Lunar New Year 2015

Wonderful weather on our journey

17th Feb, Departure
We woke up at 5 in the morning, packed up our things and departed at 6a.m. to our destination - Batu Pahat.  The morning was slightly cloudly and the weather was pleasant. (picture is attached below) We rode 3 hours to Batu Pahat and reached my grandmother's house at around 9.30a.m..It was pleasant to be greeted by my grandmother after not seeing her for almost 5 months. We spent the day just sitting in the house and waiting for the eve to come. Fiddling with our phones and reading some books is all we did as we awaited the arrival of our cousins the next day.

18th Feb , Eve of Chinese New Year

 The eve was a relaxing and fun day. I woke up at around 8.50a.m.. At around 10, my mother drove my grandmother, brother and I to the restaurant that we ordered food from. My younger cousins managed to reach around noon. We all got into my mother's car and made our way to the Batu Pahat Mall at around 2pm. We bought our stuff, some clothes and the Yee Sang for tonight. We got back to the house and I just chatted with my cousin, Andrew about the Singaporean O-level system as he is taking O-levels this year while I am taking SPM. We all got ready for the reunion dinner. This year we were missing my eldest uncle and my three elder cousins. The two of them which were doctors had to be on call until the end of eve so they were only arriving late that night.

We started off the dinner by following tradition where we "Lau" Yee Sang and wish ourselves and relatives fortune, health and etc. We had delicious food of modern and traditional like my grandmother's famous cereal prawn, meat buns, sea slug, KFC chicken, black Hokkien noodles, longevity vegetable and many more. After dinner, we played several rounds of mahjong. Our long awaited games oh mahjong which we play once a year during Chinese New Year was enjoyable. My cousins, brother and I also played firecrackers.

At midnight, we fired off this huge box of fireworks. This box was mistaken as a box of canned drinks by my mother and a box of oranges by my aunt. I was a spectacular watch. As we stood outside enjoying the rest of the firework filled night sky after finishing our fireworks, a police car drove by. The evidence for a fine was right at our feet behind us. It was a hilarious feat of the night.

19th Feb, First Day of Chinese New Year

All the cousins woke up at around 10.30 in the morning. We all showered and changed into our new year clothing. The shower was not empty until after everyone showered. One by one every one took their turn in the shower because my grandmother's one floored hour only had one shower and one toilet. I put on my long dark red dress with the beautiful lace bottom that lets my legs peek out of it that I got from Mirrorcle(the women's apparel store I worked at last year). The parents went around giving red packets to the children and the single young adults. My relatives also visited the house. Afterwards, my elder cousins left to their other grandmother's house in Batu Pahat and my younger cousins left for Melaka. Thus leaving my family with my grandmother once again. At night, we visited my Aunty Poohoon's house. My aunties from KL were also there when we visited. We all chatted for a while then got distracted by the movie "Karate Kid" on the television. We enjoyed the movie and once it ended, we all left. That was the end to the first day of chinese new year.

20th Feb, Second Day of Chinese New Year

The second day of Chinese New Year was a busier day for me. I sported a french braid for the day. My eldest uncle brought us out to eat lunch at this restaurant right outside. We were joined by my aunties too. It was a nice meal but a bit too much for all of us. Leftovers were brought home The aunties, my mom and grandmother chatted for a long time after. My brother and I fiddled with our mobile devices and did our homework. In the afternoon, my mother brought my brother and I to her friend's open house. There I met her son, Kenjin which is also 17 and his friends. All of them were debators and I could relate well being an ex debator. All of them were outspoken and very friendly. I learned about the Johor International Student Leader's Conference. They were apart of the committee in charge and told me about what they do. It was surprising to me that this kind of events started happening in Johor. Even though I could not go, it was nice knowing about that. I also met this guy called Amirul. He is a fellow otaku and is in to cosplaying too. Syaraf and Lisa are also some of the people I got to know at the party. I also tried Putu Mayam for the first time there. 

We went back at around 6 and ate a light dinner. It was heartwarming to see my aunts crowded around one table eating dinner at our place. After dinner and some rest, we waited for Aunty Lee Fang before making our way to Aunty Ahnah's place. Aunty Ahnah has a Chinese New Year party on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year. I have forced my mom to bring me for 3 years straight already, if not mistaken. I was excited to go this year because I made friends there last year. Gladly, most of them were there at the part this year too. The normal Joel, Jaryl, Samuel, Sarah, L'sa, D' Yinn and Jared were there at the party. Jared, Jaryl, my brother and I even went to fetch Rachel to the party as she had just came back from celebrating the eve and first day of Chinese New Year in Sibu. Some of their church friends all came along. It was a fun night. They played fireworks there too. Angpaus were given to the children by the many aunties and uncles around. It was a festive night. The last few hints of people went home after midnight. We reached home, cleaned up and went to sleep.

So that concludes the 3 main days of Chinese New Year that I celebrate. We did not do much on the 3rd day of Chinese New Year and we went home early in the morning on the 4th. It was a nice celebration and a good start to the year(Chinese calendar). Hopefully everyone had a great Chinese New Year and a goat-ful year. That is all for now, till the next post!

Worst time of the year(other than exam periods)

Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day. Most people say this is the best time of the year cause you get angpau from your married relatives and loads of sweets, cookies, chocolates and love letters from your friends and admirers. Well, for my case, yes we do get angpau but the travel of four hours back to my mother's hometown in Batu Pahat can be a killer.

Back when I was younger, my mother's BMW was like a mini human oven. On hot days and long journeys,especially when the air conditioning was not as cold as it use to be, my siblings and I used to hang our blankets up to block out the hot sun. Only thing I liked about going back there was seeing my cousins and spending time with them. Even the time was limited though due to the fact my cousins that come from Singapore have such short New Year holidays. The scenery and holiday mood was also enjoyable.

On the flip side, spending almost close to a week with just my family and my grandma in the house was a bit torturous. Being from a generation where WiFi has become a necessity, you could say we were deprived from it while we were there. Only time WiFi was available was at an aunt's place or at my mother's friend's place. The party she had there every year was pleasurable cause there were actually people my age at the party.

Normally in my grandma's house, I am stuck in the middle of the age groups. I have many cousins who are older than me by 4 years minimum. Then I have my closest cousin who is a year younger than I. Then cousins which are younger by 3 years or more. I end up only having that one cousin who actually talks to me but as I said before, he is Singaporean.

Last but not least for Chinese New Year, as a child that was born in early February, my birthday was normally really close with Chinese New Year and I have not got to celebrate it with friends for a long time. Their families busy due to Chinese New Year preparations. My family going back to my hometown really early or coming back really late. Those things tend to happen and even if it was my birthday on the second day of new year's, nobody really noticed or knew. In my opinion, Chinese New Year has its goods but the reasons above are why I dislike it.

Next for Valentine's Day, also known as Friendship Day in school (cause schools do not encourage relationships so Valentine's day is a no-no), most people end up buying chocolates and all for their friends. When you get to my age, sometimes spending money on such frivolous things can be such as waste of money. No offence to those people who yearn for February 14 every year but I just dislike this spending of money to give your friends chocolates, brownies and sweets that people sell.

It also makes me feel like a Scrooge or that I am poor. Some friends just do not understand that I am not in a position to spend money of thing that I do not really need. These materialistic offerings to a friend does not mean you treasure them fully. It just means you have some extra money you want to spend on them. Being a true friend is having their backs and helping them when they need it.

People in the world should be happy with what they are given not just on Valentine's Day. Just because it is the 14th of February, people think those gifts are worth gold. No! We should be thankful for all gifts. A hug when your sad, a piece of cake they share with you on any simple day, the teaching they give you when you just cannot seem to solve that math question. Treasure all those, not only the gifts on February the 14th.

I'm not an avid blogger because sometimes I feel sharing my thoughts may not make the world a better place. I tend to say things I feel very bluntly. If you know me in real life, I probably have hurt a lot of people with my dagger like words. After all nothing runs on the truth. If an industry told the truth all year long, a war would break out when men and women with army gear waiting to stab one another.

Anyways, with that I end my blog for today. Hopefully you got to read all the way till the end. If you have, thank you for your time. See you in the next blog post.