Chinese New Year is Coming Up

Seventeen days ago, we wished you a happy new year (and I am rather disappointed that there is a seventeen-day separation between our last post and this post).Now, we I would like to inform you of another new year arriving soon - Chinese New Year, on February 10. Yes, it's a little too early, but, hey, considering our lack of diligence in posting on a blog (see http://lindnersinchina.blog.com/ for more proof than this blog can provide), we may as well tell you about it early.
The Chinese New Year is the new year according to the lunar calendar. Each year, there is a designated animal to represent that particular year. For 2013, it's the year of the Snake, the sixth of the twelve Chinese Zodiac animals. Last year it was the Dragon (Rick's a Dragon). Next year, it's Horse (Cheryl's a Horse). Snakes represent the symbol of wisdom, while being the most private. When Chinese New Year comes, we're up for a night of non-stop fireworks (I, however, am not affected by the loud booms of fireworks, lucky me).

It snowed the slightest bit this morning. According to Mom, it "didn't smell the way snow should". She learned somewhere that snow like that in China might be the result of a bomb set off to the sky to clear pollution, which makes snow less enchanting. If the snow was the result of a pollution-clearing bomb, it certainly isn't doing it's job - still looks pretty crummy outside, to me.

The time of the year has come: ATTACK OF THE MOLD!!
It's disgusting. Of course, mold has been around since November, but it's finally started to bother ME. It looks so green and spotted and messy. As we SPEAK (er... read/write) I am looking directly at a wall full of splotchy mold. I can not WAIT for it to go. According to foreigners who have been here longer than we have, there is NOTHING we can do to rid our apartment of it completely. Just bleach to scrub it off for a day or two. I don't do the scrubbing myself (I REFUSE to touch a speck of it), but watching it being done and hearing the parents complain is enough for me to know what an absolute pain it is. It's kind of like the dust in the house - you vigorously sweep three times, you go to bed, you wake up, more dust and dirt on the ground. (China's pollution, ugh.)

An update on Matthew's adoption: All the fingerprints and paperwork are completed. All we need now is China to send some files and such. 

~Abby