First New Year

Today was the first new year I have spent with my family in 4 years. As an aunt described it, nothing has really changed in the years I’ve not been around. Well, we still go through the same customs, like the midnight visit to the Buddhist temple in Simpang Bedok, the serving of rice wine chicken mee-suah for lunch when we congregate at the house of the eldest uncle…

However, there are subtle differences that I’ve noticed. For one, there are a lot more cousins who have recently married (missed all their weddings and haven’t even met their partners). There are definitely a lot more little ones, running around like the little monsters that they are – serving as a reminder to birth control. The uncles are watching what they are eating now, as compared to stuffing their faces with whatever kueh-kueh within reach, due to the myriad of health problems that are plaguing them. And alcohol…

You see, I’ve never been close to my cousins. Neither on my dad’s side nor on my mother’s. The reason for the dad’s side is probably because my brothers and I are the only male in our generation. Plus, as I’ve learnt today, to my shock horror, the cousins of my generation are much older than me.

But today, Lina, the pretty air-stewardess cousin of mine who pulled up in a black BMW 3 series convertible, decide to share the bottle of champagne she had in her car (well, what do you know?) a little alcohol later, it seems that we really “clicked” and by the end of the evening, we all agreed that we should have gotten to know each other better way before.

Well, she’s inviting me to her house on Sunday for a spot of dinner and wine. This may not seem much to most of you readers, but from a conservative Chinese family like mine, wine and dinner is very very progressive. Ha…

Can’t wait.