Yay for the year of the rabbit! I was born in the year of the tiger.

Lunar New Year isn’t technically until Thursday, but 恭喜萬歲 to everybunny (congratulations and wishes for a long prosperous life)! 

Pam, is 潘筱莉 your name?

hmmm…why can’t I see the pic?

I love what the Year of the Rabbit signifies: Peace and Tranquility.

My condolences to you and your family, Pam. *Hugs*

just made that year-of-the-rabbit graphic my facebook profile.

Ahhh red envelopes! They were a staple of my childhood…when I was much younger, my parents would collect the red envelope money I received from relatives, telling me that “mommy and daddy will keep it safe.”  Predictably, I never saw the money again, lol.  But what would a little kid do with all that money anyways?  I guess they were keeping it safe for me in the end, investing it in my future .  Maybe I’ll see some cute rabbit-patterned envelopes this year!

I picked up a bunch of red envelopes even though I only have to give out a few technically (my boss’s kids.) I can’t believe your parents stole your lucky money LOL! Actually I can, that’s too funny. I’m having a birthday/New Year’s party so I’m going to give out the envelopes there although it’ll be a couple days later… why not.

I got my Year of the Rabbit photo shoot pictures of Mr. Bun-Bun back from the Spa Day at Red Door Shelter… I have to resize them before I can post them though… they turned out REALLY great. Here are the lucky money envelopes I got:

Happy New Year!!!!

Since it is said that feeding a rabbit during their year is good luck, does that mean I will get double good luck for feeding two rabbits all year long? Hehe!

Peace and tranquility? Rabbits? Whoever thought of that idea for year of the rabbit didn’t own one lol

I’m a Gemini Rabbit so.. I’m a more talkative one, it says BWAHAHAHA!!!!!

I have a number of cards that I just got for the art on the fronts. I sent one to Brittany (alas, I forgot about the traditon of the money, now I feel bad!) that I saved the front of the card to my PC…plus a few more:

I loved this (above) one! The bunnies reminded me of the tattoo she’s thinking of getting.

Cutesy! I’m using the face as my icon at SuperPoke!Pets

The greeting on the inside….

Isn’t it interesting how the greeting itself changes depending on where/when you get the card? In my youth, it was always GUNG HAY FAT CHOY, Pam’s card read GONG HE XIN XI, and these cards all say GONG XI FA CAI.

Anyone skilled enough in Chinese to decipher the meaning of each of these and show us how they differ in English? I’m assuming the first one is the phoenetic for us foreign language-challenged Americans?

Speaking Chinese is dicey, as if you phrase something imperfectly, you may be saying something other than what you intended, and even cause offense! The position of your mouth is as important as knowing the definitions of the words.

I wish our stamps had looked like this, this year.

And to change it up, one in gold. These came in packs of 6. I love how they put the year into the rabbit’s outline.

We had a whole section of these in our store at the beginning of the year, which is funny since it doesn’t actually hit till February.  If most folks are as disorganized as me, and you buy your greeting cards too early, by the time the occasion gets there, you can’t figure out what you did with them.

Pam, may I send you my most heartfelt sympathies on the loss of your Aunt. I hope these images helped cheer you.

And I do hope you are feeling better soon.

Perhaps peppypoo can help translate.

I got your card Mimz I still haven’t unpacked my stationery -_____- I will get to that after I recover from my wisdom tooth extractions -_- weh.

Speaking of the year of the rabbit, I must go feed mine.

Chinese speaker to the rescue!  

“Gong xi fa cai” (pronounced “gong she fah tsai”) and “gung hay fat choy” are actually the same thing; the first phrase is in Mandarin Chinese (the most common dialect), while the second is in Cantonese (the dialect from Hong Kong).  Both are written 恭喜發財, which roughly translates to “congratulations and (best wishes for) prosperity”, the parenthetical part being implied.

“恭賀新禧 Gong he xin xi” (x is pronounced as sh) is more of a literal “happy new year” than the previous two, though the previous two are greetings reserved purely for new year.  The second part of Pam’s greeting, 萬事如意 (wan shi ru yi) translates literally as “ten thousand things according to your wishes”, meaning a hope that all things go well for you.

Chinese is definitely a tricky language! Don’t worry about causing offense, we usually can figure out what you’re trying to say .

Just got back from going home to family for new years…boy I’m stuffed! It’s the tradition to eat long noodles the night before; it represents hope for long life and health in the new year. Maybe I’ll go pick out some long strands of hay for Peppy!

Thanks Peppy! I had no idea you spoke Chinese. I just love learning new languages!
Mmmm…noodles! Now I’m hungry! 0_o

My grandfather (who was the only man I knew as ‘dad’ as a kid) used to tell me that before new year’s the Chinese believe you MUST also pay all debts and not incur any new ones, unless you want to be in debt throughout the new year. He also felt it was bad luck to argue on new year’s eve, because it was supposed to upset the rest of your year. I have also felt that way throughout my life, and oddly enough, noticed that years DID seem to be worse off for my family if we had a fight on the eve before.
I know it’s supposed to be a superstition, but it actually makes sense if you think about it.

No problem Mimz! My family is Taiwanese (I was born in Taiwan, actually!) so I grew up in a household full of Mandarin Chinese as well as the Taiwanese dialect. I share your love of learning languages; I’m doing a minor in Spanish at university and have taken a few semesters of Latin too!

Your grandfather sounds like a wise guy…superstition or otherwise, it certainly makes sense that being cognizant of and making an effort to repay your debts, monetary or otherwise, would result in more peace and harmony for the coming year

the Chinese believe you MUST also pay all debts and not incur any new ones

Boy am I screwed!!!!! 

Mimz- Where did you buy those beautiful cards? I’ve never seen any around here. I said “Happy Year of the Rabbit” to a bunch of people this morning and they were like “huh???”. I guess it’s not real big around here.

Posted By MimzMum on 02/02/2011 10:44 PM
My grandfather (who was the only man I knew as ‘dad’ as a kid) used to tell me that before new year’s the Chinese believe you MUST also pay all debts and not incur any new ones, unless you want to be in debt throughout the new year.

Aw man, does that include student loans? I don’t start paying those off for a couple of years yet. How about I give each of my rabbits an extra treat instead?

lolz…Yes, extra bunny-worship for you, then, and all is well! ^_^
My dad had lots of Chinese clients at his business in San Francisco, and he was French, so I guess a mutual frugality and financial responsibility between them kind of went with the territory.

LPT, I got all those cards at my local Fred Meyers supermarket. But they went fast, I got the red ones in early January, then went back a few days later and only the packaged sets were left.
I meant to have my hub get me some YOTR stamps at the P.O. I hope they’re not out of them already.

lolz…No worries Brittany! I hope you’ve come through your extraction well! (((((((((((((((more healing vibes)))))))))))))