Hey Hey and a Big G´Day and Happy New Year toya
 
WOW, who would have guessed I´d reach three years in China?
 
Well, most people I know me had figured that one out prior to me even leaving Australia.
BUT, that doesn´t stop me from writing it and feeling it.
It´s not quite three years all at once yet.
BUT, give it another month and it will be.
If you add my time here seven years ago then it´s three years.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha
BUT, let´s not do that!
 
The Chinese name for the Gregorian New Year's Day is Yan Tan or January 1 and on this Yan Tan I have a very lucky boy.
 
What was that I heard you ask?
Who came all the way to my little Fujian mountain city to visit me?
I´m glad you asked.
I was just about to get to that.
 
Remember last summer holidays as I was casually drinking/making my way from city to town to city to town from Xian City all the way to the east coast of China. Well, if you do remember, can you tell me! Hahahaha! Just joking, if you do remember then you would remember a beautiful girl I met in one of China´s ancient capital cities, the ancient walled city of Kaifeng.
 
I was walking along a busy main road and noticed a very cute girl across the road.
I crossed to get a better look and we met half way type thing.
Silly boy can´t speak much Chinese.
Beautiful girl speaks English and is celebrating her birthday.
We then never left each others side for as long as possible.
 
That would be who has come to visit me all the way here in my little Fujian mountain city.
 
We have continued to talk everyday since we met on that busy road in Kaifeng city. I tried to get to Xi´an during National Week Holiday but it never eventuated and she surprised me one phone call by telling me that she had already purchased a train ticket on such and such a day and would be in Shaowu at such and such a time. So after a mid twenty hour train ride (IN A HARD SEAT) all the way from Xi´an I met her at the Shaowu train station at the end of 2007.
 
We even got to celebrate the passing of 2007 into 2008 together!
How wonderful for us!
 
I guess many of you are wondering if `Our New Year´ (meaning Western New Year) is actually celebrated in China. Hell yeah, it is now a bloody Public Holiday for the entire country.
 
Huh!
Go figure!
 
We spent it at dinner with some of the schools staff. The food was awesome and the company was great. After dinner Luo Wei and I headed to the Miami Bar to meet Yan and friends and after many beers we continued over to Ting Tings Bar (which of course is and has been Ting Tingless for some time). It still has a comfortable feel about it but the beer has gone up in price and also sadly has been taken out of the fridge!
 
What a complete bugger!
Warm beer on New Years Eve!
I fixed it by putting a heap into the deep freeze.
On a happy note, a new imported beer has been added.
One (meaning me) can now be found relaxing with a nice cold Tiger Beer!
 
So, for my Chinese friends reading this, here is a bit of information on New Years for you.
For everyone else, we really don´t need to know much more that it takes us from one year to the next and usually most of us don´t remember too much of that passing. There are also some photos at the bottom of the page.
 
Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
__________________________
 
The soundtrack to this entry was the metallicfunksters `The Infectious Grooves´
The album was `Groove Family Cyco´
Funkmebaby!
___________________________
 
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
New Year's Day is the first day of the year.
The Chinese name for the Gregorian New Year's Day is Yan Tan or January 1
 
On the modern Gregorian calendar, it is celebrated on January 1, as it was also in ancient Rome (though other dates were also used in Rome). In all countries using the Gregorian calendar, except for Israel, it is a public holiday, often celebrated with fireworks at the stroke of midnight as the New Year starts.
 
January 1 on the Julian calendar corresponds to January 14 on the Gregorian calendar, and it is on that date that followers of some of the Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate the New Year.
 
January 1 marks the end of a period of remembrance of a particular passing year, especially on radio, television, and in newspapers, which usually starts right after Christmas Day. Publications often have year-end articles that review the changes during the previous year. Common topics include politics, natural disasters, music and the arts, and the listing of significant individuals who died during the past year.
 
Often there are also articles on planned or expected changes in the coming year, such as the description of new laws that often take effect on January 1.
 
This day is traditionally a religious feast, but since the 1900s has become an occasion for celebration the night of December 31, called New Year's Eve. There are often fireworks at midnight. Depending on the country, individuals may be allowed to burn fireworks, even if it is forbidden the rest of the year.
 
It is also a memorable occasion to make New Year's resolutions, which they hope to fulfil in the coming year; the most popular ones in the western world include to stop tobacco smoking or drinking alcohol, or to lose weight or get physically fit.