My CNY weekend

I had a very quiet Chinese New Year. This is the 2nd time in my whole life that I don’t have ‘ba kua’ to eat, no ‘ang pows’ to receive and no friends and family by my side during this very important and noisy period. I called home several times during these few days just to say my wishes to my mum and my relatives in the house and to see what’s going on back home. Didn’t realise that I will miss cny so much. Last year was not so bad.

On Sat, I went in to NYC to try to spend some time with my S’porean friends and wishing we can have our own celebration here so far from home. However, things are not what I expected. Everyone is busy and has their own things and programs. Didn’t get to eat the expected Chinese dinner I wanted. I only got to see Sylvia that day. She had some relationship problems and I had to spend the whole day with her. Well, it was good too. I had wanted to see her new apartment and I got to do that! So, it wasn’t too bad. I was actually tired too, so not doing anything much is good for my lazy bones too. Haha! Sometimes just spending time with a good friend is nice too. I haven’t done that in a long time. Just talking and even being quiet is acceptable too as we know each other well that words are unnecessary.

On the way home from NYC, I called church friends in the train. They passed the phone from one person to another and I got to talk and wish each one individually. It was a nice feeling. Last year when I did that, I felt so lonely after I hang up the phone. I can hear through the phone that it’s so noisy and happy mood over there while I’m preparing to go to bed here! This time, every one will ask me when I’m going to be back and I can say with confidence that I’ll be back in Oct! Really looking forward to going back and spending time with them. They are the ones who keep me level-headed and makes me feel so loved and happy. Not that my other friends don’t do that, just that I spend more time with them, so they know more about me.

On Sunday, I went to church and nobody there Even knows that it’s Chinese New Year that day. I came home and had to work a little with the girls and Dan had to attend a funeral. They gave ‘ang pows’ to the girls and me that night. To them, an ‘ang pow’ is a symbolism of blessing, so the money inside are just a token sum, so they only give USD2 inside. For me, instead of giving me money this year, they gave me a phonecard inside the ‘ang pow’, for me to call my friends and home. Haha…Was touched by that. The phonecard has a value of USD40. Really very nice of them.

When I listen to 933 on the net, they still play cny songs. They’re still having holidays and cny mood back in S’pore, but here, everything is back to normal now. I’m really looking forward to going home in Oct. Spending Christmas, CNY, birthday, every holidays with my friends and family…