At the very end of September we were invited to attend a BoBing party hosted by Gene's company. This was a celebration of the Mid-Autumn festival and National Day. It was on a Saturday afternoon (changed at the last minute from Friday evening, planning ahead is apparently unheard of here) at a large restaurant. Most larger restaurants, and even some smaller ones, have private rooms of varying sizes to accommodate parties or groups. I had let slip at an earlier party (when we were very new to the country and culture and I just didn't know any better!) that my birthday would coincide with National Day, so when we got to the party we were ushered to the head table where this giant birthday cake awaited me. It was as big as my wedding cake, I think! Once everyone had settled in, the general manager made a speech and announced our presence (as if anyone had missed the American family!) and told everyone that we were also celebrating my birthday. I think he probably told them that it was my 40th, but I don't know for sure. So then the karoke screen came on and I had to stand up while I was serenaded first in Mandarin, then in English! I was mortified. The mood was lightened, though, when a coworker's little boy took over the mic and sang to me. Then he gave me a kiss on the cheek. I was so grateful to have the attention directed toward him and it also gave me someone to look at instead of all the tables full of strangers who probably resent us!
Then I got to cut the cake. The top layer was chocolate with white icing and chocolate shavings, and a little white chocolate plackard with "Happy Birthday Laura" written in red. That pink flower-shaped thing is a multi-candle holder that sings a little tune! Middle layer was green tea with fruit garnish and the large bottom layer was taro with grape garnish and lady fingers around the outside. I cut a slab and took it to Sammy, the boss, and thanked him. Glad that was over, I got to sit back down and the feast began. Piles and piles of food were delivered to each table. Notice the cake is resting on a darker glass circle. This is the lazy susan that facilitates sharing the many dishes that were served. They were mostly seafood but also some vegetables and fruit and flat bread. As usual, there was an absolute ton of food left over, but we had eaten our fill.
On with the Bo Bing part of the party. Each table of ten people had a stack of boxes containing the prizes for the dice game to unload. These prizes were of greater value than the kind we had at our little party, that means no little packs of tissues! Our table had the four in our family, the big boss and three other people. We had 50% of the table and ridiculous odds of cleaning up! As is tradition, we took turns tossing 6 dice into a bowl and winning prizes accordingly. Around and around we went.
Here I am, giving the gift card I won to another guy who out-rolled me! When we ran out of the smaller prizes, we got little cards to spend at Walmart. We're not sure how to use them but we think they're like vouchers worth different amounts of money. Don't know how we'll use those!
We were each given plastic bags to haul our winnings home...the smallest prize (for rolling one 4) was a three-pack of toothbrushes. When all the prizes had been won, ours totalled: 36 toothbrushes, 8 tubes of toothpaste, 9 sets of shampoo and coconut-scented bar soap, 3 large bottles of body wash, 2 big jugs of cooking oil (Amanda won those!) and 700 Yuan to spend at Rainbow mall (that's a little over $100 US!). Not a bad day...and will really cut back on the shopping for household goods for the year! {We made gift packs for Amanda's teacher and teacher's aide from some of our winnings and will surely have some left to pass along as our time here draws to an end} It was a fun day!
At the very end of September we were invited to attend a BoBing party hosted by Gene's company. This was a celebration of the Mid-Autumn festival and National Day. It was on a Saturday afternoon (changed at the last minute from Friday evening, planning ahead is apparently unheard of here) at a large restaurant. Most larger restaurants, and even some smaller ones, have private rooms of varying sizes to accommodate parties or groups. I had let slip at an earlier party (when we were very new to the country and culture and I just didn't know any better!) that my birthday would coincide with National Day, so when we got to the party we were ushered to the head table where this giant birthday cake awaited me. It was as big as my wedding cake, I think! Once everyone had settled in, the general manager made a speech and announced our presence (as if anyone had missed the American family!) and told everyone that we were also celebrating my birthday. I think he probably told them that it was my 40th, but I don't know for sure. So then the karoke screen came on and I had to stand up while I was serenaded first in Mandarin, then in English! I was mortified. The mood was lightened, though, when a coworker's little boy took over the mic and sang to me. Then he gave me a kiss on the cheek. I was so grateful to have the attention directed toward him and it also gave me someone to look at instead of all the tables full of strangers who probably resent us!
Then I got to cut the cake. The top layer was chocolate with white icing and chocolate shavings, and a little white chocolate plackard with "Happy Birthday Laura" written in red. That pink flower-shaped thing is a multi-candle holder that sings a little tune! Middle layer was green tea with fruit garnish and the large bottom layer was taro with grape garnish and lady fingers around the outside. I cut a slab and took it to Sammy, the boss, and thanked him. Glad that was over, I got to sit back down and the feast began. Piles and piles of food were delivered to each table. Notice the cake is resting on a darker glass circle. This is the lazy susan that facilitates sharing the many dishes that were served. They were mostly seafood but also some vegetables and fruit and flat bread. As usual, there was an absolute ton of food left over, but we had eaten our fill.
On with the Bo Bing part of the party. Each table of ten people had a stack of boxes containing the prizes for the dice game to unload. These prizes were of greater value than the kind we had at our little party, that means no little packs of tissues! Our table had the four in our family, the big boss and three other people. We had 50% of the table and ridiculous odds of cleaning up! As is tradition, we took turns tossing 6 dice into a bowl and winning prizes accordingly. Around and around we went. 
Here I am, giving the gift card I won to another guy who out-rolled me! When we ran out of the smaller prizes, we got little cards to spend at Walmart. We're not sure how to use them but we think they're like vouchers worth different amounts of money. Don't know how we'll use those!
We were each given plastic bags to haul our winnings home...the smallest prize (for rolling one 4) was a three-pack of toothbrushes. When all the prizes had been won, ours totalled: 36 toothbrushes, 8 tubes of toothpaste, 9 sets of shampoo and coconut-scented bar soap, 3 large bottles of body wash, 2 big jugs of cooking oil (Amanda won those!) and 700 Yuan to spend at Rainbow mall (that's a little over $100 US!). Not a bad day...and will really cut back on the shopping for household goods for the year! {We made gift packs for Amanda's teacher and teacher's aide from some of our winnings and will surely have some left to pass along as our time here draws to an end} It was a fun day!
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