I was really busy preparing food for the reunion dinner. It was tedious as we are a big family with many gluttons…. We sat around the round table with tones of food like “tok pajang”. The steamboat was piping hot with burning charcoal and filled with good food and seafood. We sat and ate and ate till we were bloated… haha… After that, it was time to decorate and hung the ornaments. I was still very busy, we had a game of mahjong and started counting down to the NIU year.
初一
Mahjong session ended at 2+, and I continued to 守睡 till 4pm. My aunt and I were busy painting our nails in the dark night. I was arranging cookies onto the table for the guest. I just couldn’t go to sleep coz there seems to be never ending things to be done. As age catches up with me, CNY celebration was also losing its meaning... I slept for about 6 hours and woke up to wish my elders happy new year. We waited for uncle to come for lunch, but this year was slightly later. Mum had dished out her vegetarian gong-bao chicken cubes and aunt with her mixed vegetables with mushroom and vegetarian prawns… I had fun with cousin’s baby girl and we took lots of pictures. Late afternoon, my uncle went off and looking down from the kitchen window, we can hear baby shouting bye bye at the top of her voice. Then bro saw a motorbike parking, it was third uncle, it was the first time he and aunt came to our house. We lost touch since grandma’s death, and I was quite happy that he’s coming to visit us… After a while, cousin called to said they are visiting… Soon the house was filled with relatives, both young and old. 1st uncle together with 2nd uncle, 2nd aunt and great aunt flooded our house. My bros and I was running in and out of the kitchen non-stop. The table had to be extended to seat eight people and the table was full of cookies and drinks. We had a group photo from the couch and I was really happy for that. After they left, we packed up while mum cooked dinner. We went to 1st aunt’s house after dinner and it was our turn to sit down and enjoy cookies…
初二
2nd aunt called us early in the morning while most of us were still in bed. She invited us to join her for lunch at Quality Hotel. We had lunch with 2nd aunt, 3rd aunt and her friend together with a venerable. It was a 1st time though and an eye-opener for me. Before we ate, each of us took turns to give red packets for the venerable as a form of 供养. We were the last group of patrons that left the restaurant as the waiters and chefs break for their lunch. By the time we finished lunch, it was late afternoon.
京酱肉丝卷
芝麻香玉卷
面线伴豆鱼The venerable ferried us to Fo Guang Shan for visiting. He gave us a tour of the temple and the temple was very grand and solemn. It was time to go visiting and we visited 1st uncle. On the way to their house, we came across 2 birds carcass and bro said it was H5N1 virus which made me laughed heartily… At usual, their house were always flooded with relatives whenever we visit coz there’s always a gambling clique…. We stayed for a short while and went home to cook our sumptuous dinner. It was tradition that we had a feast, and every dish had a good significance. But this year our sumptuous lunch turned into dinner. We had black jack after dinner before my bro went back to camp.
Kai Nian Dinner初三
Finally finally, after 2 days of busi-ness, I finally got my rest… I lazed around and recharged my battery for the day.
初四
I invited my uni-mates to my place for some cookies and lunch. We exchanged recipe, sat and chat and eat till it was time for them to leave.
初五
Everything is back to normal as the festive mood falter away.
初六
We sprung a surprise visit to uncle’s house down the street. They were having dinner when we arrived. Mum and aunt had their “adult” talks yet some parts of their conversation were not very pleasing to my ears….. They talked about the aftermath of granny’s death….
初七
Today is everyone’s birthday. We went to River AngBao. It was the last day and there was a huge extravaganza there. There was also a dinner there and firecrackers were lit to mark the start of the dinner. We were sitting on the platform and it was a picturesque panoramic view of the bay…. The firecrackers blew off and thundered across the region. We watched a few performances before making our way home for yu-sheng.
Firecrackers in action!!十三
We went to 2nd aunt’s house after dinner and we chatted quite late. We snacked and watched TV for the night and I helped to cut the fruits and needless to say, the bin was full with rubbish. Pineapple tarts was a must-eat whenever I go visiting.
十四
We made our last visit of CNY to uncle’s house. Today, I crowned Aunt’s pineapple tarts the best of the year. Hahaha….
十五
I was on my way home after lesson. I took the corner seat which wasn’t labeled as priority seat. The young man next to me alighted at Woodlands and the seat was empty. The Chinese lady next to the young man quickly put her handbag onto the seat as a sign of chope-ing the seat… A middle aged lady tried to sit but the Chinese lady replied to her that her friend is boarding next stop. Many other commuters tried to take that seat between me and the lady but they were turned down by the Chinese lady. A few ladies opposite me were whispering to each other which I think was talking about the empty seat. Throughout Woodlands to Sembawang, the seat was empty…. I think that it was a really rude and inconsiderate manner to act in public. Moreover, that Chinese lady wasn’t a truly local…. At Yishun, I saw a mister (middle-aged) dashing towards that empty seat. It was only then I discovered that the seat was reserved for her mister. They conversed in Chinese and some indecent words were popping out from the lady’s mouth. Many pairs of eyes were staring at their intimate behaviour. I supposed they were on their way to red-light district???