The Simmy Sagas » Spring Festival

Chinese New Year's Eve, Shanghai – Fireworks

simmyw — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:34:12 +0000

VIDEO

In the first video, note the proximity of the fireworks to us, to the apartment complex, and to the car with the alarm. In the second video, note what’s happening next door. Such chaos and danger is very common during this week, the Spring Festival. The slow trail of cars below us is the response. Yesterday, I was walking on the sidewalk outside my apartment when I saw a few guys sprinting away from me and realized they had just lit fireworks near my feet. I sprinted too, passing the cops smoking nearby waiting for the show to begin. The fireworks will continue for the whole week.

HSSI Company Dinner, South Beauty

simmyw — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:40:03 +0000

Pork Rib Bridge

To celebrate Spring Festival, our company, Herbert Software Systems Inc, went out to South Beauty, a Sichuan restaurant. We were seated in a private room around a large round table which felt more festive than the formal long rectangular tables at American occasions. Both people and food always filled the foreground and background of your view. At this feast, I tried some of the most exotic and delicious Chinese dishes I’ve ever had, the two qualities not always coinciding for me in Shanghai. Many unusual appetizers such as sea cucumber and jellyfish were passed around the lazy susan, but the entrees were the most impressive. Above is a goose crossing a bridge (pork rib).

Lobster

This imported lobster was the most expensive dish we tried. The meat was slightly cooked, spread on a bed of ice, and served with soy sauce and extremely concentrated wasabe. The rest of the lobster was used to make a soup with the only rice served the whole night. For special occasions, it is considered cheap for the host to fill his guests’ stomachs with rice. The whole meal was delicious and I’ll admit it was a little amusing to watch my coworkers gasping for air after ingesting the wasabe that is not used in Chinese traditional cuisine. After wine entered the scene, there were also many red faces in the room.

Chinese New Year – Tonight!

simmyw — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:10:03 +0000

I am writing from an apartment overlooking the Huangpu River. My ballet dancer friend, Xu Yuchen, and his family just lit a box of fireworks outside the apartment for the Chinese New Year. It is now 12:40 AM and the fireworks are still going off on all sides of the apartment building. It’s exhiliratingly stimulating to jump in a different direction each time a neighbor blasts a firework 20 feet away from you. Here, though fireworks are forbidden, anyone can get away with lighting fireworks anywhere on the holiday.

We are now in the 25th-floor apartment waiting for the fireworks to die down so that we can safely go to the temple at 2 AM to ask for blessings for the new year. From our wonderful view of the city and tonight’s fireworks, we can also see fire trucks on almost every major street. Unfortunately and horrifyingly, a nearby apartment on the 24th floor just caught fire. We can still see the flames from the balcony and I hope that no one was inside. The firemen responded quickly when the Dad called 119, but their fire-fighting methods appear a little ineffective to say the least. I will post footage of the fireworks and fire later.

The fireworks persist and sometimes the sparks hit the windows of the apartment. In the meantime, the family drinks tea and watches Chinese style ballet on the TV.