Jennifer Wargo is the associate director of Asia Hub at Michigan State University, focusing on educational initiatives and partnership engagement in Asia. She started at MSU as the outreach coordinator for the Asian Studies Center in 2016 after eight years of teaching and school administration in China, South Korea and Michigan. Wargo has her master's degree in education from the University of Toledo and her bachelor's degree in English and Chinese from The Ohio State University. She is a passionate educator, focuses on a student-centered approach for student success, and deeply believes in equitable partnerships for international engagement.

Living in East Asia as a foreigner always made me feel a bit lonely during the local holidays. Even so, I could tell there was something special about the Lunar New Year in China and Korea. Everything goes quiet and yet feels explosively powerful at the same time, like the sun rising on a snowy morning. There’s the promise of new life, there’s hope, and there’s a deep sense of joy. It felt similar to my memories of Christmas Eve in Michigan, except somehow warmer and more meaningful.

One new year in China in the early 2000s found me on a bus to a friend’s home. Their flat bustled with first cousins (she had no siblings like so many of her generation) and with the aroma of frying garlic, ginger and leeks. The whole family dove in to help wrap the dumplings, and everyone was laughing. The cousins went for a walk together, reminiscing – I tagged along. They played games with dad. We ate (and ate and ate!). Maybe it sounds too idealistic, but I loved the day’s authenticity.

On the bus ride home, I looked out over the empty streets of Tianjin. It looked like a war zone with all the yellow smoke from firecrackers meant to scare away anything evil from the new year. It sounded like one, too – pop! pop! pop! pop! – not far from the bus and also far away, the sounds lit up the night. They were everywhere.

The food, the hustle, the togetherness – and yet it wasn’t my holiday. I was an observer, thankful to be let in for a glimpse of that togetherness.

Read the full story on MSUToday's website, where it was originally published.