Last year we heard that Chinese New Year around Hong Kong could be a little crazy. So we heeded the advice of some Hong Kong veterans and we hung low. We watched several movies, took a couple of hikes, read, and hung out with some friends on the seventh floor. Boy, were we going about it all wrong. That is so not in the spirit of Chinese New Year. Having been in Hong Kong for over a year now, we know better. CNY is for visiting and being visited. This year we approached New Year in a much more Chinese fashion.
Tuesday day: Spent all day cleaning, cooking, and making last minutes runs to the corner grocery store. Cleaned the fish tank.
Tuesday evening: Had another family from work over for dinner, dessert, and games until 11:00 p.m. On the menu: French dip beef sandwiches.
Wednesday lunch: traveled 45 minutes across the New Territories to a colleague’s house for a cookout potluck with a dozen other families. Our friends actually have a yard which is a rarity in Hong Kong. Granted it’s smallish and it’s covered in cement pavers; but, it’s a yard none-the-less. Menu highlight: warm red bean soup-like dessert.
Wednesday dinner: Got picked up at 4:30 to go to the home of a friend of Annika’s. We were joined by several members of their extended family including Uncle Ping. We had a traditional Chinese dinner including a boiling pot in the middle of the table that had all sorts of meat chunks in it including chicken feet and a whole baby pigeon that had been cut in half. It was an excellent evening of great cross-cultural conversation.
Thursday lunch: we had my school principal, his wife and two small boys over for lunch. This was long overdue and we were glad to finally have a chance to reciprocate all the hospitality they have shown us. Julie made vegetarian black bean burgers.
Thursday dinner: Seventh-floor hotpot. After putting together several meals and social gatherings in the beginning of the year to make sure that all the new teachers felt welcomed, it had been a few months since we had all done something together. Our neighbor, Renata, who is Chinese, organized the meal and bought all the ingredients for hot pot. With thirteen adults and four kids, we were too big for her one-bedroom apartment, so we ending up having it guess-where.
Friday evening: headed down to the Island. We didn’t leave ourselves as much time as we needed to grab dinner so we ended up ducking into a McDonalds. It was the first time in Hong Kong that we didn’t have to stand in a long line at McDonalds to order food or have to wander the restaurant looking for an open table because the majority of Hong Kong was visiting grandma for a home-cooked Chinese New Year meal. We headed to some friends who live in the Midlevels for dessert and to watch the New Year’s fireworks over the harbor. Got home tired and way past our bedtimes.
Now that it how you do Chinese New Year week in Hong Kong.
Nine days off of school and I only watched one movie.
I am exhausted.
I can’t wait to get back to work next week so I can get some rest.
I managed to get through the Christmas season without gaining any weight. But I am afraid to get on the scale tomorrow morning. I think that I am going to have to go on a post-holiday diet.
I am going to start by swearing off of chicken feet.
-Jack
picture: taken with permission (for once)
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