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.

XX getting ready to go out in new clothes.

KK in his new clothes

Another makan session at friend's house.

Lion dance performance outside Crown.

Fire crackers too loud for XX.

Happy New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Welcoming The Tiger

The Blessed Four (from bottom, clockwise)- Almond Cookie, Peanut Cookie, Pineapple Tart and Chocolate Cornflake Cookie

One and a half weeks ago when I returned from Singapore, Chinese New Year was the last thing on my mind. Catching up on my sleep and getting the household back into the normal routine was. We had also quickly restarted our search for a better school for KK.

Now, as all of us began to settle back and we've more or less made a decision about KK's school, Chinese New Year, the most important festival for us Chinese, comes into focus. I'm not a very traditional person typically and down here, it's easy to just pass over the season without any hype or fuss. Already, only my second CNY in Australia, I feel I'm getting lazy. But I still hold on to that last bit of stubbornness that this festival must not be lost to my next generation. Afterall, Chinese New Year is part of what it means to be Chinese. There are some traditions that we must still uphold and creating memories are the greatest ways to make sure these traditions are passed on.

I remembered when I was a child, I loved wearing the new pyjamas after we bathed on New Year's Eve night. Even when we became older, my mom would make sure that every year, she'll sew some new nighties for us. She would also change new bed sheets. And of course, the next day, we'll wear brand new clothes. On New Year's Eve, she'll make a vegetarian dish late at night, so the next day, we'll have vegetarian for lunch. Up till now, I'm not sure of the significance of the vegetarian dish but it's just yummy, that's for sure. I would like my children to think back when they are grown up and have fond memories of how they spent their Chinese New Year when they were young.

Thus the baking of new year goodies began. Chocolate Cornflake Cookies, Almond Cookies and Peanut Cookies. Together with a jar of homemade pineapple tarts that my sister had given me and half a kueh lapis bought from Bengawan Solo, I think I'm pretty set up for visitors who might wish to visit me on 14 Feb. Just need to get some soft drinks and chill lots of ice!

Spring cleaning wise, I'm not very particular. (Where we are, at the southern hemisphere, it should be "Autumn" cleaning, technically.) The house will be kept, as per our usual schedule and standard. This is something that I'll not stress myself over though I'm aware of the significance and loved the idea of welcoming a new year with sparkling windows and speck less light bulbs. But if it's just a one person effort and everything has to be spic and span just before the big day, I'm practical enough to admit I'm not up to it. I'm not even sure if I'll change my bedsheets, considering it's just been done less than 2 weeks ago when we returned. As for packing up my closet and organising the clothes, I've been wanting to do that since last year. I guess I'll eventually do it when we have to move out. Well, we did vacuum the car today and I gave my laptop a good wipe yesterday, so that should count.

New clothes. The junior department is pretty easy to handle. For my boys, I just have to dig into my "stock". I've built up a decent collection of new clothes, mostly birthday and christmas gifts, just waiting for the right occasion and for them to fit into. This year, I realised that KK does not have a set of new pyjamas while XX has got 2 sets. We went shopping today and that has been settled. As for us adults, I'm at a dilemma. The children can justify getting new pyjamas every year as they do outgrow their old ones. But for us adults, it just adds on to our overcrowded wardrobe if we were to follow this tradition. Worse, with the 4 seasons in Australia, Hubby and I've accumulated sleepwears of different lengths and thickness, that I really feel I shouldn't be adding on unnecessarily. In the end, I bought myself a pair of sleep shorts. Cheap, small, cute and most importantly NEW...;-p

Looking forward, I think the year of the Tiger will be an exciting one for our family. It will be a year of new beginnings and I pray it'll be another peaceful, happy, healthy and prosperous year. Not just for us, but also for our family, friends and all of you readers out there, wherever you are.

恭贺新喜, 万事如意, 身体建康!