Yes yes I know, its 2009. In fact, its 2 days into 2009. And I’m late in blogging these things. The title is actually courtesy of a client I visited (and collected data from) prior to 1st Jan.
She didn’t qualify demographically, so I cheerfully said “Happy New Year” and was about to leave, when she said “but you don’t celebrate New Year‽” I could feel the interrobang piercing my skin. I turned around and asked her what she meant. Our conversation went something like this:
Me: What do you mean I don’t celebrate New Year?
Her: You’re… Chinese? Japanese?
Me: Chinese
Her: Yeah, you celebrate Chinese New Year, don’t you?
Me: Of course.
Her: So you don’t celebrate like our… New Year
Me: What makes you think so?
Her: You’re Chinese.
Me: And I celebrate New Year. Usually by, you know, drinking, and stuffing myself till I explode and then act like a hoon [this was dripping with sarcasm]
Her: Oh, you’ve been here long?
Me: Yep.
Her: Oh. That explains it.
Me: Yep. Ta. Happy New Year!
Then I walked away. Here’s a confession tho: I don’t celebrate. To me, 1st of January is just another day. With fireworks. And if I can be bothered, I’ll spend a couple of hours taking photos. Else, it’s doing the usual stuff. I don’t see extra grounds for celebration.
Today, it’s my turn to say the same: “But You Don’t Celebrate New Year‽” (Interrobang and all!)
My colleague, a fun caucasian dude said “Come New Year, I’m going to stuff myself with char siew pau”. I was like.. wtf? Turns out he’s half Chinese (on his mother’s side). XD.
Oh, and again, today, I found out the usefulness of being multilingual. Think Howard Wolowitz (again, to those who don’t watch Big Bang Theory, I pity you). Though I did keep my hands to myself. Silkrose, you’d be proud of me too.
