Well, another 3 weeks have gone by, and we've been busy as ever. This month, the Lantern Festival has consumed much of our time. I've always loved a good festival, and Singapore is full of them (poor Chad and Isabel have to suffer through the late-night train rides into Chinatown, the Arab district, etc.).
The Lantern Festival is a Chinese tradition that's been around for a long time, and it's symbolized by sharing mooncakes (little cakes that are traditionally made from bean or lotus paste), rabbits (we were initially confused by the recent airing of Peter Cottontail on TV, but now it all makes sense...well, kinda:)), solving riddles, and of course, lanterns. Our neighbor brought us a box of different types of mooncakes, which we had lots of fun trying. We also visited Chinatown for the lantern "light-up" and opening ceremony, went on a lantern walk (led by dragon dancers), and attended a party at Isabel's school. So much fun! Other than the Lantern Festival, the Muslim community here just celebrated the end of Ramadan. Chad's Indonesian friend invited us to a post-Hari Raya party on Sunday, which should be lots of fun, and give us an opportunity to learn a little about the Muslim holiday. Deepavali (Diwali) is also right around the corner, and we look forward to visiting Little India for the holiday.
Other than attending festivals, we've all been doing fantastic. Isabel lost a tooth (yes, the tooth fairy visits children in Singapore, too), learned to roller blade, went to her first birthday party in Singapore, and started after-school clubs - Glee Club and Chinese Cultural Dance. She's also got a sleepover planned for Friday.
Chad's been plugging away at work. The World Orchid Festival is coming up rapidly, and he's working a lot with the contractors to get everything done. He got to give a tour to the Mexican Ambassador to Singapore and a group from a new botanical garden being built in Cuernavaca. Even MORE exciting, though, is that it landed us an invitation to a reception in honor of the anniversary of Mexican Independence at a super fancy hotel downtown. I actually shrieked when I saw the invite!
Other than making plans to hob-nob with the Mexican Ambassador, I've also been busy. I visited the Singapore Botanic Garden (SO fabulous) and checked out Little India. I also met with one of the National Parks managers about working part-time on their plant database. If it works out, I'll get to write plant descriptions and travel around Singapore taking photographs of plants. And I'll be able to do most of it from home, so it wont interfere with dropping off and picking Isabel up from school, which is awesome because I'm really enjoying spending more time with her. AND, best of all, I'll get paid, which means more money for traveling! I'm also still trying to get into doing some volunteer work, and have two volunteer orientations scheduled over the next couple of weeks. I start taking weekly Mandarin lessons tomorrow, and am otherwise trying to enjoy the simplicity of grocery shopping and doing laundry (did I mention that our washing machine plays a song when it's done?).
Eating is getting to be less of a problem, as we explore our options more and more. Since asian ingredients are so cheap and readily available, I'm cooking more asian food at home, and enjoying it too (our pantry basics have grown to include two varieties of soy sauce, sesame oil, fish sauce, and white pepper).
As I'm getting around more, I'm becoming more exposed to the various cultures and economic disparities here, and am pondering/intrigued by the mixture of these groups and the stratification of Singaporean society. Chad spends much of his days working with Indian and Bangladeshi workers that are paid next to nothing, while I watch many of Isabel's schoolmates get dropped off by Phillipina and Indonesian nannies (many of which probably have kids of their own that they left in their home countries). Contrast this with the millions of dollars floating around here (the Singaporean economy right now is UNBELIEVABLE), and daily life here is really fascinating. Two of the volunteer organizations that I hope to work with focus on migration economics, which I hope will give me an opportunity to become educated about the various migrant groups and be able to scratch the surface of the relationships between cultures. Needless to say, many of my thoughts these days are focused on globalization (especially considering our Friday plans to celebrate Mexican Independence Day in Singapore).
That's all for now. As always, I hope everyone is doing well, and that the weather's starting to cool off (for those of you in Phoenix who are completely over it). I'll be sure to update you all on how the reception went with the Mexican Ambassador, and on our other upcoming adventures (including a trip to Malaysia we've got scheduled for the end of the month).
