Singapore: The Refuge of SE Asia

Singapore is a "Fine City!" 

Now, to clarify right away, Singapore is not a refuge because the rest of SE Asia is somehow bad. Singapore is simply extra great for an American who has been deprived of and misses super cleanliness, English-speaking, Christmas-celebrating (snowmen and songs about snow included, odd…), Western-food eating, legitimate museum-possessing countries!!!! Thus, Singapore could have not been a more perfect choice for my first Christmas away from home. Not to mention I got to see Debbie Wong and Paro Sen for the first time in a long time (Carleton friends)!!!  : )

I arrived on Christmas Eve and knew the trip was gonna be good when the immigration lady spoke in English and offered me a mint. What a great touch! Then I settled in at Debbie’s beautiful house, met her family (loved her pops, super chatty!) and then attended a Christmas Eve dinner with 70+ Wongs (that’s Debbie’s last name!) That’s a lot of Wongs, and they were awesome! We sang Christmas carols, I ate more meat than I’ve seen in 10 months, and I even received a present (an umbrella, okay!)

Singapore has 4 national languages: English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. The latter three are representative of each of the major ethnic groups, and English is the common language everyone shares. 

Then next day, church. As a Catholic,  I usually seek out Catholic churches to attend in other countries simply for the ease with which I can follow the mass. Thus, attending Debbie’s English-speaking  Methodist church was great, because for the first time I got to see the Methodist church’s universality in action, too. It was crazy, like something out of a movie. Singing the Christmas carols I knew, everyone dressed in their Christmas best…but 100% surrounded by Chinese Singaporeans and sweating in the tropical heat. Rarely do I (read: never have I ever!) attended a Methodist church that was anything but 100% white Midwesterners!

Touring with Debbie included:

Debbie's a great tour guide, got the poses down and everything!

Beef Hor Fun, amazing

One of the few traces of Islam I saw here; I also walked past one mosque in the Arab Quarter. Quite a change from East Java, Indonesia!

Wayang Kulit. Interesting to learn a little about Malay culture here , as it is the sister language and culture to Indonesia!

New Year's wishes

Writing New Year's wishes. These beach balls will be put into the harbor and lit up at night!

The hotel with the ship on top! And the science museum (looks like a big, white open palm)

      

By Night

Debbie is fabulously photogenic!

Odd to see traces of Christmas in tropical Singapore, especially snowmen, snowflakes, and some (wax) ice skating in the mall!

Tourist!

At the botanical gardens in the orchid garden

Fancy lunch with so much cheese! Some of the first good, real cheese in 10 months!

"Peranakan' Museum. 'Peranakan' is a Malay word that refers to an ethnically/racially mixed person; in Singapore, this  generally means Chinese and Malay.

Reunited!

 We ate soooooo much good food. I would go broke in Singapore eating that food every day. Because I would eat so much. The only thing it lacked was an affordable Dominos, Sam!

After a few days with Debbie, I met up with Paro, and got a taste of the Indian lifestyle living in Singapore. By that, I mean that Paro’s family eats freshly cooked Indian food at home and speaks Bengali (technically, they are from India, but one of her parents is culturally Bengali). Correct me if I’m wrong, Paro!!

Touring with Paro included:

Fresh flowers in Little India

Hindu Temple entrance

Various depictions of god

Entrance to a shrine in the temple

Saris at the market in Little India

Not something you'd see in my part of Indonesia! 

New Year's Eve proved great and basically free thanks to Paro's generous friend!

Singapore, the nation of technology and wonders! This was an image projected onto a fountain of water in Marina Bay...WHAT?!? So cool!

After a most fantastic week and a half in Singapore, I was reluctant to leave. But I will certainly be back, and if Paromita Sen has any say in the matter, I will be moving there in June 2014.

:  )