Chinese New Year's Eve & New Year's Day

Pepsi markets 2 new soft drinks for the Chinese New Year. This picture was taken at a local grocery store where I volunteered to enter a contest and try out the new drinks. After all the volunteers took a drink, we had to do a Kung Fu pose. The two best poses won Pepsi prizes such as t-shirts, sweaters, etc. I didn't win the contest, and since I don't drink soda - I didn't like the new drinks...however I got to take this cool picture with all of the Pepsi marketers.



I helped in the preparation of the traditional 'Reunion Dinner' by de-heading & peeling shrimp, cutting veggies, and wrapping dumplings for the soup.




The house is festively decorated. Mandarin Oranges are placed neatly on a large plate. (Mandarin oranges symbolize wealth and good fortune for the coming year.)





Dinner is served! The first picture has all the veggies, seafood, and tofu that is suppose to go into the pot of boiling soup. The second picture has the condiments that can be added to the pot for extra flavoring. Yummy!





After the reunion dinner, the family catches up on the past year's events by viewing a slide show of pictures. These pictures were projected onto the wall. The kids were bored by the slide show and they focus their attention on a Gameboy.



Huilin and her Grandma



On the morning of Chinese New Year, I received my first "Lucky Red Packet".
Thanks Grandma!

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To all those that celebrate the Lunar New Year....

Hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating the next 15 days!

Here in Malaysia, I've been fortunate to take part in a traditional 'Reunion dinner' on New Year's Eve with a Chinese/Malaysian family. The reunion dinner is where the family goes to the eldest child's house on New Years Day I participated in the custom of offering tea to the Grandmother, and I received 8 "Lucky Red Packets" from various family members that came to visit Grandma's house.

On Friday, (the 3rd day of Chinese New Year), I'll be back at Grandma's house to see a traditional 'Dragon Dance' performed by a local youth group that collects money from their shows and donates it to charities. Look for these pictures in the next few days.