HOME!

Home is a wonderful place to be. Especially in times of celebrations such as Chinese New Year. This trip back was wonderfully surprising and I'm so glad my plan worked out just fine. I surprised me mommy, and all me other relatives.

Especially my grandparents. Weee...! My grandpa came in the door, I hugged him and said "Kiong Hee Huat Zhai!". He hugged back, then suddenly jerked back and went "EH???!!". So hilarious. Then came my gramma who was a little behind my grampa and she started pointing and skipping, saying "Eh zhi kiok zha bo to lo ui chut lai eh?" (translated to: this girl came out from where?).

So kiut la the both of them. Then I have other relatives, who were a bit less bewildered, but surprised with my presence anyway. But I must say, my mom's reaction was the funniest of all.

You see, Sheng and Boy went to the airport to fetch me home. Then when I was outside the gate and I called my mom.
Me: Hello mama!
Mom: Harlo.
Me: Ni zhai na li? (Where are you?)
Mom: Ma zhai jia loh, hai zhai na li? (At home la, where else?)
Me: Oh, zhe yang jiu hao, chu lai kai men gei wo. (Oh that's good, come out and open the door for me.)
Mom: Kai she me men? (Open what door?)
Me: Kai jia de men lah! (Open the house door lah!)
Mom: Ni bu yao kai wan siao la, kai she me jia men? (Don't joke lah, open what house door?)
Me: Wo mei you kai wan siao, ni chu lai kan! (I'm not joking, you come out and have a look!)
Mom comes out to the door, I wave, Mom opens door.
Mom: Ni zhen yang hui lai de? Ha? Zhen yang hui lai de?? (How did you come back? How?)
Then she starts whacking me for not telling her, complaining bout how I didn't tell her earlier so she could plan such and such.

Hee hee hee...Stage 1 completed, then I pakated with her to not tell anyone else, and the next day surprised my brother, and the day after my godmother and my uncle and the day day after every other relative. =)

Anyway, surprise story aside, Chinese New Year this year is full of puns. Yes, puns. Like Happy NIU (Cow) Year to replace the Happy NEW Year lah. Have an OXpicious new year, instead of the regular AUSpicious lah. Wah...all these puns these days. Very creative I must say.

Anywho, collected my share of ang pows, enjoying the holidays and the food back home. Hahaha...I tell you I must be sooo accustomed to the Aussie food prices that everything seems super cheap when I come back! First day back we went to this upper class coffee shop to have some noodles and tea. The bill came up to RM19.95 which is fairly expensive for a light lunch for two, but I converted it, and it turned out to be AUD6+ and I was laughing my head off at how ridiculously cheap it was.

Anyhow, it's been great to be home. And I will sorely miss it for a good eight months or so when I leave in ten days. =( I don't want to leave, I don't want to be away from me mommy, I don't want to be away from family, I don't want to be away from the friends that I've gotten so close to in the past few years. But for my future's sake, I've got to. Good thing is, I still have close friends there, who I can call "family" too. =)