holiday is not a one day affair; it’s a two week period.  So though we have been at school since Monday, some Chinese schools had not returned.  Today, is the last day of the holiday and is also known as the lantern festival.  This is an opportunity for everyone to use up their remaining fireworks and throw parties on tennis courts, like this one:

 

This is also the day that families enjoy meals of Yuan Xiao and Tang Yuan, which loosely translates in English to glutinous rice balls.  (Side note: some Chinese dishes here translate into English names that you wouldn’t think is good food.  Beijing is trying to standardize the translations before the Olympics – maybe they will make the names sound good too!)  Sarah and I had some with a Chinese family, and they were different… but all right.  You’re supposed to eat 12 of them to have good luck for the year, one for each month; I only finished 9, so I’m alright until October, but we’ll see what happens after that.

School is back in full swing – the third quarter isn’t very busy, but 4th quarter is shaping up to be a hectic time again.  With making plans for leaving at the same time, we are sure to keep ourselves hopping!