cold. People prefer to keep themselves in their homes. The second New Year's Day is also another busy one, because traditionally it is the "Son-In-Law Day". If you do not attend the New Year's Day, the tradition is that on the second New Year's Day, you must visit your wife's family. Fortunately for me, I was already there, which made it easier.
In the morning of the third New Year's Day, Hong drives me and her parents to Wetland Park on Taihu Lake. The weather is not all that good, we are, however, not much bothered with it. All we do is to enjoy the excursion, so we continu to see the hot springs. There are various springs under a vast heated dome, and you can comfortably bathe in them. We are unluck. We are told to return home because we had not made a reservation at the hot springs reception office to be allowed in. We all look at each other. "What is the meaning of this?", one of them echoes inaudibly. We have no choice but to return home. All tickets had already been booked. As expected, the place is at times overcrowded being a big touristic attraction. We missed the chance to see these hot springs. Hong was still feeling cold. She jumps on the wheel, and we drive back home.
It is perhaps a bad day. While we are driving back home, a dog suddenly runs into the road, straight in front of our car. "Oh! not again!" Hong exclaims. Before she even finished the sentence, the four-legged friend slightly hit himself on the vehicle. It was the second time for Hong to run into a dog. Fortunately, this time, the animal escaps it into the nearby bush with minor injuries. We are all left in shock.
"This can't be a good year if such an accident happens to us shortly after the CNY! We might not get children this year!" Hong observes. On hearing about not having children, I smile reservedly.
I observe that Hong's mother, who is sitting next to me in the back seat is not thrilled. When we reach home, we notice that our car had a slight dent due to the minor accident earlier with the dog.
Hopefully, the insurance will repair the damage.
In China, and in many other parts of the world women prepare something to eat for the family, in Hong's family, it is the other way around. It has been happening for decades. Here it is Hong’s father who is always in the kitchen. Li Gengnan is, however, an excellent cook. His meals are delicious. Traditionally, this time of the year, a meal cannot be Chinese, if it misses Nian Gao, a small round rice cake. Nian Goa is sometimes known as the Chinese New Year's cake.
In Chinese tradition, it is considered good luck to eat Nian Gao, a homonym for the "higher year" symbolising higher income, higher position, growth of children, and promise of a better life. So, eating Nian Gao, is considered good luck, during the Chinese New Year period.
After dinner, I go to skype, to talk with my son Daniel, about creating a homepage. Daniel is a student of “Computing and Digital Media” in Augsburg. He designs websites for a German company between semesters. I ask to join us for a Thailand vacation, but he refuses.
“My opinion about the security situation in Thailand is, depending on what I were reading in newspapers and watching on television at that time, I advise that it is not safe to travel to Thailand.”
Hong thinks, Daniel since he is a well-travelled person who always knows his way around. I disagreed with him because a few years back, when I was on holiday there, it was beautiful and peaceful.
I am not in any way threatened. Already Hong and I are planning to go for a holiday in Thailand, after the new year's celebrations. I ask Hong what she thought of a beach holiday in Pattaya, a prominent tourist resort for foreigners. Pattaya is only two hours drive south of Bangkok. I chose this place because I invested money to buy an apartment some years ago. It should be built on a mountain overlooking the sea. I still vividly remember everything about this brochure, even though it is ages ago today.
Despite Daniel's warnings, Hong surprisingly agreed that we go to Thailand.
“I want to see where your money is gone”, she smiled.
That night, we booked the holiday online, using a Chinese travel agency. Hong pulled out her credit card to pay, but it did not work at first. In an angry mood, she banged the keyboard, asking herself what the problem was, but after trying a couple of times, the payment went through.
In China, employers are generous in approving additional holidays. For wedding, I got 10 vacation days from HR department.
I should get only three, as I was married before, but they ignored this law. In Germany, a special holiday you get is generally on your wedding day. The reason for the Chinese's flexibility on allowing generous holidays, is likely to bet that people get married early, perhaps get children, from which the state would benefit, for the pension fund. But I am not a Chinese…
That time, I was thinking about the Chinese emperor in Dietfurt near Eichstätt in Bavaria, Germany. Sometimes such spontaneous thoughts come my way. I told Hong how the Dietfurt population hid under the wall when the Bishop of Eichstätt wanted to collect taxes.
"Coward like the Chinese," the bishop scolded them, and since then a Chinese emperor with a concubine and carriages ruled there for fun, not just for the annual carnival.4
It is cold and wet outside. According to the weather forecast, we expect snow tomorrow. Whatever the weather will be, I will have to go to the bank, to invest my savings on interest. Although in China, banks open even on bank holidays, Hong advises me to go on the first working day, after the Chinese New Year, because it is when banks will charge low-interest rates. While she was telling me this, I noticed that something was not well with her. She seemed to be in excruciating pain. Around this time of the month, she usually experiences the same problem due to her menstrual cycles. As if unconcerned with pain, she pulled out her phone to show me a new app which shows the best time when to have a child, and when one should be careful not just to conceive when you are not ready. On opening the app, her dates were matching.
But wait a minute, I thought it was the very Hong who said after the incident of knocking down a dog a few days ago, that this horse year was not good to have children! Why is she now thinking about children, and showing me the app? I asked myself inwardly. I was perplexed because she said herself that she did not want to have children in a polluted environment like that of China. But I did not mind much about it. I would find out from my in-laws whether they also supported the idea of not having children outside of China.
The night of the fifth day after the New Year was time to remember. A loud whistle of the remaining fireworks works was blown, to honour and celebrate the birth of the God of property. I know that for the European reading this now, you should be surprised to hear of the worshipping of GOD here since religions is not a popular ideology in China. Many Chinese believe in Buddha and Taoism, where there are many different gods. There is also the God of marriage, and Guan Yin–Pusa, Goddess of compassion.
Godness of compassion observes all the sounds of suffering in the world and gives children to humanity and their supervision.
My father-in-law’s’ birthday coincides with the Chinese New Year' today, so we shall "kill two birds with one stone ", celebrating the fifth day of the New Year, as well as his birthday. Hong told me that every Chinese gets an extra year older, according to the Chinese lunar calendar. If you take this tradition closely, it would mean that every Chinese gets two birthdays in a year. However, this custom is slowly fading away; it is being celebrated mostly by the older generation. The young age follows the Western calendar, and therefore, they celebrate this day every year on the same date.
I check on my emails regularly. Being a busy person, I sometimes wake up at night to do that. On New Year's Day, I received an email from Germany, requesting for some calculations, and yesterday I received another one asking whether I had done the calculations. I had sent a note to my bosses that I would be absent for some days, until the seventh of February after the celebrations.
Hong asked me what present we were going to buy for her father's birthday. She prefered flowers. I had a different opinion. I was thinking of buying a grey jacket from Germany, but I was not sure whether Hong would like it. However, Li Gengnan, prefers an egg clock, and kitchen utensils. Getting all these presents wouldn't have been a problem, because many shops in China are open on bank holidays, but time was not on our side.