每條大街小巷，每個人的嘴裏
見面第一句話，就是恭喜恭喜！
Chinese New Year is just round the corner, with 除夕 this coming Saturday. As such, last week's visit was a very festive one, complete with a skit involving all the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac and the Nian monster, CNY-themed games, and tossing 魚生 (yusheng)!
And so the narrator begins her story about the Nian monster...
Introducing the monkey (complete with bananas)!
The dragon and his dragonball.
The animals lived peacefully together, until...
This ferocious Nian monster appears towards the end of winter to ATTACK AND EAT WHATEVER IT CAN!!!
And how do you defeat such a monster? Beat drums and gongs, burn bamboo, and light fireworks to make large noises and threaten the hateful creature! Wherever the Nian monster went, it was forced to back off by the terrible noises.
The Nian monster couldn't stop running until he fell down with exhaustion and was killed. The animals had defeated the evil beast!
恭喜，恭喜，恭喜你啊! 恭喜，恭喜，恭喜你！
After the skit ended, the residents made their way downstairs for some festive station games.
Completing puzzles of the 12 animals in the zodiac
Then, imitating the animals for others to guess
Passing the tennis ball in a chain
Then throwing it into the correct pail
Bak kwa or pineapple tarts? Now I'm really craving CNY snacks...
Making your own firecrackers - but the kinds made out of angpaos and staples, not flash powder. This is still Singapore, after all ;)
Folding the angpaos...
Stringing them together to create a series of bright red firecrackers!
The amazing end-product!
Residents had to complete a maze and collect angpaos along the way
In order to complete this Chinese phrase! 大吉大...
利！
Great luck and prosperity to all!
After the station games, the residents returned to the hall to get polaroids taken - one for each resident!
Esther admires the polaroid camera after taking many shots
Lastly, it was time to toss the yusheng!
The ingredients ready to be tossed
LO HEI!!!
Enjoying the yusheng. Looking at the pictures while writing this post is making me really hungry ):
Besides eating the yusheng along with other favorite CNY goodies (pineapple tarts, prawn rolls, egg rolls, Wang Wang crackers...), each resident also received two tangerine oranges.
Why is the tangerine orange offered during Chinese New Year? Because the Chinese word for tangerine, 橘 ju2, sounds like 吉ji2 - "auspicious" or "lucky". So two tangerines mean double auspiciousness! Moreover, you must also choose large tangerines because 大橘 da4 ju2 sounds like 大吉 da4 ji2, lots of auspiciousness.
After the CNY celebrations, there was a volunteer outing at The Hangout. Sorry about the lack of photos there, got too engrossed playing Band Hero (badly) to take anything.
Ending the long day with dinner at Kopitiam.
To all the Chinese, have a very Happy Chinese New Year with your family while you receive many angpaos and eat delicious CNY food (but don't eat too much or risk getting a horrible sorethroat). See you the week after next!
恭喜發財, 龍馬精神, 萬事如意
心想事成, 大吉大利, 五福臨門
出入平安, 年年有餘, 步步高升！
~ Lina
And so the narrator begins her story about the Nian monster...
Introducing the monkey (complete with bananas)!
The dragon and his dragonball.
The animals lived peacefully together, until...
This ferocious Nian monster appears towards the end of winter to ATTACK AND EAT WHATEVER IT CAN!!!
And how do you defeat such a monster? Beat drums and gongs, burn bamboo, and light fireworks to make large noises and threaten the hateful creature! Wherever the Nian monster went, it was forced to back off by the terrible noises.
The Nian monster couldn't stop running until he fell down with exhaustion and was killed. The animals had defeated the evil beast!
恭喜，恭喜，恭喜你啊! 恭喜，恭喜，恭喜你！
After the skit ended, the residents made their way downstairs for some festive station games.
Completing puzzles of the 12 animals in the zodiac
Then, imitating the animals for others to guess
Passing the tennis ball in a chain
Then throwing it into the correct pail
Bak kwa or pineapple tarts? Now I'm really craving CNY snacks...
Making your own firecrackers - but the kinds made out of angpaos and staples, not flash powder. This is still Singapore, after all ;)
Folding the angpaos...
Stringing them together to create a series of bright red firecrackers!
The amazing end-product!
Residents had to complete a maze and collect angpaos along the way
In order to complete this Chinese phrase! 大吉大...
利！
Great luck and prosperity to all!
After the station games, the residents returned to the hall to get polaroids taken - one for each resident!
Esther admires the polaroid camera after taking many shots
Lastly, it was time to toss the yusheng!
The ingredients ready to be tossed
LO HEI!!!
Enjoying the yusheng. Looking at the pictures while writing this post is making me really hungry ):
Besides eating the yusheng along with other favorite CNY goodies (pineapple tarts, prawn rolls, egg rolls, Wang Wang crackers...), each resident also received two tangerine oranges.
Why is the tangerine orange offered during Chinese New Year? Because the Chinese word for tangerine, 橘 ju2, sounds like 吉ji2 - "auspicious" or "lucky". So two tangerines mean double auspiciousness! Moreover, you must also choose large tangerines because 大橘 da4 ju2 sounds like 大吉 da4 ji2, lots of auspiciousness.
After the CNY celebrations, there was a volunteer outing at The Hangout. Sorry about the lack of photos there, got too engrossed playing Band Hero (badly) to take anything.
Ending the long day with dinner at Kopitiam.
To all the Chinese, have a very Happy Chinese New Year with your family while you receive many angpaos and eat delicious CNY food (but don't eat too much or risk getting a horrible sorethroat). See you the week after next!
恭喜發財, 龍馬精神, 萬事如意
心想事成, 大吉大利, 五福臨門
出入平安, 年年有餘, 步步高升！
~ Lina
1 comments:
Nice! Happy New Year everyone! HUAT AH!
WC
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