Two New Year's in one Year

Yesterday was a very exciting day: mostly for the Chiense though, as they were celebrating the beginning of the Year of the Ox. This started at around 8 in the morning with fire works and more or less loud fire crackers and is still ongoing.

Rob and I therefore ran away from this to Chaoyang Park, together with another new colleague, because the weather was gorgeous (although freezing) and the boys hadn't seen much of Beijing yet.

So we did it all: Chaoyang Park with its early New Year stalls, then Hohai with its beautiful Yunnan food and frozen lake, Beihai with the great view over Beijing and then the bell tower with the cute little Hutongs around it, that are not only warm in this weather, but also have lovely drinks.

So, the day went quick and when we stepped out into the cold again, the fireworks were now visible in the dark. Rob and I set off to meet one of our homecoming friends and her family for dinner and then enjoyed the fireworks with great view over the lake.

Back in the flat it felt like a war zone. Neither Rob nor I had ever seen so many fireworks and there was no way we could go to bed with all that noise. And so we stood and watched the city celebrate and scaring away all evil spirits (if it didn't work I'd be surprised, because I suddenly understood why all Westerners had fled the city beforehad).

Today, there are more fire crackers and fire works and it sounds like it's gonna continue for at least a couple more days. When the Chinese celebrate it's certainly not half-hearted....

The First Farewell Party

Life moves so quickly in Beijing and last night I attended the first Goodbye Party (sniff). Charlotta, who started in the Delegation a couple of weeks before me and now her internship is already finished.

We shared so many lunches, meetings and trips to the manicure place and the fake bags place that I wish the internship would last another year or so. But, ... appartently people have other lives to go back to Sweden and have to finish university or some excuse like that.

So, all that was left for us to do, was to get Charlotta a little present and to celebrate her return to Europe. Who would have thought the first leaving party would come so quickly?

As a kind of comfort, Rob and I used the slight hangover this morning to plan our next trips in and around China ... and got 'The Mongol' as a kind of preparation for our trip in June; research so to speak. Obviously with our ever lovely travel group, whose members will return from the States and Europe soon.

So, leaving and returning are holding hands and I'm looking forward to visiting Sweden soon!