Love From Malaysia

Look what I received from the mailbox today?  A Chinese New Year greeting card, all the way from Malaysia!

This isn't just a simple card, the sender took the time to write in 2 languages.  She cut, glued, drew, and gathered all the relevant Chinese new year symbols and pictures from print media and made a little booklet.  I believe her intention is to educate and refresh the boys' memories of how the most important festival is being celebrated by the Chinese.

Living away from Asia makes it challenging to upkeep the various Chinese festivals here.  It doesn't help that there isn't a Chinatown in Germany, unlike in London, where Chinese New Year is observed and loudly celebrated.  Cards like these are rare nowadays, considering the modern way is to send an eCard or  greetings via emails, or exchanging greetings through video conference calls.  

The efforts, time and thoughts behind this card are very much appreciated.  It gives the boys a chance to touch and flip the pages, read the words aloud, and point out the various Chinese characters they have learnt in school (Chinese class).  The whole process helps rekindle their interest and pique their curiosity for the occasion that their Chinese mother dismissed dishearteningly last year.  There wasn't no ambience here for the simplest form of celebration, especially so when school carries on as usual.  Then, I knew not even a single soul from Singapore living here, that added to my then lack of motivation.  Then, they also haven't begun their Chinese class, so they had zero exposure to anything that is related to Chinese cultures.

This year, I will participate in a big Chinese New Year dinner organised by the Singapore community here and another private one which my friend and I are organising.  Christophe won't be here with us, in fact, he will be flying in a couple of days.  This time, I will be on my own for a month and he would be back just in time to celebrate his eldest son's 12th birthday, who coincidentally, has shot up overnight and is now standing as tall as me.

Thanks to this card, my boys now are getting notably in touch with their Chinese roots, so they know when to ask for an ang pow on the eve of Chinese New Year.

It is a good sign.  It is a good, auspicious sign.  My heartfelt thanks to the Tan family.