At the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit, Karren, an international student at Southeast University, are learning to make dumplings and tangyuan with her friends. They explore Chinese cuisines in the laughter and talk, and make best wishes for good luck and togetherness in the new year.
About the Chinese New Year, what impress Karren most are actually based on what her family taught her about what can and can’t do. For example, “We must cut our hair before Chinese New Year like we throw all the bad lucks from the previous year and start new for the new year. We’d better not clean our house on the 1st day because it’s like we are throwing our luck or fortune out. It’s way better to wear red or bright color on the 1st day of Chinese New Year, which represents good luck and fortune.”Among these customs, Karren’s favorite activity is collecting red envelopes. "I think the red envelope not only contains money, but also the elders' love and expectations for our younger generation. It is a gift of both material and spiritual value."
Karren came to China for the first time when she was a child. In 2008, she went to visit her relatives in Haikou city in Hainan province during the Chinese New Year. “The strongest impression of China that I got after the trip is how large China is. For the entire 2 weeks, we just traveled around Hainan Island, it was tiring but we had a lot of fun.”Karren also found Chinese language very interesting. “Although we speak Chinese too at home but hearing it from the locals felt so different, and I found that the locals also speak dialect which I don’t really understand.”
In 2019, Keren came to China again and began her college life at Southeast University. Different from when she was 8 years old, during this trip to China, Karren had some new findings. “What I like the most here is the transportation, it was so convenient for me to go out to everywhere I want because, you can access to the public transportation easily. The second thing I like about my life here is that I got the opportunity to meet a lot of new friends from different countries, and be able learn some of their culture, their language, and etc. And I personally think local friends around me really welcome us as an international student, it makes me feel so happy and blessed that I had an opportunity to attend university here in Nanjing.”
Karren met a group of like-minded friends and formed a food research group (Food Addict Group). "We come from different countries and come together because of our love for Chinese food." Usually, they share new things they are interested in with other members and try them together. "When we heard about the activity, we were all very excited and decided to come and have a try."
“About 2023, first I want to thank 2022 for letting me to come back to Nanjing, I hope more good things will happen to us in 2023. I wish that all of us will be blessed with health, happiness, and success.” Karren eat Chinese food with her friends and make wishes for a better year ahead.
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