新年快樂!!! It's the year of the rat ... which means ... eh, I don't know what it means exactly, but yah ... :P

Anyway, currently in Chia-Yi chilling with the relatives. It's the first time I've been back here for Chinese New Year in the past four years. Relatives, especially the young cousins on my dad's side, have really changed. I couldn't recognize a lot of them last night when we went out to dinner. I was so confused because there were a lot of new faces and old faces that just looked different. So, it was a confusing night. And I was also stressing because I didn't have enough Red Envelopes for all the kiddies. So, the new faces didn't get any. >.< Oopsies. Met some cousins (or were they uncles?) that I'd never met before. It's been 22 years! And I'm just meeting them. How strange. :P

Today we went to sweep the graves of my great grandma, grandpa, and grandma. It's always a weird thing for me whenever I go because I never remember what I have to do. And 拜拜 (bai bai) isn't what I'm used to doing either. We also had to go to temples to bai bai as well, and that's even weirder for me. I'm used to having my mom just handing me the incense sticks (香 ... I don't know if that's the right word in English) and telling me to bai to whoever. Aih. It was a walk in the dark this time around without my parents here. But yah, there were like 30 people from my dad's side when we went to sweep my grandpa and great grandma's grave. Soooo many people. Crazy. Got to hear some stories about my grandpa who I didn't get to meet since he passed away before I was born, and we don't hear much about him. Those two graves were kept clean by the people who take care of the graveyard, but my grandma's is in a different location, and because it's more or less free, there's nobody to do the cleaning. So we had to weed out the grave, clear the dirt and mud from the area in front of the grave, etc. It was busy and messy work, but always interesting and an experience.

It's good to know that I've somewhat grown older and graduated from having to "build the house" to just having to collect rocks, except for when we're at our grandma's since we are still the youngest generation.

So many traditions and old stories about the family that I don't know, and I doubt I'll ever know more than 50% of them. But I guess that's why coming back once in a while is a good thing - get to learn a little bit more about the family before the ones who can tell us the stories are gone. Going back to Chia-Yi's no longer such a chore as I found it to be when I was younger. I wonder why. What's changed? Me? My mentality? Have I matured?! *Gasp* Who woulda thought. :P

Meh. Anyway, it's Chinese New Year so it's time for celebration and food! No more sad or serious thoughts. :)

Been taking lots of pictures of foods, so be prepared for a crapload of food pics when I get back to Taipei. (Edit: Too lazy to post them on the blog, so they're here at flickr .. check 'em out for food pix!)

Hope everyone has a good year of the rat! Be safe!