Last week-end myself, Nate, Meg, Kati, Dave and their new flat mate decided to head into the main city to partake in the Chinese New Year celebrations. I had never really done anything to celebrate Chinese New Year before and since London has a large Chinatown area I thought it would a very vibrant and fun experience, at least to check off the list of things I’ve done since I’ve lived here. The six of us met at the tube station in Colliers Wood and headed up the Northern Line towards Charing Cross Station. The opening festivities were occurring in Trafalgar Square (a pretty go to place for any sort of festival or celebration) and by the time we got there it was PACKED! There were seemingly people from all different walks of life converging on the famous square to be a part of this celebration, not just the Chinese community (which was still largely represented I might add). There were many kiosks set up along the perimeter of the square selling different souvenirs including: paper dragons, firecrackers (the kind you throw onto the ground….I bought some), fans, and hats. Meg and Kati bought a headband each that made them look like Geishas in a sense (I realize that Geishas are Japanese but I can’t think of an equivalent word from China to define how they looked) which prompted to awe of many a member of the Chinese community and they had to pose for a lot of photos. Once we had finished our small shopping excursion we headed down into the base of the square and pushed our through the crowd to find a good vantage point to the stage.
Once the opening festivities began it became apparent that we were in for a bit of a debacle. The MC’s were reeeeeeeeeeally bad at their job and seemed very unsure of what they were talking about. If it was scripted…it didn’t sound like it, or they just got their lines 10 minutes prior to arriving on stage. It was painful to say the least. Next, the organizers decided to have approximately 12 different guests of honour for this celebration and also made the executive decision to allow all 12 of them to speak before starting any New Year’s traditions. Guests included: representatives from Chinatown, the Chinese Ambassador, the MP for Westminster, the Lord Mayor of Westminster, people from overseas Chinese people’s associations…the list goes on. Again, needless to say it got quite tedious by the time they were finally finished. Afterwards they all participated in a ceremony known as “dotting the Lion’s eye” before the traditional Lion Dance could begin. This also took quite some time and they clearly hadn’t rehearsed this part either. This unfortunately forced the MC’s to stall. It got so desperate that at one point the male MC explained the meaning of the red envelopes that children receive that this time of year containing money. He literally said “They call them ‘Red Envelopes’ because they’re red…and envelopes”…thanks Captain Obvious. Finally they finished the dotting and the Lions got up and did their thing.
This was much more of what I was expecting from a Chinese New Year celebration. The dancing combined with the music created a real authentic atmosphere in the square and was much more entertaining than the previous speakers. Combine this with the 150 db firecrackers and the Dragon dance following and we finally had the celebration we were looking for. By this point we were hankering to move onwards towards Chinatown to grab some grub and take in the atmosphere there.
We probably should have predicted the crowds that were rampant throughout the Chinatown area. Streets were closed around the Leicester Square area so more people could cram in. The pavement and walkways were packed and it took us a long time just to get a couple blocks North of where we started. Although we weren’t really fond of being sardines I have to say that the many decorations, street performers, and vendors made a really good impression. I really like walking through Chinatown, even on days that these sorts of festivals are not celebrated, because of the colour and vibrancy. To see it all on full display was really a sight to behold. Check out my photos on Facebook here. Once we squeezed our way up to Shaftsbury Ave (which was also closed from Piccadilly Circus to Charing Cross Road) we split up; the girls headed to a café to get some cheesecake and the boys descended on the pub next door for a pint.
It was a somewhat small pub known as “The Coach and Horses” right off of Shaftsbury Ave. They had quite a good selection of real ales on tap including my personal favourite, Sharp’s Doom Bar (Dad, brothers, and friends make note prior to visiting me). We glugged a couple pints each, engaged in some conversation with a couple locals about the upcoming football of the day and the previous day’s matches and I ordered a wicked huge egg and cress sandwich with a lovely salad for only a fiver which was a great deal. The girls eventually joined back with us and we sat inside the pub for a little while longer in conversation. Finally it came to the point where we had to get going because Nate, Dave, and I were planning on heading down to The Sports Café on Haymarket to watch the Liverpool-Chelsea match at 4:00pm. Meg and Kati decided to head back to our flat to get a head start on dinner (gotta love those ladies J) and the guys headed to the bar.
The match itself was Ah-mazing! Now, most (if not all) of you know that I am a big Liverpool fan. The team has unfortunately not been playing too well recently and they had just lost their prize striker, Fernando Torres, to rivals Chelsea the week before. This made the match even more interesting because Torres was picked to start by Carlos Ancelotti (the Chelsea skipper) against his former team at Stamford Bridge. As a Liverpool fan I was in a minority at the bar because Chelsea are based in West London and we were in a bar in Central London…needless to say it was dominated by Chelsea blue. The match was actually very close (a lot closer than I would have expected) and Liverpool ended up battling for the win! I went absolutely crazy when they scored their go-ahead goal and hugged a random other guy who was celebrating…well technically he hugged me but why get into details…it was a serious sports-loving man moment…don’t judge me. Nate, Dave, and I split a couple pitchers (I almost forgot what it was like to pour one of those!) throughout the match and more friends showed up at around halftime. It was quite the epic time and definitely worth the somewhat crowded space and standing room to watch it.
Finally after heading back home we mowed down on delicious nachos that the girls had prepared while watching “Liar Liar” on television (right?) Most peeps packed it in but I had another reason to keep trucking on this particular evening…the Superest of all Bowls. My family is a BIG Pittsburgh Steelers family so we were obviously quite excited by the prospect of our team beating the team we hate the most…those damn Packers. Unfortunately due to the time difference the kick-off didn’t start here until 11:30pm…which is brutal for a Sunday night. I had to stay up and watch it though. After a nice Skype conversation with Julie followed up by one with the family I hunkered down to watch some American football this time (or as Jeremy would say “FOOTBALL!!!!”) I reeeeeally don’t want to get into any more details about how the game went…let’s just say I decided to go to bed at halftime and save myself falling asleep in the middle of teaching a class the next day. Fair play to the Pack though, they played a great game and capitalized on some Pitt mistakes, well done to them.
That pretty much sums up a really epic day on my week-end last. I’ve got another day at Cheam tomorrow before the week is out, and then only one more week before half term! Cheam also extended my stay until at least the end of this term, so right at the beginning of April before we get out 3 week holiday (thanks Wills and Kate!) I’ll update on the state of my teaching this week tomorrow after the week is through. I’m also going to be firing up a brand new blog this week-end that will solely be used for posting articles about sports…don’t feel like you have to hit it up if that’s not your slice of awesome. Until that time…
Cheers and love!
Erik
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