Another Dragon Boat Festival with no dragon boats & no rice dumplings... I don't get homesick very much, but this is one of those rare days that I really wish I'm in Hong Kong, curling up on the couch watching dragon boat races on TV, eating an assortment of rice dumplings my mom got from the market, and chatting away with my sister, who wouldn't stop complaining about how boring the boat races are.
When I was in San Francisco, at least I can get pretty decent rice dumplings. But, even then, the dragon boat race was never on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. In a small town like College Station, it's absolutely out of the question. 90% of the population here is Caucasian. The best Chinese dish you can find is Kung Pao Chicken (well, it's actually not true, I've tried decent steamed fish & other real Chinese food at a restaurant here).
But I'm excited that I'm in a position that I can do something about it. Not that I'm going to make any rice dumplings myself, nor am I going to start kayaking in Lake Bryan - but the fact that I'm working at the Institute for Pacific Asia at the local university means that a big part of my job is to bring more Asian cultural awareness on campus. I have all the right reasons to introduce this very special celebration to the heart of Texas. I've done that with Chinese New Year earlier. My next ambition is the Dragon Boat Festival.
But before this happens, I'm planning to go to Houston this evening & try to find some good old rice dumplings in the New Hong Kong Market...
2 comments:
Hey it's my first time here.
Thought you might be interested to see how my daughter was celebrating the dragon boat festival here at her international school in HK... :)
媽媽阿四:
Thanks for stoping by! I saw the pictures you posted on your blog. I guess nowadays, not just in foreign countries, even in HK, it's not easy to teach children all the Chinese cultural traditions. But I wouldn't give up! Hope you'll do the same!
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