And so finally, it’s a new year in China too! We spent Wednesday night eating, drinking and doing the compulsory ‘gan bei’ (meaning ‘clean cup’, which obviously means: ‘bottom up!’) together with a lovely Chinese family.
Chinese astrologist have predicted that the year of the Mouse (that we have now stepped into) is not going to be as good for the economy as the previous year of the Pig. However, I have nothing bad to say about the Chinese New Year celebration: A table full of delicious food, a happy and friendly family, beer, white wine, and Chinese bai jiu (Chinese white wine) –it barely gets any better than that! We ate and drank ourselves under the table, just like you are supposed to do.
Some minor, unavoidable mistakes, of course:
* I gave our gift to the host mom’s sister instead of the host mom.
* When asked about my favourite Chinese food, I mentioned a food that wasn’t served that very night. Big mistake. In order to please me at least five people kept asking the waiters to tell the chef to make this special dish only for me (The waiters refused. Thanks lord!)
* When asked how old I was I first replied 'I am a size 25’. Then I realised my mistake and said ‘I am a year 25’, before I finally I managed to say ‘I am 25 years old’. Yikes, I really need to work on my Chinese!
* Someone said I looked Russian.
Chinese astrologist have predicted that the year of the Mouse (that we have now stepped into) is not going to be as good for the economy as the previous year of the Pig. However, I have nothing bad to say about the Chinese New Year celebration: A table full of delicious food, a happy and friendly family, beer, white wine, and Chinese bai jiu (Chinese white wine) –it barely gets any better than that! We ate and drank ourselves under the table, just like you are supposed to do.
Some minor, unavoidable mistakes, of course:
* I gave our gift to the host mom’s sister instead of the host mom.
* When asked about my favourite Chinese food, I mentioned a food that wasn’t served that very night. Big mistake. In order to please me at least five people kept asking the waiters to tell the chef to make this special dish only for me (The waiters refused. Thanks lord!)
* When asked how old I was I first replied 'I am a size 25’. Then I realised my mistake and said ‘I am a year 25’, before I finally I managed to say ‘I am 25 years old’. Yikes, I really need to work on my Chinese!
* Someone said I looked Russian.
OK, so the latter wasn’t really a mistake of mine, but still a bit of a downer. However, people also commented on the looks of my boyfriend, saying that he looked 18, rather than his actual age: 28. There we go. CNY in a nutshell!
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