Not really. But back when I was a kid living with my parents, we’d get the red envelopes and go see the local firecrackers and lion dance lol

Yeah we usually cook up some big meals and invite family over.

And there’s always something going on in the city to celebrate.

Time to bust out the áo dài!

When I was a kid, I remember we just do family gatherings when I was in NYC.

Like its sometimes consists of:

-visiting the paterna grandparents senior home (not assisted living, as in: you live independently, but in a building full of seniors) in Manahattan (we lived in Brooklyn, some relatives were in Queens. Its the 4 children of my paternal grandparents: My father and my 3 aunts (aka: dad’s 3 younger sisters). The oldest aunt, Stephenie, is the one that filed the petition so her brother, aka: my father could immigrate to the US.

-Going to restaurants. I remember the one we go to VERY OFTEN in Manhattan Chinatown, its called 金豐. My grandpa went there so often and knew people there. So the restaurant is always full all the time and people literally have to take a number and wait for their turn… lmfao… and they kick you out if you sit there too long chatting and not ordering food. (cuz they chat in the restaurant all day long lmfao) I hated to be in the restaurant after I’m done eating, since its boring… I didn’t have a smartphone back then.

-紅包 Red Envelopes… which gets confiscated as soon as I get home ahem I mean my mother “hold on it for me… FOR COLLEGE” 😭

-I remember one time my Brooklyn public school did a thing where they ordered food from a chinese restaurant and you’d eat that for lunch and not eat the shitty school lunch. It’s like everyone pays like… $5-$10 or something… forgot and its catering to an entire class… or maybe a few classes… idk if the other 2nd grade classes also did this. But that was AWESOME…

I was hoping for a No School, NYC proposed adding Lunar New Year as a holiday, but it wasn’t actually a policy when I was in NYC. Not sure if they have it now.

So some of my ethnic Chinese classmates didn’t go to school, BUT I REMEMBER MY MOM FORCING ME TO GO TO SCHOOL ANYWAYS, EVEN THO THERE WASN’T ANYTHING TO LEARN 😭😭😭

And worst of all, my usual “friends” weren’t there, so I felt so alone with a bunch of Gwailos kids (Gwailo means “foreigners”/“outsiders” anyone non-Asian-looking, its not meant to be deogratory btw)

-I think we visited Chinatown very often… I was so bored all the time… just being DRAGGED (not literally, but you know what I mean) around by my mom to various stores to buy stuff… sometimes Traditional Chinese Medicine stuff, no phone at the time…

I was so bored just at the fucking TCM store for like HALF AN HOUR lol

Now we are in Philly and mostly just chill at home.

We visited NYC sometimes… its a 2 hour drive… sometimes we took the busses there… but as we got older, I don’t go anymore… Never felt too close to paternal grandparents… I don’t even talk to them… but my older brother does…

I don’t remember what food we ate for new years…

But I think there is a 團圓飯 Family Reunion meal at like Lunar New Year’s Eve or something? Then they watch 春晚 CCTV TV Program which I hated except for the magic trick segment, but now I don’t even care for that.

So weird… I still live with my family of origin but I don’t even really have conversations anymore… I don’t think we ever had like a deep discussion beyond the basics, where to eat, what to eat, what restautant, are you happy or sad, remember when we used to do X thing… no deep conversations… :(

I can only express complex thoughts in English… but when my mom attempts to use English it sounds so cringe and awkward…

So yeah… language barrier with parents… what a fun incarnation this life being a child immigrant… this experience has been… so weird…

I think I’d just be doing the usual “Chilling at home” except my mom is gonna want to to eat downstairs instead of being in my room all day. 🫠

So much anxiety…