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.

Content Editor: Jen Hare | Graphic Design: Ina Song

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.

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.

VIETNAM TUYEN NGUYEN

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

fireworks have been banned there). On the 15th 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!

淳樸 (SALVATORE TRUMP) CHINA

KOREA HARYEON HA Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday in Korea and is celebrated over a 3-

day 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 WEEKPHOTOS OF THE WEEKPHOTOS 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

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

Lucy and Hugh at Ski & Snowboarding Event

Photo Credit to Sawyer Ducharme

Chinese New Year 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.

Long time no see!

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

17

18

NO SCHOOL!

19

Coffee Talk

11:30am-

1:30pm

1/206

20 21

Dr. Arun

Ghandi

“Lessons from

my

Grandfather”

3:30-5:30pm

Longhouse

(Building 31)

22

TGIF

12-1pm

11/208

Winter

Scholarship

Workshop

2-3:20pm

19/241

Lane Art

Student

Association

Meeting

5-7pm

Downtown

Campus

23

24

25

ISC Meeting

4pm-5pm

11/240

26

Coffee Talk

11:30am-

1:30pm

1/206

APISU (Asian

& Pacific

Islander

Student Union)

Meeting

1:30-2:30

1/212

27

28 1

TGIF

12-1pm

11/208

LAST DAY

TO

CHANGE

GRADE

OPTION to

PASS/NO

PASS by

11:59 pm!

(Talk to an

advisor

first)

2

Feb 17 — March 2, 2013