and everywhere is the sound of dice rolling in porcelein bowls. Autumn Festival - coinciding this year with the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China - means an 8 day "golden week" holiday. On the whole there really didn't seem to be much happening in Xiamen for the PRC anniversary - all the action seemed to center on Tianan Men Square in Beijing with residents of China everywhere staying in front of a television to watch a highly choreographed parade (down to the weather and the crowd - cloud seeding to prevent it raining on the parade and crowd members being veted beforehand to ensure appropriate crowds were in place).Alex had made a flag at school which lasted long enough to be photographed - and was then trashed.
We wandered through Zhong Shan park, seeing some snatches of the televised parade as we purchased some water (many shops have their televisions on) and spent some time blowing bubbles 
before heading back home. We found a couple of chinese flags along the way.
Last year the whole family attended the university Bo Bing dinner - but this year Alex and Sebastien enjoyed being babysat by two of Daddy's students. 
Even without Alex throwing dice to win, we ended up bringing home enough washing powder, toothpaste, tissues, hand soap and shampoo to last us the next six months. 
Plus we won the top prize so another blanket is added to the pile. We had a lot of fun, though we had to find a taxi in the rain to get home. Mummy was very interested to see the restaurant staff "toss" the tables after the meals were finished. All food scraps were wiped onto the table cloth which was then removed - not how we see it done in Australia.
Alex didn't miss out altogether as our apartment complex managment had had a bo bing gambling night the evening we came home from Sebastien's birthday party which she enjoyed throwing the dice for. We again came home with the top prize - this time a large container of cooking oil which Alex was bitterly disappointed to realise as she'd thought it was juice!
We did manage to go to the Xiamen parade held to celebrate the PRC anniversary - though it was meant to start at 7.30pm, well after our usual bedtime. 
It took a lot of effort to get to the start of the parade and in the end Mummy was left wondering "is that it?" after two hours and only two bands. 
Most of the floats were about tourist places in Xiamen and surrounds
and there were a few odd groups sprinkled through - such as the (we believe) samba group featuring suitably attired dancers 
whose different dress was highlighted as they were followed by chinese in various traditional costumes.
There was also a different version of a dragon with children riding on adult shouldered litters.
And of course the obligatory Mickey and Minnie Mouse characters.
We managed to find some street food to eat - baked sweet potate and some sausages on sticks. 
It all very nearly went pear shaped when Daddy almost dropped Sebastien from his shoulders. Thanks to a nimble handed stranger there were no tears nor blood spilt,
This week we also enjoyed our first "mooncake" (yes, we hadn't managed to eat any last year) which was brought as a gift by one of our babysitters when they visited. Of the four cakes, 
one was traditional with an egg yolk centre, 
the others were orange, red bean and what we believe was taro paste. Very sweet and heavy, we split one cake amongst us over several nights.They came in a lovely tin (there are numerous varieties of every size boxed in many ways for gifts to employees, neighbors, friends and family).
There are characters on each one that say different, well platitude is the opposite of the word I want but I can't think of it at the moment - but I hope you get my drift.
Both Alex and Sebastien thought that they were great.
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