Farewell Fellowship

Last Saturday, my family and extended family held a celebration of sorts to commemorate the departure of my cousin Christopher and I for the US and Canada respectively. My aunt chose her favourite restaurant, “Opulent Court” at the Pearl International Hotel. Upon first entering the restaurant, I noticed how empty it was as only a few tables were occupied. As usual we had a whole room to ourselves and since there were so many of us, we had to split into two tables, the adults have one and the children the other. As usual, I was to take my place on the children’s table. Sitting with me were my sister, cousins and aunt and uncle. Also joining us that night was the girlfriend of one of my cousins. Before the meal started we had to take photos (as expected). Posing for photographs is not what I do best and people have always commented that I do not smile in a photograph (which is why I have been accused of ruining photographs by not smiling). For this special occasion I thought maybe I would put on a cheerful face for once. On second thought, I decided not to. After taking a few photographs, which was tedious as we had to freeze our smiles for multiple cameras (not me though as I do not smile) we were ready to drink to our (my cousin and I) success. Wine was passed around but I only accepted half of half a glass. I would prefer the taste of panadol to wine anyway. My relatives gave some advice on the do’s and don’ts of studying abroad, including a few amusing anecdotes, like the fellow who returned from overseas with three certificates- a diploma, a marriage certificate and a birth certificate. After were done toasting, we all returned to our seats and eagerly awaited the arrival of the food.

I am not a fan of Chinese food, so I probably would not miss it in Canada. The meal plan for that night was the usual one served in the typical formal dinner. That means I didn’t enjoy it and I probably only ate half of what was served. While waiting for the first dish to arrive, we engaged in the usual small talk. One of my cousins, Raymond just had his first child and he delightfully showed us a video he had recorded on his mobile phone of him being “pissed off” (crying). We watched and laughed, not just at the sight of the little guy crying his guts out but also at the fact that the parents did nothing but laugh along and record the incident on their cell phones. Raymond and another cousin Steven shared a bit about their experience studying overseas. They gave some more advice, like not to leave laundry alone for too long or you’ll have to wash it again. Chris asked for some advice on ordering goods online through Amazon.com which provoked everyone on the table to assume that he was not planning to leave his campus room to do any shopping. Then the talk turned to religion. Steven had just enrolled in the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) programme at his (our) church. Chris had already gone through the programme and offered some insight. His best advice- get baptized at the end of the programme or it would all have been a waste of time. All this talk of baptism jolted my memory and I was reminded of my own baptism and the rosary that I received that night which had one bead missing. As my sister, who was also baptized that night had a complete rosary, all my cousins joked that my missing bead was a sign from God and that I would be receiving a call from the Vatican any day now.

Soon the food arrived and we all dug in. Most of us didn’t eat much (my aunt complained that we didn’t do justice to food). Still, I think most of us left the restaurant feeling quite satisfied. After dinner, we adjourned to my aunt’s house for a bit of chitchat. We celebrated the birthdays of all who were born in August and then we ate the cake, which was good. Luckily I didn’t eat much at dinner so I had plenty of room for the cake. Then we (my cousin and I ) received ang pows from our relatives, no doubt the best part of the night. We popped upstairs to check out Steven’s model collection. We ogled at his Transformers and Star Wars models which he evidently devoted much of his salary to. I wasn’t much of a fan of models but I had to admit these were impressive. As the nights events drew to a close, we said our goodbyes and thank yous. It really was nice to have so many caring relatives.