A series of (Wonderful) Events

October 2009 has so far been an excellent month.  1 October was the 60th Chinese National Day where the whole nation celebrated with pride. The advantage of having a huge satellite dish is that I can watch everything broadcasted in China live (minus the laggy download via the internet).  I got up nice and early and glued myself to the TV. 

The military parade was the highlight of the extravagant celebration. I heard the minimum height of each person is 1.83m! Sorry dad, 1.81m doesn't make the cut.  It might sound cocky but seeing China being so powerful has brought tears to my eyes.

Being an Chinese born Australian, I am very proud of my heritage and background. It might be my upbringing, my parents doesn't let (or at least attempted to) me and my brother speak English at home. Until now, after 16 years of white washing, I can still speak, read, listen and write in fluent Chinese.

During the parade: the boys...

and the girls.  Their uniform is so pretty.

After the military parade, it was followed by beautiful floats with the first one being the portrait of Chairman Mao, the founder of the Republic of China. Others resembled different stages of growth in the nation, Mao's famous quotes, our 56 different nations, children, our provinces, SAR and many more.

The night was filled with a National Day's evening musical party with many of China's celebrities and cultural displays.

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Another thing that happened on the 1st was the birth of my little niece.  When you reach a certain age, friends around you start to get married and have kids.  It's not the first time that I have been slapped with the 'aunt' status but being blood related to one of them is something I've never experienced before.

Meet my little niece...Camilia! (Strictly speaking she is my cousin's daughter but I'm still an aunt).

This is my cousin Vicky pinching her cheeks.

I met her for the first time today after just returning from the hospital.  She is such a cute bundle of joy.  I can't believe my grandad is now a great grandfather.  He would've been ages ago if my eldest cousin could settle down. Camilia is still waiting for a Chinese name.  According to Chinese traditions, we need to find a fortune telling master to give her a nice name to fit with her date of birth. 

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3 October is the Moon Festival!  Our family celebrated with a lovely dinner of steamed scallops, barramundi, fresh oysters, stir fried beans and cabbage followed by a surplus supply of mooncakes!

I've been stuffing them down my throat for the past 2 weeks or so.  Do you know how many calories these babies have? I certainly don't want to know. I'm currently on Mooncake overdose and my waistline is already feeling the dangerous side effects. People just keep sending them to our office! How could I resist?

I love those Icy Mooncakes where you have to refrigerate them and eat them cold.  They come in pretty colours too like pink and purple.  They even have abalone and ginseng mooncakes!  People in China love giving these elaborate mooncakes away.