Chinese New Year 2018!

[somethingfunny]

Today is the big day.  I thought it would be good to have a place for people to share their plans.

 

So, what are you doing?  How many 饺子 have you eaten? How many shots of 白酒 have you 干杯'ed?

 

Give us your commentary on the New Year's Gala.  Which token Chinese speaking foreigner do you like the most?  Which was your favourite homage to Big Xi?

 

I'm at work today (obviously, it's Thursday), but later I'm going to the house of a retired Chinese couple I'm friends with.  There should be about eight of nine of us and I'm going to eat dumplings until I explode.  I've also been promised some 10-year aged 茅台, which I'm particularly looking forward to.  And, being the smart guy I am, I've booked tomorrow off work.

 

Hope you all have a good one!

[somethingfunny]

We're live in 10 minutes...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeRi86DcfyA

[Tomsima]

I'm in a middle of nowhere city in hubei trying my hardest to tune my ears into the local dialect, 4 shots of maotai down with the father in law so far, getting ready for some 春晚 action, I personally am not too excited for the inevitable foreigner speaking chinese section, as it basically involves everyone in the family turning to me and telling me how much better their chinese is than mine. *sob*

 

[Wippen (inactive)]

34 minutes ago, Tomsima said:

as it basically involves everyone in the family turning to me and telling me how much better their chinese is than mine

My trick is to come up with words in their language they either don't know or correct them on some grammar points. You get a lot of respect like that.

(I also have a foreign outlaw family)

[ZC]

I kinda just got here and don’t really know anyone, so I peaced out to Chengdu, don’t really know how to meet people in a hostel but at least I’m gonna see some pandas. Seriously tho everyone here is foreign too, so at least Im not the novelty foreigner XD

[DavyJonesLocker]

I'm glad I'm not in China for new year.  Every year there is way too much food and 白酒！ Northern Chinese in 辽宁和黑龙江会喝酒！

 

I'd like a year off from my annual alcohol poisoning experience 

 

 

 

[somethingfunny]

@ZC How busy is it there in Chengdu?  Most places might be closed, but you should be able to find a restaurant that would more than love a big group of foreigners on CNY!  Just walk into the communal space and shout "Anyone want to grab a load of food?"

[somethingfunny]

13 minutes ago, DavyJonesLocker said:

Northern Chinese in 辽宁和黑龙江会喝酒！

 

I find that people in most parts of China are pretty skilled at drinking  白酒, it's just that in the north they really pride themselves on it.  I actually saw some northerners essentially hound a couple of southerners out of a restaurant once because of their reluctance to drink.

[Tomsima]

I actually look forward to the annual 酒量 challenge, it's like the easiest and most fun way to communicate with people who don't speak any putonghua. The thing I find most difficult is trying to eat in front of so many people every day, I love chinese food, but I still haven't mastered the art 啃 without dropping a big bone into my bowl, splashing soup on uncle next to me, or spitting out fish bones politely without choking. The pressure is on this week: if I get caught having trouble with chopsticks, I'm gonna be punished with hundreds of 外国人 questions, but if there are no problems, naturally there will be endless chopstick skill flattery and feined modesty...

[DavyJonesLocker]

If you're lucky they might even open that prized jar of nescafe instant coffee that has been sitting there since 2003 waiting for a foreigner to arrive 

[somethingfunny]

老外都爱喝咖啡

[ZC]

54 minutes ago, somethingfunny said:

老外都爱喝咖啡

I have heard this said word for word like 3 times.

 

And in true 老外 tradition I’m spending new year in a coffee shop.

[abcdefg]

Here's a link that works from the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeRi86DcfyA&feature=em-lbrm 

 

Am watching it now. 

[abcdefg]

1 hour ago, somethingfunny said:

I find that people in most parts of China are pretty skilled at drinking  白酒, it's just that in the north they really pride themselves on it. 

 

Very striking. 

 

Quote

I actually saw some northerners essentially hound a couple of southerners out of a restaurant once because of their reluctance to drink.

 

I've seen that too. And the women can bend an elbow and swill it dow nearly as well as the men. 

[somethingfunny]

Ah, @abcdefg, I was hoping you’d be along to share your new year plans...

[DavyJonesLocker]

3 hours ago, ZC said:

I have heard this said word for word like 3 times

 

And 老外都喜欢吃汉堡包。 Often said with an air of authority from someone who has established himself as the 老外通 (<- I just made this word up)

 

CNY in 黑龙江 can also consists of drunken family arguments, fighting, pressure of getting married and having babies, randomly throwing fireworks out the window, under cars, and general airing of grievances. They don't mention that in the BLCU published learning  material.

 

[abcdefg]

4 hours ago, somethingfunny said:

Ah, @abcdefg, I was hoping you’d be along to share your new year plans...

 

Am currently in exile. (Annual trip back to Texas.) 

[langxia]

We are currently living in Europe, so we invited some friends to come and spend the evening. We also invited a good Chinese friend who was on a business trip in Europe to spend some days at our place and celebrate with us. We had way to many jiaozi, started drinking with sparkling wine and then went on to baijiu.

 

I think we need to open a new topic about the new year gala as there was a kind of shocking sketch.

 

祝大家狗年快乐！

[somethingfunny]

You can discuss that here @langxia