Spring Festival!

The biggest holiday in the Chinese year is Spring Festival, known to everyone else as the Chinese New Year.  Whenever this rolls around everyone in the country plans trips home to visit their family, huge meals, celebrating with night after night of fireworks, and a large chunk of time off work.  The official holiday is 15 days long!  Before the festival begins all the women are busy cleaning their house and preparing and cooking countless meals.  


So...since the whole country basically shuts down for that time period we benefit by getting a super long break, 18 days to be exact.  I spent the first few days of break not doing much at all, sleeping in, watching some TV shows and movies and just relaxing.  However, I decided that would not be a good way to spend the whole break, so here are some things I hope to accomplish over the next 2 weeks!

• read at least 2 books (i'm almost done with 1 so this shouldn't be a hard goal to meet)
• go ice skating (as long as it doesn't get too warm)
• make homemade dumplings for new years!
• have a soup/bread bowl night
• make cookies
• make maple twist
• go on some coffee dates
• practice Chinese
• deep clean my room
• listen to sermons
• read my Bible everyday
• send e-mail updates to people back home
• skype with people back home
• go to the temple fair at YMY
• not spend too much money 
• except for when I....
• go to Hong Kong to visit a student :)

I'll update after break to see how good I do with these goals!