Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year

Traditionally, on the new years eve, Chinese people would get together, have a big dinner, and watch Spring Festival Gala and play fireworks.

But in fact, I even can't remember when is the last time I play fireworks with my pals. It's been over ten years since our family don't play fireworks anymore. And more and more people choose not to due to the environmental reasons and the rising price of fireworks. But we would watch our neighbors play.



The Spring Festival gala on CCTV is getting more and more boring, not because of the quality of the show, but because we are having more way to entertain ourselves, such as watching movies, playing games on the phone, and fight for “Hong Bao (红包)” in wechat groups. In case you don't know what is “Hong Bao", it's an  envelope with money inside. Usually, this activity only goes around between very close friends, so that you know where your money goes, and some day, it may have a chance to come back to you.  And the Spring Festival gala, to attract people to watch it, is giving out "Hong Bao" at some random time during the gala, and those who are watching it can download an App and participant it it. So the sponsors are giving out money to those to watch the Spring Festival Gala to increase the audience rating. Isn't  that sad? But anyway, for our family, we still turn on the TV and play the Spring Festival Gala, since all the local channels are rebroadcasting it, and all the fun shows have stopped for that day.

         

The only thing that never changed is eating. And for north Chinese people, eating dumpling at midnight can never be skipped. At the new years eve, we are supposed to stay up all night. If I accidentally fell asleep at midnight, my parents would wake me up. It has the second priority, just after the "fight for hongbao" I mentioned above.


      



This year, I am in US. I miss my family and the midnight dumplings. And I actually have two quiz on the day of new years eve.

Minimalism lifestyle

                              Minimalism lifestyle

    I have decided to be a minimalist. 
    I have a hobby of collecting things, decorations, pretty notebooks. Whenever I feel low, I will go to store to purchase some more small things, such as a pretty cup, a pencil, a table cloth... These things do comfort me - for a while. But the joy won't last. Maybe a week, maybe a few days. And next time when I feel sad, I do repeat the purchasing until I am surrounded by a large pile of things. I came to America with the largest suitcase of daily necessary things, after 5 months, my processions have enlarged by multiply times. And the suitcase My room has became only s small of it. Actually, I don't buy these things, so the problem is with the word "collect".
    I went to my friends house, she has a pile of magazines she wants to get rid of, "National Geographic", I used to watch the TV show "National Geographic" back home, and I enjoyed it very much. So I took her magazines home. I thought I could read it when I have time, and improve my English....→.→ But I never touched them again. I regret it very much. I should leave it to my friend. At least she bought them and she might read it from time to time. This is one way I collect things.
   And when the new semester begins, there are a lot of activities going on on campus. And after these activities, they would give out some pens, T-shirts, earphones, even glasses and soaps. I participate in as many activities as I can and end up with 12 free T-shirts, a box of different sorts of pens, and countless number of other things( I just put them there and became too lazy to count them.)
   But the majority of things I got is actually from the church's free giveaway. I got a lot of sheets I thought I could use in future, bowls, pretty cups, room decorations. My closet is literally filled with my things, and to store them, I got three free cabinet.
   During Christmas, I was sitting in my room, staring at my collections. I don't feel happy at all. Instead, I just couldn't help feeling messy. I turned on my computer, the desktop wallpaper is just boring and gaudy. I start to google for cheerful desktop wallpapers. After browsing for a while, I couldn't find a satisfying one, so I gave up. Actually，I change my desktop quite often, at least twice every month, from natural scenery to skinny movie stars. I rely on it to bring me freshness feeling. I have also stored hundreds of beautiful wallpapers in my computer. Usually, after I saved the image, I would never look at them again.
  And my desk is covered by things, like books, papers, tissue, snacks, I can only move my mouse around in a very limited space.
  Basically, this is how I live my life. I am always struggling to cheer myself up through collecting.
  Until Dec 23,2016, the day before Christmas Eve. I read about a Japanese man, Sasaki Fumio, who is a minimalist, and live a minimalism lifestyle. All his things added up to 150, including seasoning and salt bottle. When I looked at the picture of his room, his almost empty room, I was deeply attracted. I just want to use the word "relieved" to describe the feeling. If I haven't been living in a room jammed with things, I wouldn't like his empty room, there are not one single painting on the wall and the living room doesn't even have a sofa. But out of some reason, I found it very beautiful and clear. I just wish I am in a room like that and sitting in front of a desk like his.

Fig.1. Sasaki Fumio's room

 Fig.2. Sasaki Fumio's desk

  That's the moment I decided to be a minimalist.
  Starting with tidy up my room. I didn't throw away anything, but I have put some of the things I am sure I will never use in the layer in my cabinet, I think if I give them to church's giveaway for those who might need them or like them is better than just throw them away.
   I put all my clothes into my suitcase and leaving only four suits I wear lot outside. It's winter now, and the weather changes a lot, so I left two for cold weathers and two for warm weathers. This small action have had positive influence in my life immediately. I can decide what to wear simply by checking out today's temperature.
  I have also thrown away all my school's PPT and reading materials, cause I have saved the electronic ones. And stored the small electronic things in my container.
  Most importantly, I deleted all the desktop wallpapers in my computer, 12GB. My desk is also clear and empty. I don't need to clear up a space to study anymore. There are still a lot of things in my room, but it is much much better than before, and I will clean up my room and my things little by little every day.
 This is the first step I took towards a minimalist There is still a long way to go. Empty space is really beautiful.