Tea and coffee were being served in the T Bar after Mass. Each resident had been given a little packet wrapped in shiny red paper. They were wondering what was inside… On closer inspection ‘Lucky Pagoda Fortune Cookies’ could be read, manufactured by W Wing Yip plc. Inside each one was a ‘u’ shaped crisp biscuit with a small white paper just visible. Upon the paper was written a Chinese good-luck proverb or message.
Hazel Yip – a Chinese resident in Independent Living Flats, has just returned from Hong Kong where she visited her family whom she has not seen in several years. Very thoughtfully she brought back with her a lot of these biscuits to share with us.
Hazel, together with Rosa, Peter, Nick and Caroline (AJJ, volunteers and residents) formed a Team, busily and happily decorated the main dining room and concert hall ready for the Chinese Celebration. As it is the Year of the Rabbit there were, amongst others, window stickers of white rabbits; red lanterns hung overhead; red balloons were everywhere whilst red serviettes added another splash of colour.
We are very fortunate in St Peter’s in having a Chinese volunteer, Susie, (pic. centre) a former nurse, who loves to help in the chapel with very artistic floral arrangements. Then there is Sr Marguerite, a Chinese religious Sister who comes to Mass regularly. She is very friendly with one of our residents—Nanette French, often visiting her. They were both at our Chinese Party.
Beneath Chinese silk parasols, their smiles told how happy they were to be with us and help entertain the residents. Throughout the party the yellow parasols were like sunbeams twisting and circling their way amongst the tables, pausing for many of the residents to have photos taken under them.
To welcome the residents drinks were offered. On the tables were little bowls of sweets and plates of assorted biscuits.
Sr Marguerite was wearing white trousers and white blouse with a red jacket, Susie wore a very elegant silk costume and Hazel also dressed in a red cardigan, white jumper and black trousers; all in the Chinese national colours.
Before the actual tea we watched two or three short videos from You-Tube depicting Chinese culture: very graceful dances of young girls wearing typical Chinese costumes; a film showing Taiwan—its landscape, peoples and culture; and young men performing precision-based army drills. Then as tea was served the volunteers went around with quite an assorted array of delicious looking Chinese sweetmeats: speciality rice cakes and decorated biscuits, followed by a huge box of chocolates.
Suddenly the gentle background music changed tempo, dramatic loud gongs sounded and Chinese music boomed out to the dancing of the Chinese Dragon which sprang into the Concert Hall. The Dragon was leaping and swaying, rushing forward towards the residents as if to devour them! The residents were not one bit afraid. They all laughed with glee at the antics of this friendly ‘Chinese’ creature. The two ‘undercover performers’ had lots of energy bounding from table to table in their red plush cover dragon-wear and orange fire-breathing head.
