Last night, we said goodbye to the year of the rat and ni hao to the year of the ox (niu in Chinese - what a nice ready made pun for my blog!). Shanghai was one huge bowl of firecrackers which went off all night and the icy wind that blew today sent red bits of tissue fluttering through the streets.
The cultural norm is to travel back to your home town to spend the holiday with your family, just like Christmas except the journeys back to home towns here can be extremely long and many people can't afford the time or money for the trip. My new boss, Mrs Shi invited me to join the rest of the staff from the restaurant downstairs who stayed in Shanghai for the festival.
I felt a bit self conscious on my way down to dinner. There were 4 large tables laid and about 35 people I hadn't met yet were standing around and chatting. I really struggle to remember Chinese names and I think this will have to be the first thing I put lots of energy into during my year here. Thankfully Mrs Shi spotted me and ushered me over to a table where she dazzled me with her knowledge of UK football. Usually I can bluff my way through a chat with the taxi drivers here given that, although I like the beautiful game, I have never really supported a team (aside from paying attention to Sheffield Wednesday on behalf of a previous boyfriend). Mrs Shi is obviously an avid follower of the FA cup and she can talk about the differences in playing style between all the European countries. For the second time this week, I was way out of my league.
Once everyone was assembled we were able to sit down and eat! Everyone was in very good spirits and there was a lot of toasting and plenty of eating. Mrs Shi gave a speech to thank everyone for their hard work, and then asked everyone to welcome the 'foreign friend' which was nice - if a little cringe worthy as 35 sets of eyes search the room for the outsider! It's traditional for every person to offer a toast to the host of any formal dinner. I watched as poor Mrs Shi had to drink a toast with every one of her employees. By the end of dinner, she was D.R.U.N.K. In her inebriated state, she came to sit beside me, took my hand and basically gave a Chinese version of an 'I love you Mate' speech. It was nice to know that she likes me, but I'm not sure she'll remember it today!
After dinner, the restaurant's resident poppet came to play with me. She's four and has bags of personality. Her Dad is the restaurant manager and she's the only child in the whole place. She came to sit with me and started to play some sort of Chinese game along the lines of round and round the garden. It involved her playing with my hand and then tickling me! By this point I was sitting with Mrs Shi, the two restaurant managers and the head chef. Mrs Shi announced to them for the first time that I would be running the show upstairs and that everyone should do what I say. At about the same time, I was showing my new four year old friend that I can touch my nose with my tongue. Definitely the professional first impression I was hoping for! Word soon got round, not that I have a very long tongue but that I will be part of the management team, and suddenly my glass was filled faster, fruit and sweets were dished out and more people popped over to wish me happy new year. It was a strange experience and I admit to having laid low today as I'm not sure how to handle it yet.
More drinks followed dinner and karaoke and more drinks followed more drinks. I managed (somehow) to stick with my plan to drink more coke than anything else as the last thing I need in front of a new team of people I'm supposed to oversee is to lose my new years' dinner in the street! Sadly Mrs Shi wasn't so fortunate but something tells me they all will forgive her.
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