CNY eve...

One week ago if you told me that I would be spending my Chinese New Year eve with 2 Americans whom I barely knew I would've immediately grabbed a thermometer and checked your temperature.

Well, that's exactly what I've done.

See, all the canteens were closed(or at least the canteen nearest to my hall - I'm a lazy bugger) so there I was at the bus stop waiting for the bus while dawdling over what I should get for dinner. Then came two peculiar looking guys - a Caucasian and a Chinese - and the Chinese spoke with an accent that I've never heard of virtually in NTU. They asked me if the bus service was still on, I answered them and paid no attention to them after that.

"So why aren't you at home having reunion dinner with your family?" the Caucasian asked. I explained my situation to them and then we started to chat. Apparently both of them - Ian being the Caucasian and Mason being the Chinese - were on a holiday.

Ian, from New York, is a seasoned traveler and has traveled over 20 countries while Mason, from San Francisco, hates traveling. And Ian is of the opinion that to truly know a place, one would have to talk with the people in the place. So in that sense I'm lucky that I've met them by coincidence.

Before we knew it we were in Bugis having dinner together, in a Chinese restaurant. Ian, who had been to China, decided that he could make some good use of a few Mandarin words he had learned there but ended up confusing the restaurant staffs more. Mason on the other hand couldn't speak Mandarin. I intervened at times to offer appropriate translations.

The food was good, the company was better. I had fun although occasionally I could offer nothing more than an awkward smile at their remarks.

After that we went to Holland Village and had a drink in Coffee Bean before we called it a day.

Thanks Ian and Mason, you've brighten up my day! It's little wonders like these that makes life so much more interesting.

All in all, a happy CNY eve. =)