First Day of the Cock Year...for real this time. Fotos
Kung Hei Fat Choy!!!
Thats the cantonese greeting that you say to one another during Chinese New Year. It means something like, May this year be prosperous. Something sappy. The Puntonghua is Gong Shi ....something something.
Woke up early again this morning. I barely got any sleep last nite because of those damn fireworks. Boy, am i gonna be tired today! I stepped out about 7AM to see if the Bau-tze shop was open or if anything was open so I could grab a bite to eat. I was utterly stunned by silence. The city looked like a ghost town. There was nothing going on. It felt like being in that scene from "Spirited Away" at the beginning. As I looked up and down the deserted streets, i was wondering if there was another cultural revolution. The streets were covered in scraps of blood-red paper from those fireworks like the bloodied shrapnel of chinese brains splattered upon the ground from public street executions.
I also searched for taxi bikes to take me to Yongling studio, but I saw none. They most have day off today. All the shops were closed. I headed back to the house and grabbed the bicycle and headed out at 730pm. I stopped at an open convenience store on the way there and grabbed some breakfast. On the way out I saw a motorbike taxi drive by. Great.
I got to the studio 10 minutes later. Everyone was wearing a snazzy "CHINA" jumpsuit. How do I get one!? Anywho, I was there and they gave me a gold sash to wear during the performance. About 8AM, John called me and said, "Where do we go." Jeez man. "Jolene knows, ask her." She got on the fone and I gave it to sifu. It was alright because we still hadn't everything packed yet. When we finally boarded the bus, it was packed tight. Shunde was about 30 minutes away. We got there about 845am and we started the show at 915pm. I got video of the whole performance except the last 2 minutes cause my tape ran out. It was actually quite boring. I love the lion dance, but there is a lot of waiting around in the dance where the lion hesitates doing anything. The lack of sleep was starting to wear on me. I did my performances and i felt pretty good about them. I watched them afterwards and I was quite surprised but still I am in need of practice. I need to make it more fluid. Its very choppy and you can see me thinking about the next move in a couple points. oh well...i think for a couple months practice its pretty good. I got two more days of this. At least the next couple days I can get decent sleep.
There is some good video I got. Some cute kids, chinese courtesy, and kids pissing on the ground right in front of everyone.
We left about 11AM and headed back here. On the bike ride home, the streets had gotten busier like they usually are, but there was also something different. All the streets were stained blood-red from water and urine mixing with the shrapnelled paper left over from blown out fireworks. The cleaning people came thru and sweeped it all up spreading the dye everywhere. John and Jolene came over. We ordered Pizza and watched some Simpsons. Jolene and John fell asleep on the couch. They left after that.
I sat down to write the past three days up on my computer. Nick finally showed up. He was in Shiqi last nite celebrating new Years with the ShiQi Bond people. Those that havn't gone home yet were partying at Boss Jane's pad and playing Mah-Jong. Neato.
We played a round of pool together while we caught up with each other. he is busy unpacking and stuff right now. Coolio.
Nothing much else to report. I need sleep tonite, I am tired from not very much last nite. I have to get up early, we are going to Guzhen for a performance. I have decided just to tape my stuff so I can study it and video tape a couple other things.
Goodnite. Happy Chinese New Year.