Singapore Thanksgiving

Remember the old joke "Do they have the fourth of July in England?". (Yes, it's right after the 3rd.)

Well, they don't have Thanksgiving in Singapore (nor Black Friday the day after). It's a regular work day. But this did not stop us from having a wonderful get-together with some American friends here. Six families all got together for a pot-luck feast. Our contributions were Raye's pumpkin challah and Paul's wild rice / corn chowder soup.

Yes, you can get turkeys here: Butterball, no less. Finding smoked beef sausage (for the soup) was much more difficult. We found the closest thing to it at Carrefour's the French version of a super Walmart.

Today is also Paul's dad's 82nd birthday so we stayed up late to give him a call just after midnight in Singapore so we could be the first to wish him a happy birthday.

The girls are enjoying a "Village Thanksgiving" with our wonderful extended family in Plano. Paul's sister, brother, mother, aunt, uncle, etc. are all getting together in Montgomery, AL.

P.S. The high temperature here today was 30C / 86 F, compared to -5 C /23 F in Ankeny, IA where Raye's brother is celebrating the holiday.

Raye Meets Herman

It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

So Raye and a bunch of her gal pals joined with Singaporeans and (more than a few) expats to welcome Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits to the Lion City.

Singapore is a young-looking city but you wouldn't have known this from the appearance of this particular audience.

Young-at-heart for sure -- the inner teens enjoyed the show and sang along on every song.

It could have been one of those PBS fundraisers.

The highpoint of the evening for Raye was meeting Peter and shaking his hand. She waited excitedly for 42 minues; that's one minute for every year Raye has been a fan.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

Well, not exactly. Although the attempt is impressive.

This display is over the entrance to the major shopping area of Orchard Road. It takes some getting used to seeing people in summer attire, getting their picture taken in front of artificial Christmas trees, that have been place next to real palm trees, with wild parrots flying overhead.

Folks in Florida, California, and Hawaii may not find this so unusual. However, if you've lived in Ohio, Chicago, and Boston, the scene is remarkable.

Since there is no Thanksgiving here to act as a speed bump, as soon as Halloween was over, the Christmas decorations began to appear. Almost overnight.

And in case you're wondering, the color choice of the elves to the right, this is not a carry-over from 31-October. They were promoting cell phone service from M1, and orange is the corporate colour. Red belongs to Singtel; Green to Starhub (as in the billboard in the background).

Of the 4.8 million people here, over 85% of them are not Christians. Buddhists are the largest single group at about 43%. Muslims are the next largest group at about 15%. So no token menorahs here (nor "Chinese tops" for that matter).

The seasonal promotions are inventive. And some, like the Tanglin Mall "Snow and Avalanche" are annual favorites. (Local friends have told us this is a not-to-be-missed experience.)

The 'snow' is a type of soap foam that is blown from a half-dozen boxes that circle an outside patio with a 5 meter tall Christmas tree in the middle. One one side, there is a somewhat larger box that collects the foam and then blows it out all at once. This is presumably the 'avalanche'. I say presumably because they were still setting it up when we walked by on Sunday.

There are many temporary stores set up on the sidewalks selling toys, costume jewelry, even tree trimming supplies. (No real pine or fir trees sighted yet, although I'm fully expecting to see some here in a few weeks.)

Only two months ago, there were different seasonal stores set up in the exact same places selling mooncakes for the mid-autumn festival.

And just as fast as these decorations were set up, around December 24, they will all disappear - quickly replaced with decorations for Chinese New Year that takes place one month and one day after December 25.

That's the next major shopping season.