Movies and Majhong

Tiger's family invited us to the movies, so we went into an older area of Guangzhou.  The city of Guangzhou is layered... very old sections exist and you can sometimes glimpse almost ancient places, but it is mixed with very modern stuff - like a movie theater in a high rise.  Old one-lane roads are interrupted with larger multi-lane streets and then the highway system is built up over top of it all (sometimes in several layers).

The movie had subtitles, but they were in Chinese.  Vicky translated for me, but it was very hard to get the humor unless it was a visual gag.  She told me that this movie was a sort of annual end of the year flick that tries to engage all the major actors from Hong Kong so they can all give the audience good wishes at the end of the movie.

After the movie, Tiger and family departed and we met up with Vicky's parents and god parents as well as some cousins from Hong Kong.  I got another Majhong lesson.  

A Leisurely Morning

We had nothing scheduled this morning... Tiger had gone with his parents to visit Queenie's family, so I caught up on the news, Vicky checked out some of the current China TV fare, and we both checked in with work.  After that we went on a leisurely walk around the Agile Gardens development.  One of the neat features of this place is that they created all this parkland - water features, playground, and all sorts of nooks and crannies where small groups can gather.  Don't let this fool you... most of it sits on top of parking garage space, and all this together lets them house around 10,000 families in an area about the size of Ocean Grove (roughly 1 square mile).

We went back to the Chinese Food Steakhouse.  There Vicky sampled the Pork Lung Soup, and we shared some sushi, fish and noodles on their outside terrace (temperature was in the high 60s today).  My new food for today was Abalone (I left the soup for Vicky).

After that we walked over the hill to check out the other unit Vicky has in the Agile development.  This one is still an unfinished shell - she's still deciding what to do with it.  It gives you a sense of what a condo is in China.  You basically get a concrete shell.  In some of the units, the concrete is just painted and basic flooring (& cabinets & appliances) are installed... others like the one from yesterday are more elaborate.

There's a couple of extra shots of the neighborhood thrown in...

Mahjong & Family!

Mid afternoon on New Year's Day we went to the house of VIcky's Uncle.  He lives in old worker housing above the water company.  As I entered the apartment sheer bedlam greeted me.  There must have been 30 or 40 people in the small unit, with Mahjong tables for men and women.  This evidently takes place throughout the day with up to four tables forming.

I also learned the tradition of "Lucky Money" where the older folks give younger folks red envelopes with money in it.  This act is supposed to make the recipient lucky in the coming year.  I was taught two phrases which I tried not to butcher too much...

Gong Xi Fa Cai (I wish you wealth)

Shen Ti Zian Kang (I wish you health)

Though every once in a while the whole room would burst out laughing.  

Vicky's closest cousin and her husband delighted in stirring up the process and since Vicky is one of the oldest, they all piled into a line in front of her asking for the money.

After a bit of Mahjong, we all walked to a nearby restaurant for the family feast.

Tomorrow Tiger goes to visit his maternal family so he stayed with Tony and Queenie.  We came back to the apartment and collapsed.  There are fireworks going off all around the apartment again, but I'm too tired to try and capture them.

Happy New Year!

Visiting Tiger's Home & Praying to the Ancestors

Next we went Qianzin Road, which is the neighborhood where Vicky grew up.  She purchased her childhood apartment from her parents and her brother, Tony, and his family live there.  That is where the ancestral altar is kept and Vicky wanted to stop by and light the incense to their ancestors.  Tiger did the same.  One set of sticks is lit to bless the ancestors, the other three sets encourage God to protect the home, the food, and the outdoors (left outside the front door).

Visiting Wen Feng's New Apartment

Today is New Year's Day and traditionally most families stay home.  (The ritual is that if you go out, you have more arguments.)  Vicky's family either likes to argue, or doesn't believe this tradition and we went out visiting.  First stop was Wen Feng's apartment, which was just redecorated.  Wen Feng lives on the 31st floor and the apartment is spectacular.  He is the head of one of the best upscale restaurants in town.  They had just moved in this past weekend and I think we may have been their first guests.  They shared a delicious meal.

The apartment overlooks a good portion of downtown and you can get a great sense of the scale and variety of housing in the city.

A morning visitor

This morning Cathy, Vicky's neighbor and former coworker, brought her nephew Leo over for a visit.  Leo and his parents live in Hong Kong and he is 18 months old.  He entertained himself by exploring around the apartment and loved using the movable luggage as a "car".

At one point he did what comes naturally and this started the great Poo Debate.  Evidently Chinese mothers supposedly help their kids poop by holding them with their legs bent in a squatting position, and Vicky was surprised that other countries don't do that... we just let our kids poop naturally.  I thought she was kidding me until we passed a car parked in front of an overpass abutment, and there was a mother holding her kid out with his legs bent allowing him to poop on the sidewalk.  (Sorry to disappoint, I don't have photos.)