7 days before Chinese New Year!

As it's a week before Chinese New Year, I'm officially putting my Italian stories on hold. Instead I'll be talking about all things Oriental.

For someone of Chinese descent I'm not very Chinese. I've never been to China. I'm not an expert in Chinese customs. My Mandarin is very dodgy compared to Kevin Rudd's. Sure, I look Oriental enough, being a light-skinned brunette with funny Chinese nose, though my big eyes with double eyelids betray my convoluted blood line.

There was some Western influence up in my ancestry line. Back in the olden days inter-race relationships were being frowned upon, it was considered as "contaminating" the royal blood pool. No one talks openly about it, for fear of bringing "shame" to the family. You can only cover things up so much though, as many people in my mum's family have naturally light brown/blond-ish hair. Personally I think there's nothing wrong with mix-relationships, if anything, I find people of mixed heritage are better looking! Hehehe... I suppose I could trace the exact origins of my ancestors if I were to go to China, as my mother's side of the family kept a close records of their ancestry, due to the said "royal blood".

There was also rumours about my paternal grandfather being the fruit of my great-grandfather's illegitimate relationship with his local Indonesian mistress. My auntie thinks the rumour is true. I suppose DNA test could have proven it for sure.

Hubby is 7/8 English, 1/8 Dutch. So our descendant's blood will be even more convoluted.

Yes, there's a point to my ramblings. I might not be a true-blue Chinese person and apart from his fondness of Chinese food there's nothing Oriental about hubby. One thing we know, we would like to keep some Chinese traditions (read: celebrations we like and food) alive in our household. Call it trying to get the best from both Chinese and Western worlds. Let's see, that will include but not limited to Christmas, Chinese New Year, Easter, Mooncake Festival. Can you see the limitless food potentials?! Hehehe...

So here's to the countdown, 7 days to CNY (= Chinese New Year)! Yay! :)