February 10, 2010

Chinese New Year in Melbourne

Chinese New Year is in 4 days, and I've had nothing done. The apartment is not cleaned (it IS clean, it's just not ready-for-Chinese-New-Year CLEAN), no decorations are up, I don't have any new red attire, no angpows prepared (woohoo!), no mandarin oranges in the house, nothing. And that's the thing about living in Melbourne, especially when you're not in an Asian suburb. There's absolutely no Chinese New Year atmosphere.

No loud "tong-tong-chiang" music in shops, radio or telly. No New Year decor. No hustle and bustle of rushing to the bank to change crisp new notes for angpows. Here, it's going to be just another day.

This is the first time I'm spending Chinese New Year in Australia. I do miss the festive season in Malaysia, especially even more when I don't get to spend it with my extended family. At the time of writing, they are heading to Genting Highlands for a get-together, which I will sorely miss.

Still, it's not going to be a bad day, the eve and first day of the lunar new year. The weather will be good (i.e. it will finally cool down for a bit). We'll be meeting up with friends, having a potbless, and enjoying each other's company. There may even be some *ahem* gambling *ahem* involved :P Who knows?

So happy Chinese New Year, folks. May the year of the Tiger bring you good health and good things.

3 comments:

pelf said...

Happy Chinese New Year to you too, Tine! May you be blessed with good health, and lots of love :D

littleComma said...

Happy Chinese New Year blogger friend. :) Wishing you and your family a joyous new year.

mayni said...

omg, i wrote the same thing on my blog bout Tong Tong Chiang!!

haha..must be a universal slang..