Content Editor: Jen Hare | Graphic Design: Ina Song
Lunar New Year is a major celebration not only in China but also in many East Asian countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Korea where the New Year is celebrated according to the lunar calendar rather than the western Gregorian calendar. This year Lunar New Year was on February 10 and celebrates the Year of the Snake. The traditional Lunar New Year celebration includes elaborate feasts, gift exchanges, music and fireworks.
IRENE INESA
INDONESIA Before when Indonesia was ruled by a dictator, the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration was banned. In addition, it was prohibited to practice and teach the Chinese language and culture. Then, when a new president took over, Chinese Lunar New Year was made into a national holiday and Chinese Indonesians were allowed to express their culture and traditions. Nowadays, we celebrate over a period of two days. For New Year’s Eve, we gather with our family and on New Year’s Day, we get together with even more extended family (close to 100 people!). It’s very common to clean the whole house before New Year’s Day…if you clean the house on New Year’s Day, it’s considered bad luck. The older members of the family give the children envelopes filled with money out of generosity and with the belief that as a result, they will be blessed with more income that year.
VIETNAM
TUYEN NGUYEN
Tet Holiday is the Vietnamese version of Lunar New Year. Normally it’s a 3-day celebration but people like to celebrate it over 5 days. The first day is dedicated to our ancestors (such as visiting a temple and performing a ceremony to remember our loved ones who have died), the second day is dedicated to parents, and the third day is dedicated to teachers and many students visit their favorite teachers from the past. The fourth and the fifth day you can do whatever you want! It’s an important time to spend with family and plan for the future. Older family members will give younger family members red envelopes with some money inside. My favorite part is the fireworks on New Year’s Eve – we used to do them ourselves but then the government banned them so now we go see a huge firework show produced by the city where I live. I hope they make it legal again for us to do it on our own. Traditionally fireworks were set off to scare evil away. Another tradition we have is to get two red paper banners with poetry on them that we use to decorate doorways to welcome in the New Year. Traditional Foods: I’m from the central region of Vietnam and traditional food may vary depending on the region. -Banh Chung - a rice cake shaped in a square, filled with mung bean and pork and wrapped with banana leaves – it represents the earth and takes 10-14 hours to make!!! -Banh Day – a plain, round mochi rice cake wrapped with banana leaves – it doesn’t taste like anything because it represents the sky, but you can eat it with other things like meat -Dua Mon – pickled green papaya, daikon and carrots in fish sauce – eaten with rice cakes -Ga Luoc – boiled chicken, plain and simple -Thit Dong – tender pork thigh that is cooked until the skin and meat falls off the bone. Served cold.
淳樸 (SALVATORE TRUMP)
CHINA
Chinese New Year is also called Spring Festival and celebrates the New Year according to the lunar calendar. It is a 15-day celebration but every family has their own traditions for what they do on each day. We celebrate with the whole family on different days (which for me is a total of about 60 people between my mom and my dad’s extended family). It’s a time for us to come together and enjoy each other’s company. All of the relatives get together and cook, go to the park together, and watch fireworks (which is more common in the country than in urban areas because th fireworks have been banned there). On the 15 day, there is a Lantern Festival and we eat a food called yuan xiao, which is a rice flour ball like Japanese mochi. It can be filled with anything (pork, sesame, sugar) or plain. Some families (not all) will go out with red lanterns lit at night and this has traditionally been done to ward off ghosts or bad fortune. More and more families in China are becoming westernized and so many no longer celebrate in the traditional way. My favorite foods to eat during Chinese New Year are fen zheng rou (pork ribs with rice) and lamb hot pot. An interesting fact is that Chinese people will place a cooked fish on the table during New Year’s to symbolize prosperity but they don’t eat it because that would be bad luck. The reason that the fish reflects prosperity is because the Chinese word for “fish” sounds like “more.” It’s also very popular for older family members to give younger family members money in red envelopes and if you have a big family you end up with a lot of money!
KOREA
HARYEON HA
Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday in Korea and is celebrated over a 3day period. We hold commemorative rites to pay our respects to the souls of our ancestors. We set the table with tteokguk (a rice-cake soup), other kinds of soups, fruit, alcohol, meat and fish jerky and sikhye (a sweet rice drink). The memorial ceremony honors everyone from deceased parents to great-great-grandparents. After the memorial, the entire family gathers in one place to share the food on the table and during the meal they are blessed by the spirits of their ancestors. In one common tradition, younger family members bow to older family members to show their respect for them. The older family members in turn pray for the younger family members to bless them and ask for health, prosperity and happiness. And then, the significant moment comes: the elders give the children some money to inspire them to earn a lot of money in the future. Lastly, Koreans eat tteokguk which is the most representative food of Lunar New Year and is a soup made with small pieces of a rice cake known as garaetteok. As we cook it, we envision every family member’s health and longevity and then we eat it all together.
LANE POLICIES & DEADLINES What are my grading options for college-level classes? When you register for a college-level class, you can choose between two grading options: 1) Letter grade (A, B, C, D or F) or 2) Pass/No Pass (P/NP). The default option is automatically set for you to receive a letter grade for all of your classes. You can change your grading option in MyLane any time during the first 8 weeks of the term by clicking on the My Enrollment tab and then Change Class Options in the upper left. The deadline to change your grading option to P/NP is March 1 (Friday of Week 8) at 11:59 pm. The only reason you should change your grade to P/NP is if you are sure you won’t pass the class and you want to protect your GPA because an NP does not affect your GPA. Make sure to meet with an advisor before you change your grade to P/NP and verify that it can count towards your degree. Never drop a class if it means you would drop below 12 credits because then you will be out of status!
Lane Foundation Scholarships Apply for your chance to earn one of many Lane Foundation Scholarships worth $1000 each! The deadline to apply is March 14. Hint: you do NOT need to apply for FAFSA in order to fill out the online Foundation scholarship application. Follow this link for instructions and to apply: http://www.lanecc.edu/foundation/scholarshipopps.htm
Winter Scholarship Workshops – February 22nd from 2-3:20 pm in 19/241 Confused about how to apply for scholarships? Join these free workshops and learn about how to search for scholarships as well as how to fill out applications, order a transcript, write personal statement and create an activity chart. See http:// www2.lanecc.edu/ces/classes-and-workshops for more information.
On-campus tutoring Did you know that you have access to free tutoring services on campus? If you want to succeed at Lane and get the help you need, consider visiting one of the following tutoring centers: -Tutor Central – CEN 210 across from the library (http://www2.lanecc.edu/tutor/tutor-central) -Writing Center – CEN 210 across from the library (http://www2.lanecc.edu/llc/english/writing-center) -Math Resource Center – 16/169 (http://www2.lanecc.edu/math/math-resource-center) -Science Resource Center – 16/193 (http://www2.lanecc.edu/science/src) -Business Resource Room – 19/249
IMMIGRATION UPDATES Filing Your Taxes If you received a W-2 form from Lane because you worked on the LCC campus last year, then you need to file for a tax refund. Please take the W-2 form, Social Security card, and passport to the tax advisors in the cafeteria for assistance in filling out tax forms. Free tax help will be available in the cafeteria beginning Friday, Febraury 1 and will run through Friday April 12 on the main campus in the cafeteria. Hours will be on a first-come, first-serve basis on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. The deadline to file your taxes is April 15.
Leave Request Form Traveling over Spring Break? Don't forget to come in to fill out a Leave Request Form and get your I-20 signed before you go. Just fill out the Leave Request Form and drop it off with your I-20 in 11/235 and we'll have it ready for you to pick up the next day. [Link to Leave Request Form - http://www2.lanecc.edu/sites/default/files/international/ leave_request_form.pdf] If you are leaving Lane at the end of the term because you are graduating, transferring schools or returning home, then please fill out the Leave Request Form and come see an International Advisor for a quick exit interview. We will help you with any paperwork you may have and need to know that you are not returning so we can report your I-20 status correctly. For further questions, come see Colby Sheldon in the IP office.
PHOTOS OF THE WEEK If you have any creative, fun, or event photos that you would like to publish, please submit them to harej@lanecc.edu
Chinese New Year Event Photo Credit to Sawyer Ducharme
Long time no see!
Lucy and Hugh at Ski & Snowboarding Event Photo Credit to Sawyer Ducharme
"Long time no see" means: I have not seen you for a long time. It is a grammatically comical greeting with English words organized by Chinese grammar. In Chinese there is an everyday greeting "Hao jiu mei jian" which literally translated means "long time no see." It is said that "long time no see" is a phrase created by Chinese-Americans.
AND THE WINNER IS...
The following student received a $15 dining card for being the first to answer the LIT pop quiz. YOU could be next!
Cecilia Pires Q: What’s your favorite food? A: Pão de Queijo - Brazilian cheese puff bread
Feb 17 — March 2, 2013 Sun 17
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NO SCHOOL!
Coffee Talk
Wed 20
11:30am1:30pm 1/206
Thu
Fri
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Dr. Arun Ghandi “Lessons from my Grandfather” 3:30-5:30pm Longhouse (Building 31)
TGIF
Sat 23
12-1pm 11/208 Winter Scholarship Workshop 2-3:20pm 19/241 Lane Art Student Association Meeting 5-7pm Downtown Campus
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ISC Meeting
Coffee Talk
TGIF
4pm-5pm 11/240
11:30am1:30pm 1/206
12-1pm 11/208
APISU (Asian & Pacific Islander Student Union) Meeting 1:30-2:30 1/212
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LAST DAY TO CHANGE GRADE OPTION to PASS/NO PASS by 11:59 pm! (Talk to an advisor first)
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