Chinese New Year, Weddings and Work

Yes, work. It used to be a four-letter word to me but now my time is up and I have been recruited in to the massed ranks of city workers in Singapore. It all happened very quickly (although I am still awaiting the contract, but I'm sure that will be sorted soon). One day I'm browsing LinkedIn, next thing I'm being offered a job (a week ago today in fact) that, in principal at least, is exceeding all my expectations. I say in principal because I don't officially start until Monday week. But I have already attended a (phone conference) tender meeting and held my first interview for staff. So you could say things are proceeding at speed. I'll blog more about it when I start but sufficed to say I'm excited, a little apprehensive, excited and quite excited!

The reason I'm starting next Monday (amongst other things) is that Thursday sees the celebration of Chinese (Lunar) New Year. Quite the biggest event on a calendar that is already pretty crowded with big events. Chinese New Year (CNY), this year is being celebrated on 3 and 4 February and will go on until about 15 February (the like to make it big!). I must admit I'm not sure what to expect as unlike with Western celebrations, CNY is also about reflection and spending time with friends and relatives. Indeed, I have already seen the grandparents and possibly even great-grandparents being shipped into our condo to come and spend time with their kids and grand-kids. I am also aware that the majority of shops (most being Chinese owned) will close over the period. With this in mind, T and I set off to Cold Storage to get the essentials in before this happens. It's amazing how many essentials one needs when confronted by possible closure of the shops for two whole days! Not to mention the fact that Mary will be off for three out of four days this week (what are we going to do without her?!). So we bought everything we need I(and mostly don't need), and trotted home.  Tomorrow night we'll see in CNY with some brand spanking new friends from Perth (Australia, not Scotland), who have been kind enough to invite us over for dinner (Chinese of course), and a few drinks. I'm not expecting too much noise, firecrackers etc, but I'm sure their will be some at some point. Just need to find out when and where. And definitely have to find some Dragon Dancing. One thing we are going to do, hopefully, is get the kids down to Marina Bay to see the River Hongbao and watch the firework display to see in The Year of the Rabbit.

 If the Chinese can't put on a good display then who can, huh? The kids will be getting their hong bao (little red envelopes with token money inside for good luck and prosperity), but don't tell them, it's a surprise. Even 'Uncle' who they've befriended will be getting a card. It's a big ol' celebration here.
Saturday sees us off to a wedding in Little India. We were kindly invited by web-presence guru Prakash who owns Yolk (he's gotta get a plug after the invite). The ceremony is to be held at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Singapore and should be great fun. Interestingly, it was the starting point of the Thaipusam festival from two weeks ago. The temple is spectacular from the outside but I didn't go in which I was disappointed about on the day. This should more than make up for it. It will be (unsurprisingly), my first Hindu wedding and frankly I'm pretty excited. Definitely expect some big photos from that one!

Anyway, until next time,

Gong Xi Fa Cai - Happy New Year! - 新年快樂