Culture kick

So somehow the whole of November has runaway with me so i'm very behind on the blog posts - time for some serious catching up!

A few weekends ago I had a very full on Chinese themed day. The university, where some friends and I go to mandarin class, has some cultural events every now and again and November's event was an afternoon of Chinese tea art and Tai Chi.  Maybe not the most thrilling sounding way to spend a Sunday but when in China...

The afternoon started with some displays of different kinds of Tai Chi (there are 5 different types apparently). One type involved a very large sword, the woman wielding it was very impressive...

We also got to have a go at practicing some Tai Chi - I was rubbish but it was fun. In order for the Tai Chi master to prove his strength, 10 of us had to try and help each other push him over - it all ended with us in a pile on the floor and him merrily standing there looking strong! I enjoyed the Tai Chi - it's definitely harder than it looks!

After the Tai Chi, there was a tea ceremony demonstration. I've got to say it's not quite as exciting the second time round - maybe it was the lack of wishing frog this time - didn't mean I didn't happily drink the varying rounds of tea though (some habits never die).

The following weekend I was invited to one of the teacher's houses for Sunday lunch, China style! She used to live in the same building as me with her son and husband but she had recently moved to a new apartment and Sunday lunch was her house warming party. I am genuinely chuffed that she invited me to join her and her friends - none of the other teachers have really paid any attention to us!

There was a group of about 8 of us in total, the only problem was though that everyone else was Chinese and they were all talking a local Cantonese dialect so my basic Mandarin skills didn't exactly come in handy.

I definitely experienced the Chinese hospitality - i've never eaten so much mutton in my life! I had been warned that you will just kept being fed until you put up a fit or collapse from eating exhaustion. I was treated to a traditional style  Cantonese hotpot - a famous local dish in these parts. It's a bit like a stew - it's the closest thing I can think of to compare it with. The meat of choice in this dish was mutton. As the guest who didn't have a clue what the etiquette was at this my bowl was promptly ladled full of mutton, I think only about one vegetable made it into the mix.  I definitely wasn't quick enough off the mark when my half empty bowl was snatched away and refilled. After we'd all polished off the mutton the stew (which was kept on the heat) tofu was added and then vegetables and it probably would have just kept going if we hadn't all refused to keep eating - hilariously enough after being made to sample everything on offer (at least twice) I was told I don't eat much...this definitely isn't true!

After the meal it was repeated rounds of tea and a giant grapefruit type thing - both good but I never learnt the lesson that if you drink your little cup of tea (even if it's just a sip) it will promptly be refilled! 

If I sounds skeptical, I don't mean it, I genuinely had a great day mingling with the locals the hardest past is definitely trying to work out what are good table manners when it comes to spitting out the bones and eating 12cm long bits of vegetable!

The had nice views out of Foshan too (or at least I think they are nice)

G x