Hectic Holidays!

Another Holiday season is gone and past! Whew!...We made it!

Though I graduated college, I am lucky enough to still have a job that follows the university's schedule, more or less. What does this mean exactly...it means CHRISTMAS BREAK. Oh yeah!

Of course, since I work two jobs, its not exactly a free for all, but still better than nothing.

Unfortunately, I could not get enough time guaranteed off at my movie theatre job for me to visit my family in Singapore. Boooo to all you Christmas-time movie-goers out there! Fear not, however, I was not alone... instead, I spent Christmas with Thomas' family! We even went ice skating! Fun Stuff!

For New Years, Thomas and I joined some friends at Hamburger Mary's, a burger place in downtown Orlando known for their Drag Shows... it was tons of fun!!!

Unfortunately, now that the holidays are past, its back to the daily grind. Oh well. Hope you had a wonderful holiday season!!

Don't Forget Me!

Why hello there!
I see I still have a few followers left! Oh good! Well, while I still continue to maintain this page (I promise I'll try to be better!!), I DO have a presence on a new blog!

It is called: The Adventures of a Neek.
Who is the Neek? That would be my boyfriend, Thomas.
What Adventures? That would be how he and I came to be in a relationship! I personally find the posts quite entertaining, so I invite you all to check it out!

Go to http://hyper20kid.wordpress.com/storytime-with-thomas-and-christy/ to read along with our story in order!

While you are there, you might want to check out our "Critic Corner" posts, or Thomas' "Techie Talk" section! This is still a baby blog, so we are working on getting more content, but follow us there to receive updates!!

An update on my life, personally:

1. Graduated from UCF!!! Yay!
2. Job? Well.... still working at the movie theatre, and I also am working part-time as a contractor for a marketing company!
3. Thomas? Oh you noticed I said boyfriend, now did you? Yes, Thomas and I have been dating for almost 3 months... but again, for a more detailed storyline, visit The Adventures of a Neek.
4. Plans for the blog? Well, to be honest...uncertain. For now, I wanted to issue this update and change around my profile information some! I now have a wordpress account as well, but blogging with Thomas there has not been quite as enjoyable as on Blogger. I find I have more options and freedoms here, so I'm thinking I'll stay!

Anyhow, I think this is goodbye for today, but I'll be back soon!... Believe me! I have a few things to say about Christmas time!!

An Overdue Update

Hey, I'm still here... I know you were worried :)

An update? Back in Orlando!! The Australia thing didn't work out due to a confusion with the classes. So far I'm on track to graduate THIS SPRING!!! Yay! I'm taking 17 credit hours this semester and they are whooping my butt!  More on those in other posts...

What have I missed... Halloween! Very fun!
I was a zombie/attack victim one night, The Princess and the Frog the next day, and a movie theater employee the next. Sorry, don't have any pics right now.

Anything important going on? Well...
Wreck it Ralph came out... so funny!!! (Yes, still working at the theater)
Also, Hotel Transylvania and Argo were very good. Not interested in movie reviews? How about something different...

Election!!!!

NO, I'm not going to give you my 2 cents on who you should vote for, and I'm not one to share my political views, but boy am I glad election day is finally here! I cannot stand all the political campaigns and the bashing on facebook! Speaking of facebook... one of my friends, Kristin K posted this as her status this morning and I feel that it sums up many of my feelings about facebook and politics. I will just post it as my closing statement. Over and out :)

~*~

"I know people are proud of whichever candidate they voted for, 

but I'm so sick of seeing that stuff on my feed. 

 Please, go vote and choose whomever you'd like, 

but don't brag about it like you've accomplished something mindblowing.

 Congratulations, you and millions of other people have 

gotten out of bed and waded through the lines to bubble in a name.

 Earthshattering. It's just as annoying as the

people who think they're being edgy by loudly 

proclaiming they won't vote because politics sucks blah blah blah.

 We all know. You are not being unique or articulating a new viewpoint.

 Vote or don't vote. I promise you the only people who care are too

 busy circle jerking to ever see your status. Yes, it's important to vote,

 and wonderful that we have that freedom, but please spare us all

 from your tittering mindlessness while you brag about 

which name you bubbled. If you really want to help a candidate, 

then donate some money or make a Super PAC. 

Your facebook status has never, and will never, convince anyone to vote for a certain person. 

It's a bumpersticker. The people who already agree with 

you will nod appreciatively and flash you a thumbs up,

 and occasionally someone who disagrees will blare their horn and comment. 

But there will be no meaningful dialogue, no essential truths or clarity.

 It's just a bunch of people screaming names at each other. 

The ballot is anonymous for a reason - and this is important now - 

 people do not want to know who you voted for. 

So stop telling us, or I'm gonna call the cops for unwanted solicitation."

Return to Singapore

School is out, and Singapore is back!... or rather, I'm back in Singapore. This time, however, I have my Grandmother with me. So far we have hit up the Botanic Gardens (pictured below), the Jurong Bird Park, China Town, Orchard Road and some other tourist sights.

I love being back in Singapore, but I will only be here for about a month before I head off to AUSTRALIA!!! That's right, THAT plan is still in full swing! And now I leave you with pictures from some of my most recent adventures for your viewing pleasure:

Hawker Center

Singaporean "Sprinkles"

"Ion" at Orchard Road

Also, Happy 4th of July!! I haven't been in the USA for the 4th since 2009!! We celebrated by doing some Singapore sightseeing, eating hamburgers, going shopping, then eating at Chili's. We also had some cake and played Phase 10!! Happy Birthday, America!

Birthday Fun

Birthday!!!!! yay!!!!
What did I do? Several things:
1. HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!   XD
Need I say more?

 For those of you have have read my blog in the past, you know I'm a fan... well I finally made it!!!

I went with my awesome friend Itzel and we explored the magical wonderland!!!! We ate in the 3 Broomsticks and I even got a cauldron cake!!









What else? Well that night I also saw Keyboard Samurai perform Repo! The Genetic Opera... definitely a fun and unique birthday treat :) Plus, I got to see some old friends in the cast!
The next day (Saturday) was my actual birthday and I ... worked. Okay, okay I know its a little lame, but whatever!! On Sunday I went out to Golden Corral (it just opened!) with a few more friends for my official birthday lunch. They have a chocolate fountain AND cotton candy there!!
Yay Birthdays!!!!

Hello Again

Hello again, internet world.

I know I've been gone a while...sorry about that. Recap? I'm back at school in Orlando (and work) which takes up the majority of my time. Sounds fun, right?
Currently: Starting a "boot camp" workout thingy... we'll see how that goes. I did my first one yesturday morning and I am really sore right now.
Hunger Games just came out. I haven't read the books yet, but since I work at a movie theatre, it has still managed to impact my life. I have seen the movie, and I found it enjoyable enough.
Snow White. Has anyone else noticed how popular she has suddenly become? I mean seriously... we have the Once Upon a Time tv show which is generally centered on her story (though perhaps a different version), Mirror Mirror, the comedic version, and The Huntsman, the dark version.
Haha...random things on my mind right now...

Anyway. Exciting news: I might be studying abroad in Austrailia in the fall! Holla!!!! More news to come.... for now, I'm going to bed.

New Year, New Adventures!

Hi everyone!

First off, Happy New Year! (And Merry Christmas too, even if a little belated)
I thought I would use my grandmother's computer to sign on and do a little post so you guys wouldn't think I'd forgotten about you all!

So in case you couldn't tell, I made it back the the USA from Singapore just fine. It was a long flight, but not a bad one, so yay for that! I've basically been spending my time traveling back and forth from one small MS town to another visiting with family. Oh, and also.... shopping!!!! Heck yes! My grand total (I think) of weight I lost while in Singapore was 36 pounds! Go me! Needless to say, I pretty much needed an entirely new wardrobe.

Now that Christmas is over and the New Year has begun, I guess its time for some New Years Resolutions. I've never really been big on those or anything, but I guess I might as well lay out a few goals I've been thinking about lately:

1.) Good grades. Not counting this past semester (which was awesome), my GPA has taken some major hits over the last year or so. I really need to get that back up. I'm hoping that a really good semester again, plus a few good credits over next summer, will put me back on track.

2.) Keep the weight off! Now this is really a whole list of things rolled into one, isn't it? Exercise. Eat right. Even though my main goal is just to keep the weight off, I would actually like to loose a few more pounds. My cousin is getting married at the end of April, so I figure that I have the better part of 4 months to loose some more... maybe go down one more dress size? We'll see how that goes.

3.) Stay clean. haha, that sounds like I have a drug problem or something, but I really mean clean as in organized. No perpetually messy room, no confusing bags of school stuff crammed together, no car trunk with unknown items forever lost in its depths. This kind of goes along with the whole "do better in school thing," but it really encompasses so much more.

Bam! My 3 New Year's Resolutions.

I'm still not sure I'm so into the whole "resolution" deal, but I do think it is a good idea to take a step back and really think about what is important for you to accomplish. Even thought I pretty much consider the things listed above as standard or obvious... meaning that I don't need to "declare" them or something, I have found that making an official declaration of your goals and desires helps so much in your achievement of them.

Anyway, I hope everyone else out there had a good holiday... see you (figuratively) again when I'm back in Orlando!

Last Days in SG

Well my days in Singapore have been slowly dwindling down. Tomorrow at 6 am is when we take off for the US. Naturally, I have decided that a wake-up time at 3am means that I will be far better off just staying up until we leave, then sleeping all the way to Japan.

I've definitely had some interesting experiences these past few days, though. For one thing... it snowed! haha okay... man made-soapy stud-like snow, but whatever. They have this snow every night at one of the nearby malls... it was crazy! There were kids running around in bathing suits, and foamy people everywhere.

Later that night I headed out with Heather, Jim and Kevin to the clubs. We hit up this building, an area called St James, where there are several clubs that occupy their own rooms. If you go up to the second floor, you can see down into all the clubs on either side... it is so cool! It looks like clubs you only see in the movies and stuff! We danced until around 3 am.

Saturday I went to Sentosa! My brother was in a boat race, so we went out to watch a little, but I really just wanted to check the island out. I saw the huge Merlion and got to ride in the Cable Cars that stretch from the island back to the "main land"... which is actually also an Island, I guess. They have some crazy stuff over there that I didn't get to do... indoor skydiving, Segway tracks, wave pools, a beach, zip lining and more!

Today I went out to Fort Canning Park. I think I might have mentioned it before... it is this hill that has a lot of historical significance. The ancient kings used to live there, as well as Raffles (the "father of singapore"). There was also a Fort. I went into this thing called the "Battle Box," which is an old bunker underneath where the fort was. There is a reenactment area is set up to show what was happening when Japan attacked Singapore, all the way up to when Singapore surrendered.

Hopefully I will be able to get all of my stuff together and finish packing! I have a loooong trip ahead of me in the morning!

Taiwan Trip

Last weekend I went to Taipei, Taiwan for the weekend!

I really enjoyed the city... so much fun! There actually quite a few things to do there...maybe not all in Taipei, but around the rest of Taiwan.

We went to the Night Market there... no crazy bug food, but awesome sales! They had soooooo many shoes! There were so many people there too! I really enjoyed walking around and seeing everything.

These are some of my favorite yummy snacks! haha... they are just potatoes on sticks, but I love 'em! They also had whole deep-fried chickens for around $3 (USD) and tons of other options!! 

Another place we went was a traditional Taiwanese Temple. They had these cool carvings everywhere just like these.

We also went to a more modern temple. They had a guard change there every hour... very official-like. One kid got to close to the guard on duty and he stamped really loud and scared us all... haha they probably wait all day for people to do that.

We went to another area of Taiwan... near the Zoo, where we took a cable car to this area up on the mountain side. They have all of these tea farms there.

It was a little chilly while we were there... especially on the mountain.

Another thing we saw was the Taipei 101, which is their famous tower. We went up to about the 85th floor and ate at one of tehir restaurants... it was sooo good! When you went into the bathroom, one of the walls was completely made of glass. That was kind of a weird feeling! lol

I really enjoyed Taiwan... everybody was really nice and helpful to us. Plus, it was incredibly easy to travel around the city using MRT or taxi...always a big help! I hope I get to go back and see some of their other stuff!

JB Malaysia

Last weekend I spent Sunday in Johor Bahru, Malaysia (called JB for short). For those of you who don't know, JB and Singapore are connected by a causeway, so it is an easy day trip.

Before I went, I heard a lot of mixed rumors about the city. It's dangerous, some said. Its boring. There are only shopping malls. There's nothing worth seeing.
Well before my little trip, which I took, by the way, with my friend Heather and her husband, Jim, I did a little research. Google, people. I wikitraveled (Did I just verb that? Yes.) it and...presto! A whole list of stuff to do and see.

So after making it across the causeway, the three of us started out towards the Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque. We hopped on a bus (literally, hopping over the sidewalk rails which is where buses choose to wait, for some reason) and rode until the driver told us we were there.

Check out those doors! They looked like they were painted with gold or something! We weren't allowed to go inside here...I am actually not even sure exactly what this building is. It was right next to the Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque, so it might have been another building more recently built, or just somethign else all together.
Anyway, so we walked up the hill a little ways and found the Mosque we were looking for.

Nice building, right? We poked around a little, but didn't really do anything here. We weren't allowed into teh Prayer Hall, of course, but we thought we might be allowed to go in other parts, but the place was pretty deserted... perhaps because it was Sunday, and sometimes things close then. We did see this interesting sign, though...

We headed around back and over a couple of streets, skirting past a local selling his wares. Heather discovered he was an Elvis fan, and he became entranced with the fact that she was very familiar with Graceland. It was then that we spotted the Zoo.

It looks kind of cute and quaint, right? Not much there? Wrong. We started at this bird show (those of you familiar with my Road Trip blog from when I was in Spain might find that fact a little comedic). The Bird guy didn't speak in English for most of the show, and so we had no idea what he was talking about most of the time. Towards the end, he started translating some into English for us... but only during the parts where we had completely figured out what he was talking about already. Figures.
Anyway...
The more we looked around this place, the more we began to realize just how huge this zoo was. They had tons of animals! One thing they seemed to have an excess of was Lions. They had grown lions, cubs and...teenage lions? So many! Oh...and camels!

I wanted a picture with the camels, but I was afraid they would bend down and lick me or somethign. Noooo thank you! I don't want that nasty looking mouth anywhere near me!
All in all, I was really impressed with the area...especially since it cost about the equivalent of $1 (USD) to go in!




After the zoo? Lunch, then an Electronics Mall stop, and then we were on our way to our next destination! Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman Hindu Temple. Try saying that 5 times fat!... Or even just one time correctly, for that matter. Anyway, this is known as the First Glass Temple in the World. It was so...shiny! The entire thing was covered with glass! So cool!

All of interior was covered with glass! Really! But, that is not even the most interesting thing about of little trip here. There was a wedding going on!

The ceremony had already finished, but everybody was still gathered around the Temple area and were eating in the well... Fellowship hall, we would call it back home. Cafeteria? Well... the place the Temple had for eating.
Everyone insisted that we join in too! We were ushered into the room and sat down at tables with all the wedding guests. They served us a traditional wedding meal, apparently. It was on a banana leaf and we ate it with our fingers and everything! Some of it was a little spicy for my mouth, but it was still really good. Cool, right? I am so glad we went to that Temple! One more pic of it, just for good measure...

Let's see... for me, that was really the highlight of the day. Our other destinations included an old Chinese Temple, a trip into the mall that is right next to the border, a walk through some local shop area outside the mall, and another Hindu Temple. This one was completely different from the glass Temple.

So that was pretty much my day in JB! So what did I learn? There is definitely stuff to do and see there besides just shopping (consult wikitravel these and other options). Also, it is not as unsafe as some people seem to think it is! We stayed together and didn't do anything stupid, and the three of us were fine. I think that as long as you remain aware, you should be fine there! Glad I went, it was a lot of fun!

Dragon Boat Races

This weekend there was a big Dragon Boat race down around Boat Quay. My brother was in a few with the American Dragons Team. They didn't do too well Saturday, but on Sunday my brother's boat placed 4th in the finals!

Apparently the Drums on the boats are mostly for traditional purposes... they usually don't even row with them except in races like this! The drummer sets tehir pace according to how the lead rowers set the pace, not the other way around! 

Boat Quay has a lot of restaurants along the water, so while we watched the races, we also got to eat! We were at an Irish place...so Stew for me!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Actually, it is still Thanksgiving in the US, but here in Singapore, it is already Friday morning!
Let me just start off by saying that I LOVE THANKSGIVING. Thanksgiving-Christmas is my favorite part of the year!This year, of course, we didn't get to spend time with our family in Mississippi, as is our usual tradition, but we found a Turkey, opened some cranberry sauce, mashed the potatoes and still managed to enjoy ourselves immensely.

Much to my brother and father's disappointment, however, there were no football games for them to watch on TV...somethign I didn't really care about, myself.

Today is another "holiday" or sorts in itself, of course...Black Friday!!!! Crazy sales here, but we went out to the mall anyway!

We ended up making a little trip up to the top of the Marina Bay Sands Tower.Check out the view!

Presents!

Last week my Dad had to go back to the US for work and we sent a shopping list with him!  It was like Christmas had come early!!!...actually, we did each have an early present from some friends.
Look at our goodies!

My personal request....

Yessss!!!!
:)

They have shoes for that?

Last Sunday marked the Singapore National Tug-of-War Challenge. Now if you're like me, you are probably thinking: "They have Tug-of-War Challenges? That's a real sport?" They do!

Teams competed in matches (best out of 3), then the winners would progress on towards other winners, and the losers towards other losers...what is that called? Brackets? They were very serious about the competition, too.

The team pictured here is the Malaysian team, and they actually ended up being the winners. They had super amazing leg strength and a good technique...and yes, there is such a thing as good technique in Tug-of-War!
What amused me (and my mother) the most, perhaps, was that they even have their own shoes! I mean, I guess it is to be expected... what sport doesn't have their own special shoes to wear? It was still sort of funny, though. They all had shoe covers to wear as well whenever they were walking anywhere other than on the green mat part.
Right now there is some sort of Asian Olympic thing going on... I guess this means that Tug-of-War isn't included in that since they had to have their own championship on the side.
It was an interesting find, nonetheless!

Laugh off Asia

Last Saturday I got to go to Laugh Off Asia, a stand-up comedy show. As the name might suggest, the comedians were all Asian... 3 Singaporeans and 3 Filipinos.

The show was held in the old parliament building, which gave the whole show an interesting feel, and was the object of many jokes. "You can bet I'm the first one to ever say THAT in the Parliament house!"... and other similar things.

The show was formatted as a sort of "competition" between the Singaporeans and the Filipinos, but they didn't really compete at all. The first Singaporean and Filipino each did 10 minutes, the next two did 15 and the last two did 20 minutes.

The actual comedians weren't the only ones getting a laugh, however, because the MC was totally hilarious. He was from Pakistan, something he immediately put to good use laugh-wise.

One of the things I was unsure about before going, was whether or not I would even understand the jokes. My fears were completely unneeded, however, because I, and the three friends who also went (Kevin, Heather and Jim...all American), had no trouble understanding any of it (well, except when they would say something that was obviously funny in whatever their local tongue was).

Most of the people there were Asian, mostly Singaporeans, but with a fair number of Filipinos present as well. There were also others, however. The "white people." Two French guys, a couple Germans, a few British, one Australian and a Swiss Guy, and a few more Americans. While the majority of jokes were centered around the different cultures you can find all around Singapore and the Philippines, there were also a fair number of "White people" jokes... some for each of us, I guess :)  I have to say, it was sort of odd being the object of their jokes. I mean, nothing they said was out of the ordinary jokes range... Americans know zero Geography, beware the Germans in case they get drunk and then decide to occupy us, don't ask the Swiss anything important because they'll remain neutral... but it was still funny hearing it from an Asian's point of view.

The show was extremely funny. Afterwords, we happened to meet a few of the comedians, and they were excited to know we enjoyed the show despite our "White-person-ness" haha

One of the interesting things about the old parliament house is that the names of all the important people that used to meet there have their nameplates on their chairs.
I took a picture of Lee Kuan Yew's chair... so did everyone else. He was their first Prime Minister.

The parliament house had a  very "old-timey" feeling, in a lot of ways. This is especially true considering what their current parliament house looks like.

It is not the tall building, but the flattish round one.What does it look like to you?... you can go ahead a say it... UFO. That's right, Singapore is ruled by aliens. Comforting, right?

Haha... anyway, I had a lot of fun. Afterwords, the four of us went strolling down Boat Quay (pronounced Key, for all you Americans) and then ended up heading over to Clarke Quay with Kevin where we met up with our friend Dexter. We ended up dancing at a club called Highlanders (no cover and a live band...why not?), eating ice cream at BK and then heading home around 4 am. Excellent Night.

An Unexpected Surprise

Last week I went on a tour of an area called Fort Canning Park. It started in the evening and was supposed to be a night tour of this really big hill in Singapore. On the hill is where 5 ancient kings used to live (supposedly), and it is also where Raffles, the British founder of Singapore) built his house.
The group was walking around the hill, minding our own "historical" business, when low and behold, we stumbled upon a concert. This wasn't just any concert either, mind you, but a heavy metal concert. Children of Bodom were playing, a Finnish group, and there was a large crowd of locals (dressed in black) to watch.
My group didn't actually go into the concert or anything (it was an outdoor concert at the very top of the hill), but later, when we climbed up the gates of the old Fort Canning, we could see them playing.

This just goes to show that you never know what to expect from Singapore!

Anime Festival Asia

Last weekend there was an Anime Convention here in Singapore. Did I go?... Of course I went!
Some of you who have frequented my blog posts for a longer period of time, might be aware that I really enjoy anime. I usually try to attend Megacon, the convention that comes to Orlando every spring, so I was really excited to be able and go to one while in Asia.

Right off the bat, the most exciting thing about the convention, was that it was cheap! I don't remember right off the top of my head how much Megacon was last year, but it was probably at least around $30. Anime Festival Asia, AFA for short... $8!!! That's right, I said 8 bucks! No this got you entrance to the event for one day and included the exhibition room. That was also where the signings took place and the gaming.

Now the convention had another main attraction... Anisong. They had concert tickets available for all the groups playing, but I didn't have time to stay for all of that part... so sorry, no comment on all of that section. I expect that the concert was actually the biggest part for a lot of people, though. There have been commercials playing on TV for their arrival for a while now.

So anyway, I head off to the convention, and to be honest, my expectations were all over the place. To start out with, I expected it to be hugely popular and crowded.. I mean, this is Aisia we're talking about. you expect Anime to be popular. I also expected there to be a lot of Cospley (dressing up as the characters), and I expected them to be pretty good quality, or maybe more extreme. Thirdly, I expected there to be stuff to buy everywhere. I wasn't really planning on getting a lot of Merchandise, but I still was expecting to find it.
On the other hand, I had tried to set lower expectations for the Convention. In the US, when people attend bug Cons, like Megacon, I don't only see anime. People dress up however they like... Star Wars, Star Trek, Anime, Popular Movie Characters, Pop artists, Disney... you name it, you could see it.

To be frank, I felt like AFA lacked a lot. Their exhibition room was a pretty good size, and it was certainly very crowded (Asian as far as the eye could see!), but in all other areas of my expectations, they fell dismally flat.
One of the biggest disappointments was definitely the lack of stuff to buy. Don't get me wrong, there was stuff to buy there...but where was the huge tower of Tshirts? Where were the countless stacks of posters? It just wasn't the same. There were cosplayers, but most of them were pretty simple. All in all, a bit disappointing, I would say.

So even though it is a little sad that the Asian Anime Convention I had so anticipated was a little, well... boring, I am still glad I got to go and see it! Can't wait for Megacon in Orlando, though!

Hari Raya Haji

So guess what yesterday was... Public Holiday!!! haha I know all you Westerners are probably thinking "What is with all these public holidays? Didn't they just have one last week?" Don't be jealous!!

I think I mentioned in one of the my other posts that each of the major religious groups here can pick one or two of their religious holidays and designate it as a public holiday. Well yesterday was Hari Raya Haji, an Islamic holiday.

I am not sure how much you guys know about this day, but I believe it's purpose is to celebrate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son (whom they believe is Ishmael) in obedience to God. Of course, before Abraham could do that, God provided the animal to sacrifice instead. I believe it also marks the end of the time of pilgrimage to Mecca. Well anyway, this is a day in which animal sacrifices are customarily made and over the weekend, over 4,000 goats were brought into Singapore for that purpose. 4,000!!! 

I have absolutely no idea how or where all these goats were sacrificed...and every single on of them was intended for that purpose. I mean, there is no way the temples around here would even be able to hold that many people, right? And it's not like yard space is abundant around here either. I really have no idea where this all took place.

Of course, I spent my day shopping with the family...surprise surprise. haha We ate at a German restaurant that I actually enjoyed more than I thought I would, and then we saw a movie.

Oh, side note about the movie:
The movie we saw was Tower  Heist. It was pretty funny, but with Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller I expected nothing less. During one part, the concierge of the Tower (the Tower staff are the main characters) produces a bunch of red flowers and informs Ben Stiller's character that, as it is Chinese New Year, he has gotten the flowers for one of their Asian residents. He also insists that he must say something nice to  her or else she might have a bad year. He then proceeds to present her with flowers when she arrives in the building lobby and to address her in Chinese. There were no English subtitles, so I have absolutely no idea what he said, but all the Singaporeans in the theatre (many of whom speak Chinese) all started laughing, so I have to assume it was funny. That is when the bizarreness of seeing a movie where the majority of the people around you actually understand the Chinese struck me, and I couldn't help but laugh too.
Of course what I found odd and somewhat funny was that the movie was set for sometime in November, but Chinese New Year is not until closer to February.

Back to my topic of Public Holidays....
No need to be jealous, my lovely American friends and family. There are no more public holidays that I am aware of here until Christmas, by which time I should be back in the States. You guys get Veterans Day soon, then Thanksgiving after that.

American Food

After eating at Chili's for the second time last night in Singapore, I decided to  do a blog post on finding American Food in Singapore.

Let's start with the basics, the seemingly obvious places to go:
McDonald's and Burger King... they're everywhere, right? To be honest, I like them better here than I do in the US... the same was true when I was in Spain and other parts of Europe. For the most part, places like this are pretty similar to their US counterparts, though I think the quality of the meat is sometimes better, and they use different oils to cook with and stuff. Let's go ahead and add Wendy's to this list..also something that I have found to be pretty similar to what's at home.
For the record, let me just go out there and say that Asia has yet to master "The Hamburger." Try as they might, it just isn't quite right. This come mostly from my dad, as I have never been fond of burgers anyway... McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Swensens...all have less than adequate burgers, though Burger King is probably at the forefront of this list. Now Carl Jrs... they have managed to provide a decent Burger.
Among the other popular American chains are KFC, Kenny Rogers, Popeye's, Long John Silvers, Subway, Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut and Dominoes.
KFC... not a fan. It just doesn't taste the same to me! Their sides consist of an option between mashed potatoes (not good ones, either), fries or Cole slaw. Also, you get absolutely no silverware at all and hardly any napkins!
Kenny Rogers... One of my favorites here, though mostly because it reminds me of Boston Market which I have a particular fondness for. It still isn't top notch or anything.
Popeye's... they have good fried chicken. They even have biscuits and gravy, which was sort of surprising for me!
Subway is by far the most "normal" (aka like how it is in the US). You get pretty much all the same options as any other Subway would offer... but the $5 foot long isn't a fad... that would be an awesome deal here since things are usually a couple bucks more expensive. 
Pizza Hut tries really hard, but it isn't the same either. They have no sauce on most of their pizzas, and a lot of their toppings can get strange. Also, there is not really a "make your own" option, and even altering the choices of pizzas given to you can be a hassle. I still think the pizza tastes okay, but it just is not American.
Dominoes isn't even worth it.

Other  popular American favorites also include things like Starbucks and a collection of ice cream places, but I don't go to them very often.

Funnily enough, when I think of eating American food, I sort of lump in Mexican with that even though it should be considered more as "Western Food" instead. We've tried a lot of Mexican places, and most of them were all right, but nothing special. My big pet peeve? They almost never give you cheese on the side when you order fajitas!! Also, they generally have horrible queso!!

And now back to  Chili's and, for that matter, Friday's as well. I don't really know what to say except.... they are sooooo good! A tad expensive, but GOOD! 1.) They have lemonade ( a rare thing here) AND it isn't just the Snapple kind! 2.) They have free refills! This is literally nonexistent here. 3.) There food is American. It doesn't just look American in the pictures, it tastes like it too!! Ahhh I can already feel my mouth watering just thinking about Friday's yummy Chicken Alfredo or Chili's Guiltless Chicken pasta. My brother gets the ribs every time... loves them! Oh, and their lava cakes... just like home!

There are other places as well that I haven't tried out yet.. Tony Roma's, Outback, California Pizza Kitchen and probably more. While getting "authentic" American food can be a chore, it certainly is worth it sometimes. It's funny how the little things count for so much... like the football games (like legit football, and not soccer or rugby) that play on the tvs while you eat.

So anyway, that by no means was an adequate description of the concept of eating "American Food" while in Singapore, but I hope it will suffice for now. Enjoy your next trip to Five Guys or the Olive Garden...and think of me while you are there! I know they will certainly be two of many trips I will be making once back in the states!

Halloween

Happy Halloween! 

So in case you are wondering, Halloween is not a big thing in Asia. The Chinese are really superstitious and tend to stay away from things involving "bad spirits" and the like. The holiday is not, however, nonexistent... especially here, in Singapore where there are so many foreigners.
To be honest, I am not entirely familiar with how or if Halloween is celebrated in most parts of the world, though it probably does not get as much attention anywhere else as it does in the States. Here, there are Halloween decorations strung up around stores and little costumes for sale. Most of the stuff, however, seems like cheap small items and is no where near the level of decorations you would see in your everyday Walmart.
In general, Singapore does not do Trick-or-Treating, but certain apartment complexes or living areas where there are a lot of Westerners will open up and let their residents wonder freely, gathering their assorted candies.

Last Friday the Marines held another social at the Embassy...a Halloween Party! I signed up!... and I mean, who wouldn't? At the very least, you can get $5 pizza and $5 drinks! Good pizza is a rare and iffy thing here. the pizza they served was from this place called "Canadian Pizza" and it actually tasted okay... though there was a profound lack of pizza sauce. 
The costume contest promised on the invitation (winner drinks free) never happened, but costumes were abundant!  I didn't have many resources to pull from, so I wore a blue dress I have and attached some blue  wings and flowers to myself, decorated my arms and face with little sticky gems and lots of blue make-up and went as a fairy. My friend Heather went as a basket of laundry, and her husband accompanied her as Static Cling. My other friend, Kevin was the Green Lantern. Dexter, who works at the embassy, did not dress up. boooo haha There were a lot of other costumes there too... a Zorro, a Pimp, Cereal Killers, a slutty policewoman, cats, candy corn and so many more. Funnily enough, there was also one guy dressed up as a Mexican. I assumed, being in Asia, that it was really as Asian underneath the sombrero and mustache, but it  turned out to be a real Mexican!... imagine my surprise! lol
Anyway, it was a fun party and we stayed from around 7 until 11 or so. The actual party went on much later, but we all wanted to catch the public transportation home before it all shut down, and so dutifully headed out to catch a bus.

That was all over the weekend of course...what did I do for actual Halloween night, you ask? We made fajitas. haha... not very "halloweeny" I guess, but hey, they tasted good! Actually, my brother also had carved a pumpkin a couple days before (those things don't last long here, but I took a pic before it got ruined... it is the one at the top of the post) and we ended up making some delicious Oreo Ball treats. We tried to decorate them like eye balls, but that part didn't turn out so well. They were very  tasty, though, I assure you!