CNY 2010

Reunion dinner in Kuantan, 1st day in Kuantan, 2nd and 3rd day in Klang, 4th day in Ipoh, 5th day in Pangkor Island, 6th day in Ipoh again and finally, I was back to student house in Bandar Utama again… This is the end of CNY celebration with family members but it was truly a wonderful celebration…I cherished every moment I spent with them and I really enjoyed it…

This year CNY was slightly different from the one I used to have. It’s not the way we celebrated it had changed but our thinking. The way we think will determine our action. We still gambled and eat a lot, we still pay a visit to our friends and relatives, but we no longer … …

Last time, I used to sit on the sofa, waiting for the reunion dinner to start. All my aunties were busy preparing for the dinner but I take no action to lend them a helping hand. This year, I took the initiative to help them. I swept the floor, arranged the chair, washed the mushroom and so on. They appreciated my assistance and I feel satisfied for being able to reduce their burden.
Last time, I used to gamble and eat for the whole day. This year, my cousins and I chose to “sacrifice” some of our gamble time to help our aunties made kuih. Two generations of people gathered around a table, chit-chatted and made jokes while learning how to make pau and Ang Kat Toh, WOW! This was such a heart-warming and sweet scene…Originally, pau is round in shape and has either smooth or split surface, but we came out with all kind of shapes of pau – curry puff, pillow… We enjoyed the pau-baking session and we even came out with some tricks to trick the gentlemen who didn’t do anything except to eat…but sad to say that we failed to trick them except my elder brother!

Last time, when I visited my 1st uncle house (mother side), I always sit alone at the corner watched TV while enjoying the cookies. But this year, I took the first step to start a conversation with my cousin. In the end, we had a nice chat with each other and some of our memory during childhood flowed into our mind again. At night, we even played poker cards together. For 19 years I had know them, this was the first time I gambled together with them.

Last time, I used to have long chat with my cousin Mian Yi until late night. It’s a must for us to do so no matter how sleepy we are as it’s our tradition. This year, we still keep to this tradition but we had not much thing to tell each other already. We used to have heart-to-heart talk about the problems we encounter and most of them are related to relationship and family problems. This year, we still chatted about the same topic but both of us had not much stories to share already. Anyway, this is nothing bad but a good sign as we have less relationship and family problems now.

Happy Chinese New Year!