Lunar New Year Abroad

I had never spent Lunar New Year away from home before. I consider it a special time for my family. We celebrate by eating hot pot and calling to catch up with the rest of our family back in Indonesia. It was a familiarity that I grew to love, and one I quickly grew to miss. I tried to ignore the pit in my stomach, but it was hard as I grew more homesick during my first year in Canada. The beauty about Vancouver, however, is its diversity. Growing up, I remember my food being made fun of for being strange when I brought it to school. Because of this, celebrating with a friend had never crossed my mind. Now, I was surrounded by people who understood my culture, and who grew up in households similar to mine. I kept my tradition of having hot pot and invited my best friend to join me. It was just the two of us, and we went to BigWay, so it wasn’t the most elaborate Lunar New Year celebration, but I cherished that moment of finally sharing my family tradition with a friend.

My second Lunar New Year alone I was a bit more comfortable, yet I still felt that pit in my stomach. Maybe it was homesickness or maybe it was missing celebrating with my family, but as I was whisked away to celebrate it was replaced with excitement. This year I had a more stable friend group filled with people who had very similar cultures to me. Being able to celebrate Lunar New Year with a bunch of friends that I loved and cherished seemed like a dream, yet I still miss celebrating with my family. That being said, I ended up making a new tradition  with my friends that I wouldn’t trade for the world. I’m quite excited to see where I end up this year, whether it be at another hot pot or something new. My friends always seem to have something up their sleeves, and I’m always there for the ride.