Well, it's officially the beginning of the Chinese New Year holiday here in the Far East. Over the past week or two, Shanghai has started to feel perceptibly less crowded than it usually is as all of the non-native residents flee the city to their various hometowns to spend the weeklong festivities with their families. We've got it pretty rough here in China, as the entire country gets a week off from work, as mandated by the government. This seems like a good place to note that China gets 21 national holidays per year, whereas the US gets only 10. Go Communism! I'll be spending the majority of the break in Japan -- Osaka and Kyoto, primarily -- where I hope it's not quite as cold as it is here (wishful thinking, I fear).
Speaking of the weather, the technical name for the new year's holiday is 春节 (
chunjie, or "Spring Festival). This is particularly fitting this year, as you can tell by the following view of my apartment building and the surrounding courtyard:
Not too Spring-y, if you ask me. It's been snowing in Shanghai for the last two days. The Chinese, however, haven't decided to name the snow after a cartoon fish... a safe and warm Nemo-pocalypse to all back home!
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