Another CNY

This was my third CNY here.

CNY here is different from CNY at home.

There is no new clothes, and no ang pows, no decorations etc. We also did not have the usual CNY food like lap chiong, cookies, etc. Most of these things could be bought here, but they are very expensive. Moreover, this year, the 1st day of CNY fell in the middle of the week, where it is just another normal working day.

Nevertheless, we had friends over for a steamboat. Steamboat is becoming a norm for us, I guess. It is the simplicity of wash, cut, dump and eat. That leaves a lot of time for talk talk talk. And this is also the "dish" which allowed us to have chicken, pork, fish, cuttlefish, prawns, crab.. etc without sweating it out or burn a deep hole in the pocket.

Yes, there is something missing. In fact, I found that I could hardly "detect" or "feel" another year had passed. Time just seem to flow continuously, without some punctuations which mark the beginning of another year. Every day is just another day. The only sign of passing time is the change of seasons. Change of activities. Change in the clothes you need to wear. Change in the number of hours you need to sleep. And as winter is coming to a close, the cherry trees begin to blossom.

That is life... am I missing anything?