When I realised today is the Eve of Chinese New Year was on this morning after I woke up and read the news. I had thought the New Year Eve is on tomorrow. Good I realised it in time and made all the Best Wishes calls to China when they all already had Eve's dinner and are watching the Spring Festival Gala which holds by the China Central Television.
In Germany there is no China Town or Chinese union( so far I didn't find any), so there is no atmosphere for Chinese New Year. All the Chinese in Germany are spread. When I called my family and friends in China today, all of them are already went back to their home together with their parents or family. From their sides on the phone calls, the noise of people's laughing and firecrackers made me jealous.
Chinese New Year Eve is the day of family reunification. After a girl is married, the girl will not spend this day with her parents anymore but with her husband's family or parents. After New Year Eve's reunification, on or after the first day, people are going out to visit relatives or friends. The married woman with her husbands and childern will first together to go back to her parents. After the Eve when the New Year started, as early to visit the people, the people is more important to them. So usually on the first or second day, the girls will bring their husband and children first to visit their parents.
Today my sister Dandan was together with her husband Caohui and daughter Yingying at Caohui's parents, where about 2 hours drive from Beijing. Caohui has four brothers, this year three of the brothers and their children's are gathered at their parents to spend the Eve. The biggest wishes for all Chinese parents are that their children have successful careers and a harmonious family, and then all of the children and their family come back home on the eve of new year.
In my brother's family in Mianyang, there are my mom, my sister-in-law, Miaoyan and my brother together. They all are living together, so today for them maybe not so special but a little bit loss as my sister and I are not at home anymore.
Today Martin and I also celebrated our New Year at home. My sister entrusted Martin's friend, whom just came back from Beijing, took some books and sausages to me. The sausages were made by my brother one year ago. As I wrote before that it's a tradition that in the South of China people making sausages and preserved meat for New Year. Usually we don't eat meat preserved over one year, we think it's not healthy and posible to cause cancer. As my sister saved the sausages in the ice box, so it tasted still fresh.
This is how it is still raw.
The way we eat is to boil them until well done. German sausages are usually to eat in the raw. Chinese eating habits are likely to be warm and well cooked. We think the boiled water can kill all the bacterias. Raw meat carries pathogen or ascarid, only when the foods are well cooked then the sanitation of food is secured.We also think eat too much preserved food will cause cancer. Before I have always resisted to eat sausages and preserved meat, even during the New Year. But today I couldn't control myself to stop eating them. I didn't care if it's not healthy, if it will cause cancer, if there are too much fats in the meat. When I starting to cook the sausages, the way I cut them into pieces etc. during all the process I smelled the New Year, it reminds me the time my whole family sitting together for the dinner. The sausage is so spacial to me, because it has special flavour from my family. Which I can not get from elsewhere.
Even though there are so many delicious foods in China, but this sausage is the only food I missed. That's why today when I was eating it, I felt suddenly I cached something that from the buttom of my heart. It is the home made sausage which I used to resist to eat before. It brings so much of the memory from my home and hometown.
