On Saturday afternoon I tried to have a last visit to the gym but had the wrong closing time – when I arrived at 4 pm they were closing for the holidays. So I walked a bit around in the area up to Full Link Plaza where I had a coffee at Starbucks. There was an eerie silence in our neighborhood, like during SARS. What were they all doing?
Simple. Making JIAOZI – Chinese dumplings. When I arrived home soon the family came over and started the sacred ritual: making them all together (the modern version to buy them at the supermarket is not the right stuff). And then the whole family sat down to eat, simply in the kitchen (our kitchen is more than big enough).

This year, again, fireworks are permitted. We got two boxes from friends (the stuff we get from Chinese has no limits, from fruit to vegetables, a whole lamb, cognac, cigars, etc.). So, Sun had to put up a sign of “no smoking”. We wouldn’t want to blow up the office, or? (Hmmm… sometimes I feel like). All around in the neighborhood stalls went up to sell the vast array of ear piercing fireworks. Biggest outlet was at the north gate of Workers’ Stadium (comes in handy, buy one before entering Mix or Vics).
I am not fond of those dangerous rockets. One of our friends once got one straight hitting her neck – a dog had jumped on the stick and it misfired. She ended up in the hospital. In Belgium.
Well, no escaping for me, life in Beijing is dangerous (= hardship post!!!). So, there we all went in front of Babyface near the building under-permanent-construction-but-now-being finished. I stayed far enough (excuse: I have to make the pics). Valerie had her protective gear. Nobody got hurt and the workers of the building had their fun too. A fire truck came to check us out but left disappointed – nobody on fire.

Of course in China pictures are mandatory so we had a long photo shoot.

The good thing about most Chinese dinners: start early, finish early. So after 9 pm we retreated to our top floor to watch the famous (?) CCTV New year program on TV, with the curtains open to watch Gongti Xilu and Julong under fire.
As I wrote earlier, NO PIGS under whatever form in the program. This Chinese Year is “muslim friendly” and animal-less. A bit boring for me to watch, too much blabla but Sun and Valerie were laughing with all the jokes. Yeah, yeah, one day (2027) I’ll understand it too.
The fireworks were never-ending and gave the impression we were under attack and the Guancai Building (where the Alliance Française is located) on fire. I hope those people closed the windows… they were literally being hit.

So, with a bottle of Muscadet, some cigars and Belgian chocolates we entered the New Year. Now we can all eat like a pig.