Lesson 27
Happy New Year
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Translation
This year I celebrated New Year three times! First was 31st December, western new year. I and my housemate, Lee, went to the centre of town. Lee was Chinese and we were living in London to learn the English language. There was a big celebration afoot. At midnight fireworks started and everyone was happy. By the time we got home it was 3 o’clock in the morning.
In February, Lee’s father and mother came from China to see him. They decorated the whole house for Chinese New Year. They put red everywhere. On New Year’s Eve, Lee’s mother cooked a special Chinese dish and after dinner we lit fireworks. The following day, too, we watched films all day. We had so much fun.
One month later, my course of language learning came to an end and on the 15th of March I returned to Iran. On the 21st of March, like every year, I was with my family. We all wore new clothes, sat by the sofre haft sin, and waited for the start of the New Year. After the start of the New Year, we kissed one another, congratulated each other on the New Year, my father gave us New Year’s gifts and we ate sweet pastries and mixed nuts. And on the evening of New Year’s Day, we had rice and herbs (sabzi polo) with fish.
This was the third time that I had celebrated the New Year. Now I want to go to India for November. Perhaps I might be able to celebrate the New Year for a fourth time because Diwali, the Indian new year, is in this month.