Una de las cosas que se hacen tradicionalmente en este festival es comer una torta llamada "mooncake", o sea, "torta de la luna", que es una tortita chiquita, con una masa bien fina y adentro una pasta muy densa y pesada y dulce. Y en el medio, llevan una yema de huevo, justamente simbolizando la luna llena.
Acá abajo ven una mooncake entera y luego cortada, y a Ling sosteniéndola. La verdad me gustó mucho... el contraste de lo dulce y la yema de huevo es un poco raro, pero está rica.
Last Thursday I went to Ling's flat to celebrate the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival. According to what I could find in wikipedia (because Ling didn't tell me much), it's a festival celebrating abundance and togetherness, and it takes place on the Autumn Equinox, when the moon is really full.
One of the things traditionally done on the occasion is eating a cake called "mooncake", a small pastry with a thin crust and a filling made of a very dense, heavy and sweet paste. And in the middle, there's an egg yolk, symbolizing the full moon.
Below you can see a mooncake, first whole and then cut, and Ling holding it. I really liked it... the contrast between the sweet paste and the egg yolk is a bit strange, but it was good.
Y después de eso fuimos al flat de al lado, donde se había armado espontáneamente una especie de fiesta. Estuvo divertido. En ese bloque son todos undergraduates, así que son bastante más chicos que yo, pero la pasé re bien.
And after that, we went to the flat next door where a kind of party had spontaneously developed. It was fun. In that block they're all undergrads, so they're all quite a bit younger than me, but I had a great time
El viernes hubo una fiesta para estudiantes de posgrado en un bar en el centro de Nottingham, Bar Risa, y fui con un grupo de amigos. Estaba lloviendo, así que terminamos yendo en taxi... entre 7!
On Friday there was a party for postgrad students in a bar in downtown Nottingham, Bar Risa, and I went with a group of friends. It was raining, so all 7 of us ended up sharing a cab!
Los 7 del taxi, yo, Citlali y Marissa (de México ambas), Ai (de Japón), Iris (una de mis flatmates, de China), Roxana (de Chile) y Henrique (de Brasil).
The 7 who took that cab: me, Citlali and Marissa (both from Mexico), Ai (from Japan), Iris (one of my flatmates, from China), Roxana (from Chile) and Henrique (from Brasil)
El bar. Acá me tomé mi primera Guinness en Inglaterra, así que taché una cosa más de mi lista de "cosas para hacer en Inglaterra"!
The bar. I drank my first Guinness in England here, so I crossed out yet another thing from my "to do in England" list.
Con parte de la numerosa delegación mexicana: Citlali, Adriana, Arturo y yo.
With part of the numerous Mexican delegation: Citlali, Adriana, Arturo and I.
Cuando el bar se había empezado a poblar.
The bar had started to fill up.
Con Ghada (espero que esté bien escrito!), de Palestina.
With Ghada (sp?), from Palestine
