Kung hei fat choi!

My repertoire of Cantonese words has increased 33% recently. Other than being able to say "hello", "thank you", and "please stand back from the doors" (if you ride the subway enough here, you're bound to pick this up), the latest thing I've learned is Happy New Year! ("Kung Hei Fat Choi!")

The Chinese calendar is a lunar one, and this week marks the start of the Year of the Pig. Everywhere you look there is marketing material with a pig on it. We were in a McDonald's the other day and noticed that even the menus had little pigs drawn on them. How appropriate.

But the week of the new year here is like Thanksgiving in the US. Everything shuts down completely for at least two days, and everyone and their mother get on a plane, train, or automobile to head back to the family. I've been noticing that the area around my apartment has become easier to walk through the last couple of days, and that there will be the odd seat available on the subway system when usually there are none. Classes of course, have been moved so that all the students can head back home for the week.

With no real desire to travel abroad given our recent adventures, Saeeda and I decided to stick it out in Hong Kong and experience the Chinese new year here. Although there are different activities for each day of the new year week, today's was the one we had been looking forward to the most - the new year day parade in Kowloon.

Having become accustomed to the crush of people that live on this tiny island, Saeeda and I decided to head out to Kowloon (the location of the parade) two hours before the event itself. But of course, two million other people had the same idea, so by the time we got to the parade route, there was very little space to be found. Still, we made ourselves comfortable and didn't worry too much given our height advantage. Never has my height been made more obvious to me than my stay in Asia. It's not just that I'm taller. I actually sometimes feel like I'm floating above a sea of heads (especially on a crowded subway car). The parade route was no different.

Although things were a little late to start, the atmosphere was festive. The parade itself was fun, although probably not the best parade I've seen. Still, the novelty of it all, along with the excitement of the crowds all rubbed off, and the experience was enjoyable. I've embedded the video that I grabbed with my digital camera - you have to pardon the poor camera work (moviemaking is not my forte), but some of the highlights are interesting. Such as the Arizona Cardinals cheerleaders halfway through the parade.

Because nothing says to me Chinese New Year more than the Arizona Cardinals cheerleaders...