How I Celebrated Chinese New Year In The UK – ‘There’s no such thing as Chinese New Year here in the UK’, some said to me; but the beautiful festive just went on as usual with good food, gambling & friends, minus the receiving of Ang Bao and the reunion with family & friends back in hometown. The feeling before Chinese New Year was quite depressing, especially a few days before, when you see people posting status about heading back hometown, posting photos of CNY decorations and the preparation for this festive.
However, the festive feeling turned on when I changed up a set of clothing, and went for a good meal with a bunch of Malaysian-friends who were in the same situation of not getting to celebrate Chinese New Year. The family back in the hometown got to eat a good meal, so do we, far away from home. The most important thing is get-together, since it’s a tradition festive, getting-together for a little bit of time is good, it’s not just just spending the whole day at work and being alone.
I shut myself from working on assignments, I stopped thinking about budget during the past CNY weekends and had a good time eating some really good meal. There’s the first ‘reunion’ dinner at a Malaysian restaurant then a KTV session on the CNY’s eve. Then I attended a Chinese New Year dinner organised by my university’s Malaysian Society and spend the night with many Malaysian on Chor 1. The celebration shifted from Newcastle to London where I had a good steamboat and drunk night, with again friends from Malaysia, but specifically, Penang. Lastly, a visit to the super-crowded Chinatown in London on Chor 3 had gave me a strong feel of the Chinese New Year atmosphere in a foreign land. A great weekend I had, and it’s time to get back to work. Happy Chinese New Year to all!
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