[To read the beginning of this story, see my post entitled “A Surprising Friendship.”]

Though I live in Taiwan, I’ve never done much of anything to celebrate Chinese New Year. Our school gives us a week off for the special holiday, and it’s traditionally been a week that I spend holed up in my apartment, enjoying the quiet, perhaps doing a bit of “Spring” cleaning, maybe cooking or baking things that I wouldn’t otherwise have time for, and usually reading the hours away. But for my Taiwanese friends and students, Chinese New Year is like the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all rolled into one. In other words, it is a very important family and national holiday. For me, it’s usually just a nice week off from school. Continue reading “A Chinese New Year to Remember”