No need for hangover cure
03.08.2009
It was a beautiful spring day in Beijing with blue skies and pleasant sunshine.
All the Irish received an invitation to a reception in the Irish Embassy at 6:30pm. I presumed it would be just an affair for the Irish residents but as I arrived it was clear that the entire diplomatic community of Beijing had been invited! There was a reception line in which we were welcomed personally by the ambassador.
There must have been several hundred people in the room when I entered, but I didn't know a single one. The first person I met turned out to be from Cobh! He works for a Chinese company in another province and came to Beijing (a two hour flight) just for the reception.
The next person I met was from Botswana. He was a diplomat and full of praise for the contribution Irish missionaries made to his country in the areas of education and health. He himself was educated by Irish Christian Brothers.
At that point a delicious buffet meal was provided. It was a mostly male occasion but I did meet a girl from Sligo who was visiting Beijing with an Irish folk group to play at the Ball in the Great Wall Hotel.
On the way out I met a Cronin from Cork. We Corkonians are everywhere!
The Beijing Irish Ball
The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel was the venue for the St Patrick's Day Ball. I was a guest, together with three other Irish teachers, otherwise we wouldn't have gone, as the tickets cost a week's salary in our terms.
There was a great buzz of conversation as we arrived at the top of the staircase. Six hundred people in all, were attending, most in dinner jackets and evening dress. The card said dress was to be black tie or national dress, but some of us turned up in the only suit we own!
As we entered the reception area we had our hand stamped with green dye saying "Happy St Patrick's Day." This was to make sure we could re-enter should we have to take a trip to the loo!
We were told that the Ball is one of the highlights of the social calendar in Beijing and it had every impression of being so. The Irish Ambassador gave a short address of welcome and mentioned that about 10 ambassadors were present.
When we arrived at our table each of us found a little package containing a miniature Bailey's Irish Cream & Bushmills Whiskey, together with the St Patrick's Little Red Book (a notebook) and a thousand year recipe for the cure of a hangover!
The meal was a six course dinner which included Guinness Sherbet and Beef Tenderloin. It was the first time I had a real steak since coming to China as the Chinese tend to serve beef in tiny matchstick strips.
The couple on my right were a US Irish-Polish man and his Chinese (Singapore) wife. They met when her taxi knocked him off his bicycle a year previously! He was a computer expert and she studied law in Leeds. She told us proudly that her family was Catholic for three generations. She said law is only in its infancy in China and a contract has no more force than a letter of intent.
The music was provided by a band from Sligo, Dervish, and they had everybody dancing in jig time. it was a memorable night out. The hangover cure was not required!
Fr Teddy Collins teaches English in China.
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