Welcoming the New Year
Welcoming the New Year
Sunday, 25 January 2009
This week we will be celebrating Chinese New Year with a week’s break from classes. So let me begin my blog by wishing you a very happy year of the ox!
It is said that people born in the year of the ox (years such as 1997, 1985, 1973, 1961 and 1949) are patient, speak little, and inspire confidence in others. On the other hand, they tend to be eccentric and bigoted, they can become angry very easily, and although they have fierce tempers and speak very little, when they do they are quite eloquent. It is said that ox people are mentally and physically alert, generally easy-going as well as being remarkably stubborn (!), and they hate to fail or to be opposed. I am not sure whether to be happy or sad that none of my four children is an ox.
Chinese New Year is also important time for discarding the old and bringing in the new. That is why teachers always try to get their marking up-to-date before the New Year begins - something that would work more effectively if all the students had also submitted their work by the due date before New Year (this is intended as a strong hint to my students who still owe me the first drafts of their extended essays).
I was told by one of my students over dinner last Tuesday evening that one of the important customs during Chinese New Year is never to buy new shoes. The reason for this is that in Cantonese, ‘shoes’ are a homonym for 'rough', so by not buying new shoes, you are avoiding rough seas. I replied by saying that it must be a difficult time for the owners of shoe shops, but I was told that because of the superstition, Chinese New Year is when the biggest and best shoe sales occur. I should have expected that in Hong Kong!
As part of the “old out - new in” approach, the fire fighters conducted a spectacular controlled burn one evening during the week on the hills across Tolo Harbour to the north of the College. Actually, it was not quite as controlled as it might have been, and most of that night and the next day were spent with helicopters water bombing the flames. The photo at the top of the blog shows the view of the fire from our home.
The ‘not-so-controlled’ burn on the hills across Tolo Harbour, as seen this week from our home