Gong Xi

It's interesting how you do not realise how much you'll miss something until you actually have to miss it. 

It's the Lunar New Year again, and I think this will be the very first time I have not been with family. It's strange. 

Of course there's the other 'extended' Asian family here, but still. 

I miss family and home. 

It's true. 

It's also interesting how much more Asian and Chinese I feel now over here. 

I was just telling someone that somehow, the non-Chinese-ness of a place can sometimes bring out the Chinese-ness in someone. It certainly made me a whole lot more Chinese. I felt more Chinese last night than I prolly ever did. 

See? I even used the word Chinese more times in a paragraph than is healthy, or 'politically correct'.  

Again, strange. 

Anyway, what was initially planned out to be a nice quiet dinner gathering among Chinese & Koreans ( we both celebrate the exact same new year ) on board quickly turned into a great feast for the entire LogosHope ( and friends ) company. 

It was fun painting the 'town' red and helping to cook up a storm for the great Lunar New Year eve Dinner we had on board. We even got everyone to dress in bright colours ( red/orange ) or "if they had their chinese suits ( cheongsam et al ) they should wear them to dinner". 

And a great big feast it was! We had Korean "Bulgogi"( sliced beef ) and "Dung Pa Yuk" ( sweet pork ) with rice (courtesy of Korean "Chef" Paul Kim) mixed vegetables Chinese Style, and for a small table, some 'home-made' CharSiew ( courtesy of Malaysian "chef" Yen Yen ) . We even had mandarin oranges aplenty with red table clothes, and chinese new year songs for ambience-- - it certainly felt like the CNYs we all had back in Msia/ Singapore/ HK/ Canada/ Taiwan/ Australia. 

It was a good learning experience for the non-Chinese parts of the ship, and for the yellow-skinned people - it was a time of bonding, working together, and taking pride & finding identity in our culture and heritage. 

Pictures! :

Red Lanterns  Canggih, no? heh. 

Entrance to the Logos Hope Dining Hall, Chinese-ized ( or defaced? heh ) 

It almost looks as though you can order Chinese take-aways from here. 

AdHoc Deco Team : Taiwanese, Korean, Malaysian, Singaporean, Canadian, Australian 

AngPow! MikeHey ( Logos Hope Director ) giving Malaysians Ang Pow 

( courtesy of OM Malaysia, thank you very much! :) ) 

Gong Xi Fa Cai! 

This is a politically correct sign. :) 

Happy New Year all!