of fleas and fruitcakes

Chinese New Year is tomorrow, and everyone here has been busy preparing for the big day.

The biggest event in Hong Kong in the days leading to The Big Day is the New Year's Market. My teachers spent all last week hyping this market to us. From their descriptions, I got the sense the Market was more like a State Fair, a carnival with a few booths off to the side. Plus, this market oozes traditional Chinese culture. So I figured on going on Sunday afternoon, when "only a few" people would be there.

Hah! My first sign of trouble: it took the public bus I was riding FIVE minutes just to get to the actual bus stop at Victoria Park. (Victoria Park is similar to Boston Common in size and function.) Upon being herded (yes, by six policemen) into the park, what do I find? No rides, no festivities, no games. Just row upon row of booths. Some booths did sell the traditional New Year gifts: flowers, candies, and paper decorations. Some items were less traditional: blow-up Gods of Wealth, baby chick stuffed animals (to celebrate Year of the Rooster). But Oxi-Clean? Che Guevara T-shirts? Disappointing. Basically, my teachers conned me into attending a FLEA MARKET. And I HATE flea markets -- especially ones with hundreds of thousands of people jostling you.

Yes, I fled the Market pretty quickly. But I still had to do some shopping for New Years gifts. Mind you, New Years gifts are not as big as Christmas gifts in America. Chinese New Year gifts are similar to gifts one gives in America the first time one visits someone's home: chocolates, wines, flowers, tins of butter cookies. And like American housewarmings, it's bad manners not to give a gift when paying a New Years visit. So I went to a local bakery and bought a tin of traditional New Year's pastries for my aunt and uncle. I figure these tins were popular -- people lined up to buy them. Since my aunt and uncle are going to be busy on The Big Day, I paid them a visit two days early. But when I gave the tin of pastries to my aunt, she wouldn't accept my gift. It was as if I was trying to give her a fruitcake for Christmas.

I just hope my Chinese New Years is better than the run-up.