I guess I am a month late to talk about the New Year, but I am kind of in time to talk about Chinese New Year the Monkey year. In such holiday season, I really miss my family and friends back home.
Last year, I celebrated the New Year at Kevins friends home in Hong Kong, but I was very sleepy before midnight due to jet-lag. I basically fell into a deep sleep on Kevins shoulder for a few hours after the count down. Yeah … I know poor Kevin wasnt able to move or do anything because he was worried that he might wake me. I guess it was because we just started dating. This New Year, Kevin was invited to his classmates friends home in London to celebrate. I was worried that I may repeat what I did last year; especially since we just got back from our ski trip, plus getting a cold from the trip, and I was back at work already without really getting any proper rest. It turned out really fun, and I didnt fall asleep this time. Kevin, myself and some of his American classmates learned a new drinking game called Bunny. In the Bunny game, there were parts of the game when a person(s) and his/her neighbors had to sing and dance in the game as what we had been determined before the game started. For example: The Hawaiian Bunny. The picked person has to sing Hawaiian five-oh and pretend he/she was surfing, and the two neighbors have to go-go dance next to the surfer. There were other bunnies that we played. The game sounded kind of dumb, but I guess it is prefect for a drinking game, and it is always fun to pick on someone and see them to do silly dance and sing. When it got close to midnight, we turned on the television to find a channel that was doing the count-down celebration. We all had some champagne or fizzy cider in our hands to cheer and greet each other for a happy new year.
Chinese New year has not been a big celebration for me for many years since I left Hong Kong. I do enjoy finding a good excuse to get together with my family and have a big food fest. Living in Vancouver and Toronto, the Chinese community is big. I can feel the joy and celebration filling the air. This year being far away from my family, I didnt feel much of the Chinese New Year celebration. It was interesting that some of my co-workers came to me and wished me a Chinese New Year, when I wasnt thinking about that at all. I celebrated the Chinese New year with Kevin by having a good home meal with a popular Chinese dish: steamed fish, which kind of means prosperity. I think I had a great start on Chinese New Year by finally opening a UK bank account, after waiting almost 3 months.
I know I am late for this but I would still like to wish everyone a Happy New Year 2004 / Monkey year!!