Gong Xi Fa Choy

This year is officially the first year that I've ever celebrated Chinese New Year with my friends. I'm the only pure chinese in my group and being that, we've never had any real chinese food during potlucks or any other gatherings. The food would usually consist of Malay mixed Indian dishes and not one drop of Chinese culture would be added in. So, this year, I decided to hold a Chinese New Year party, for my groupmates and a few of my friends. It was all set. I was going to make the perfect Chinese meal for them.

Dinner consisted of Chikuteh (their request), Steamboat, Mee Hun Kuey and Lor Han Kor which I made. Fried taufu, and fried rice sponsered by my other friends and for desert, we had Tong Yuen and Mandrin Oranges. I also put out groundnuts, which Chinese people love so much. It was perfect to me. But upon naming some of the dishes, I was more that surprised to find out that none of them knew wat Mee Hun Kuey or Lor Han Kor (a drink made from Buddha's fruit) was. Makes it all the more fun for me to introduce those dishes to them. Of course, the first step would be memorizing the name, and to them, it's all rocket science. Lor Han Kor became Lor Hong Kong, and Long Kong, even Long Kang -_-''

Now, I had left the window for YouTube open since my friends wanted to listen to some Chinese Songs and I only have like 4 Chinese songs in my laptop, so I played songs from there instead. Blasting Gong Xi Fa Chai songs are quite irritating to me. I'm not that chinese after all, but my friend D, seemed to have a pretty good time singing along to the words of that blasted song, rocking his head from side to side.(he's Malay btw). Anyway, when the others arrived, they started searching for lion dance videos on YouTube and that's when they all got stuck. Eating good Chinese food and watching lion dance and imitating them as well *rolls eyes. I had asked all of those who were coming to wear red for the gathering, and you can imagine more than 10 people, crowding in a tiny room, all wearing red, must have been pretty confusing for the people outside passing by. They kept asking me what's going on, especially those who weren't Malaysians.

Dinner was followed up by another chinese tradition, Gambling! Of course we didnt really gamble. I distributed my collection of kopeks (russian coins) and considered them as chips. One chip was worth a million just to spice things up. We played Cho Tai Ti (big two), Gim, and my all time favourite Poker. We played up to 12am before we decided to call it a day. Our 2nd semester officially started on the 7th. And seeing as how I'm typing this post at such a time, it just means that I didnt wake up in time to go for my classes. To hell with it, it's Chinese New Year after all! Gong Xi Fatt Choy to all!