Jan 22

Our total congregation was 21 on Sunday. We met in the Relief Society room again to stay warm. I conducted and taught Rel. Soc. There were 4 of us! But the Church is true, even in China!! "Wherever two or three shall meet in my name....."
We were all invited to dinner that night at the home of our Rel. Soc. pres. It was New Year's Eve in China. We left here at 2:30 and walked to the subway station and then when we got off the subway took a taxi from the subway station to her house. We arrived at 4:00. She has a very nice house in a gated community. She's from Taiwan and has been in China for several years. Her daughter goes to BYU Provo and her son will go to BYU Hawaii next Sept. Smart kids!
So her I.E. (maid) made about 12 dishes for dinner! There was shrimp cooked with the shell,eyes and legs still on it and they just eat it like that. I passed. I tried everything but I didn't go back for seconds. The dessert were OK. They don't cook with sugar, so even though it looks delicious it still tastes bland.
Then her son set off fireworks. The sparklers were about 3 ft. long and every thing that he lit was loud! The whole neighborhood was loud! There were some beautiful night displays too.
Then the subway ride home (she took us to the subway station) and then the walked home. It was -12 C(10 F )I had on earmuffs, a scarf wrapped around my mouth and nose and neck, my hood on and my glasses, besides my long johns, sweater and big coat and gloves. It was DARN cold! The walk is about 1 1/2 mi. unless it's freezing cold, then it's like 5 mi. Nelson didn't want to take a taxi, he wanted to walk!
All night fireworks were going off, especially at midnight. There's mostly old people where we live so it wasn't too bad. We slept through the 12-1 barrage. But they're still going off today. The celebration lasts for 15 days. The fireworks booths are huge. You wouldn't believe the packs of firecrackers they sell. And they let them off at 7:30 in the morning! We even see some of the things we used to sell at our fireworks booth.
Gung Hay Fat Choy! ( that's Cantonese and we speak Mandarin here, but I don't know it in Mandarin. You know what I mean.) XO Mom