The Lion Dance

The Lion Dancers Prepare

On Thursday I took the kids (and our helper) to the Shang-ri-la Hotel to see their first Lion Dance. Little A was very excited, and so it was that despite the fact that I had food poisoning and had been up 1/2 the night in the bathroom, I dragged myself out of bed and out the door.

"A Real Chinese Girl"

It was well worth it. Once we actually FOUND the event (which had been incorrectly advertised as occurring at the Souk, rather than the hotel), little A was in equal parts terrified and mesmerized by the shaggy, prancing lions and the loud drumming. I think she was delighted to watch her Chinese New Year books come to life! She was complimented on her 'authentic' looking Chinese outfit (a lady commented that she looked like a "real Chinese girl" to which I replied "she IS a real Chinese girl--her dad is Chinese"). Though I tried hard, it was difficult to get pictures of her, as it was almost impossible to peel her off my leg long enough to snap a shot (and that is why you see my nose in the above picture--she is sitting on a counter attached to my neck).

Please explain why people still ask if N is a boy or a girl...

Baby N loved it. He (obviously) had no clue as to what was going on, but seemed to enjoy the loud drumming, and the spectacular colours. I was pleased that he was curious, rather than scared. Overall, it was a splendid display of sound and colour--very stimulating for all of us.

Happy to have found a seat

The good times lasted until around 2 pm. We arrived home at noon, and though I was still completely wasted, my spidey-sense told me something was up when little A wanted to go to sleep. I was grateful for the opportunity and jumped at the chance (don't worry--I also experienced the guilt about leaving N in someone else's care) for more sleep. Just before 2, A sat up in bed and her first experience with food poisoning began.

Fortunately, she has mastered the art of the 'vomit bucket', and she managed to empty out the contents of her stomach before bed-time. As she did not miss any sleep at night-time, she was still cheerful and playing for the rest of the day. She just had this awesome ability to stop whatever she was doing instantly, grab the bucket, vomit, go to the bathroom, clean up, rinse the bucket, and then pick-up right where she left off.

By the next morning we were both keeping food down again, but decided against the usual breakfast (buffet) plans. We were both also still quite tired, and took Peter's day off as an opportunity to sleep and rest and much as we could. I could tell that A was still feeling pretty run-down by how little coaxing it took to get her to lie-down with me, and how quickly those little rests turned into sleep-times.

How I felt pretty much the ENTIRE day

Confucius says: He who likes to drink mango-shake, should never order it from 'The Coffee Shop' at Dalma Mall.