Teens, Thots & Testimonies: Raining Rabbits

February burst in with a torrent of activities in much the same way as the flood waters rushed into Queensland. I found myself caught between enjoying the festivities and having to deal with the weather at the same time. It was an interesting period.

Combined Steamboat Reunion Dinner

Friends over on the first day of Rabbit Year

The spread on reunion

Starting from the eve of Lunar New Year, I frantically washed two washing machine loads of bedsheets and blankets after suspecting I was bitten by bed bugs. Hubby suspected me of having Chicken Pox thanks to the red itchy dots on my body. In fact, they were heat rash due to the warm humid weather recently. They didn't prevent me from enjoying my combined steamboat reunion dinner at a friend's house though.

The next few days activities revolved around celebrating the Chinese New Year and going back to school routine. Symbolically, I dressed everyone in new pyjamas on NYEve and new clothes on the first day. Yes, there were ang pows and mandarin oranges, not forgeting my home baked CNY cookies that filled a corner of the dining table. I tried to decorate my house a bit but I only had about 3 greeting cards and the ang pow lantern I made was quite pathetic.

XX in his new PJs

On the first day, instead of watching Chinese New Year variety shows, I tuned in to news on how Queensland fared after the devastating Cyclone Yasi. The Prime Minister came on TV talking about another fatality in Afganistan and Australia's war against terrorism. Not very auspicious news but this did not stop us from wishing our Singaporean Chinese friends the auspicious "Gong Xi Fa Cai" when we meet or call.

We had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant on the first day. Nothing religious about it, my friend suggested and I agreed as I miss my mom's standard 'zhai' vegetarian dish which she cooks every 'chu yi'. I must get her to teach me so I can cook some too myself next year. We ended the night early as the next day was the first day of school for KK. I could have let them skip school since it was a Friday and the 2nd day of CNY but I felt the first day of school is important to have a good start to the school year.

KK's Glow in the Dark PJs that reads
"Caution: Grumpy in the mornings.
Avoid conversation."

XX officially started school too that day, though it was just an one-hour orientation. More about his big day at Kindergarten next time. After school ended, the Chinese New Year activities took over. We set off to the city hoping to catch some lion dance and festive mood by the river. Unfortunately, after making our way there by car and tram, the rain came about 15 minutes later and everyone rushed indoors. It turned out to be a big storm. When the rain came, it was like a dam broke overhead. It took only a few seconds to get soaked from head to toes. Luckily, we were quite near the shelter and managed to run in without getting drenched. But others were not so lucky. And it turned out, there were many other victims of the storm that night.

As we came home, we saw many trees branches lying on the roads, and even some sign posts. There were flash floods on several roads and the Shell petrol station and MacDonalds near our place were in total darkness due to a blackout. Part of our street had a blackout too as there were no street lights. It was rather eerie driving down the road with everywhere dark and quiet. I was expecting something to happen to our house but thank God, except for a drenched backyard, no water came inside the house and there was still power.

The CNY decor at Crown Casino

The weekend came and went quickly with a mix of normal activities (like Chinese school for KK) and not so normal events (like going for a party till past midnight and making a second trip to watch lion dance in the city). That's how we usher in the Year of Rabbit down under - blending east and west, a happy adaptation of tradition and invention.