CNY and HBD.
"Gong hei fat choy"
A greeting we usually hear every Chinese New Year. It's a Chinese dialect, Cantonese, which literally means "Wishing you prosperity and health". Some Fil-Chi people here also says,
"Xīnnián kuà ilè"
It's a Chinese dialect, Mandarin, which means "New Year happiness". This greeting is usually said to strangers as it is the formal way. If you like to greet your family and close friends, they commonly say, "Xīnnián hǎo", which literally means "New Year Goodness".
I inquired Big Boss Madam about that information. She is pure Chinese after all, despite living in the Philippines ever since she was born. Though she became a successful woman in her career, she never set foot in mainland China, but only in Hong Kong and Singapore. Even if she grows here in the Philippines, the Chinese customs and traditions are still practiced even today. Even the values, the mindset, and the clothing were purely Chinese except for she also knows how to speak Filipino fluently. China is known for being a Buddhist country or Godless but she is a devoted Christian here, even more devoted than I am.
I'm even more surprised that she doesn't believe in Feng Shui or to some Good Luck attracting accessories. I thought I'm going to turn the house upside down every Lunar New Year when I heard that she is pure Chinese, but I did nothing since she doesn't believe in those Feng Shui masters. They still follow the Chinese Lunar New Year, though. She even held a party today at the office and brought us Tikoy or Chinese sweet sticky cake delicacies.
I couldn't expect Ang Paos or red packets anymore since they already gave me two of them last Christmas. The amount inside is my secret. LOL. We still couldn't eat all of those sweets that she brought since she brought 4 boxes of them. We just have to fry it with eggs tomorrow. I don't know why but they said that it is the way how to reheat it.
Since today is the Chinese Lunar New Year, it seems that Madam is in a good mood. Today is also her mother's birthday, so she ordered food for her and sent it thru her company driver. It is also her helper's birthday at home, so she left us Php 2,000 to treat him. We bought a box of Garlic Shrimp Pizza, 6 servings of Fries, and a cake that has a touching message written in it (kidding 😂). My Aunt also cooked him spaghetti and fried chicken.
//Happy Birthday, Fregie. Hope you don't die.
We can't determine if he's upset or he's touched from what we have prepared for him. He paused for a while staring at his cake to read what was written there. Then he laughs so hard after a while, his reaction is kinda late after he read it, though. We can't tell if he got shocked, pissed, or he just finds it funny. I don't know what's going on in the minds of my housemates here as to why did they do that.
Most importantly, he was still happy while blowing the candle on his cake. Evidently, since he can't stop laughing while blowing it, we just assumed it that way. He enjoyed laughing with us afterward and ate a lot. His joy disappeared after we all have eaten, though. That's because he is the one who has to wash all the dishes. We just helped him clean the table and dry the plates, so he wouldn't sulk.
Gong hei fat choy!
I just like the New Year greetings in the Cantonese dialect more. Anyway, today was full of food. We shouldn't prank on that and be thankful for the blessings instead but they just thought of spicing up things to liven up the atmosphere since they knew that he also wants to go back home and be with his family. They have good intentions of making him happy but in a not-so-good way. He is working here for 3 years without having any vacations because of the sudden lockdowns caused by the spread of the Covid-19 virus. I can only hope and pray for now that this pandemic will end soon, so we can get things back to normal and we live normally without worrying about getting infected anywhere.
May we have a prosperous year this 2022, have good health and good life. Thanks for reading!
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I wonder what he thought of his cake haha