year of the dragon

singing K and dancing to Super Junior's "Sorry, Sorry"

so for those of you that don't know....I live in Shenzhen, the 4th largest city in China, it is in Guangdong Province and my apartment overlooks Shenzhen Bay and across the water is Hong Kong SAR.

more Sorry, Sorry dancing

On the second day of Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year I found myself in Hong Kong visiting friends, singing karaoke, meeting new friends and eating Filipino food.  PS I did sing some AWESOME k-pop songs. Then I watched fireworks....now I have actually been on the Mall in DC for Fourth of July and these Fireworks in Hong Kong definitely gave them a run for their money...they were not as beautifully coordinated, but they sheer number and length of the show was impressive.  That being said, I will be completely satisfied if I don't see or hear another firework excluding a few short hours on the Fourth of July for the rest of my life.  My apartments rest on what used to be water, that's right I'm living seven stories up from landfill.  With waterfronts on either side, it makes for fireworks on both sides for about three weeks, before during and after Chinese New Year.  And these aren't the piddling little things your older cousin would drive to the Indian Reservation or Wyoming to buy.  These things are serious business, I am pretty sure that there is a huge factory for weapons grade fireworks in my province and everyone knows someone that works there - and they all come to my water front area with ample concrete embankments to launch it all over the water on.  Needless to say we haven't been sleeping well lately.
The Chinese Zodiac follows a twelve year rotation, you probably learned what year you were when you were in your early teens by going to a Chinese restaurant and reading the education paper placemat that told you which years were which.  If you were like me, you were teased mercilessly by your younger brothers for being the year of the Rat, or Mouse in Chinese(even though Rats and Mice are from completely different genus, in standard Chinese speech they are the same...so I prefer Mouse, because mice aren't ever known for cannibalism...unlike Rats) something about Mice: it is the most prominent and first position in the Chinese zodiac, mice are clever, inquisitive, witty, imaginative, talkative, charming, and motivated by challenge.  Mice can be aggressive and honest to a fault(my family definitely knows about this).  Mice are known for good health(definitely not true for me). Mice get along well with Ox, Dragon, Monkey, and Snake, can also be alright with Tiger, Dog, Boar or another Mouse - don't get along or avoid Horse, Rooster and Sheep.  I am a Wood Mouse, so I am not as confident on the surface as I appear and I have a perpetual fear of failing, and I enjoy being surrounded by friends and family, and luckily the feeling is mutual(this seems especially true, although I know I can annoy family.) According to the calendar, Water Dragon is supposed to be a good year for weak Wood Rats - but for my personal weak Wood(yang) Rat status, I won't actually see luck completely in my favor until my mid 40s or so.  
Enough about me though, this year is the year of the Water Dragon, a very auspicious year to be born.  Dragon is the mightiest sign and characterized by ambition and dominance.  Hence many, many Chinese people are trying to have children this year, a baby boom means the price of natal and post-natal care is on average double or triple the price for a normal year.  In Chinese culture, women don't leave home or do much for a month after the birth(limited showering, exercising, stress in general), so the use of "post-natal" nurses for in-home care is very common and this year, in high demand, so the price goes up.  My friend Doménica has Chinese roommates that are a married couple and they are pregnant for the Dragon year.  Anyways, this year is a big deal in the zodiac calendar.
It's kind of a big deal for me too, finish my Chinese program, travel with my sister, get a job in China hopefully that doesn't involve teaching English.  Here's to the year of the Water Dragon!