Wabbit Season

It’s that time of year again….Spring Festival which starts at Chinese New Year and ends at the Lantern Festival. So much of the world celebrated the New Year Jan 1st but in Asia, many countries celebrate it on Feb. 3rd. This year is the year of the rabbit in the Chinese zodiac. I won’t bore you with details on the rabbit but the one interesting thing about this year is that many of the Chinese that follow the older traditions of China will purchase a rabbit for a pet for 2011. They raise the bunny through the year and at the end of the year, they eat it (sorry rabbit, trix are for kids). This will bring them luck through the year, although it doesn’t do much for the bunny. I guess that during the year the rabbit is lucky to be fed very well but at the end of the year, the luck runs out (insert Elmer Fudd laugh here, I’m having wabbit stew). No different than the rabbit’s foot to bring luck back home, lucky for the person with the rabbit’s foot, not so lucky for the rabbit. This only holds true for the rabbit as far as I know. I don’t think that for the year of the Rat (Tiger, Ox, etc.) that they raise the animal and then eat it at the end of the year but you never really know do you. Perhaps it is because the rabbit is just so darned delicious, who really knows. All I know is that the rabbit leg I eat as Baschu is really good and I’m getting a hankering for some rabbit.

Anyhow, during this time of the year is the so-called “human migration” in China where most of the Chinese head home to spend time with family and friends. I would say that this holiday is much like Thanksgiving or Christmas in the US. It’s about spending time with your family and friends and eating a lot of food. So during this week, the airports, train stations, bus stations are very busy as people head all over the country to get back home. People can’t buy tickets more than 10 days in advance of their departure so about two weeks ago you started to see long lines outside of the train ticket stations around the city as people tried to get on the train they wanted to get home. If they couldn’t get the train ticket, they chose the bus although the bus ride can be very long. It’s cheaper as well so that also plays a role in what happens here. I think the worst day for travel will actually be this Sunday when people are trying to get back to work for Monday morning. I’ve seen the train station when I thought it was crowded, I really haven’t experienced anything like what they go through every year at this time. This same “get out of town” mentality actually holds true for many of the Expats as well, they head out of the country for this holiday if they can. Somehow, it’s gotten a bad rap and everyone says you don’t want to be here through this time in China due to the endless array of fireworks going off at any time and because everything is closed. Well, it’s really not as bad as all that. There are a lot of shops closed but not all shops close their doors because people still have to make a living. As far as the fireworks, the holiday officially started on Friday but we’ve heard only limited fireworks and nothing that lasted more than a few minutes. Tonight (Lunar New Year’s eve) will be much different since this is really the New Year celebration so we expect fireworks to be going off at all hours and for long periods of time. A pair of earplugs and it’s not a problem. But ask me tomorrow morning and I may have a different answer for you.

So, now to the point of the post, today we went for lunch at Mr. Pizza (still not the point, hang in there). While we were eating a woman came up and asked if we were the Dudley’s (no autographs please). It turns out that her family is also the Dudleys. Strange but true, of all places to find another family with the Dudley name, Suzhou, China. She chatted for a moment or two and then headed out the door. The other Dudleys have been here only 6 months and her daughter goes to SSIS with Warren and Jacob, although she is in the 11th grade. It was just odd. First, there aren’t that many foreigners still in Suzhou at this time of year. Most get out of town if they can afford it. With our Christmas trip to Thailand, we couldn’t afford another trip. Second, that they have the same last name (although they don’t seem to be related in any way but who knows). Third, that we would all be eating lunch at the same place during this time just seems very strange. It’s a small world people; I mean what are the odds of this happening?