First Weekend as the MLAC Court
Wait… what weekend?
=) Better start getting used to this! Saturday was a 12-hour day in heels! OUCH! We spent the whole day in Chinatown.
First we had to get ready for the Los Angeles Chinatown Golden Dragon Parade, actually the 112th Annual Golden Dragon Parade! my toes tingle just thinking about being a part of such a long standing tradition!
The morning started with an all-star VIP reception featuring important community members such as Judy Chu, Ed Reyes, other councilmen+women, representatives from the Navy (an Admiral!), guests and supporters from CRA/LA and press from LA Times, Sing Tao, and Phoenix! (We were interviewed on-camera by Phoenix, totally exciting!)
We also greeted the crowds in the main festival plaza with a karaoke rendition of a Chinese New Year song – 恭喜恭喜恭喜你。Can’t say we were prepared for that, but our emcee was a fabulous singer and we just followed her lead!
After greeting both our VIP guests and the public, us girls were whisked away on our Grand Float:
I have to say, it was a pretty high float and I was quite wary but got pretty comfortable after the first couple minutes. Luckily for me, I had my cape. The other girls with their exposed arms were quite cold! Especially with the breeze!
One of the high lights of the parade was definitely when we spotted Miss Irene in the crowd with her family!! So glad to see her and even more thankful that her family helped us snap this sweet-as-honey Kodak moment!
After riding through Chinatown (first South on Hill, then North up Broadway), we were seated at the Grand Stand to enjoy the remainder of the parade. There were spectacular performances from martial arts groups, regional marching bands, festive lion dances, and even a troupe of middle school students who traveled here all the way from BEIJING!!!
As we held our smiles for what seemed like forever, a REAL smile popped up when we got a delivery of…. BOBA MILK TEA from our wonderful chaperone Tom!!
MmmmMMmm Boba.
After the parade, it was the spectacular LIGHTING OF THE FIRECRACKERS!!
There were, get this, A HUNDRED THOUSAND of these poppers strung up right before the Dragon Gates of Chinatown
Now, lighting firecrackers is a VERY important part of Chinese Lunar New Year tradition. Not only is it an excuse for pyros to go off the wall crazy, but it serves the dual purpose of lending a festive atmosphere AND warding/scaring off any EVIL SPIRITS that might be lurking around the corner!
I wish I had a picture of the 100,000 (6 digits!!) firecrackers going off and the massive cloud of smoke they generated, it was AMAZING! There were lion dancers hopping through the smoke amidst the flash-flash-bang-bang and it was truly a festive sight! I was so completely engrossed by the show that I didn’t notice when most of the court had scuttled to the side to avoid the dense smoke… oops, I sinuses and eyes were not too happy with that!
Anyways, that ended the parade. We were scooted back on our royal carriage, i mean, golf cart for a little bit of R&R until our NEXT event of the day…
THE NEW YEAR BANQUET FOR FCC (Families with Children from China!)
THIS WAS SOOOOOOO MUCH FUN!! Basically, FCC is a social and support group for families who have adopted children from China with the mission to provide a cultural program so that these Chinese kids will be able to learn about their culture while growing up in America families. I think it is really a commendable project and it was great to see so many parents who are really devoted to their children! We got to play with the kids, dance with them, take many many many pictures with them, and even… sign autographs!!
Since most of these kids were pretty young, elementary school or younger, they really are still at the Disney age. They think that we, as Queen and Princesses, must live all together in a castle! No doubt with a fleet of unicorns and fairy god mothers! =) It was adorable!! We signed the autographs as “Queen Shirley” “Princess Bing” “Princess Jane <3” “<3 Princess Ashley” and “Princess Alysha” respectively. TOO CUTE.
One of the girls, Michayla, has already decided that, when she grows up, she wants to be a Princess. Her mother told her that there are only TWO ways to be a princess; 1) to be born a princess or 2) to marry a prince. Her mother then advised her that, in order to marry a prince, she must study hard, become a Rhodes Scholar, and then study at Cambridge or Oxford so that she may have the chance of meeting a real prince. THAT IS SOOOOOOOOOO ADORABLE!!
The evening was truly magical, we were swarmed with children who wanted to ask us about our castles, touch our crowns, hold hands, get hugs, and dance with us. At the end of the night, we even got some awesome swag!
BEST. GIFTS. EVER.
Perfect start to our duties in the Year of the Rabbit!!
And with that, again, Happy Bunny (y)EAR!