Happy Chinese New Year

It's the year of the rat. People born in the year of the rat are said to be hardworking, patient, systematic, assertive, they can also be cheap and manipulative.

One of the tradition I missed the most is parents or elders giving out red pockets with money in it. Chinese New Year is pretty much the X'mas of Chinese kids. I'm from Hong Kong, so I've got the best of both worlds. X'mas gifts and red pockets. I actually like the red pockets better, because I can use the cash for whatever I really wanted. But there's work involved, I actually have to go to the elders house to collect them and that takes time and patience.

It's comforting to know that ever since I left Hong Kong ten years ago, my grandma has been collecting red pockets in my name for her own us... lol. Come to think of it, she was born in the year of the rat, it would make her 84 this year, no wonder she's such a cheap skate!