The parade it's self, to be honest, was a little mama huhu.
Chicago was, after all, still digging out from the city's third worst blizzard on record. Days before hundreds of cars had been left stranded on Lake Shore Drive. We weren't sure if it was prudent to even go, let alone drive, so the girlies and I caught a commuter train to the City and cabbed it down to Chinatown.
The familiar, oily smells, and swirl of Mandarin and Cantonese and English, and the piles of white snow everywhere added to our sense of adventure. We met our good friends the M-L family, who also once lived in QD, had some great Si chuan for lunch-- which we ordered entirely in Chinese, found some hot Taiwanese bubble tea, and let the girls loose in a Chinese stationary shop reminiscent of their favorite ones in China. (Only it seemed that the prices were dramatically inflated! Things that would be 4 kuai in Zhongguo where 4 US dollars in Chinatown!) Still the experience was completely worth the efforts it took to get there.
Happy Year of the Rabbit!
Xin Nian Kuai Le!
3 comments:
This was an event we always "meant to" attend while living in the Chicago area....someday....Happy New Year to you too :) We celebrated with JiaoZi (called momos here and thankfully our nanny makes the best around), my version of Chinese friend noodles and orange slices. The only thing it was missing were two weeks of firecrackers.
We celebrate the Chinese New Year in my classroom every year. I try to make it authentic for the kids but it's pretty difficult to do. I do love the mama huhu reference. My favorite phrase that I use often (and have to explain myself when I do).
We too tried to do as much Spring Festival stuff as possible .. including the parade in Vancouver ... but of course, as it normal, it rained.
However, we also did other things, including a trip to 1 of 3 Ajisen restaurants in Canada (a 30min drive from us) where we too, all ordered in Mandarin. Then to a local mall which was decked out in CNY decorations & music (we were rocking to Gong Xi Gong Xi) while watching various music & dance performances. Oh, and a visit to the Hello Kitty Shop (and sticker shock!).
Tomorrow we're off to our Mandarin school for more activities (like a temple fair) ... hopefully with B & T's best friends from BC (before China) to show off a bit of the festivities.
Xin Nian Kuai Le to you my friend!
BW & the other W's big & small
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