CNY 2008 - distinctly different but splendidly superb!

One good reason to go bek to Malaysia during the winter break instead of the long long summer holidays is the chance to celebrate chinese new year with frens n family bek at home. Im always looking 4ward to CNY every year 4 the chance to meet my relatives, eat lotsa good good food, play aeroplane game n carrom, get lotsa red packets n so on... This year being the year of the rat, i had to spend my new year abroad, where CNY is never celebrated by the people here.

Scenario in Malaysia a few weeks b4 CNY: New year songs played all day long at restaurants or shopping centres. Shops r decorated with red red stuffs (haha, dunno hw to translate 春联 in eng), new year delicacies r sold almost everywhere, etc. The atmosphere of CNY can be felt almost everywhere.

Scenario in Germany ON CNY 1st DAY ITSELF: Class as usual. yawn... Until 6pm some more.. Germany as usual= cold, cold, cold. No new year songs at all. Have to download them from the net. sien. No new year cookies or 肉干... arghhh!! worst of all, no Ang Pows at all... No ang pow=no money. =(

Thank God that my CNY wasn't an entirely boring or a non-existing affair. In fact, i have learnt quite a lot of new things during this period, which i am quite thankful of. Have u tried celebrating CNY with the people whose ancestors were the ones who "created" CNY itself? in short, have u tried celebrating CNY with ppl from China? i have n had lotsa fun! =)



Ever tried 饺子 from China? It looks like wonton (云吞) with minced meat n cabbage as the filling. Dat was our main dish 4 ur so called reunion dinner during the eve of CNY. We, malaysians of the chinese origin, decided to spend our new year with frens from China at their hostel. There were about 17 of us cramped inside a relatively small kitchen. Each one of us has his or her "chores" to perform in the preparation of our dinner. To make the above dish we need lotsa flour n eggs. It is then made into a dough n had to be cutted into small parts. The small parts r then flattened into a thin piece which looks like a candy wrapper. The final procedure is of cos the inserting of the filling into the wrapper itself. The whole 饺子 is then cooked under boiling water. The end-product shud look like stg in the picture above after the addition of vinegar n soy sauce. =) Taste quite nice!

Here r the uncooked 饺子. We made too much of them until we have to keep them in the fridge 4 the next day.

That's me trying to help out at the kitchen. haha. I was at the "wrapper" department trying to flatten the dough.

Feasting time!! We brought beers n other beverages to their hostel while they prepared the ingredients 4 the 饺子.

After dinner we played games together. Here's the picture of 17 of us together. Everyone had fun that night, eventhough we were far away from home...

Never underestimate the chinese n their beer-drinking abilities. We brought a carton of beer over n all was taken. By the way, beers n wines are very cheap here in Germany. By returning the flasks n bottles we can get refunds for it as well.

I thought that my CNY celebrations this year would be a dull one n it was kinda depressing to see other frens in Malaysia going bek home to celebrate it with their own families. Little did i know that God has other plans 4 me as well. This experience with the chinese from China rily is unforgettable. Thank God 4 that!

I know it's a little too late to say this but chinese new year does goes on for a full 15 days. Happy Chinese New Year to all of my frens n family n relatives out there! May peace n happiness be with u all always! Gong Xi Fa Cai! =)