As the pandemic continues, Asian Americans may have celebrated Lunar New Years in another way this year.<\/p>\n
Vivian Phan, a 19-year-old business major at Evergreen Valley College and San Jose City College, said that she felt as if there was an obstacle in celebrating this year.<\/p>\n
She said that she celebrated it with her immediate family at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was sad that I had to wear a mask around my family, this is usually our favorite holiday to celebrate,\u201d Phan said.<\/p>\n
While adhering to COVID-19 guidelines, she felt as if her family wasn\u2019t able to celebrate Lunar New Years to its fullest extent. Phan said that it was heartbreaking that this was her first time seeing her family after social distancing for a while, and that they were \u201crestricted from (their) usual hugs and kisses,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Illanah Phong, a 21-year-old business major at EVC and SJCC, also said that she was devastated because she couldn\u2019t celebrate as previous years. She said that she would always go to Grand Century Mall for New Years with her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was weird not to be there watching people light firecrackers and lion dancing,\u201d Phong said.<\/p>\n
Phong said that she would usually go to a Buddhist temple to pay her respects every year, but this year, she and her family wanted to be cautious in the midst of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Ryan Nguyen, a 21-year-old sociology major at SJCC, said that his family was more upset than he was.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents usually celebrate Lunar New Years in Vietnam with their families back home. When they\u2019re in Vietnam, they have a big party and catch up with everyone there,\u201d Nguyen said.<\/p>\n
As for COVID affecting himself, he said, \u201cI usually celebrate it with my cousins since my parents are gone, but this year I wanted to quarantine and stay home because one of my cousins caught COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nguyen said that his cousins are his favorite family members to hang around, so it was odd that they weren\u2019t eating and lighting up firecrackers in their neighborhood.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the pandemic continues, Asian Americans may have celebrated Lunar New Years in another way this year. Vivian Phan, a 19-year-old business major at Evergreen Valley College and San Jose City College, said that she felt as if there was an obstacle in celebrating this year. She said that she celebrated it with her immediate…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[378],"tags":[],"staff_name":[1273],"class_list":["post-15442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","staff_name-vanessa-tran"],"yoast_head":"\n