Our tutor Amy and her Japanese husband were the guests of honor and provided the expertise at shaping what we needed to prepare. We then invited any other of Ben's fellow American expat families who were still in town as well as a couple other foreign friends.
Here's a video Ryley made to show his old schoolmates:
Dessert in Taiwan is always an adventure. Tutor Amy helped us out by making a traditional dessert soup and explaining (with pictures, no less) exactly what was in it.
Everyone tried it. There was a lot left over, however :)
Ben liked it more than he is letting on.
After the meal, Amy introduced the kids to a popular game kids play here at New Year's time:
Normally all the cousins form their own little community and play this game where a player has to pay the game owner a coin for the chance to punch out one of the boxes and get a prize.
Having no other kids at the party, the adults humored the kids with donating a coin for a punch, and then usually donating the toy surprise back the boys. They thought it was the greatest game ever!
One more tradition not to be missed: the red envelope with money!
Tutor Amy covered this one as well (have I mentioned what an incredible person she is?!)
It's tradition to sleep with the "hong bao" (red envelope) on New Year's Eve night. Ryley said he learned it was to keep the monster "Nian" from attacking you. That's a good reason.
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