Nädala alguses võttis minuga ühendust sõbranna, kes on hetkel ühes Shanghai hotellis praktikal. Tal oli mulle üks pealtnäha naljakas palve - nimelt kutsus ta mind ühte kohalikku pulma. Ja palus, et võtaksin paar oma Euroopast pärit kursaõde kaasa. Otseloomulikult ei kutsutud meid sinna külalisteks, oo ei. Meie ülesanne oli lihtsalt kenad ja 'eksootilised' olla ning naeratada. Ainulaadne kogemus näha kohalike VIP'ide pulma telgitaguseid ja sellest osa võtta, ka näha pisut, kuidas toimib üks viie tärni hotell... Muidugi olime nõus!
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At the beginning of this week, a friend of mine, who is currently interning at one of the hotels in Shanghai, gave me a call. She had a seemingly funny favour to ask from me - she was inviting me to a local wedding. She also asked for a few of my European classmates to join. Though we weren't invited there as guests, ooh no. Our job was to be pretty and 'exotic' and just to smile. Once in a lifetime chance to see the behind-the-scenes of a local VIP wedding, to take part of it and to get a hint of how a five star hotel is functioning... of course we were in!
Mina ja üks ungari tüdruk pidime olema pulmasaalis. Saime selga traditsioonilised hiina qipao'd (vallatu lõhik, eks). Ülejäänud kolm sõbrantsi pidid hotelli lobby's seisma. Ülesanne seista ja lihtsalt kenad olla oli meil kõigil, vahel harva tervitasin pulmakülalisi ühe 'wanshang hao'ga ('tere õhtust' hiina keeles). Külalised olid muidugi kohutavalt vaimustuses, tegid meist ja meiega koos pilti ning kommenteerisid 'zhen piaoliang' ('väga ilus' hiina keeles').
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Me and one Hungarian girl got the instructions to go to the wedding hall. We got to wear these traditional qipaos (nice slit in the skirt, right!). Other three of the girls were assigned to the lobby. We all got the same instructions though, just standing and looking nice, sometimes I also greeted the guests with a 'wanshang hao' ('good evening' in Chinese). The guests were super excited, took a lot of photos of us and with us, also commented all the time 'zhen piaoliang' ('very pretty' in Chinese).
Hiiglaslik hotelli fuajee. Paremal punase vaibaga ümbritsetud ala juures oli hiiglaslik foto pruutpaarist.
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The huge lobby. The area on the right with the red carpet had a huge photo of the couple.
Peosaal, kus toimus tseremoonia ja meelelahutuslik show.
Lauad olid traditsiooniliselt ümmargused, keskelt keerleva osaga, nii et iga külaline sai endale vajaliku roa lähemale keerata. Kõigile oli ette nähtud karbike Ferrero Rocher'i šokolaade. Joogiks hiina jiu, kookosepiim, mahl ja Coca Cola.
Tseremoonia oli juba enne algust suurejooneline - peig sõitis hotelli kohale Ferrariga (eelnevalt olevat tal olnud suur dilemma, kas tulla valge Porsche või punase Ferrariga, aga dilemma lahendas tõdemus, et punane on siiski õnnevärv). Saali oli kokkuveetud hunnik filmi- ja fotokaameraid, valgustus oli samuti tipptasemel, suur lava dekoratsioonidega ehitatud... Enne pruudi sisenemist mängis keelpilli kvartett, pruut sisenes punaselt riietatud puhkpilliorkestri muusika saatel, peig võttis abielusõrmused kristalllühtri küljest, mis lavale õigel momendil alla laskus... ühesõnaga kõik meenutas üht ülevõlli keeratud kitši ja romantilist telesaadet (ning kuna seda kõike filmiti, siis ilmselt nii see kõigile mällu ka sööbib).
Mis oli üllatav, siis pulmapidu pidavat kestma umbes kella 23ni ja siis on kõik - nii ongi siin kombeks. Kui ütlesime kohalikele, et meil kestavad küll pulmapeod varaste hommikutundideni, kergitati ainult imestusest kulme.
Tagantjärgi oli see väga... naljakas, kummaline ja teistsugune. Jalgadele kurnav ka, aga igal juhul meeldejääv.
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The banquet hall, where the ceremony and the entertaining show took place.
The tables were round and had a traditionally spinning centre, so the guests could turn it and get the dish they wanted. All the guests got a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates. For drinks they had chinese jiu, coconut milk, juice and Coke.
The ceremony was huge even before it began - the groom couldn't decide whether he should take drive his red Ferrari or white Prosche to the wedding (the dilemma was solved with a reminded that red color is considered lucky in China). There were a lot of film- and photocameras in the banquet hall, of course the lightshow was also impressive, also they had built a huge stage with many decorations... A string quartet was playing before the bride entered the hall. During her entrance, a marching orchestra dressed in red uniforms was playing, the groom got the wedding rings from a crystal chandelier that was lowered on the stage... all of this reminded me of a very over-the-top romantic/kitch tv-show (and since it got filmed, this is kinda true and it's just how it will be remembered).
What really surprised me though, is that the wedding ended at around 11 p.m. and that's it, it's normal around here. As we told the locals, that we usually party at a wedding 'til the early morning hours, they just raised their eyebrows in surprise.
In the end... I find it all kinda funny, strange and sooo different. Also the whole part of us just standing for so many hours was hardcore for the feet, but all in all, it was really a memorable event.
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