Well, Happy Chinese New Year, or as they say in English in China “Happy New Year.” I realized this morning that I actually have no idea why Chinese New Year falls when it does, but they don’t play by Western standards, and I always respect that. It’s also Ash Wednesday, so happy that too I guess. It’s Chinese Ash Wednesday in about a month and a half.

Ash Wednesday is also known as the day when Christian colleges can weed out who is going to chapel and who is not. People walk around all day with smudge marks on their foreheads that were once cross-shaped. Sometimes I’d just run out and smear my finger in some dirt, just so I could fit in. Ah the sweet awkwardness of youth.