Chinese New Year

its that time of the year again when chinese people in my local area get together and celebrate chinese new year, as a child I used to love this time of the year, as i get money and we as a family would go and eat then watch chinese lion dancing and firecrackers in Chinatown.

Nowadays its packed with tourists making it very difficult to see anything, so I dont bother going to Chinatown during the celebrations.

I was born in the Year of the Tiger, like one of my sons, that probably explains why I have a soft spot for tigers.

Although first and foremost I am a Muslim,I am extremely proud of being Chinese, we have a lot of history and culture (just ignore the human rights abuses in China for one moment), we have tacky chinese dramas and music like everyone else and a lovely colourful language (which unfortunately my children haven;t picked up) as well as weird little nuances that make a person distinctly "Chinese"

Since becoming a Muslim, one of the things I do miss is eating out at Chinese restaurants as most of the food is off the menu, there are a few halal restaurants that do serve Chinese food, but they are not authentic! I dont miss eating the pork though, no matter how many times people try and tell me it tastes nice, I was never a fan of spare ribs, I was more a Chicken person anyway!

My nephew went to visit Chinatown with his school and when he came back I told him I was chinese, he didnt believe me, he said I look like a Muslim, when I tell my kids I am Chinese, my son said im not yellow im an orange colour!
They had a Chinese New Year assembly at my son's school last week, I couldnt go because I was at Uni, but my son told me they made a red dragon out of paper and that he would be holding it up and swaying it back and forth with his classmates. He didnt enjoy the experience as he wanted to hold the dragon's head, so he (as i was told) spent the time holding the dragon with a miserable look on his face.