Official Season's Greetings

Last week we attended the local town government holiday party for all the foreigners who live in Beilun.

Foreign expats, foreign experts

The room in the fancy hotel was packed with government officials, military families, and almost every foreigner in town. The evening started out with a traditional Chinese lion dance

There are two dancers in each lion, one sitting on the shoulders the other

drummers for the lion dancers

The lions were followed by speeches, a demonstration of the traditional tea ceremony, live music, a magician, and good food.

helium balloons = hours of entertainment

After the meal, it was time for everyone's favorite holiday entertainment, the beer drinking competition. The Americans made a showing, along with a couple Australians, a German, and someone from Japan. One of the Aussies won, I think. We were too busy chasing helium balloons.

Best of all, we didn't have to cook dinner!