It is Lunar New Year, the new year celebration of many Asian households (at least, my family/local community has just wrapped up celebrating yesterday). I don’t know if I’m at an age where I’m just more aware of how much I don’t know or if I just never really know anything culturally, but I feel like I’ve learned a lot this week.
For example, one of my friends that I’ve made in the grad program is Filipino, and she was telling me about how there are also elements attached to the zodiac animal of the year. This year is apparently the year of the water rabbit. Then, the computer in my apartment complex is the thing that informed me that for the Vietnamese, this is actually the year of the cat. I originally thought it was just clickbait, but when I asked my parents, they said it was true.
So this just might be the year of learning for me. Today, we’re going to dive into my weekend, which has reminded me to be grateful for how lucky I am to live the life that I have.
Farewell Friday
Not only was this the last normal-feeling day of the year, but I was also sending my boyfriend off to work. You might think I’m being sappy, but I wasn’t just sending him off for the day. He was flying out for work and wasn’t going to be back for a week.
It might feel worse if I didn’t have my own life going on. Right after I dropped him off at the airport, I had a work meeting to attend. After working, I went to hole up in my apartment underneath the mountain of homework I have (present and past tense). There was a visit to the grocery store to get stuff so that I could feed myself, and a trip to the gym. Then back to the apartment until my sister brought me dinner and spent the night.
My Super Packed Saturday
It wasn’t packed because we had planned it to be, it just happened that way. We slept in because she came over late, then we went out to get breakfast before we went shopping. Shopping would’ve lasted longer if I didn’t have my own prior engagement. I had volunteered to photograph an event for a local nonprofit.
My sister came as my assistant, and afterwards we went to get dinner together before driving home. It was important for us to get home before midnight to be with the family, for superstitious reasons, and we made it.
A Sweet Sundae
Yes, the misspelling is intentional. Even though I ended up working, I had made plans to see some of my best friends from high school afterwards. We went to get Dairy Queen, because we all love ice cream. I couldn’t think of a sweeter way to end the weekend than having Ashlee order me her signature Blizzard.
Are you superstitious? How do you celebrate Lunar New Year? What is your go-to order at Dairy Queen? I would love to know your answers in the comments below!
As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read this blog. If you enjoyed what you read, please make sure to let me know by liking this post, commenting your thoughts below, and sharing it with your friends. And of course, you always have the power to make my day by subscribing to this blog, which means that you will be updated anytime I put out more posts like this one.
Happy Lunar New Year from me to you!
Kristi My
Kristi My Dao 