February began the year of the Horse

New Year's Eve...again!  In the Lunar calendar, Chinese and other Asian people celebrate a new year, and this is the Year of the Horse.  I gave a short presentation to the kindergarten students at Iris's school.  Yes, the dress I wore was made for me in SF Chinatown over 30 years ago!  It was tight, but I managed to fit into it well enough to walk around.  I was very thankful for the help of our local Chinese Association (RECA) to perform a lion dance for five classrooms.  The children got the story of the mythical great race of animals, received red envelopes (with chocolate coins), and enjoyed eating lucky candy or fortune cookies.  The children and their teachers were very appreciative. Even now along the school walls, I see the Chinese characters (horse, star, etc.) that they painted in class.  One kid asks me every lunchtime I'm volunteering, "how do you say._____ in Chinese?"  He greets me with "Ni hao!"  Sooooo fun!

Thanks to Nancy Wang, President of Redwood Empire Chinese Association, for bringing the lion dancers- her grandsons.

Next year, the principal would like to plan better, so that the whole student body can participate.

As for the New Year's parade, I missed it with my family because I was returning from Guatemala.  Read about that in another post.  Shin nian kwai le!