June 2013, last year, was my first time celebrating Dragon Boat Festival / Duanwujie (端午节). Me and my foreign student friends were so excited about it. We would like to go eat Zongzi (粽子 - Glutinous Rice), watch the Dragon Boat Competition (龙舟赛), etc etc. But sadly, our plan didn't turn out well.

First problem is, in Shijiazhuang, the place where I lived last year, they didn't have any special celebration for the Dragon Boat festival. No market fair, no lion dance, no parade in the street, no boat competition, nothing. My teacher told us that in northern China, they didn't really celebrate Dragon Boat Festival. We were so sad to hear that.

The bad news came to us just a few days before the festival, so we need to make an emergency plan, fast. Me and my friends planned to travel to Pingyao. A beautiful ancient town, not too far from Shijiazhuang. But then we heard another bad news, that the holiday will be only for one day, not three days. We didn't have any choice but to cancel the trip. This was one of the bad side of being a scholarship student, we can't just skip classes and go travel wherever and whenever we like.

So yeah, me and Max, my Ukrainian friend, decided to spend our one day holiday by watching movies inside my dorm room. We didn't even plan to buy Zongzi because last week one of our teacher gave us some Zongzi after class and...it tasted horrible. I have Zongzi in my country and it was very delicious. Chinese ones was different and we didn't like it. So yeah, let's celebrate Dragon Boat Festival without Zongzi, that's what we thought.

We decided to watch Tsui Hark's adaption of Baishezhuan (The Legend of White Snake) titled "Green Snake (1993)" and yeah, it was horrible. Don't really recommend it. Halfway through the movie, Dany, my beautiful Moldovian friend, came and bring us one big watermelon for us. We split the watermelon in "Moldovian Style" (that's what she said) only to find out that the watermelon was not delicious at all, especially for me who has spent his entire life getting spoiled by delicious tropican fruit. The watermelon tasted like water, no taste, no smell, nothing.

"But the Ayi (Aunt) in the shop said that this watermelon is delicious" Dany lament in agony. Well, it's okay, we didn't blame Dany. At least we learned one precious lesson today : when buying watermelons, trust your instinct, not the shopkeeper.

"Maybe they sucked the taste from the watermelons and use it for ice cream" Max tried to lighten the mood by making a sarcastic remark how in northern China they could make a very delicious fruit ice cream, but couldn't provide delicious fruits.

We canceled the trip, the watermelon was not delicious, and the movie sucked. It couldn't be worse than this, that's what we thought. But suddenly, I got a message from Mike, a 14 years old Chinese boy that we befriend in university's canteen last week. Mike said that he especially came to university today just to deliver some Zongzi for us. He said that he remembered my story about how I didn't like the Zongzi I ate last week, so he asked his Mom to made us some, special for today. I was so happy that tears almost flow from my eyes.

Back to my room, I found out that today my HSK Level 4 result is out and I passed with a flying colors, 260 out of 300. Not bad for a beginner like me, right? And not long after that, Zhang Lin (a Chinese-American friend, my roommate) brought us Beijing Kaoya (Peking Duck) for dinner. Before dinner, the four of us ate Zongzi together, and it was very very delicious. Not because it had some special taste or ingredients, but because it brought us together to celebrate this special day.

Today, one year after that, I woke up on Dragon Boat Festival day with a smile, remembering the precious memories I spent with my friends last year. And somehow, I can still taste the taste of Mike's Zongzi in my mouth. It was really, the most delicious zongzi I've ever ate.

Happy Dragon Boat Festival, guys!

大家，祝你端午节快乐！

What makes a moment special is not about where you go or what you do, but with whom did you share that moment together with =)

And meanwhile, don't forget to help us vote for the winner of the China Daily Blog Contest

http://pub1.chinadaily.com.cn/survey/20140506/index.shtml

I'm not saying that you HAVE TO vote for me, just vote for those writer(s) whose blog you enjoy reading all this time. Thanks!

PS : I still think that Indonesian's Zongzi (called : "Bacang") is averagely more delicious than Chinese ones. If one day you ever come to Indonesia, look for it.