If he mentions the Boston Tea Party again, I'm gonna die!

Yesterday, just before supper, Mr. Hu calls and he wants the Fleming-Charmichaels and us Stuarts to come to a tea-house with him. Bor-ing. I find sitting and drinking tea quite boring without something cool to do. Like, I've never been to a real tea party, but I think that would be just amazing! And I do enjoy going over to the Fleming-Charmichaels' when they invite us over because they always have something interesting to say. But...a tea-house?

Besides, we were going to practice for our Easter program that night! I was mad, but I decided to come along because Susie wanted to.

A little later, the "plot" thickens. Now, the local TV company wants to film us drinking tea! Well, I perked up a bit, because after all, I love being on camera (the rest of the family isn't, so much), and that could also take a while.

So we went to the L. Road Grand Hotel and came to this room that had a placque that said, "Puer (that's pronounced poo-air) teaexperience". First we watched a tea ceremony (thankfully off camera) and I felt like I should be wearing chi pao or at least something nicer than pants and a tee-shirt. And holding my doll Aubrey at that! Not like Aubrey is a bad doll--the real Aubrey commented about her hair and earrings--but she didn't exactly belong in a fancy room. It was really fancy, I felt like I was in an art museum sitting in a chair from the collection.

After a tea ceremony we went into the filming part of things. That was fun--Daddy joked that I should go in for movies! It's fun to "dream" about, but it's like so many things--I know I'd hate it in real life. You can dream about practically anything when you make that distinction. I've dreamed about becoming a mountain climber! Well, we just chatted and drank tea and pretended we weren't on camera. Actually, that was easy--directly across from me was this picture of a village up in the mountains that drew me in with its misty bamboo.

After that, the four grown-ups and me were interviewed. That was fun, however, I doubt that the footage of me will get on there. SNIFF. Oh, well--I can say I was filmed for Chinese TV!
Saro