I’m really not trying to look smart/cool by using the Chinese characters for “happy new year.” I just wanted to see if my Mandarin Chinese skills have completely disappeared yet. Surprisingly, I was able to remember those four characters, but I still had to double check in my Chinese textbook. (OK, so maybe I am trying to look a tiny bit smart/cool. So what?)

Happy year of the dog!

(Photo taken Saturday, Jan. 28, near the LRT Recto stop in Quiapo, Manila.)