Chinese New Year..Happy!

I used to hate cny.

Loud mandarin talk shows on singapore's tv channel in JB blasting in an over-crowded house, with babies wailing, kids screaming, moms yapping and dads..err..i do not know what the men in the family did. :)

I would be hiding in a corner, "book" a seat on the very limited sofa and pour over the thickest book I could get my hands on. At one point, I was doing a book a day for as long as I was in JB for cny. My dad used to bring us out for roti canai in the mornings, then we would pour over our books/newspapers, and then we would have lunch, more reading, dinner, a little more reading, and sleep..for like 5 days straight!

Later on, my siblings started working, so the trip would be cut short to 3 days (hallelujah!!) and this time it was only a night! :D

But that is not why I enjoyed it this time.

I used to be unable to communicate with my cousins..they were all mandarin speaking. And they all liked the weirdest things (to me la...I was weird for them too..:)) I hated gambling (always lost), hated crackers (too loud and dangerous) and I hated being called "king kong" by my uncle!! (dat was totally random!! :))

But yea, it was hard being the chindian kid in the chinese family that could not speak mandarin. (Ugh!! hated mandarin!! annoying!!)

But as i grew into a teenager, well, I related better to my chinese friends (although my bestest friend is an indian..). I learned to speak a little more mandarin, and cny turned out to be slightly better each year.

I must hand it to two particular cousins of mine. Two years ago, my little cousin brother, Tien Wei (freaking 6 footer..not so little after all..:S I'm short..and so proud of him!! :D) went all out to make me feel part of the "gang" (he was one of my mortal enemies before I think...being a year younger and super naughty..haha). He has turned out to be such a loving big bro to all the other cousins babies (not babies anymore either!!). He even made sure his "piao jie" understands what's going on, and made sure she went to the movies together and all...it was a much appreciated gesture..love ya darling. :)

And the other would be my crazy baby cousin sister, Rui Wen, (also not too little...only about an inch shorter than me! :)) who made me addicted to crunchyroll.com..:S she had always been my bestest friend in the family. She was the only one who could speak english before (and wasn't ashamed to try) and was very positive about my horrible mandarin! :) She even came over to melaka to stay over for a few days after new year (I'll never foget you for that...one of my best new years too..:)) She got me buying glow in the dark butterflyz..and almost got me buying an orange pants! Rui Wen, I think you're the only family who has ever hung out with my best friend laysha and me! Muaks!! :)

Anyways, this year was fun cuz, for the first time, I felt at home with the chinese side of the family. I actually missed the baby cousins (all grown up now) and the lil ones the older cousins has produced! :)

It was nice watching the same jiu jiu who called me king kong go pick on my niece (called her fat and ugly..aih..poor baby..:)) It was nice watching the uncles and aunties at their old habits we're grown up watching, and so much fun sitting and laughing with the cousins at our "matriarchal hierachy" in the family. The Ng women ar...tsk tsk tsk..powerful, influential and hazardous! :P Tongues and eyes damn sharp..nothing gets by their noses unnoticed..not even the 0.1kg u lose or gained! :) It has reached a point where all OTHER family members leave the 4 sisters to themselves for them to talk. Now as age has caught up with them, they've ceased to talk till the wee hours of the morning.(thank God!! lol)

This year, the family kinda resolved the feuds, made peace and are generally friendly. No more talk of scandals, no more finger pointing. It was healthy. Er jiu's house was big enough to house half the family comfortably (half the family means 30-40 people). Everyone also can, a little cramp la..but yea. It was nice. Very nice. This time, I had control of the remote control!! muahaha!!! Discovery channel and HBO!! Hallelujah! :)

Maybe that's the reason why I was so happy..lol