A white Chinese new year

It is snow white and icy cold, yet I am perspiring. Being unnaturally unable to adapt to winter, the tropical blood that runs in my veins is no help when it comes to keeping warm in a snow storm. Hence I threw on one too many jumper when rushing to the bus terminal to catch my noon bus to Philadelphia. And now,I am sweating like a pig wishing I can just pull off the extra jumper I am wearing without looking like a complete hyperthyroid idiot.

It is the time of the year again, when the weather is miserably cold outside, yet the warmth of family is not present to balance off the icy cold loneliness. Not that I am alone, no. I am surrounded with many blessed friends and loved ones and I am fortunate for that. But nothing beats having family around. Being in the other end of the computer screen doesn't cut it. Staring at pictures doesn't help either. Today this year is the second of many continuous years to come where I am not home for new years, the biggest celebration in the Chinese tradition.

It is not like there is a celebration for me to return to this year. Having lost both grandmothers in the past year, celebrating is a big taboo. Instead, we should've mourning. And yes I mourn indeed. I mourn the wish of having my grandmothers praise me and be proud of me when I graduate as an official doctor being washed away. I mourned not being able to stuff cold hard cash from my first paycheck into their pockets. I mourn the jealous feeling I feel when other grandparents giving approving nods to other grandkids when they graduate from high school. Because I am so much more.

This Chinese new year is going to be a season of mixed feelings. The feeling of emptiness I have since my parents' departure 1 week ago, the feeling of being fortunate because I still have a steamboat dinner with loving friends, the feeling if longing to be home, the feeling of uncertainty in the next year when I am working alone in a foreign place. But on top all,I still embrace the Chinese new year spirit. Because I am brought up by staunch Chinese parents, and well brought up indeed, that the turn of a year always brings about hope, and a new beginning. It brings about prosperity, luck, good fortune, and endless health. Many four syllable idioms in the Chinese saying dictates what a good year ahead should be, and will be.

Hence, I wish everyone a very happy dragon year indeed. May the turn of the year bring families and friends together, bring good health to everyone, and signifies gradual continuous success in ones undertakings.

Happy Chinese New Year.

The interview trail thus far.

Finally manage to find time to sort out the pictures sitting in my camera for ages. I realize that some of these pictures date all the way back to start of my interview trail! So here is a pictorrheae post!

Baltimore

Chicago

Please pardon the low resolution pictures because I 

forgot my camera during that trip and had to resort to my Ipad.

Atlanta

Boston

That's about it =)

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. . . . . .

. . . . . and that is why Christmas of 2011 becomes even more so special to me. 

I am never a big Christmas person. My family never had the tradition of celebrating Christmas the way it is supposed to be celebrated, you know, with the exchange of presents, and huge meat loafs, and turkey. We don't even eat beef to begin with. Christmas to us always meant vacation time because it was the only time of the year my dad can take days off work without actually using much leaves days. So we developed the tradition of taking family pictures of Christmas Trees instead in different countries. 

This year was no exception of course. 

Christmas Tree at Hotel Pennsylvania Lobby.

Christmas in New York is the place to be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NOT. If you're looking for a nice surrounding to spend some quality time with family, New York is definitely not the place to be. It was extremely crowded, not to mention expensive to eat/travel/stay in New York. To me, the big apple will always be the big apple, Christmas or not, counting down to the ball or not. However, this year, my family made New York special. 

Oh here is an obligatory picture of the Rockerfeller tree because Christmas + New York somehow equates to the tree. 

It was as usual congested, and extremely crowded. If you zoom this picture "out" 2 times you can see me elbowing 20 other tourist trying to take this beautiful shot of the tree. 

My family was of course, ecstatic to be in the States. Kinda like how I felt when I first stepped into the big city of NYC and was surrounded by skyscraper high billboards and flashing lights all over the streets and crazy tall buildings all jam packed into a small square of a city block. I wanted my family's experience to be the same, and so I rampaged through the crowd with my family so that they could have the best pictures and memories captured. 

And to me, those pictures are the best! Best pictures I have ever captured. Although my visit to the big city has led me to be almost "sien" of the city, and I have countless pictures of Times Square sitting in my hard drive at home, being able to be with my family, in New York, with the flashing lights, in one picture, no matter how blur or how poor quality the picture is, makes the picture priceless. 

On Christmas day morning, I whipped out a flimsy plastic bag from the dollar store, and shoved a poorly sewn thin red meshy cloth into the hands of each individual member of my family. And they happily wore it on for the whole day!

I was pretty impressed with the shop decorations though. And even the house decorations. These people went crazy trying to be creative with the decorations. And I have to say, I'm impressed! So are the many million New Yorkers and the thousands of tourist because I have to ward off so many people for a picture!

Tommy and Fendi stores.

Houses in Brooklyn

Big Santa sitting at the front porch of a house.

Another crazily decorated house. 

Now you get why I say crazy. The amount of $$$$$ spent on these decors!

Unfortunately, this year's winter is a relatively warm one. The temperature was and still is hovering around 5C to 15C, no where near "winter-ish", very much to my sister's disappointment because I told her she could make a snow angel when it was still summer. The weather remained extremely dry, cold, occasional annoying showers, crazy wind, but no snow. 

But despite the wind, it didn't stop us from making a trip to the 911 memorial on Christmas day. 

Visiting the 911 memorial on Christmas is actually kinda weird. Because it is supposed to be a day for celebration not for grief. Well, things did not go exactly as I had planned it. I actually wanted to leave visiting the 911 memorial till the day after Christmas when my family and I are headed down south to visit the attractions there. But I did not realize that entering the memorial grounds require pre-booked tickets online, which are free anyways, but that posed as a problem since the tickets for Dec 26th are fully booked for the whole day, leaving only one miserable 5pm slot on Christmas day the only time available. So we had to go out of our way to visit the memorial.

But the trip was worth it. There definitely is a very peaceful yet sad aura inside the grounds where the World Trade Center used to be. Reading the names of the victims engraved around the beautifully sculpted waterfall pool made my dad felt so touched he actually bought a mug from the gift shop because he found it meaningful. In fact the video they played in the gift shop made so many people cry. 

Nonetheless, the day ended on a happier note. 

 My first broadway show in NYC. I know I know, I've been so busy throughout med school I never had the time to watch any plays. Poor momsy and daddy doesn't really like the singing and dancing, and were jet-lagged, and was tired from the whole day's journey, they actually dozed off a couple times. Haha. I told them they're paying for a very expensive hotel.

That was my amazing Christmas celebration. With family. Best day of year 2011 haha.

A little late, but better than never.

The year 2011 came and went, just like that. Time sure flies. Little did I realize that being overseas will make me be more mature, and much more busier, and at times even a little more lazier. My priorities are definitely much more different from the past. Facebook and blogging is no longer a must-do activity for me as I much rather spend some "me"-time sipping tea and watching tv. Hence the lack of updates. But nonetheless, outdated updates of my life :

The end of 2011 was indeed a journey. I have traveled and visited more cities in a short span of 2 months than I ever did in my entire life. I did grown-up things like "interviewing" for a job, and planning budget travels around America. However, the very end of 2011 was the best moment of my life. And here's why.

People from all walks of my life were reunited.

Kary and I at City Hall

Kary and I at the LOVE park.

Kary made a spontaneous drop by in Philadelphia after she was tired of seeing New York City on her grad trip. This good ol' form 3 desk buddy of mine is still the same crazy-self.

Clement and I at the Rocky statue.

The good old Singapore days fellow house-comm buddy of mine was coincidentally in the city as well. Although Philly does not have much to offer, it was definitely an escape from the hustle buzzle of New York City.

We headed down to NYC together and met up with more people!

Yan Liang, his gf Samantha, Kary, Clement and I at this yummilicious korean/japanese dessert place.

Speak about having people from all walks of life. This is a moment of a gathering of people from all walks of MY life. Haha. 

Fellow Alpha House Comm peeps reunited!

Fellow 3 Anggerik desk buddies reunited. 

Owh and this is not even the best part of 2011. The best part is  :

.

.

.

.

.

. drum rolls . . . . .

A family reunion! 

We upheld our annual family tradition of celebration New Year's eve countdown in a different place every year. This time it was in Philadelphia. 

*hearts hearts hearts*

And of course, together with the 2 people that made my life in Philadelphia much more fantastic.

Zhi Ven and Lay Queen!

Happy Belated New Years Everyone!