Tuesday, January 24, 2006
CNY is coming!!!
My favourite festival of the year :)) The ang bao plays a crucial role ( ok i think ive written too many history essays recently) but among what i love are also the family reunions (not with my paternal side of relatives though), the festive mood when everyone is happy, and best of all is CHINATOWN! before i yak about my trip to Chinatown with steven last saturday.. i must explain why i detest gathering with my paternal side of relatives. I tell you, i can describe them in one word: DULL. Capitalized and bolded. It's true. Well my paternal grandmother is senile, was never close to her, my paternal grandfather only speaks Hokkien which i can hardly converse in ( except for stuff like DIAM LA KB :X).. i'd love to talk to him sometimes, ask him abt his health etc, but it's hard when we cant conmmunicate. and well. he hates lee kuan yew : ( as for my aunt/uncles and their families, i honestly suspect they haven stepped into orchard road properly dressed for the past 5 years. I dun mean to be rude, but well they just strike me as that kinda people who coop themselves up at home all the time. they aint poor, they just scrimp; i heard that my aunt actually has tens of thousands in her bank. you know it's dreary to be with them on such festive occasions because they hardly ever smile, let alone laugh. They are SUPER quiet as though my presence is very intimidating.. Their eyes lack lustre, i mean it. Like those fishes in shengshiong. dead ones i mean. Then when we all sit around a table to have reunion dinner, it seems like only my family has learned the art of conversing, but because everyone else often stares back at you, you learn to keep quiet too. or maybe they're just trying to say, "shut up and eat ur food". i dunno. ive never, i repeat, NEVER had a conversation with any of my paternal relatives in my 17 years of being related to them.
It's hard to explain why this is unfortunately so, the simplest and most basic would perhaps be that my father is an adopted son unlike the rest of them. so technically we aint related at all. well thank goodness cos i dont wanna have their characteristic. maybe i seem like im exaggerating, but trust me, even my mum resents it so much she doesnt feel like going this year too. which of cos i disapprove cos i think we shld all gather at least for the sake of my grandparents.
so this year if we do have a reunion meal, im gonna bring my history notes to read or something. usually i talk to my sister, but it can get awkward when you realize there's only my family talking to each other or to my grandpa while the rest just watch tv (even if its commercials their eyes still stay glued to it la) or mumble among themselves. I haven even seen them laugh before at some private joke or whatever. weirdos.
okie enuff ranting i shall talk abt my Chinatown trip : ))
it was so fun! hell lotta people, you squeeze and especially at junctions you squeeze even more and you smell people's (esp guys) smelly hair those sweaty pigs and people step on your shoes but it's well worth it cos the ambience is great.. a lot of stalls selling CNY goods, so you can always conveniently stretch out your hands and grab some melon seeds etc.. theres no sign that says "NO SAMPLING" :)) dont buy the stupid "magic ice cream" though, it costs 80 cents for a stupid "ice cream" that doesnt have cream. it's made just by pouring flavoured drinks like green tea, root beer etc and frozen into a popsicle. its like, one 1.5 litres bottle of green tea costs $1.25 and it can make more than 100 'green tea' popsicles la. cheater. what a cheater. more like make your money magically disappear.
ooh anyway the gourds (is that what they're called? hu lu in chinese) are pretty cute.. but i dunno if its for decorative purposes or its edible.. haha maybe i shld get one and use it as a water bottle.. you know those ancient chinese shows the "masters" always use gourds to contain water... like Ji Gong.. lol..
there's lotsa pretty flowers too, like the ones that my sweetheart bought for me.. we were walking (or rather being pushed along by the crowd) den he suddenly tell the uncle he wanted 3 stalks... here they are!
they're really cool cos you spray water on them and the petals will open up..
and here are some pics taken at chinatown just in case you cant be bothered to go! : )
haha i like this picture most.. they guy isnt covering his face, he was in fact telling my mum that she had to pay $5 to take his picture LOL...
happy cny to all : )
cheers,
ching
My favourite festival of the year :)) The ang bao plays a crucial role ( ok i think ive written too many history essays recently) but among what i love are also the family reunions (not with my paternal side of relatives though), the festive mood when everyone is happy, and best of all is CHINATOWN! before i yak about my trip to Chinatown with steven last saturday.. i must explain why i detest gathering with my paternal side of relatives. I tell you, i can describe them in one word: DULL. Capitalized and bolded. It's true. Well my paternal grandmother is senile, was never close to her, my paternal grandfather only speaks Hokkien which i can hardly converse in ( except for stuff like DIAM LA KB :X).. i'd love to talk to him sometimes, ask him abt his health etc, but it's hard when we cant conmmunicate. and well. he hates lee kuan yew : ( as for my aunt/uncles and their families, i honestly suspect they haven stepped into orchard road properly dressed for the past 5 years. I dun mean to be rude, but well they just strike me as that kinda people who coop themselves up at home all the time. they aint poor, they just scrimp; i heard that my aunt actually has tens of thousands in her bank. you know it's dreary to be with them on such festive occasions because they hardly ever smile, let alone laugh. They are SUPER quiet as though my presence is very intimidating.. Their eyes lack lustre, i mean it. Like those fishes in shengshiong. dead ones i mean. Then when we all sit around a table to have reunion dinner, it seems like only my family has learned the art of conversing, but because everyone else often stares back at you, you learn to keep quiet too. or maybe they're just trying to say, "shut up and eat ur food". i dunno. ive never, i repeat, NEVER had a conversation with any of my paternal relatives in my 17 years of being related to them.
It's hard to explain why this is unfortunately so, the simplest and most basic would perhaps be that my father is an adopted son unlike the rest of them. so technically we aint related at all. well thank goodness cos i dont wanna have their characteristic. maybe i seem like im exaggerating, but trust me, even my mum resents it so much she doesnt feel like going this year too. which of cos i disapprove cos i think we shld all gather at least for the sake of my grandparents.
so this year if we do have a reunion meal, im gonna bring my history notes to read or something. usually i talk to my sister, but it can get awkward when you realize there's only my family talking to each other or to my grandpa while the rest just watch tv (even if its commercials their eyes still stay glued to it la) or mumble among themselves. I haven even seen them laugh before at some private joke or whatever. weirdos.
okie enuff ranting i shall talk abt my Chinatown trip : ))
it was so fun! hell lotta people, you squeeze and especially at junctions you squeeze even more and you smell people's (esp guys) smelly hair those sweaty pigs and people step on your shoes but it's well worth it cos the ambience is great.. a lot of stalls selling CNY goods, so you can always conveniently stretch out your hands and grab some melon seeds etc.. theres no sign that says "NO SAMPLING" :)) dont buy the stupid "magic ice cream" though, it costs 80 cents for a stupid "ice cream" that doesnt have cream. it's made just by pouring flavoured drinks like green tea, root beer etc and frozen into a popsicle. its like, one 1.5 litres bottle of green tea costs $1.25 and it can make more than 100 'green tea' popsicles la. cheater. what a cheater. more like make your money magically disappear.
ooh anyway the gourds (is that what they're called? hu lu in chinese) are pretty cute.. but i dunno if its for decorative purposes or its edible.. haha maybe i shld get one and use it as a water bottle.. you know those ancient chinese shows the "masters" always use gourds to contain water... like Ji Gong.. lol..
there's lotsa pretty flowers too, like the ones that my sweetheart bought for me.. we were walking (or rather being pushed along by the crowd) den he suddenly tell the uncle he wanted 3 stalks... here they are!
they're really cool cos you spray water on them and the petals will open up..
and here are some pics taken at chinatown just in case you cant be bothered to go! : )
haha i like this picture most.. they guy isnt covering his face, he was in fact telling my mum that she had to pay $5 to take his picture LOL...happy cny to all : )
cheers,
ching
ching gave some lovin' at
6:10 PM;
6:10 PM;