My one rule

This is a really handy rule if your family celebrates Chinese New Year (CNY or the Lunar New Year to cover all other cultures that celebrate it) and it's a big deal to them.

DO NOT COMMIT TO ANY FEBRUARY EVENTS UNTIL YOU'VE CHECKED WHEN CHINESE NEW YEAR IS.

Now the tricky thing to this rule is that CNY is not always in February, but it usually is, so to be extra safe, just don't commit to anything from January to March until you know when CNY is.

CNY is a big deal to my family. When I was younger, I didn't tweak that it was bad to be away during CNY, so I was away once. Now I know that CNY is like Christmas for Westerners i.e. you're supposed to go home and see family and friends (and collect money if you're single, ho! ho! ho!).

That's the weird thing about being a migrant child, growing up with two cultures. Parents assume you know stuff about their culture, that you somehow pick it up. Some stuff you do pick up, but wikipedia and google fill in the gaps. Oh internet, where would I be without you?

And to make this a community service announcement, it's on Feb 3 in 2011. So make sure you're at the parental home on Feb 2 for a yummy, yummy meat-filled feast, and there as well on Feb 3 for a vegetarian meal (no meat on CNY's day). At least those are the two important days to be at home for my family.