CELEBRATING CHINESE NEW YEAR

The first we knew about the special Chinese evening was at last Wednesday’s assembly when Mrs Taylor-Gooby announced that the boarders would have a special meal to celebrate Chinese New Year. All day I wondered what we would be eating and we were really excited. When we got back to the boarding house after School, Miss Balsdon told us not to go down to the dining room until we were told to go. At 6.15pm Miss Balsdon said we could go and we ran down the stairs immediately because we wanted to see our surprise. When we opened the door we saw lots of people including teachers. Miss Hockham gave us a number and we had to sit at the table with the same number. This was unusual because we usually sit with our friends and each table had teachers and girls on it. This was good because we could talk to lots of different people. When I looked around the dining room, the decorations looked fantastic. Each table was decorated with red table cloths and yellow stars which looked like the Chinese flag and there were some red banners wishing us good luck. Then, the food was ready and there was lots of food including sweet and sour pork, fried rice, a prawn dish, spring rolls, Peking duck, vegetables and beef. The food was delicious and we had mandarin and lychee mousse for desert. We also had chopsticks to eat with and fortune cookies to open. After we finished Miss Hockham stood up, thanked the kitchen staff for the food and wished us a Happy New Year in Mandarin and Cantonese. Kirsty Wong replied in Cantonese and Mandarin asking us if we thought the food was yummy. Sharry and I shouted ‘Yes!‘ It was a very good evening, we all enjoyed it and we felt like everyone in our School family joined our special dinner. A big thank you to Mrs Taylor-Gooby and Miss Hockham for organising it, the Kitchen staff for making such delicious food and everyone else who helped make the evening so enjoyable. Report by Karen Lam, Year 9.