Tigers

The ox has left and the tiger has arrived. February 14th, was the first day of Chinese New Year and either the the bull was putting up a fight or the tiger is pissed because it rained for more than the week long vacation in Taipei. When it rains in the winter time in Taipei it's hard to guess what time it is from looking outside. Between 8am and 5pm outside looks the same, dusk, and has the effect of making me permanently sleepy. The sun wasn't seen until yesterday, Sunday.

On Chinese New Years Eve, I went to my girl friends house to eat with her family. I didn't know if I should bring anything and what to bring if I needed to so I arrived with the following:

5 apples

2 Korean pears

1 bag of milk peanut candy (kind of like taffy with peanuts in it)

1 bottle of 15 year Glenlivet scotch

We ate a massive meal and drank some whiskey. Afterwards we went over to her grandmothers house. Red envelopes were exchanged for “新年快樂”（xin nian kuai le) or happy new year. People gamble during Chinese new year in games like mahjong or with small amounts of money in more simpler games. For example, "highest card wins the money", the best way to describe one game I played at my girlfriends grandmothers house.

Throughout the rest of the week I played mahjong, drank tea occasionally and ate a lot of food. I also caught up on sleep, my new favorite past time....again. Happy New Year.