Chinese population all over the world will be celebrating Spring Festival (or Chinese New Year) on Feb 18. It is the year of the pig according to the Chinese Zodiac. This year Jim and I will be in Penang and Singapore for the celebrations. It will be our first time home for Spring Festival. My sisters and I are excited and looking forward to the family reunion.
Chinese New Year is my favourite holiday. It is like thanksgiving, I love thanksgiving. Away with all the gifts nonsense, and back to just sharing a lovely meal with family and friends. When I was little, I used to stay up all night on CNY eve to hear the red fire crackers go off at midnight. It is a very old chinese tradition to welcome the new year and also to rid the home of bad spirits. On CNY eve, my dad (very traditional), will ask us all to put on new cloths before going to bed. Another part of getting rid of old and bad spirits ;-).
I have always enjoyed all the little practices even though it may be silly. It is the one time in the year when the day is very different. My paternal grandfather came from China but on my maternal side of the family, my sisters and i are the 5th generation in Penang.
I think I have grown up to believe that chinese people are very superstituous on CNY. One is not suppose to wear black during CNY because it is the sign of mourning. We invite our ancestors spirit to join us for the celebration. We fold bags full of incense paper (represents money in the afterworld), and burned them for the departed love ones. Married couples will give “hong pau” (red packets will small amount of money) to children. The younger members of the family visits the elder family members normally bringing sweets and mandarin oranges with a red paper to wish good luck.
All I know is I can’t wait to be home in Penang. My mom is planning all sorts of delicious dishes. Jim and I look forward to days with temperature above 60F (summer high today for NZ). Some sunshine and a little home cooking makes a whole world of difference. I just can’t wait.
They’re suppose to be one of the elite, 5-star airlines, but so far I’m unimpressed. For the past six hours I’ve been sitting in Auckland airport listening to ever extending delays of my flight to Japan (via Hong Kong). This latest Japan trip came up quickly, and is short, so the nearly certain prospect of losing a full day bites. To sour the situation a bit more, Cathay just sent off their other Auckland->Hong Kong flight on time, with more than 100 empty seats! The ground crew here wanted to move people over, but the bean counters in Hong Kong said it would cost too much.
Hmmm… scheduled to depart in 20 minutes, but the engine is ripped open and someone atop a ladder is swapping parts out. I’m not even sure I want to get on this plane.
Well the Australian Open tennis tournament wrapped up this weekend, bringing to an end a very enjoyable two weeks of sports TV. We don’t watch much TV in the first place, and the last time I watched this much consecutive sport was probably the 1988 Summer Olympics. I don’t recall the Australian Open being a big deal in the US, for obvious seasonal reasons, but it competes against the cricket pretty well here in NZ. I have to say the coverage was very good, save for the inane post-match interviews by Jim Courier. Few commercials, sparse commentary, and the very cool Hawkeye replays were all appreciated. Our SKY TV is serving us well.
In the tennis spirit, we recently (last Dec) joined the Cashmere Tennis Club. Sounds pretty ritzy but the price was right at only $280 NZD total for the year–much less than anything we’d find in Peoria, if anything could be found. So we’re slowly getting into tennis shape by just hitting around and playing in the recreational doubles games.
In other sporting news, I was suckered into signing up for a marathon relay. Sure, the Buller Gorge Marathon offers one of the most scenic courses anywhere, but I’m far from comfortable with even the 10K I’ve signed up for. Add to it that I fly back from Japan the day before… hmmm. Oh well. As my Japanese colleague suggested in his Japanese-English: “Maybe you will die”. If you never see another post from me, you can assume something went wrong 🙂
This is the fifth attempt to catch the sight of Comet McNaught. The past 4 times have been dissappointing since the clouds just came sailing in from all directions. Finally tonight, with persistence we sight the comet. It looks very distinct in the sky, huge and brush stroke like. You’ll see from the blog a fantastic picture, which is not taken by me. Mine was a mere dot in the black sky. I thought the picture courtesy of David Headland of Oamaru, NZ will do the comet justice. I’ve also attached the picture of the Port Hills at sunset (9:30pm). I wasn’t too sure at that point if we would see the comet since there were thick clouds in the sky. Our second attempt at about 10:35pm succeeded. Finally !.
Port Hills at 9:30pm
Comet McNaught (Courtesy of David Headland, Oamaru, NZ)
Well, it seemed like 2006 was such a long year for us. A lot of trials and tribulations I must say. We moved to a different country (continent, and also hemisphere!). Both of us have had a lot of changes to adapt to. We have both traveled around NZ, Fiji, India(just me) and Japan(just Jim). We’ve traveled a lot more than we anticipated but we’ve also learned a whole lot more than we anticipated.
We look forward to 2007 at the stroke of midnight. Oh… being Chinese .. this would not really be New Year of course.. the new year would be on Feb 18. 🙂 Just Kidding. I enjoy celebrating 2 New Years.
Well friends & family….we just wanted to wish all of you:  “Happy New Year!”.
Dearest Friends and Family,
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We hope you are sharing this day with love ones. Jim and I are still looking forward to going to the beach and have a picnic if the weather cooperates.
With Love,
Angela & Jim
This is Day 4 in Auckland. I am staying at a Youth Hostel on City Road about 20 mins walk to the Auckland Harbour. The youth hostel was definitely a new experience for me. I have my own private room but we have to share the washroom on the floor. Well lucky me, 5th floor has no hot water supply so each morning I hunt from one floor to the next for an available shower. No problems, especially when I am always up by 6:30am. I know I am on a vacation but I just can’t help my internal alarm clock. Today I took a harbour cruise and a ferry to Devonport. I walked from one extinct volcanoe (Mt. Victoria) to another called North Head. My feet is killing me right now but it was well worth it. The cruise took us by the dock for the NZ America’s Cup team. The sail boats were out training so I did not manage to see them. According to the cruise guide, the Emirates sponsored the team with 30 million pounds sterling!!! That’s a whole lot of money.
I stopped by the Devonport Chocolate shop to make a small purchase and took the ferry back. For all my walking I rewarded myself with the most delectable chocolate ice cream; after all it was another 20 mins to walk back to the YHA.
Tomorrow I’ll be heading back to Christchurch. I am ready to go home and just relax. I’m not sure what I’ll do tomorrow morning and afternoon yet. I might take another ferry out to Rangitoto Island and walk up the summit or… maybe just go shopping? Anyway it’s a fun trip thus far. First time on vacation on my own and first time staying at a YHA. Two firsts, can’t beat that.
I’m sure Jim is having as much fun in the Tucson Proving Grounds :-).
Day 1: Maritime Museum
Day 2: Parnell, Ponsonby, Victoria Market, Auckland Museum
Day 3: Waitakere Range, Kitekite Falls, Piha Beach (Surfers Beach), Rain Forest Walk
Day 4: Harbour Cruise, Devonport (Mt. Victoria, & North Head)
Day 5: ?, Fly home to Christchurch
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The over-the-air news here consists of news hours on the four major channels. SKY (satellite) TV adds BBC, CNNI and their own SKY news. Starting today, SKY subscribers will be able to try Fox News, 24 hours a day on its own dedicated channel.
I was not particularly excited about Fox News even in the US, and I think BBC and CNNI are much more interesting, but I look forward to seeing the Kiwi reaction to this very US slanted/styled type of news channel. My prediction: they’ll think it is silly and another example of the Yanks losing the plot. I can’t really defend it though. It’s the premier night for Fox News in NZ, and there is a long list of very serious stories unfolding, so after work I flipped it on to see what they chose to air. Answer: Natalie Holloway. So much for that idea.
Some people might get into the talk shows, but I doubt it because the topics are so steeped in US politics.
The US news market couldn’t care less about the 2011 rugby world cup and the resulting Auckland stadium drama… nor the recent overhaul of the NZ National Party leadership. Likewise, I don’t know why NZ would care about the latest flap over what some senator said in some speech somewhere, none of which affects them. (And I don’t know why anyone anywhere cares to follow the Natalie Holloway story.) We’ll see.
Thanksgiving is one of the American holidays that we enjoy most. Tonight we celebrated Thanksgiving in NZ with our neighbours (the Meyers) and a couple of friends (the Russells). Our neighbour and I planned to have a joint Thanksgiving dinner a couple of weeks ago. Everything was quite relaxed, and no fuss. Fiona made scalloped potatoes, peas, asparagus and a beautiful center peace for the table; Ngaira made dinner rolls, apple pie, and kiwi roasted chicken with stuffing, and I made roast chicken (American Turkey trimmings), pumpkin pie and mulled apple cider. The Meyers offered their house for the occasion. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we ate to our heart’s content. The food was delicious, and the company was most enjoyable. It is wonderful to be able to share an American tradition here in New Zealand. (Including our own tradition of forgetting to serve the cranberry sauce four years running 🙂 )
NZ Life