On the day of Chinese New Year…

This is my third consecutive Chinese New Year Down Under. Three years of CNY celebrations Down Under does change the way I look at Chinese New Year. Though I still treasure CNY as one of the most important days for the Chinese community when families get together and everyone looks forward to the start of a brand new year, with new hopes and aspirations, somehow, I have lost the excitement for CNY.

I remember back then, in the build up to the grandiose day for the Chinese community, shopping is a must. Mum would bring me to one of the few supermarkets in town to get me a couple of new clothes. And sometimes, we would opt for the clothes in the night markets. Yes, the night markets. The supposedly weekly night markets tend to run almost every nights couple of weeks before the festive season. People would throng the night market, hunting for clothes, cookies, new year decorations, alleged fortune-bringing plants etc. Those were the days. The little me would be holding mum’s hand tightly trying to force my way through the crowd, fearing that I would get lost.

And on the day before Chinese New Year, the four of us (dad, mum, sis and I) would usually have lunch at home and later dropped by my grandparents’ house for reunion dinner with uncles, aunties and their families. That’s the time I looked forward to the most. We, kids would play outside, in the lawn, in the paddy field or by the river under the watchful eyes of our dads, while our mums were preparing for the dinner. What more could a whole bunch of exhausted kids ask for after running outdoor the whole evening, than to have a whole table of scrumptious food laid in front of them. Roasted pork, fish, crab, prawns, sea cucumber, you name it. As there were a lot of us, there would usually be 2 tables, one for the adults and one for the kids! And I still remember back then when my sister and I would always fight and make sure that each other have the same amount of prawns. My sis and I were the two who quarreled and fought the most among our cousins.

After dinner, one of my uncles would bring out the whole packet of firecrackers from the back of his cars, and all the kids would be so excited. This uncle was always our source of firecrackers, even after when firecrackers were deemed ‘illegal’ in Malaysia, as my parents do not really buy us firecrackers. I was always impressed by some of my cousins who were so dexterous, lighting the firecrackers hold in their hand and throwing them fast and far enough before it exploded. As for me, I tend to place the crackers on the ground, closed both my ears and at the same time trying hard to lit the firecrackers with the joss-stick. It was never easy to actually point the thin joss stick to the other end of the firecrackers. My hand tend to shake as if having impaired cerebellar function, and coupled with the fear of the thunderous explosion, it always took ages for me to lit the firecrackers. And the minute there’s a little spark at the end of the firecrackers, I would run for my life, still covering my ears, while the firecrackers started blasting. Those days were fun! We usually played till the clock struck twelve when we ‘welcomed’ the ‘arrival’ of the God of Prosperity.

After that, it’s a tradition that we would visit the temple that night or very early morning the very next day (i.e. first day of CNY). That is the one place I dislike going to during Chinese New Year. Not that I am impious, but the huge crowd swarming the temple and the amount of smoke emitted from the millions of joss sticks, ranging from the spiral joss sticks to the huge dragon joss sticks, put me off.

On the first day Chinese New Year, I would usually wake up early, get washed and dressed in my new clothes. After paying respect to the ancestors, I would help mum prepare red packets/ang pow . At times, I would wonder why some relatives get red packets with more money and some less, but I couldn’t really be bothered much. I was more concerned about packing my own red packet, and requesting mum to put more notes into my red packet. And yes, my sis and I have to get the same amount of money or else we will start fighting again. Well, the anticipation of receiving the red packets and temptation of guessing the amount of money in it excites me. But those were the days. Nowadays, red packets just don’t excite me as it used to.

The same for lion dances. Back then, I was fascinated by how those ‘lions’ actually ‘dance’, and how good they were at making the huge leap and ‘eating up’ the red packets, oranges and green lettuce no matter how high they were placed. I have always wanted to have those lion dance troupes coming into our house but mum and dad were not too keen, so, the only chance for me to watch lion dance performance was at my grandparents place.

Anyway, of all the things about CNY, I would say that I miss the reunion with family the most. I miss spending the new year eve at my grandparents’ place. I miss the gathering with friends during CNY. I could have gone home for CNY this year but I didn’t. I decided to stay on in Melbourne, spending more time and working harder towards achieving my ambitious goal. As I continue pursuing my dream, at times I was left pondering if I am gradually and imperceptibly sacrificing those precious quality time meant for my family and friends…

After four long years…

What more could I say other than time really flies…

I still remember four years ago when I, who was supposed to be a Clayton-based Monash medical student, came and slept over at College Square, Carlton every so often. And before long, I was already so used to the companion of this closely-knitted group of 10 friends or so. I still remember the days when we had dinner together every now and then, and showing off each others culinary skills. And the birthday celebrations and cookies/cake baking, the mid-autumn festivals and BBQs etc.

And though in the following year, I decided to move to College Square for what ever reasons seemed irrational, I never really regretted it. I truly enjoyed the companion of the whole group, especially my 2 room mates. Though the three of us were doing three different courses in three different campuses, we would always end up in the basketball court or the gym almost every evening, and later continuing our not-so-funny jokes and gossips as well as some slightly more serious chat about future career plan over the dinner.

Those days lasted for two years, before I started moving more frequently in my forth year, to Bendigo and back to Clayton, for my clinical studies. But we still met up every now and then, for birthday celebrations and holiday trips. And before I noticed, most of them had already started applying for jobs, planning for their families visit Down Under for their graduation and organizing things to be shipped home.

What more could say other than time really flies. Four years passed by unnoticed, and now that most of them have returned to Malaysia temporarily or for good, I wish all of them the very best in their future undertaking. Their companion in the last 4 years will be truly missed and the memories will be forever etched in my mind!