Women's Day Fun

I presume its International Women's Day. I noticed there was a lot of something going on in the courtyard below our kitchen window. I could see some tables set up, and there was a long, thick tug-o-war rope laid out. When the band of lady drummers started their little dance it was too much for my curiosity, I had to go and see.

I tried to stand to one side and stay out of the way, but I am way too noticeable for that. A guard came and challenged me (I think) and I tried to explain that I lived just 'up there' - then my landlord and his wife showed up (they had just been in our apartment looking at our "drainage problem" a few minutes before) and explained to the guard who I was.

So then the team of drummers came and made friends with me. We had a great time together!

One lady was obviously the organiser. She got all the women lined up like school kids - I kept explaining "ting bu dong" (I don't understand) because I didn't want to be in the line!

After some long-winded instructions which I really didn't "ting de dong", she gave them all little green slips of paper and they rushed off to line up at the various tables.

There was a chopsticks and marbles competition:

It was a race between two women, while another one timed them with her mobile.

Then there was a hoopla:

Then an interesting one I have never seen before - blow the ping-pong ball across the top of some glasses of water:

And then, instead of "pin-the-tail..." they had "Stick-the-nose...":

The lady in charge finally noticed me, and having had it explained to her who or what I was, she insisted on taking me into each queues and pushing me in front of the other patiently waiting women so I could have a go. I won fair and square on the ping-pong ball blowing, and won a prize of a packet of pickles. With the pin-the-nose she took my hand and directly led me to the right spot, and I "won" again.

Then someone with a huge video camera turned up - maybe from a TV station, I guess. They put the blindfold back on me to do it again for the camera ... and obviously it occured to them it was a little daft tying a yellow scarf around the face of someone you are about to photograph, so they lifted up the bottom edge to show part of my face. I won again, because I could actually see!

I had a go at hoopla, and won a little bottle of chocolate soy drink, I think. And then they insisted I try the marbles and chopsticks. They were pretty amazed that I managed to pick up any at all, so despite the fact that I didn't beat the lady next to me (I was glad I wasn't that good!) they gave me a prize for that too.

That's my prizes. I can read "preserved szechuan pickles", and the drink shows a piece of chocolate in something milky. But the other two - ? Tofu maybe.

Hey, it was fun. They were all so friendly and cheerful, it didn't matter that we didn't understand each other.