CNYE.

Ok. Getting a tad bit lazy now. Was going to start on my lab report, that seems to take forever.. but then I started thinking. (Now that's a thought.) (Or something new.) (Couldn't decide which one to go for as you can see.)

Anyway, so my first CNY away from home. No biggie. Right...? I had a Skype conference with the family after their reunion dinner. And that was nice. Saw my grandma and everyone laughing awaaay. Happiness, pure bliss. Gotta love them technology. 

And the people we love back home.

Then 8 hours later, it was my turn to have dinner. I went over to a family friend's place to join their family for CNY Eve dinner. Firstly, their place was amaaaazing. Well, they've got an apartment right beside Thames on Embankment. What more need I say?

Secondly, the fooooood. People are always brought together with food, as my mum always said. Today, the traditional yu sheng (aka prosperity toss) although it was weird because no one was really saying all the "gong hei fat choi", and "nian nian you yu", and "xing xiang shi cheng" etc. (Which was what we did the night before I flew back to London, an advanced CNY celebration at Kai Ma's.) All ang-moh-fied haha. But it was good, cause it was home made. 

And it had salmon sashimi. Oh so heavenly. Also we had peking duck from Four Seasons, mushroom and abalone, roast chicken, char siew, and curry pork?! Ok, food may not be as amazing as ah ma's pong teh duck, but it was nice sitting down together and having a meal with such a welcoming family.

And then we ate oranges (or tangerines if you want to get all technical). And then I received an ang pao.

What's there to miss? HAHA. I even changed my sheets, cleared the trash, brought new year cookies; just to hold on to every bit of CNY... as much as I could. I even planned not to shower tomorrow. The only thing different is that I will be calling my relatives and not visiting them. No biggie. All's good. :)

No, but in all honesty... being away from home has made me realise how CNY really brings family together. Sitting down in a round table, offering to serve the elders, talking; it really brings people together like nothing else can. It's not something money can buy (even though you think it does when your aunt buys you that brand new thing that you've been eyeing at for awhile now). It reminds me of the week back home when I slept over at my granny's at the spur of the moment with my cousins. Quality time sounds cheesy, but it does have an enormous impact, that can only be seen in time. But you probably already know that.

So moving on. Another thing I realise is that, coming to London, I'm actually beginning to understand myself and where I've come from better. And all this through the most commonplace conversations, especially with foreigners (or well, locals, now that I'm here).

I remember this piece of literature I read back in secondary school, about this Malay guy who went overseas and became open minded and stuff. That's pretty straight forward. But what didn't occur to me was how people went out in the world to search for themselves. I told my mum I wanted to do that, go travel alone, do some crap soul-searching. (She obviously said no cause I was a girl and that it was dangerous.) But truth be told, I didn't honestly think I would have been able to accomplish that. You see it in movies, how teenagers spend a month in idk Greece and come back being all grown up, knowing what they want. But really? Although yes, I do feel that I have grown a lot in the 4 months I've been here in London; mostly in terms of independence, communication, finance, and drama lol.

But not in the sense that struck me today. And it's stupefying simplicity.

When you talk to other international students, they tend to ask you questions that you take for granted. For instance, "What is the demographics of your country?", "Why are love letters called love letters?", or "Why do people give oranges during CNY?" Trivial, it is. But how it becomes amazing is when you're being asked these questions, you don't know the answer to it, doing research, and formulating sentences to explain it to people, and understanding what you're saying, and becoming aware of the underlying principles, ethics, standards, ideals, morality, societal values that comes from your own culture, customs, habits, traditions.

Anyway, it's 12 am now and 8 am there and I'm calling the mum and the aunts and the cousin now so you gotta figure what I wanna say lol. TTYL! 

And HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR FROM LONDON! Love lots. :D