Monday, February 14, 2005

After new year

I'm back from the new year holiday. It was ok. The most interesting thing is I saw some of my old friends that I had never seen them for two or three years. They are my high school classmates. It cheered me up. Actually I was the one who hardly contact with them. I live in the north now, so I can't hang out with them often. We didn't talk much because it was a little late and I can't stay outside long. It was really good memory for me.

This new year wasn't too much different from before. We prepared worship and celebration like the past years. My parents were always busy for going to market, cooking, cleaning house. And me and my brother were always sleeping late and watching TV for a long time. Actually for me, new year in Taiwan is quite boring, compared with other asian countries. Anyway, in the new year's eve, my family sat together for dinner. We had hot pot like usual. It indicates family union. After that, I handed out red envelops to my parents. I didn't have much money, only wanted to wish them a better year and keeping healthy. I was surprised my brother also gave me one. It was said if people has been working or has had salary, they can't be given envelops. Well, for me, I don't care. I need it.:)

Usually in the new year's eve,children need to stay overnight for their parents. It's said their parents would live longer. For my family, we don't believe it. But we usually watch TV overnight during new year, so it doesn't have much differences.:)

We go to a temple nearby in the first day of new year. Like always, when we went there this time, it was very crowdy, but less than before. The temple has completed for refurbishing. And it looks a little strange, because the temple were changed to some kind of indian style. It was Chinese buddism and now change to indian one...

In the second day, we went to my mom's family. My grandpa was happy to see us. After the lunch and drinking a bit, he started talking his past again. Sometimes I even couldn't recognize what he was talking about, just nodding. He still looks very healthy. Maybe that's because he got a very labor job when he was young. He made cooking knifes, only with a big oven and a hammer.

Firework is less and less to be used these few years. The government ban it strictly. However, it is dangerous and fun. And it presented some parts of traditional festival celebration in Asia. Hm...maybe in the future, you could see more firework in Holland than here.

Categories: Refections


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