Sunday, February 18, 2007
Chinese new year came at a right time for me because it was a much needed break for me. I've been far to busy with work lately to have any opportunities to do any further spring cleaning, help my parents with any chores or cny shopping, have some time to myself and even to go shopping. Since young, I've always liked to soak myself in the cny fesitive spirit and i'm not even a big fan of the cny songs but it's one of the few events of in the calendar where you really have a reason to enjoy yourself, pig out(no pun intended) and worry about the extra weight gained later.
It's the same old story every year, the reunion dinner with relatives from my father's side on cny eve and house visiting on the day itself. I have my reunion dinner at the chinese restaurant in cdans and it's not because the food there is excellent but more to the reason that my uncle knows the boss since they were kids. The food is getting better and this year it's not that bad. I dread seeing my relatives because we don't have much to talk about and we've got nothing in common. Can you imagine that my reunion at the restaurant took 2 hours plus before it finally ended? From 8.15pm to around 10.35pm. It was a pretty chaotic scene for the people who were serving out food and I even saw a family arguing with one of the captains. I guess it's probably the usual reasons like not getting the table they've booked or the service was too slow. It really was damn slow. After the first 3 dishes came, we just sat there and waited. Towards the end, I just wanted the 9 dishes to come fast so that I can go home and rest after such a tiring day.
The management needs to work on how they can improve the way they serve food to the respective tables. There was a point of time where the waitress wanted to serve another serving of sharkfin soup to us after we've already had ours 10 mins ago. It was very noisy and sometimes I don't see the point of eating out where I prefer having the good ol steamboat at home. What to do, it's the elders who decide the location for reunion dinner every year. In fact, it was my late grandmother who made it compulsory for everyone to meet up for reunion dinner. Nothing is more important than sitting down and having a good meal together.
However, if given a choice, I would like to maybe "escape" this yearly event and spend cny overseas. My cousin who has always been a rebel decided to do what she does best and spend cny in bangkok with her friends. Maybe I'm just a traditional and old fashion guy when it comes to cny but nothing beats spending cny with your family. For the past few cny, I've been either working on the eve or spending the morning in camp until I managed to book out last year. I was very lucky to be able to obtain leave for eve and the first day of cny. It started with the f & n job that I managed to get 2 weeks before cny and I worked right into the eve of cny. The current job that I'm having right now is the same.
You can tell everyone is eager to finish up whatever loose ends there are and get home in time for reunion dinner. The shops in Singapore starts to close in the late afternoon and the country literally comes to a standstill during the first few days of cny. Considering that most of the businesses are run by the chinese, the shutters are always down no matter where you go. I'm sure it's a good chance for the other races to take a much needed break as well. However, I'm quite relieved to see some of malay stalls or restaurants which are opened for business. In case I'm feeling hungry at night, I know where to head to for some food. There's always fast food to turn to when it comes to the last resort.
Happy Lunar New Year everyone! Eat first, think later about the extra weight gained.
