Everything is different this year. Everyone is going through a hard time and are still trying to get used to the lockdown resulting of COVID-19. It has been a long time since the last time I went home and many of us really want to go home as well, especially on “Chinese New Year”.

This is one of the most important festive occasions in Hong Kong and China. People normally celebrate it with a nice and long holiday. Children are really happy as they get extra pocket money during this festival. A lot of nice food is eaten as well, even though most people traditionally don’t eat meat on the first day of the new year. Children in Hong Kong and China won’t be able to visit their relatives and get as much money as last year. This won’t make them very happy. Anyway, that is how we celebrate Chinese New Year.

Even though being at school is not the same as being at home, we are still enjoying our time here. I thought that not many people would know about Chinese New Year in England. It turned out that quite a lot of people know about it. That is why we also had a little party on the New Year’s Eve here. We ate noddles cooked by our senior boy, Manfred. Everything is different this year, but it is still very good.

Timothy, Year 10