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Published: September 12th 2008
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Hello everybodies! Just a quick update prior to our big 'Moon Festival' or 'Mid-Autumn Festival' weekend, which means Jo will not have to work on Monday and the kids aren't at school either! This should mean that we have some proper blog worthy material coming up which I have no doubt Jo will capably do. In the meantime I am here ... apologies .... and you are going to get my drivelling update.
First the intellectual part: The Moon Festival has been going on for about 3,000 years now, so I see no reason why we should stop it right now, especially as it means a day off and cakes. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes (I couldn't manage a whole one myself) together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional customs, such as:
Eating moon cakes outside under the moon!
Putting pomelo rinds on one's head!!
Carrying brightly lit lanterns!
Burning incense in reverence to deities including Chang'e?
Planting Mid-Autumn trees - see later in the blog.
Collecting dandelion
leaves and distributing them evenly among family members???
Lighting lanterns on towers - I'd like to see what would happen round here if anybody tried!
Fire Dragon Dances - I hope so.
So party on!!
Oh and on the party theme, I should probably take this opportunity to point out that the reason the lovely Joanna isn't here to edit this (aka looking over my shoulder and reminding me of my audience every 4 key presses and pointing out all my speling mistaches), is because she is out for the night on a reconnaissance trip of Shanghai with some of her work colleagues! Yes that's right blog fans ... the teachers are out getting loaded again! Obviously it is a little unfair of me to say that, Joanna is actually performing a valid and worthwhile recce of the bars and clubs of Shanghai, in order to save me from ever going anywhere that wouldn't suit my delicate sensibilities. Imagine my horror if I were ever to go into a bar thinking it looked like a decent upstanding establishment and find out it was actually some kind of den of iniquity! No I will not have anybody thinking anything
else ... and I look forward to receiving a list of all the places I am allowed to go to tomorrow night when I attempt to watch the Liverpool vs Man Utd game.
In other news, I am afraid things aren't looking too good for Yellow. Her lemons have gone quite wrinkly, although they are turning yellow at least, and her leaves have curled up. Everyone suddenly seems to really care about this plant which I jokingly referred to as a new member of the family. I would just like to point out that nobody paid any attention to her at the time, but now she is ill everyone is playing the blame game ... and it seems it is definitely my fault! Well what can I say? All I have done is possibly take the only advice that I was given by our blog readership .... yes I am trying to pass the blame onto you guys now .... a little too far, and watered her very sparingly. Now obviously, very, is an ambigous word that can be interpreted in different ways, I interpreted it as 'don't water'! Well I gave her a water this morning as my
intuition took over from my grammatical gardening technique and we all have our fingers crossed.
To try and improve my image in everybody's eyes, I did go to William's kindergarten this morning and helped him make a ladybird out of two paper plates ... well I think we have covered my weeks work now. Apart from the fact that I had my first chinese lesson last night! Now those of you who know me very well will be surprised to discover that I am not fluent yet, in fact I think I was happier living in blissful ignorance of my rubbishness ... although lots of taxi drivers, shop keepers, passers by, door men, salesmen, interviewers, policemen, workmen, doctors, nurses, postmen, teachers, chefs, waitresses, the ayi and anybody 'outside' the appartment was giving me the odd hint. But it seems that my teacher has faith in my potential, or is that what I paid her to say? Anyway she is called Luang Li and is boldly going to carry on with the tuition ... wait for future updates.
And finally, I am not adverse to doing requests, so for those of you who have been writing in asking for
more close up pictures of food ... and you know who you are Sam ... here is a treat for you, but still no eels head soup obviously!
Speak soon, look after yourselves, Zaijian!
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