Woof! We had a Dog-Gone Good Time!

As we rang in another Chinese New Year, the holiday had me thinking. Five years ago, did I even take note of this holiday? Did I realize that more people celebrate this New Year than my New Year? Did I know what went in a red envelop? What colors to avoid wearing? Why New Years' Eve is spent cleaning? I doubt it.

Two Chinese daughters later, our family has joined the masses celebrating this New Year. After a Chinese feast at our favorite "American" style Chinese place last night, we spent the afternoon ringing in the first day of 4704 with the Chinese community in our home town. Since I recently wrote an article about the growing importance of the Chinese in our city, my family was treated to front row seats at the New Year's cultural festival. We saw little girls dancing with long braids, kids singing their hearts out in bright red choral vests, we heard the Chinese opera sang by one of the top performers in China, and we witnessed a show stopping dance performance. The show kept my girls spell bound for two hours. Frankly, La Nina and the Magster making it two hours was the most amazing act of all.

About half way through the whole performance, something dawned on me. I realized part of the gift of this adoption journey has been the gift of the Chinese culture. The only culture I grew up with was American. My family immigrated in a time when assimilation was the priority in this country, not diversity, and the ties of culture were gradually worn away through time. Yet, now through my daughters, I have been introduced to a beautiful, vibrant, colorful culture. Now, we seek out opportunities to participate in this new culture, and it never fails to leave us awe-struck.

It has been such a win-win for us. We try to ensure our girls are exposed to the culture of their birth land and we end up thoroughly enjoying the experience with them. I am also grateful to the wonderful welcome we receive everytime we reach out to the Chinese community. Never have I experienced more kindness and genuine hospitality as I do when I show up at a Chinese community event with my girls in tow. No matter how clueless I feel at first, I am immediately put at ease and placed in the protective care of an unofficial guide who graciously puts up with my numerous cultural gaffes. Of course, they may feel sorry for my girls being raised by "waigoran", but at least they patiently explain every cultural nuiance to me as a journalist or as a Mom.

And as we ring in the Year of the Dog, I now know what goes in a red envelop, I avoid wearing anything white this time of year and La Nina and I make sure all the bad luck is swept out of our house.

Happy New Year to all of you who are celebrating, we hope you had as much fun as we did woofing in the year of the Dog!