We're in the midst of Chinese New Year here, aka Spring Festival, and enjoying the two days of public holiday (though, like Christmas in the States, it can be tough going for those wanting to go to the store, a restaurant, catch a cab, etc.). Celebrating in Singapore is different than what I've experienced in China, though the core elements are the same-- family gatherings at the elders' homes, big sumptuous meals, lots of oranges and other auspicious items, and little red envelopes, or hongbaos, for the young ones. For not having any family in Singapore, Dewi still did pretty well in the hongbao department this year, thanks to some nice "aunties" and "uncles." And we were lucky enough to join family friends in their New Year's Day dinner, which was a lot more exciting than eating pasta in our apartment (read: chilli crabs, pepper crabs, crab soup). We'd talked about buying Dewi a little qipao-- after all, baby-size anything is cute, and she is one quarter Chinese. But it would have been kind of lame to dress her up only to hang out at home because we don't really celebrate. Still, we're going to be here for a few more years, so at some point we'll have to really do it up, decorate our house, stock up on oranges, hand out hongbaos, and maybe even buy one of those dried pig legs hanging in the markets. Ok, the pig leg would be going too far...
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