Xinnian Kuaile!!

Because Chinese New Years followed by Spring Festival is a two-week long traditional holiday celebrated during the month of February, International New Years on the 1st of January (known as Yuandan) is not given much importance. While China’s schools and companies take the day off to relax, expats use this holiday to sleep through their hangovers.

On New Years Eve in Beijing, there are no TVs with a dropping ball, no fireworks, no public gathering of people with funny hats blowing on those things that make the quintessential New Years sound (and can be used to harass the ears/eyes of a younger brother). Nonetheless, this wouldn’t discourage me. The festivities at my girl’s bar were a great success - Koreans ate cake (a Korean favorite for every celebratory occasion), my friends and I took shots of tequila while playing dice games, and when it came time (approximately- I had forgotten to align my cell phone clock with the atomic clock) we counted down and cheered “Xinnian Kuaile!” This naturally queued Auld Lang Syne, long kisses, and the popping of balloons that had been hanging from the ceiling.

My New Years Day, traditionally spent watching football and feasting, was spent tutoring English, eating McDonalds, and watching Sideways (a movie about a depressed wino).

Regardless, I attended a first-rate Beijing New Years Eve bash. Certainly, it wasn’t like the insidious streets of Montreal or the blissful ski slops of Vermont, but I wouldn’t be surprised if future historians refer to 2008 as China’s “Olympic Year” – a coming out party for the whole world to see – a party I can’t afford to miss.