春节快乐！
So my experience over the weekend was pretty much AWESOME. I went to my co-worker's place for Chinese New Year eve, where I was promptly greeted by the whole family and offered food. There were about twenty people in the house, including a couple of people my age, but I mostly hung out with the people who were about my own aunt and uncles' age. They were all lovely, and after feeding me lots of hotpot and 干杯ing me with the wine I brought (that they promptly watered down with orange juice, my poor Chardonnay), they got me to help out with making dumplings. They praised me on my chopstick skills and quickness to learn the two methods of closing dumplings.
Mostly, though, we sat around talking and watching the CCTV 春晚 New Year broadcast. There was one part that was spectacular.
NINO, WATCH OUT. I MAY JUST HAVE A NEW FAVORITE ASIAN MAGICIAN.
I'd translate, but you don't really need it to understand. I... I don't think.
Anyhow, then it was midnight so we ate some dumplings before going out to watch and set off some fireworks. The fireworks had been going on around the city pretty much all day (I could hear them from beneath my blaring Arashi music as I cleaned the apartment that morning), but they were just going off EVERYWHERE when midnight struck. I have never been so close to proper fireworks in my life, and it was brilliant. Being close to firecrackers was a little less awesome since it felt like my eardrums were about to burst, but the fireworks were great. They kept going until about 2.30.
The next day we went to a 庙会, the English for which is Temple Fair, but basically it's a little fair they put on in the parks. We went to one in west Beijing's Lotus Park, but I saw the one at Chaoyang Park on television and that was much bigger with more foreigners. There's one at Ditan Park just a few minutes up the road; I might check it out one day. It might still be on when Hannah gets here but who knows. It was lots of fun, though: stalls with games, rickety mini rollercoasters, lots of interesting 小吃 snack food (I tried 臭豆腐 or stinky tofu for the first time. It was... stinky, but unfortunately good, like blue cheese), and lots of fake flowers stuck on trees.
I'll have some photos next week once we're all back at work, but basically it was awesome. I spent the night over at my co-worker's house and it was all very friendly and lovely. I would have been extremely bored at home by myself, or would have gone to a foreigners gathering at a bar to see fireworks; I think what I had was way more interesting. Hopefully I can do it again next year!
Mostly, though, we sat around talking and watching the CCTV 春晚 New Year broadcast. There was one part that was spectacular.
NINO, WATCH OUT. I MAY JUST HAVE A NEW FAVORITE ASIAN MAGICIAN.
I'd translate, but you don't really need it to understand. I... I don't think.
Anyhow, then it was midnight so we ate some dumplings before going out to watch and set off some fireworks. The fireworks had been going on around the city pretty much all day (I could hear them from beneath my blaring Arashi music as I cleaned the apartment that morning), but they were just going off EVERYWHERE when midnight struck. I have never been so close to proper fireworks in my life, and it was brilliant. Being close to firecrackers was a little less awesome since it felt like my eardrums were about to burst, but the fireworks were great. They kept going until about 2.30.
The next day we went to a 庙会, the English for which is Temple Fair, but basically it's a little fair they put on in the parks. We went to one in west Beijing's Lotus Park, but I saw the one at Chaoyang Park on television and that was much bigger with more foreigners. There's one at Ditan Park just a few minutes up the road; I might check it out one day. It might still be on when Hannah gets here but who knows. It was lots of fun, though: stalls with games, rickety mini rollercoasters, lots of interesting 小吃 snack food (I tried 臭豆腐 or stinky tofu for the first time. It was... stinky, but unfortunately good, like blue cheese), and lots of fake flowers stuck on trees.
I'll have some photos next week once we're all back at work, but basically it was awesome. I spent the night over at my co-worker's house and it was all very friendly and lovely. I would have been extremely bored at home by myself, or would have gone to a foreigners gathering at a bar to see fireworks; I think what I had was way more interesting. Hopefully I can do it again next year!