Sunday, January 25, 2009
A traditional man I am because when it comes to cny, I still stick to certain traditions. Helped my mother to sweep the floor today in the late afternoon since I know that it's not too nice to do it on cny day itself because you're sweeeping away all the good luck and fortune. Children should also sleep late on cny eve as it's supposed to be a form of blessing for their parents. The list of supposed things to do goes on and on but there's always a certain few that people should adhere to.
I'm very thankful for the fact that I can at least enjoy this cny eve without the constant worry of e-learning and deadlines for asssignments to meet. Same time last year, I had to log onto portal and start typing out that 1000 words reflection for my Singapore in Asia (Geography module). Yes, it was one essay on Sun Yat Sen and early immigrants to Singapore. All these took place after I came home from reunion dinner. Last heard, the year 1s are also having e-learning this whole week to be fair, they should go through what we did as well. Really sucks to have to spend this once in a year festive period doing essays.
Reunion dinner is always held at the same old place at this Guilin Restaurant in Cdans Country Club. The owner has been friends with my uncle since they were kids in their kampung days so you just can imagine how long this friendship is. The dishes weren't exactly fantastic and service was pretty bad (no thanks to the sub-standard service dished out by the China workers). I didn't really go there for the food anyway, it was more about the company and updating my cousins about our current lives. Even though sometimes I feel that we're meeting up for the sake of doing so, this year seemed different.
The elderly are getting older while some of my cousins are getting married or just married. I wonder if this tradition of having the entire Yong family meeting up for reunion dinner that was decided by my late grandmother will continue when the younger generation take over? Personally I hope so. Receiving the red packet from my cousin (I missed his wedding because I was simply stressed out by the neverending workload last semester) left me feeling very embarrassed and guilty. Come to think of it, it's not as if I was called back for army reservist or overseas. Giving up 2 hours of that Sunday for his wedding was something I could have done. Thinking back, I'm just glad that I used that time well to complete my motor learning lab report and a few rugby reflections.
The dreaded question that so far has eluded me is having my aunties asking those single personnel in the Yong family when are they bringing their girlfriend or when's the day that they're getting hitched. Jokes like the current tables would have to be expanded in order to accommodate the future daughter-in-laws or sons-in-law. One thing I noticed about my female cousin who always take the cny holiday period to head overseas with her friends - she has missed the past 2 years of reunion dinners already. She's perhaps one of those new age generation people where reunion dinners simply don't matter anymore. There's nothing wrong with that actually, sometimes such dinners can get a bit tiring and heading for a short getaway seems to be next best thing to do.
I probably drank 5 cups of tea just now and ate just enough to fill my stomach. Stayed away from the F and N orange syrup because I'm never a fan of soft drinks and mindful of the amount of running I have to do to get rid of these extra food consumed. Even though I wasn't really pleased with the service just now (a few of my cousins as well), it's cny after all and perhaps we can put ourselves in their shoes. These China people are far away from home and the fact that they have to work during this period of celebration just added to their misery. Although this is no excuse for the lousy service, there's no point getting angry or losing our temper over it.
This paragraph will be dedicated to members of my army unit - people from fds, I know other than my own army friends, the current nsfs who are serving their 2 year stint will never read my blog. Many of them are spending their cny eve, or even the whole 2 days in camp and guarding those F-16s. It's a duty that they have no choice about but it's a job that's got to be done by somebody. Inside the camp, there are Chinese pilots, technicians and air traffic control personnel working during this period - to ensure that the F-16s are ready to take off should a crisis occur. While many of us are having a good reunion dinner outside, these guys don't have the luxury of doing so. One thing is for sure, they are not forgotten.
Reunion dinner with my friends on saturday evening turned out to be pretty good and cosy. It's the first time we're having steamboat and not the usual bbq. Alot healthier and the food is quite good too. Haven't had both the shabu shabu version of pork and beef for a long time. With bbq,everyone is moving around, cooking the food or clearing the table. It's a different story with steamboat, we can take things alot more slowly and have a nice leisurely chat while waiting for the food to be cooked. My first time trying out Left 4 Dead too and seriously, it's damn addictive but not a game that I want to play when I'm alone in my room at night. In terms of horrow, it's definitely up there with Doom 3. In view of the fact that I probably will be too busy to even sleep once cny is over, I didn't borrow the disc to install in my laptop. Otherwise, I won't be doing my assignments and that's not good.
It doesn't matter where you are or what food you're having. As long as you're home for reunion dinner, that matters the most! I hope this year I can be as hardworking and industrious as the Ox. Happy Lunar New Year everyone!
