Every Chinese New Year at my aunt's place is like a mini gathering of the United Nations. There's the Chinese, then there's the Malay-speaking majority (because my Mom's side of the family is basically Peranakan), Kamal the Nepalese, and the Caucasian (Russell or Uncle Russell, as my brother addresses him, hails from Melbourne, and is my aunt's, who migrated to Australia long ago, partner). Then there are the occasional visitors, some of whom are Indian. So yeah, that's my Chinese New Year for you. A diverse melting pot of cultures and languages, and this is only my Mom's side. I have never seen Dad's side of the family (because Dad's from China) due to them being in China or somewhere else in the world. The diversity of my family (including relatives) did not really sink in until a while ago when Uncle Bujang (I may have spelt it wrong) asked whether anyone could read Mandarin characters and to help him translate a New Year's greeting SMS. So no one else in that group apart from my brothers and myself could read Mandarin, and my brothers' command of the language is hopelessly dismal, so it fell upon me to become the 'official' translator. Not that my command of Mandarin was anything to boast about, so I was trying to sound intelligent then. But that's another story. Anywho, I love my family, however wacky and insane at times (most of the time) they are, and I wouldn't trade them for the world.