Thursday, February 10, 2005
Xin Nian Dao!
In honour of CNY i shall blog in red. haha.
cny this year very quiet. So unlike the chaotic scene in Penang with its endless traffic jams, crazy drivers, defiantly lit fireworks, gigantic red lanterns soaring over the ocean and firecrackers exploding at regular intervals. The absence of my cousins was also very palpable. Usually we would meet at Sah Beh's house and adjoin from house to house in a huge convoy. Even tho' my Hokkien sucked big time, I had enough vocab to understand the interesting gossips that flew past while I conversed in broken Chinese with my cousins. Won't get to see Alok Gor Gor's cute puppy too. wonder wat tricks it has learnt in the past year. Won't get to taste the delicious Huat Kwey from Ah Beh ( the only one i'll eat btw). Won't get to haul back all the delicious goodies from Penang.
This year was spent in Singapore. Reunion dinner started at er.. 9pm. HAd to pick my dad up from the airport coz his flight touched down at 7 smth. Then watched Kungfu hustle with my family. I bought the origianal disc but it came w/o english subtitles. So my poor dad kept asking me wat was going on. Well, good thing is my bro is picking up chinese phrases. LOL. He's nuts about the movie! Goodness, i'm a stephan chow fan, but his obsession is bordering on mania. I've been tortured with Kung fu Hustle like 5 times since Cny eve. He even watches it in the car!
CnY: woke up late to XY calling me. urgh. i was like mong cha cha... had a talk with her b4 breakie. Then had lunch and started visiting -- our one and only relatives in Singapore. MY great uncle and aunt. My Gu Gong is one of the friendliest and warmest ppl you could ever meet. Yeah, he's like a grandpa to me. Studied in Melb uni too. h:) He's about 80 plus but he's sooo young at heart.
Then suggested my family go to the temple. My dad brought us to the kwan im miao on waterloo street. Couldn't believe my eyes. SO CROWDED!!! There were even policemen for crowd control! I guess this year was kinda different for me since I converted to Buddhism. When I prayed, I prayed solely to Bodhisattva Guan Shi Yin. And I prayed with understanding delivered from the Dharma. I managed to get my family to go to the Buddhist temple in Eunos after that. When I kneel and pray to the Buddha, the rest of the world disappears and I can hear and feel my words resonate in my head and I know I have connected to him through my mind and heart. Was blessed by the monk on duty with holy water blessed with the Suttas.
After that, we fufilled our ahem . self invitation to a fren's house. To my delight, my dad let me drive to Pungol! He's been more willing to give me the keys ever since i got my spore license. So whoopee day. I scared my family stiff racing in the right lane on the highway, and rounding a bend at 60 Km/hr. whoopz. still got a lot to learn. But nevertheless we got there.
Hai. cny. It gets less and less traditional each year. I still recall vaguely that in Loyang, my mom was really particular about every single detail. Presently, all those suffocating traditions have been lifted slightly. It's a little unnerving watching our traditions unravel like that. I guess tho' i have changed my views coz of my faith, I still adhere to traditions simply coz I wana keep the them alive. It's really sad to see all these quaint traditions that have held for thousands of years just go down the bowl.
In honour of CNY i shall blog in red. haha.
cny this year very quiet. So unlike the chaotic scene in Penang with its endless traffic jams, crazy drivers, defiantly lit fireworks, gigantic red lanterns soaring over the ocean and firecrackers exploding at regular intervals. The absence of my cousins was also very palpable. Usually we would meet at Sah Beh's house and adjoin from house to house in a huge convoy. Even tho' my Hokkien sucked big time, I had enough vocab to understand the interesting gossips that flew past while I conversed in broken Chinese with my cousins. Won't get to see Alok Gor Gor's cute puppy too. wonder wat tricks it has learnt in the past year. Won't get to taste the delicious Huat Kwey from Ah Beh ( the only one i'll eat btw). Won't get to haul back all the delicious goodies from Penang.
This year was spent in Singapore. Reunion dinner started at er.. 9pm. HAd to pick my dad up from the airport coz his flight touched down at 7 smth. Then watched Kungfu hustle with my family. I bought the origianal disc but it came w/o english subtitles. So my poor dad kept asking me wat was going on. Well, good thing is my bro is picking up chinese phrases. LOL. He's nuts about the movie! Goodness, i'm a stephan chow fan, but his obsession is bordering on mania. I've been tortured with Kung fu Hustle like 5 times since Cny eve. He even watches it in the car!
CnY: woke up late to XY calling me. urgh. i was like mong cha cha... had a talk with her b4 breakie. Then had lunch and started visiting -- our one and only relatives in Singapore. MY great uncle and aunt. My Gu Gong is one of the friendliest and warmest ppl you could ever meet. Yeah, he's like a grandpa to me. Studied in Melb uni too. h:) He's about 80 plus but he's sooo young at heart.
Then suggested my family go to the temple. My dad brought us to the kwan im miao on waterloo street. Couldn't believe my eyes. SO CROWDED!!! There were even policemen for crowd control! I guess this year was kinda different for me since I converted to Buddhism. When I prayed, I prayed solely to Bodhisattva Guan Shi Yin. And I prayed with understanding delivered from the Dharma. I managed to get my family to go to the Buddhist temple in Eunos after that. When I kneel and pray to the Buddha, the rest of the world disappears and I can hear and feel my words resonate in my head and I know I have connected to him through my mind and heart. Was blessed by the monk on duty with holy water blessed with the Suttas.
After that, we fufilled our ahem . self invitation to a fren's house. To my delight, my dad let me drive to Pungol! He's been more willing to give me the keys ever since i got my spore license. So whoopee day. I scared my family stiff racing in the right lane on the highway, and rounding a bend at 60 Km/hr. whoopz. still got a lot to learn. But nevertheless we got there.
Hai. cny. It gets less and less traditional each year. I still recall vaguely that in Loyang, my mom was really particular about every single detail. Presently, all those suffocating traditions have been lifted slightly. It's a little unnerving watching our traditions unravel like that. I guess tho' i have changed my views coz of my faith, I still adhere to traditions simply coz I wana keep the them alive. It's really sad to see all these quaint traditions that have held for thousands of years just go down the bowl.
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