Wow, it's been such a long time since I last updated on this site. While for most of the time the excuse to not blog would be that I was busy, this time I actually am without a reason.
Anyway, Chinese New Year was lovely (how I wished it would never end), with a total of 6 gatherings, 5 sessions of 'Loh Hei' (is that how you spell it?), 6 sessions of card games, 6 sessions of laughter and a whole bunch of food. And to think that my mum's side of the family would mean that it would be a small celebration. I hope yours was just as well, if not better.
Well, there's nothing much to say actually, just that I've been gaining loads of weight from indulging non-stop, and that there's a couple of posts saved in the draft, that I've yet to complete. So people, I'm alive and well, if not eating, sleeping and rotting myself to death (as my dad puts it). Hah!
I come from a long line of various races in my family. And I don't think it'll ever stop. Well, I hope not. And today, I shall reveal my family tree! Well, I'm actually not sure myself as to how many races there are.
Let's just start with my parents. Well, my dad's side doesn't really have a "happening" heritage. But I'm happy to be able to have a taste of Indian culture.
Everything, from the colours used, clothing, music played, taste of food and even their dramas shown are one of a kind; Unique.
Now comes the complicated part, my mum's side. My grandma is actually a Peranakan straight from Malacca (Melaka).
This culture too had great food (Nyonya food and delicacies are a must try), fantastic creativity (they have traditional methods of beading to make shoes. They even sew their own designs on their Kebaya. ), and strict rules.
On festive occasions, Nyonyas are known to sleep on tins with their hair decorated with pins. They have so much discipline in them, that when they wake up, not a strand of hair is out of place.
They also have strict rules when in the kitchen. From how to use the anak lesong, to serving people, to "restricted words" that shan't be mentioned while cooking.
One has to be feminine when wearing the kebaya. You wear clogs, or Nyonya slippers(modern) and have to walk slowly in them. Well, I'm both happy and sad that I do not have to follow the traditions. Happy, because I know that I'm bound to fail immediately. But sad, because this culture is dying out soon.
Anyway, if you wanna' read more about Peranakans, Click Here!
But truth to be told, my grandma is totally Peranakan. There's Javanese, Boyanese (Baweanese), Eurasian and so on.
Now this post is in fact not about showing off my family tree, well maybe alittle. But the main part actually has a lot to do with celebrations.
Chinese New Year is celebrated because, well, my mum's side is termed as Chinese. Deepavali is celebrated with my dad's side. My mum and brother are Christians, and my mum's side celebrates it as well, some are Catholics, whereas the rest... Just celebrate it for the joy of it. One of my aunt's fiance is a Malay, so we more or less have HariRaya celebrations as well. We don't do the fasting and all, but we do eat!
Moving on...
Whenever I share with my friends, or strangers about my mixed heritage, most of them would go "wah, so good. Get to celebrate so many festivities. Sure got a lot of money right?".
Well, that's not really true. I know that celebrations are really about collecting money nor counting money, but I am going to talk about it. Sue Me.
Anyway, while most of you receive from both sides of your family on CNY/ Hariraya/Deepavali, I only receive half of it per celebration. Get what I mean? So you guys are actually more "blessed" to receive all the money in one celebration whereas I, have to wait till October/November to receive the second "round" of cash giving.
Who's the poor thing now? Hahah.
But if you're talking about food, yes, I am blessed to sample the various types of dishes. But you can too. Just head to the nearest Kopitiam, and order another races' dish. That'll do the trick.
Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is one of the most important traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the Lunar New Year, especially by people outside China. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī. It literally means "Year-pass Eve".
Celebrated in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction.[citation needed] These include Aboriginal Taiwanese people, Koreans, Mongolians, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, and formerly the Japanese before 1873. In Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and other countries or regions with significant Han Chinese populations, Chinese New Year is also celebrated, and has, to varying degrees, become part of the traditional culture of these countries. In Canada, although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations and Canada Post issues New Year's themed stamps in domestic and international rates.
Although the Chinese calendar traditionally does not use continuously numbered years, its years are often numbered from the reign of Huangdi outside China. But at least three different years numbered 1 are now used by various scholars, making the year 2008 "Chinese Year" 4706, 4705, or 4645.[2]
This is the season to be jolly... Falalala lalalala. Okay, I do know that it's Chinese New Year. And that phrase was supposed to be for Christmas. So why sing it during Chinese New Year?
Well, the days of rats have long passed us, and now we shall welcome the days of bullshit! Okay, no, it's OX.
Well, Chinese New Year to my family is just like any gathering; there's loads of food. We get to enjoy mixture of Peranakan dishes, western dishes, Malay dishes, Chinese dishes and even the chocolate fondue!
My Uncle's place would be bustling with the young and the young at heart. There will be loads of laughter, and the day shall not be over till over belly is bloated with food!
But just like every Chinese family, we do eat the Yu Sheng.
We also have loads and loads of tidbits.
And who can ever forget the famous Bak Gua?
And for those who are looking forward to buying that hot dress, cool shoes or game, this is the time to go all dreamy over money!
As for me, all I need is a carton of oranges.
For what? To eat lah!
As I watch my all time favourite activity, the Lion Dances! (My aunt knows that I love watching and would buy some CDs for me to watch them).
First and foremost, Go Xi Fa Cai, Xin Nian Kuai Le to all Chinese peeps out there!
The festive season this year is unexpectedly boring. The celebrations in school wasn't as fun as I had expected and the ambiance made me indecisive; I did not know if I was supposed to enjoy and have fun, or stay moody like everyone else.
To add to my misery, I'm sick. I'm down with High fever and my throat irritates me so much that I feel like inserting one of my aunt's back-scratchers down into my throat,scratch it with all my might, or I could just eat some "Halls Breezers"
Yeah, I caught it on TV and am amazed at how the advertisement can literally soothe my throat at the thought of it.
This sickness, however, has not stopped me from stuffing myself with all the scrumptious delicacies. I love eating all the "kueh kuehs" that my Mum's side makes. What's so unique is that, they're Peranakans, so there's sort of a twist in everything they make. How? I have no clue either.
I am bound to be seriously after all this eating. Hahaha.
My Grand Aunt who's living in Australia came to Singapore and I sure am excited to meet her again.
Everything is going well so far, except for the biggest bummer, which is, I DIDN'T GET TO SEE/WATCH ANY LION/DRAGON DANCE THIS YEAR!!
I don't know what's so mesmerizing but I am so IN LOVE with lion dances!!
My mum thinks it has something to do with the Chinese Zodiac signs, having that Monkeys live being around the Dragons. Dragons and Monkeys do get along really well because the monkey lets the dragon lead while the dragon allows the monkey to do all sorts of mischief, so long as it helps the dragon.
I've always been inspired to participate in Lion Dance, but after seeing to many mishaps,especially when they're doing the stilts, I've changed my mind to join Dragon Boat racing. But after hearing the mishaps of the Singapore Team, I've decided to withdraw that decision too. Lol.
Anyway, if anyone has any idea on where to watch some lion dance, TELL ME!!
Before I leave, I'd like to say that, I spent the past few nights chatting on MSN messenger and the one person that really made me smile through my computer screen was Ling Jie! Chatting with him was so much fun, because we made up stories of so many people and slowly pieced all of them together, to form one big story. Lol. He's one guy everyone should chat with, as he'll definitely brighten your day! I promise!
After not blogging for a long period of time due to sheer boredom, I decided to blog today, mainly because I have something interesting to share.
Today was the day where students of all levels are tasked to give away mandarin oranges to the HDB flats near our school. We seize this opportunity to wish everyone Happy Holiday and Xing Nian Kuai Le for the Chinese. This was also an opportunity whereby us, students gain chances to make our school popular, by showing that we are well behaved and that we do believe that everyone is part of our family.
School ended and I, helped the SLC members out, in sorting the mandarin oranges for each class. It was rather fun, I must say.
But the real fun started when we began our journey to the block of HDB flats that we were tasked to go to. My class made so much noise, screaming and cheering for our class, making it seem as though we were on strike.
We began our tasks as soon as we reached our destination. We were split into groups of 4s and 5s, and each group had to take at least a level. I was with Aainaa, Jun Rong, Gek Chong and Yong hui. The guys were a funny bunch because all of us couldn't stop giggling whenever they did something. Gek chong for instance, went infront of a malay home, and not knowing what to do, he just kow tow-ed infront of the door. He even wanted to sit on a mini swing which was allocated infront of the door. We were such a lame bunch of people, that everything we said seemed funny then. We completed our level and went to help out at the 8th floor. While we were half-way through, Syafiq and his group joined us. We completed it in a breeze and soon enough we were waiting for the lift.
Kevin, in syafiq's group, began "chope-ing" for the lifts, to let his team to go into first. One lift did came, and Aainaa, with her bright idea, asked "why not all 10 of us go in? Try lah". We were "brilliant" enough to have agreed and before you know it, all 10 of us were in a lift. Aainaa, again, then brought up the topic of jumping in the lift. And We ALL DID. Kevin was so afraid that he kept asking us to stop, he was panicky too. We continued jumping, and when we reached the 7th floor, the lift all of the sudden, skipped to 5th floor with a jerk. the lift was jammed and it was halfway through 5th floor. Fortunately, Farna's group was on the 5th floor and they spotted us.
The irony of it all was that, instead of being panicky and all, our group continued making a hell of a noise, jumping and screaming. We did call for the lift service. While waiting for him, we did take a video of the 10 of us that were stranded in the lift. Everyone started joking around, pushing the blame to Syafiq. Kevin on the other hand, enjoyed himself while video-ing all 10 of us. Most of the classmates who weren't in the lift were taking photos of us and we actually posed for them in the lift. Apologies to those who were frightened and worried, especially to Mdm Timah and Alex.
It was a blast and we were sort of disappointed when the lift service guy came. for that period where we were stuck in the lift, I did really enjoy myself, together with my classmates. Although what happened shouldn't have, i hope that more things would come so that we can really bond as a class.
Some of the classmates were envious of us being stuck in the lift, and wanted to join in, because they saw that we were having so much fun in there.
We then began passing around the video taken as well as some class photos that we took.
I'll upload the video ASAP!!
But before ending off, I'd like to share another video.
Everyone knows that Johnny Cash is one guy who can sing oh-so-well. Hearts would melt for his voice.
Check out his voice.
My brother (another Ellen DeGeneres fan), saw a 15 year old boy who could sing just like him on her show, and he searched for him on YouTube.
