Chinese New Year spent in london was same old same old- except after 3 years of it spent abroad made me feel really (hmm.) jaded. yes, you celebrate with your friends, you countdown with your friends, you make really good food and eat together with them. Yet somehow, it just isn't the same. I miss the two reunion dinner nights on Chu Xi; the countdown with the cousins spent playing blackjack or 'dai di'. I miss going to 拜年 on the first day- visiting relatives and stuffing my face with all the new year goodies in every house.
Still, celebrating in London isn't that bad. I feel like things have sort of come full circle for me- celebrating with J and Z in year one and this year just made cny so much more meaningful. It still amazes me how J and I clicked instantly back in halls :) Going to Chinatown together to buy the entire stock of frozen fishballs, sotong balls, curry balls, prawn dumplings, and everything you can imagine was half the fun really. Eating with the close group of friends here in London obviously constituted the other half.
We ate, we drank and we gambled. Yes, I learnt to play Mahjong this year (so that's one strike of the never-ending to-do list) and I'm really quite excited about it. Thankfully, there'll be another celebration in 2 weeks so we can play for real (2 uncounted wins by the lover, and 2 all-draws on Sunday).
It is different, celebrating cny here. But whatever it is, celebrating it with close friends makes being away much easier. And so, without any jarring chinese new year songs (you know my stand on this), a rapidly diminishing stock of cny goodies from home, a crazy rush to vacuum everything before the Chu Yi, and then refusing to do anything on Chu Yi itself on top of an amazing steamboat dinner, I spent my last cny in ol' London.
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