Year of the Monkey
Thursday, 22 January, 2004
For Chinese New Year, we had dinner at a French restaurant because my dad reckoned that the Chinese ones would be way too crowded. He does have a good point but I was looking forward to eating that fungus whose name sounds like “Happy Chinese New Year!”. I thought I would be daring and try something new so I had rabbit for my main course. We were dining with my father, my stepmother (Helena) and her mother. Uncle Derek is still in hospital. He has water in his lungs and apparently the only way to get rid of it is to slowly cough it up. He's quite grateful to be alive—says he didn't want to go just yet—and has vowed to shout us all a big banquet when he gets out. From all reports, he seems quite keen to leave and has been trying to get his wife to bring him food which he really shouldn't eat because of his diabetes. Helena surprised me by thanking me for prompting her to do mouth-to-mouth/CPR. She said she really remembers my voice telling her to do this and then do that. I am still shocked at how calm I was when the whole thing happened. I'm a little sick of telling the story over and over; I know Ben is totally over even mentioning it when people ask us about our Christmas and he's started referring to Uncle Derek as being a “distant relative”. Anyways, this year is the Year of the Monkey (the other animals can be found here). If you are turning 12/24/36/48, etc., this is your year. According to my dad and Helena, you have to take extra care when it's your year because, apparently, you are more prone to sickness and other stuff. I don't really understand why but then I don't understand a lot of things about Chinese culture, like why it's unlucky to get married in the month following Chinese New Year, why it's auspicious to start work at a certain hour on a certain day to begin the new year in the best possible way, and why eating fungus is on Chinese New Year is good. And, especially, why, if eating fungus is lucky, we went out to a French restaurant. Tomorrow we're having another Chinese New Year celebratory dinner with my mum and Peter. Still no fungus. Maybe next year.Posted in:
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I just don’t understand why anyone would eat fungus at all
Guess I have a lot to learn about Chinese culture then!
Coach tour friends took me for an attempt at a Chinese New Year feast in Taupo (NZ). They brought out this enormous fish, complete with eyes and spines and teeth and wide gaping mouth. And they wouldn’t let me leave until I was so stuffed I could barely move. It was excellent!
How do you unite your Christianity with those superstitions?
Simple: I don’t.
Good stuff. I was slightly alarmed at all the references.
It would make a good scene in a movie, Uncle Derek at a Christmas party, drinking beer sees something on the bottom of the pool and goes down for it. The innocence of the situation and near tragic consequences juxtapose each other making it more interesting. But I’m sure you would need more story around it!