When The Real Festivities Begin
February 14th, 2010
it’s been a weekend of tiered festivities, what with chinese new year and valentines’ day falling on the same day this year. Flushing, New York was redder and more boisterous than usual this weekend, with stalls of roses lining the streets and calls of 新年快乐! being jostled back and forth amongst the exuberant crowd. some of us had gotten together for our own reunion dinner the night before, courtesy of carol the domestic goddess, and this morning we all went for a dim sum brunch before scattering back to our various locations in the american northeast once again.
as we ate, we could hear the faint sounds of the lion dance drums rolling up from the streets beneath us, the familiar thumping rhythm calling out to our homesickness like the pied piper. some of us wanted to leave the restaurant to quickly catch a glance of the lions, but how lucky we were that the lions came to us instead. two of them, white and red with silver skin, burst into the dim sum parlour along with their troupe, and we dissolved into such excitement. i wondered aloud why they had the same colours. ‘twins!’ he responded. and suddenly i was young again, short and sitting on my dad’s shoulders, watching two lions with big eyelids prance around the crowd, soaking up love. ‘twins,’ the adults would nod in marvel and say knowingly, as if twin lions were rare and magical. i used to cry when i saw the big ceremonial platters of roast pig with its head still intact (complete with flower in its dead mouth), but i loved the lions. i loved the wooden ladders and watching the two lions dance up and down, up and down– before one of them would emerge victorious with the red ribboned vegetable in her mouth. i loved getting a fraction of the prize money from my parents if they won the gamble on either lion. and i did so hate chinese new year music, with its annoying pitch, but i loved the pink plastic cherry blossom trees and the red paper fishes that we used to help our aunts make out of angpau packets.
and of course i loved angpaus too. chern han and i chanced upon a little temple in flushing today, and we stepped in to offer joss sticks. they gave us little angpau packets (from Citibank!) as we left, and i thought they would contain some Taoist good luck charm, but instead each packet contained $2. i was so very thrilled, but the slice of authenticity felt strange in my hand. it was my one and only angpau this year. if i were back home, my brothers and i would be hoarding red packets, counting to see who got more this year. my mom called me today to talk about some money that i owe her, and i jokingly said that she could help me keep my angpaus from her friends as part of the repayment. she snorted and said that’s more like a rebate on the angpaus she had to give out this year anyway. and i laughed because it still seems so familiar to me how my mom used to usher us quickly into a corner and make us check how much Uncle This or Aunty That gave us, so that she could ‘pau’ the same amount for their children. in my semi-angsty teenage years i used to think, wow, how artificial this practice of giving angpaus is! but who cares! money is still money. angpaus are still angpaus and they’re still awesome and i still want them. the adults can worry about all the red packet politics!
we didn’t gamble last night but we did play games with cards. chinese new year does lack something without the crackling sounds of mahjong and the smell of new crisp paper notes. i was always the ‘water fish’ so i shied away from gambling, but now i wish i’d learned how to play from my parents and my brothers, who are all incredibly pro at anything involving cards and money. it’s something that you miss out on, just like how you’re missing out on a whole world of existence if you can’t read chinese and you find yourself in flushing or little bourke street, taipei or hongkong, or a chinese dessert place with no english menus. but at the very least i am redeemed by my ability to peel a very mean mandarin orange uni-peel.
i called my parents the other day to wish them a happy chinese new year. they were having reunion dinner at my grandfather’s home, as is the annual tradition, where my aunt makes the best foochow fishballs, steamed fish, fried glass noodles, wined chicken and all sorts of wonderful festival fare. my parents passed the phone around, and for 5 minutes, my soulless suite was filled with life as my relatives gabbled down the phone. so much shrieking! when they hung up, all was quiet again, and it was just me in a house of people who don’t quite get along, in a wintry state, surrounded with schoolwork and the problems introduced by dictatorial democracy, frenemies, long distance, and growing pains. i’ve grown so much stronger being here, even if i often feel helpless. i guess giving up some years of chinese new year and valentines days is a worthy trade.
this is my campus in the snow. it looks beautiful. i was late for class one day but stopped to admire the vast fields of snow as the blizzard raged. days like this i love my school and can’t imagine myself anywhere else. especially when we get snow days where all classes are canceled and there are snowball wars! though i’m still very bruised from particularly well-packed snowballs.
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
early last night we walked past one of those flower warehouses that was open all night in preparation for the valentines’ day rush. the buckets and buckets of flowers and fillers and strewn newspaper everywhere reminded me so much of valentines day in 2005, and the flower project that we had in high school. we’d went all the way to cameron highlands, song jun and i, to look at the different grade of roses so that we could order them in bulk to make bouquets for sale. i vaguely remember us having them delivered to someone’s (aira’s?) house and storing all the flowers in her bathtubs before we started the wrapping. jamie, who’d worked in a florist the year before, taught us how to wrap bouquets and shred curled ribbons. it’s a lot harder than it looks, as is de-thorning roses. but we made so much money! it was the most exhausting valentines day ever, but so memorable. this year, i have a silly smile on my face. it’s quite like the silly smile that sieutheng used to get so aggravated by back in form 2. :) there is a lot of health in how i’m feeling. these smiles keep spreading across my face like– dandelion seeds! in the wind. and they are really quite unstoppable.
happy chinese new year, happy valentines day, and happy life, everyone! :)
Entry Filed under: College Life, Musings, New York City
25 Comments Add your own
1. kei | February 14th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
my goodness! #5 is so prettttty!
and HAHAHAH at the last part because i remember doing it also every year for my high school’s interact club. de-thorning roses was painful and i remember always getting scolded because i didnt pack properly with the foil and cotton T_T. hahaha then on valentines day i remember everyone rushing to buy the best roses and the guy interactors will always snicker cuz they snogged the best ones the night before :p
2. Michelle Chin | February 14th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
Wow, I never had snow before. I wish Melbourne will snow. But it doesn’t. Then i can take pictures like this and not be jealous of my mom because she’s been to some place with snow as fluffy as cotton candy.
:(
Did you get anything for valentine’s? :)
3. air | February 14th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
is that a statue of the thinker in picture #1?!
4. qeiqay | February 15th, 2010 at 12:54 am
ur school looks amazingly beautiful; to imagine that beyond its splendor … houses such incredible minds and talent such as urs!
happy cny and happy valentines day! good to know that albeit being far away from the shores of home u have found warm pockets of love and dethorned rosy friendships.
and as the dandelion spreads its seeds in the breeze, in such dainty little princessy dresses… i hope ur smile does too and may they too take root in the faces of others.
shalom.
5. ShaolinTiger | February 15th, 2010 at 1:44 am
So glad you got an ang pau, it’s the little things that help :D
6. CraSH | February 15th, 2010 at 2:00 am
sounds like your get together went well. i totally understand the feeling of not celebrating CNY because it has been too long for me. i guess the atmosphere in NYC does get a little better with the chinese community, but it is never the same without family and friends.
anyway, i guess you are back to school mode again. i am just wondering whether you got my email.
ps: that dim sum place looks very familiar, is it in flushing called eastern something something….
7. xiao | February 15th, 2010 at 3:02 am
i got angpaus through skype!
i wish i had a campussss love #3 just a little splash of color amidst the flurry of whites :)
8. ront | February 15th, 2010 at 8:37 am
your food list for cny sounds like what i’d have as well….if i ever go home for cny……then again…maybe not the fishball….
and i know exactly how you feel….about “….so much shrieking! when they hung up, all was quiet again, and it was just me….”
9. carol | February 15th, 2010 at 8:37 am
ha! silly smile that is accompanied by a gigantic sigh! :P
happy chinese new year limsuann i honestly think this year’s was the best so far for me! :)
10. kreazi | February 15th, 2010 at 9:42 am
happy chinese new year and happy valentine’s day su ann :)
11. Brie | February 15th, 2010 at 9:49 am
I don’t know how to play cards too! Next time I teman you :D
12. quaintly | February 15th, 2010 at 11:03 am
kei : hey! ours was an interact club project too. dude isn’t it the most moneymaking business? i remember we sold a bouquet of a dozen for RM 45 when all other shops were selling for at least RM 70 and up. we even had people from outside of our school placing orders via our schoolmates. t’was awesome. haha and do you mean snagging or snogging! :P
michelle : awww but mount buller is so near! you should go. or i’ll come visit :)
air : yup. it’s placed right outside of our philosophy building too, hahaha
qeiqay : wow that was such a lyrical comment. thank you! :) hope CNY and valentines was good for you
shaolintiger : eh not bad right, $2! after conversion it’s twice the amount of the average malaysian angpau
crash : actually i don’t know what it’s called ! and i just replied your email ..!
xiao : you got angpaus via skype?? lucky! though i hope that also means you get your angpaus via wire too :P
ront : hehe we’re foochow on my dad’s side so the fishballs are a must.
carol : happy cny kehroleeeee
kreazi : and the same to you
brie : we can be water fishes together!
13. kei | February 15th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
OMG HAHAHAHHAAH i dono how i got that typo. thinking too much about snogging HAHA
14. maysnow | February 15th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
such beautiful pictures! you make me fall in love with NY ^^ #1 in particular, the thinker covered in snow :)
grow up…but not Too fast k sweetie? little baby steps will do..still like to indulge in ignorance is bliss sometimes :p
happy everything to you too suann! ^-^*~
15. sheon | February 15th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
happy chinese new year!!!! and yeah….happy life it is..
you come back and i teach you all about cards, mahjong, etc…. and you show me how to peel a mean uni-peel. hahahaha
16. god of gambling | February 15th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
haiyo… see so many people willing to teach. Ask and you shall receive! U shall have two sources of income by the next CNY.
17. cherry | February 15th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
happpy chinese new year~ =D
18. Jane | February 15th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
I absolutely loved this post! It’s my first year away from home on any type of festivity and I absolutely miss celebrating CNY with my family! This post captures what I feel exactly! Without me having to say any of it. :) Lovelovelove your writing!
19. Shaeny | February 16th, 2010 at 4:03 am
Gong Xi Fa Chai (:
I like this post, very well written
Buy yourself pineapple tarts :D :D
20. quaintly | February 16th, 2010 at 4:50 am
kei : naughty naughty
maysnow : you should come visit my campus if you ever drop by NYC :)
sheon : done deal ! hey we’re still supposed to go fish catching…
god of gambling : REALLY!
cherry : and the same to you!
jane: even if CNY is never fun without family and friends, i hope it was still good where you are :)
shaeny : i didnt buy myself pineapple tarts, but i did get some yau char kwai…!
21. ront | February 16th, 2010 at 6:51 am
i know you’re foochow… I am proud being one as well!
22. Zeek | February 16th, 2010 at 9:56 am
gong hei fatt choy pau!
23. Ee Vonn | February 16th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
WAH~~ the pictures are really beautiful! Especially #3 and #4. You must be feeling happy walking in the snow everyday! Happy CNY, Pinkpau! :)
24. Michelle Chin | February 16th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
then you’ll bring some snow samples over okay? :D
25. ahlost | February 20th, 2010 at 5:32 am
Happy CNY Su Ann ;)
Love all those pics taken ;)
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