Happy New Year!
by Will
Had dinner with Tabitha’s family Friday night in celebration of Chinese New Year, which is actually today (Monday). Year of the Ox. It was fun! Things I did not know that I learned Friday: you’re supposed to wear red (Tabitha had warned me, so I had on a shirt with some red), you’re supposed to eat foods whose names sounds like or are the names of things associated with good luck, that in Cantonese you say Happy New Year like “Gung Hay Fat Choy” and if you want you respond with “Sun ty gen hong.” Although if you’re me, you get nervous of saying it incorrectly and instead smile and nod and eat more chicken.
Thing I did know: New Year’s is about setting off a ton of fireworks but most big cities ban or severely limit how much civilians are allowed to use. One place that has no such ban on fireworks is Beijing China, as seen by the awesome photographs today in The Big Picture.
Comments
Apparently in China red means good fortune and white means death, but some Chinese brides wear white dresses anyway to emulate the West. I feel a little bit sad about that, for some reason.
But that’s an excuse to change into your fancy red dress (with custom embroidered dragon or phoenix) for the dinner banquet. The more dresses = the more fun for the girl!
You’re such a “quylo”, Will.
-Terry
It’s true Terry. But I think everyone thinks it’s cute. Also I’m so “jook sing” that everyone may have already been prepared for it. Or they’re just getting desperate.
I think the wiki pages on both terms are hilarious:
Gwailo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guizi
Jook sing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jook_sing
basically Will’s a white ghost and I’m a banana.
“The Banana and The Ghost” is my favorite Raffi song.
Hey Will! Met you on that audition a while back. This is post is funny because my husband is Cantonese and I don’t speak it at ALL. Right before we entered the in-law’s house he whispered: “Say ‘Sun Tie Geen Hong’” and I was like: “ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME DUDE? I GOTTA SAY WHAT??”
I just said: “bla bla bla bla” and I think it worked.
Happy Lunar New Year!!