Last year of the day and the school is celebrating with a show. All primary classes perform various dances and songs on stage. All pupils are dressed up in various costumes and many parents have come to see their offspring. Of course they jump up and down like crazy seeing their kids on stage.
Underneath are some images and videos from the show.
I found this little red envelope and chocolate coin on my desk this morning. As I hear from my lovely former teaching assistant Jing, it must be a local custom, because she didn't get one in the North where she lives. People here, and in some other countries in the world give each other such a coin to wish luck, fortune and lots of money. The custom here is to give it in a red envelope. Red is the colour of luck.
Unlike in many western countries where you have massive firework displays, here (at least in Guiyang) you have none. People, however, do go out and celebrate. All major hotels host events and many bars and clubs do so too. West meets East.
I went to the Grand Theatre to watch Beethoven's No. 9, which, like every year, is recorded and broadcast live on Guizhou TV. That's the province's TV station. It was a spectacular concert with more than 60 singers and more or less the same amount of musicians. As it is one of my favourite pieces and as I know many of the musicians, I enjoyed it a lot. It is a night to remember.
After the concert, some musicians and I walked through the nicely decorated city centre to the Sheraton hotel, where the entire orchestra gathered for their New Year's dinner. There's was plenty of food, mainly sea food and fish, and plenty of wine and Chinese beer. All for free.
We had a lot of fun and interesting discussions. The members of the orchestra come from all over the world and quite a few are multilingual. There was a Spaniard, a Greek, an Italian, a few U.S. Americans (one of them black, who is actually the funniest of them), a few Russians, Ukrainians, Koreans, Uzbeks and many Chinese. There might be some other nationalities too. I spoke German with a U.S. American, a few Russians and Ukrainians and a Chinese!
I stayed until the end and some of us continued to a bar called Helen's, mainly frequented by expats. I'll share my opinion about this bar and the expat community in a later post.
It took us half an hour to get there. On the way we saw many Chinese out on the streets going from party to party and cheering when seeing us. Some wanted to be photographed with us and others wanted to engage us in a conversation.
When we arrive there, we see the usual crowd on the little street outside the bars. People standing or sitting on one of the chairs, couches, armchairs, stools, etc. talking, drinking, eating something from the street kitchens, laughing. We see some people we know and get to know a few new ones.
When we go up the stairs to Helen's, we face a crowded bar, despite the late hour of 3am. Since they had a different kind of 'happy hour', during which several drinks were for free, people gathered early and got drunk immensely. Now, pretty much everyone is filled up. I don't like this bar at all and didn't want to come here, but the others insisted, so here I am. The plan is to go downstairs to Muse 1 after a drink.
I see many familiar faces and many people wish me 'A Happy New Year' and hug me, and I hug and wish back. The German speaking U.S. American goes to the bar and returns with many bottles of Belgian beer. I have two and since no one wants to go to Muse 1, I pack my jacket, tell the musician that my phone died and that I'm going downstairs to Muse 1 to dance.
When I enter the club, some Chinese leaving it are looking and staring at me as if I were from outta space. A few say 'hello' or 'bye bye'. I greet and smile as usual. Once inside, I see that not that many people are here. The place is usually packed around 4am, but not tonight though. I go to the cloakroom to leave my jacket and as I turn around, somebody shouts 'HEY!' and my name. I look around and see Rex. Rex is a Chinese who did his Masters in Manchester. He's here with a girl, holding and pulling her by her hand. He nods with his head and signals me to follow him. We walk through the club, house and electro beats seem to fall like shower upon us, and go straight to the dance floor. There some people make us space and when they see me, a giant compared to them, they first look and stare at me, I look and stare back, and somebody says 'come on!' So we start dancing and jumping and singing the rest of the night away.
It is already bright when I leave the club and step outside. I stop for a bit, close my eyes, breath in and out, raise my head towards the sky, and then I hear some people calling my name. It's some of the musicians who just left Helen's.
'Where to?' they ask.
'Home, I guess', I reply.
'Don't be boring', one says.
'So, where to?' I ask.
'Spa?'
'Spa?' I ask back.
Spa it is. We get into a taxi and reach the spa a few minutes later.
(More about it next time)
Wish you all a prosperous new year! Hopefully with lots of luck, health, peace and happiness!
Underneath are some images and videos from the show.
I found this little red envelope and chocolate coin on my desk this morning. As I hear from my lovely former teaching assistant Jing, it must be a local custom, because she didn't get one in the North where she lives. People here, and in some other countries in the world give each other such a coin to wish luck, fortune and lots of money. The custom here is to give it in a red envelope. Red is the colour of luck.
Unlike in many western countries where you have massive firework displays, here (at least in Guiyang) you have none. People, however, do go out and celebrate. All major hotels host events and many bars and clubs do so too. West meets East.
I went to the Grand Theatre to watch Beethoven's No. 9, which, like every year, is recorded and broadcast live on Guizhou TV. That's the province's TV station. It was a spectacular concert with more than 60 singers and more or less the same amount of musicians. As it is one of my favourite pieces and as I know many of the musicians, I enjoyed it a lot. It is a night to remember.
After the concert, some musicians and I walked through the nicely decorated city centre to the Sheraton hotel, where the entire orchestra gathered for their New Year's dinner. There's was plenty of food, mainly sea food and fish, and plenty of wine and Chinese beer. All for free.
We had a lot of fun and interesting discussions. The members of the orchestra come from all over the world and quite a few are multilingual. There was a Spaniard, a Greek, an Italian, a few U.S. Americans (one of them black, who is actually the funniest of them), a few Russians, Ukrainians, Koreans, Uzbeks and many Chinese. There might be some other nationalities too. I spoke German with a U.S. American, a few Russians and Ukrainians and a Chinese!
I stayed until the end and some of us continued to a bar called Helen's, mainly frequented by expats. I'll share my opinion about this bar and the expat community in a later post.
It took us half an hour to get there. On the way we saw many Chinese out on the streets going from party to party and cheering when seeing us. Some wanted to be photographed with us and others wanted to engage us in a conversation.
When we arrive there, we see the usual crowd on the little street outside the bars. People standing or sitting on one of the chairs, couches, armchairs, stools, etc. talking, drinking, eating something from the street kitchens, laughing. We see some people we know and get to know a few new ones.
When we go up the stairs to Helen's, we face a crowded bar, despite the late hour of 3am. Since they had a different kind of 'happy hour', during which several drinks were for free, people gathered early and got drunk immensely. Now, pretty much everyone is filled up. I don't like this bar at all and didn't want to come here, but the others insisted, so here I am. The plan is to go downstairs to Muse 1 after a drink.
I see many familiar faces and many people wish me 'A Happy New Year' and hug me, and I hug and wish back. The German speaking U.S. American goes to the bar and returns with many bottles of Belgian beer. I have two and since no one wants to go to Muse 1, I pack my jacket, tell the musician that my phone died and that I'm going downstairs to Muse 1 to dance.
When I enter the club, some Chinese leaving it are looking and staring at me as if I were from outta space. A few say 'hello' or 'bye bye'. I greet and smile as usual. Once inside, I see that not that many people are here. The place is usually packed around 4am, but not tonight though. I go to the cloakroom to leave my jacket and as I turn around, somebody shouts 'HEY!' and my name. I look around and see Rex. Rex is a Chinese who did his Masters in Manchester. He's here with a girl, holding and pulling her by her hand. He nods with his head and signals me to follow him. We walk through the club, house and electro beats seem to fall like shower upon us, and go straight to the dance floor. There some people make us space and when they see me, a giant compared to them, they first look and stare at me, I look and stare back, and somebody says 'come on!' So we start dancing and jumping and singing the rest of the night away.
It is already bright when I leave the club and step outside. I stop for a bit, close my eyes, breath in and out, raise my head towards the sky, and then I hear some people calling my name. It's some of the musicians who just left Helen's.
'Where to?' they ask.
'Home, I guess', I reply.
'Don't be boring', one says.
'So, where to?' I ask.
'Spa?'
'Spa?' I ask back.
Spa it is. We get into a taxi and reach the spa a few minutes later.
(More about it next time)
Wish you all a prosperous new year! Hopefully with lots of luck, health, peace and happiness!
Last night of the year/beginning of the new
Decorated street in my area
The orchestra warming up
The choir after a spectacular show
New Year's dinner in the Sheraton Hotel
Group photo (not all musicians fit on stage)
With Yan Sau, a German speaking Chinese musician.
With Gerasimos, the Greek percussionist.
If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy.
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