Chinese Wife, Crazy Family, Our cute son

Our Chinese New Year 2016

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I know I know I am a week late with this post but I didn’t manage to finish it until now due to all kind of silly reasons. In the whole past week I could read from so many bloggers how they celebrated New Year so here I go with our tiny “party”.

This was the first time since 2013 that we actually celebrated again as we had just no time for the past years. Even before that we usually never did anything special so we always ended up watching the CCTV New Year Gala. Only once we participated in some bigger event and it was just a few weeks after we got together in 2010. Back then we went to the Chinese New Year Festivities in Helsinki. Let me just tell you that it was very very cold back then and not the most enjoyable experience I had in my life (due to the weather!). A couple of years ago I even wrote a little blog post about it which also shows that not much (nothing) has really changed on how we spend New Year.

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A bit of food for watching the New Year Gala

 

So what happened this year? First of all we kind of messed up the actual date for the New Year. My wife and all her Chinese friends CNY9here in town thought it would be on Saturday the 06.02.2016. Imagine the surprise when my wife heard from one of her customers on that Saturday that there won’t be any New Year Gala as it wouldn’t start until Sunday… this shows pretty well what living abroad for so many years does to someone when it comes to such big festivities. Anyways after a disappointing Saturday we started Sunday with preparing for the overeating day. My wife prepared several dishes while I was busy entertaining our little Monkey/ Nathan. Pictures were taken,  food was enjoyed, the CCTV New Year Gala was watched and many video chats had to be endured during that day. As you can see it was a pretty calm day for us especially as my wife didn’t had to work and thus we spend the entire day together. Besides that Nathan was finally able to wear some of the clothes my wife bought for him in China last year. Only bad thing about the dress was that the hat didn’t fit anymore, Nathan just got too much brain inside.

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Calling his grandparents to save him from the New Year Gala in TV

For the next year I hope that we will be either able to travel to China for this event as I would love to witness it once in my life personally or to celebrate with other people together. Sure it is nice to spend the whole day together as a family but to have some bigger gatherings once every few years wouldn’t hurt either.

Where there some Lunar New Year events near your home?

Be sure to follow me also on Facebook and on Twitter as I will post there occasionally pictures which do not find their way into my blog posts. Furthermore I also have a YouTube Channel in which some videos might pop up from time to time

https://www.facebook.com/CrazyChineseFamily

https://twitter.com/CraChineseFam

https://www.youtube.com/

 

Me

Something About Me

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Everyone has their refuge where they can relax and perhaps also are able to let creativity run free. In my case it is my desk with my computer and several books all around on some shelves. Granted it is not the most impressive place and by far not the most tidiest in the world but it is the place can relax and write also my blog posts.

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My safe haven

Over the years I have lived in several apartments and each time my safe haven was where my computer was located with my favorite books around. Back in Finland it was a really tiny desk with barely any space for my stuff but I loved it. Since winter of 2014 this here in Germany became my safe haven. Ever since I decided where to place my desk I have been working on it to make it more unique and fitting to my liking. Now it more or less reached a stage where I think I am finished. I can’t think of anything more I could do here or change as I just feel comfortable enough. My wife can’t stand all my computer equipment and books there at all (“It’s Trash!”) but in the end she is not complaining as I spend some hours every day there and thus it gives her free time without me annoying her.

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My beloved computer

 

As you can see there is a stark contrast between the two bookshelves on either side of my desk. On the left side I have a mix of educational books, some fantasy novels, few classic adventure novels by Karl May and a small collection of comics. The right side is full of my old Manga collection. As I have so limited space here I had to place two rows of books on each shelve which is the only thing I don’t like so far here as I don’t want to have some of my treasures hidden away. By now you might have noticed that the top of both bookshelves do not house any books but rather strange things. On the left side my beloved Lego X-Wing I got from my wife on Christmas of 2014 and on the right side the statue of Molag Bal. Mixed with those are some random items such music CD’s, PC Games, computer parts and a drinking horn which comes to use at the renaissance fair. The two books shelves over my desk are full of fantasy novels with the little Tolkien collection being my most precious possession.

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Time to read it again I think

 

All in all it is nothing special but it is where I can relax each evening. However I know already what will be different in my next safe haven somewhen in the future: It needs to be bigger! I really need much more space for my books as I still have tons of them at my parents apartment and in their cellar. Perhaps also a bigger table would be nice as it is rather small but still a giant compared to my mini sized table in Finland back in the day.

Where do you can relax? Is it a refuge as it is for me?

Be sure to follow me also on Facebook and on Twitter as I will post there occasionally pictures which do not find their way into my blog posts. Furthermore I also have a YouTube Channel in which some videos might pop up from time to time

https://www.facebook.com/CrazyChineseFamily

https://twitter.com/CraChineseFam

https://www.youtube.com/

Award

Blogger Recognition Award

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I must thank Somnath from The Traveloholic for this nomination. It is the first award for me in 2016 and  besides that I think it is so interesting to see how the readers of this blog can be found all over the world.  Check out Somnaths blog about his travel adventures and I do hope to read more stories there again soon.

blogger-recognition-award

 

 

 

 

Here are the rules of the Blogger Recognition Award:

Rule 1: Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.

Rule 2: Provide a link to the award creator.

Rule 3: Attach the award to your post.

Rule 4: Nominate fifteen other bloggers, excluding yourself and the person who nominated you.

Rule 5: Write a brief story of how you started your blog.

Rule 6: A piece or two of advice to new bloggers.

Rule 7: Comment on the blogs you have named here to let them know you have nominated them.

My nominees:

Oh gosh this part is never easy!

  1. The Fourth Continent
  2. Betty Has a Panda
  3. Sue’s Fabulous Travels
  4. Our Chinese Wedding
  5. Skipping Customs
  6. Two Americans in China
  7. NepaliAustralian
  8. Marta Lives in China
  9. My Hong Kong Husband
  10. Japan Can(ada)Mix
  11. Kyrosmagica
  12. Takeshi’s Flight
  13. China IQ
  14. Englishman in Italy
  15. Ray Hecht

How I started my blog:

I started this blog to get all the crazy stories I experienced with my Chinese in-laws out of my head. Over the years many weird things have piled up and this blog is a perfect “therapy” to survive this madness.

Advice:

Death is lighter than a feather, Duty is heavier than a mountain!

Okay perhaps I try another advice: Take your time as all good things in life need time to develop.

 


Be sure to follow me also on Facebook and on Twitter as I will post there occasionally pictures which do not find their way into my blog posts. Furthermore I also have a YouTube Channel in which some videos might pop up from time to time

https://www.facebook.com/CrazyChineseFamily

https://twitter.com/CraChineseFam

https://www.youtube.com/

My crazy Chinese Family I married into…