zondag 14 februari 2010
inside/outside
Outside it's snowing again, inside the house is filled with tulips and daffodils and peasoup and applepie and family and friends.
dinsdag 2 februari 2010
eye of the tiger
The Chinese will celebrate the beginning of their new year on feb 14th. The year of the Tiger.
Would you believe these decorations? They're all flowers! Almost like the 'Bloemencorso' in the Netherlands, a parade with beautiful displays on carts - parading through the streets the first weekend of september, all made out of flowers.
Obviously I'm not the only one who *hearts* flowers!
Happy year of the Tiger!
donderdag 28 januari 2010
Burns, baby, Burns!
It was quite the international environment, last weekend.
At our table alone we counted at least 9 languages spoken fluently amongst 5 or 6 nationalities with a background of many cultures.
A Scott born in Hongkong whose cantonese is unbelievable. A Dutch girl with a scottish background, married to this Scott. She speaks Bahasa, by the way. Oh, and they live in Macau. A Sri Lankan man, but from Australia, living in Macau. Another Dutch girl with Middle European background, living in HongKong. A Spanish lady, some Britts, a real Dutchman, another Aussie...
All this at a Scottish party - in a Portugese Pousada - in Macau - which is China.
It was Burns Night!!
As our host the Scotsman explained:" Robert Burns was a womanizer, a sexist, a racist, and a briljant poet. He died young, and his friends started to honour him with lunches where the ate, drank, sang and read his poetry. This became a tradition and the aniversary of his birth (1759) is now celebrated by Scots all over the world. Ah, Scots take any excuse to eat, drink and celebrate..."
So we were invited by our Scottish-Dutch friends in Macau to celebrate Burns Night.
Quite the official affair: black tie. So Dirk (our host) in his kilt, Kat, his wife, with the families celebration tartan sash,
Jaap in dark suit, a new shirt and bowtie and me in a cocktaildress.
Not just the clothing was official, the program of the night was as well, with our hosts being the Chieftain and Chieftains wife this year, which is some sort of mix between host and guest of honour, and it means he got to bless the meal, and his knife (called a 'Dirk' as well) was used to stab the haggis. (don't ask - another tradition!)There was traditional Scottish food (as mentioned: haggis),
and there were speakers: one man recited a Burns poem, by heart! which lasted for 10 minutes - the ladies were greeted, the guests were toasted, the men were thoroughly mocked and greeted - speeches full of wordplay and wit.
There was music ( a chinese band - singing Scottish songs..!),
there was dancing, there was singing, there was booz.
AND I got to the bottom (no pun intended!) of the kilt -secret....But I promised not to publish!!
At our table alone we counted at least 9 languages spoken fluently amongst 5 or 6 nationalities with a background of many cultures.
A Scott born in Hongkong whose cantonese is unbelievable. A Dutch girl with a scottish background, married to this Scott. She speaks Bahasa, by the way. Oh, and they live in Macau. A Sri Lankan man, but from Australia, living in Macau. Another Dutch girl with Middle European background, living in HongKong. A Spanish lady, some Britts, a real Dutchman, another Aussie...
All this at a Scottish party - in a Portugese Pousada - in Macau - which is China.
It was Burns Night!!
As our host the Scotsman explained:" Robert Burns was a womanizer, a sexist, a racist, and a briljant poet. He died young, and his friends started to honour him with lunches where the ate, drank, sang and read his poetry. This became a tradition and the aniversary of his birth (1759) is now celebrated by Scots all over the world. Ah, Scots take any excuse to eat, drink and celebrate..."
So we were invited by our Scottish-Dutch friends in Macau to celebrate Burns Night.
Quite the official affair: black tie. So Dirk (our host) in his kilt, Kat, his wife, with the families celebration tartan sash,
Jaap in dark suit, a new shirt and bowtie and me in a cocktaildress.
Not just the clothing was official, the program of the night was as well, with our hosts being the Chieftain and Chieftains wife this year, which is some sort of mix between host and guest of honour, and it means he got to bless the meal, and his knife (called a 'Dirk' as well) was used to stab the haggis. (don't ask - another tradition!)There was traditional Scottish food (as mentioned: haggis),
and there were speakers: one man recited a Burns poem, by heart! which lasted for 10 minutes - the ladies were greeted, the guests were toasted, the men were thoroughly mocked and greeted - speeches full of wordplay and wit. There was music ( a chinese band - singing Scottish songs..!),
there was dancing, there was singing, there was booz.
AND I got to the bottom (no pun intended!) of the kilt -secret....But I promised not to publish!!
woensdag 27 januari 2010
zaterdag 23 januari 2010
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