A Chinese New Year Celebration at the King of Prussia Mall 2/2/2019

I want to start with a little back story. On 3 March 2018, I met up with Claire for the first time in 2.5 years and we wanted to meet up for tea. In college, we loved going to the Lincoln Room and when I called to make reservation, I reached the voice mail and it said that the tea room wouldn’t open until the spring. I’m friends with the former owner and she suggested Tranquilitea Temple. On the snowy March day, Claire and I met up for tea. I took off from the library, we were without power in King of Prussia, and I decided to go to the Exton Mall before meeting up with Claire at noon. At noon, I took Lyft to Claire’s house, picked her up, and Lyft drove us to the Tranquilitea Temple in West Chester.

Claire and I fell in love with the place. We were in heaven with all of the teas around; we picked a tea that smelled delicious to us and we opted to have tea in house. It wasn’t a typical tea room, but you could sit in the West Chester location and enjoy tea. We sat for an hour and a half just catching up and having fun. We also befriended the owner and signed up for a newsletter. We had such a special day at the Tranquilitea Temple and at a pho kitchen in West Chester.

In July, the newsletter announced that a second location was opening at the King of Prussia Mall. I don’t go to the King of Prussia Mall often because it’s for tourists and it’s expensive. However, a few weeks ago I received a newsletter about a free tea tasting and Lion parade from 3-5 PM at the King of Prussia Mall on 2/2/2019. I decided to go — even though I will be attending the Chinese New Year parade next Sunday in China Town, Philadelphia, I wanted to go to Tranquilitea Temple too.

I’m glad I did because I had a blast trying different teas, learning origami, and trying a chopstick contest. It was an epic fail for all of us – trying to pick up skittles with chopsticks was challenging. I’m surprised I managed to pick up two! The origami didn’t go too smoothly either, but with some practice, I think I will eventually get the hang of it. The staff were kind and friendly.

The owner of the West Chester location is also the owner of the King of Prussia location and was there. I gave her a prosperity envelope and she gave me a big hug. She was surprised, thanked me, and wished me a happy new year. I gave prosperity envelopes to other staff members and some people walking around the mall; they were all pleasantly surprised and wished me a Happy New Year.

The Suns were the performers, which are also the performers in the China Town parade – they will get prosperity envelopes next weekend. Since you can’t set off fireworks in the mall and feeding the lions lettuce would be too messy, they had a dragon dancing around and scrolls that read “Happy New Year!” I loved seeing the dragon dancing around and it was neat seeing the lions and dragon riding the escalators – Chinese New Year visits the mall and East meets West! It was a neat celebration.

Since Claire had a near fatal car accident in 2008, she hasn’t really been up to going out. She now has seizures and I understand her hesitation. She had a grand mal seizure after I left in July and I haven’t been pushing get-togethers as much. I’m hoping we can meet up for a little bit in 2019. I was thinking of her during this celebration and maybe next time Tranquilitea Temple has a tea ceremony, I may ask.