Tag Archives: Singapore

Dec24

Thanks for Opening My Eyes About Christmas Traditions

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Thanks for Opening My Eyes About Christmas Traditions
The kids Christmas morning 2008

The kids during Christmas morning in 2008

This year has been such a huge eye opener for me, when it came to Christmas traditions, all thanks to some pretty awesome bloggers, who have shared their traditions. You see, we only started celebrating Christmas when Miss 9 was about 4 (I think?)  and even then our “celebration” was to include a decorated tree and presents. Then as each year passed, we added a new “tradition” so to speak. Things like “special” food and in my case, I decided Chilli Crab with noodles, just to give it that Asian twist. Mr. C added some barbecue to bring in the Aussie BBQ side of Christmas.  And then we started inviting people over, first, it was my sis, who was at the time here studying. The next year, we had my in-laws and nieces, then the year after that, my friend who migrated from Singapore. But, all I’ve ever known about Christmas traditions from my Catholic or Christian friends were, they went to mass the night before (I think?), had a Christmas tree and presents. There were no mentions of baking cookies, making gingerbread houses, or…the Advent Calendar! This was the thing that I FINALLY understood about, thanks to Kate from Puddles & Gumboots.

When I first heard of it, I thought…umm…what’s so special about it? It’s just having a chocolate each day to mark the day that’s passed, inching closer to Christmas. But, it’s actually so much more than that. Then, I also learned about the “freaky” Christmas Elf, who got up to lots of mischief at times, whilst being there as a spy for Santa. Smart one!

It then occurred to me, all these baking, decorating the houses, the lights, the cards, the going to family’s houses for a feast is so much like – Hari Raya Aidilfitri or also known as Eid! Traditionally, where I’m from (Singapore in case you didn’t already know), in the lead up to Eid, we bake cookies, cakes, have our traditional set meals all ready for the big day. The decorating of houses with lights, new curtains, new almost everything, even some going as far as painting their house in the lead up to the day! Now that I’m here, I only do the baking and cooking bit and so far have invited my friends over for a feast. And that’s what all these celebrations are all about (when you take away the religious connotations) – being together and enjoying each other’s company. It’s about forgiveness, about being happy, being joyful, being in the moment. Yeah I know sounds cheesy but it’s true.

So I’d like to thank all my bloggy friends for sharing their Christmas traditions on their blogs. It has been such an eye-opener and also quite an adventure for me learning about the different traditions. Next year, I’m hoping to learn more about Hanukkah. I’ve heard they celebrate that for 8 whole days, with yes, food coming into play and also presents!!

Jan18

Our Holiday Trip to Asia – Singapore

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Our Holiday Trip to Asia – Singapore
Family photo of Father's Birthday

My parents with their daughters and grandchildren at my father's birthday dinner.

This is the second time we’ve visited Singapore as a family. In 2009, it was so that I could be there for my younger sister’s convocation/graduation and to celebrate Eid. The kids got to meet most of my maternal side and THEIR maternal side of the family. They had a ball and so did I, especially having not been back for 6 years. This year, it was going back for my father’s birthday and, just for the heck of it. Ok, so we missed the food and the people and…the SHOPPING!. Ok, enough about shopping, if you’re after the bargains I managed to get, then head on to the Baubles, Bubbles & Bags Style File for some of that. I’ll share with you the places we went to, which were free, as most places targeted for tourists there were pretty expensive.

  • The Esplanade Theatre

This is where “high brow” musical performances, dramas, and performances are held, much like Melbourne’s State Theatre or Arts Centre and Sydney’s Opera House. We went on the rooftop – thank goodness it was free of charge – to take a few shots of the surrounding attractions. At the basement, which links the tunnels leading into the theatre precinct, is a “viewing area” where they showcase the latest local visual arts works. We got to sit and view the latest animations put together by students from the various local universities. I have to say, some of them are destined for a beautiful and fruitful career in animation.

Marina Bay Sands, The Esplanade theatre, DNA Bridge & The Singapore Flyer

View from the rooftop of The Esplanade Theatres

  1. Marina Bay Sands Resort – where one of the Casinos is and some shopping and food.
  2. The Esplanade Theatres – I call it The Fly
  3. The Helix bridge & The Singapore Flyer (like the London Eye)- see the roof of the bridge looks like the shape of double helix.
  • Marina Bay Sands
Marina Bay Sands

Inside Marina Bay Sands - View in the Food Court

We were not really there to gamble or even see the Casino – we had the kids with us. More about seeing the building itself as it was still in the building stages when we were there in 2009. The place was pretty posh; which made it feel quite pretentious really. With the upmarket brands like Bvlgari, Dior, Prada, Cartier…you know the kind of shops where I wouldn’t dare step into. There’s also a food court – the prices were comparable to those in Australia and it had many different types of cuisine. I think it was targeted mainly at the very rich tourists – not us. Inside Marina Bay Sands, at the Food Court level was also an ice skating rink. If you’re after a view of the city, you can venture up the Skypark, tickets cost AUD$15 for adults and AUD$11 for each child between the ages of 2 – 12. It was raining when we were there, so we passed and chose to get on the Helix Bridge instead.

  • Helix Bridge
Helix Bridge

Helix Bridge. Photo from flikr.com by William Cho

This is a bridge that links Marina Centre with Marina South and the Marina Bay area. It also leads us to the Floating Stadium, which hosted the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore. It also links from Marina Bay Sands to the Youth Olympic Park and the Art Park. On the bridge, you will get to see some magnificent views of the places around Marina Bay, and even the CBD (central business district) area.

CBD area

View from the Helix Bridge of the CBD area

Basically, if you’re in Singapore, I would advice against hiring a car to drive around. Their public transport system is really efficient with new train lines being further developed to link the many different areas together. We mostly took public transport like the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit trains) and the buses. You’d have to be a little bit more knowledgeable about the area though to take the buses, if not, stick to the trains and taxis.

If you’re into theme parks, then you can head on to Universal Studios over at Sentosa. Prices are like any other theme parks in Australia – they start from AUD$52 for adults and AUD$38 for children; so you see why we skipped that, it would have cost us over AUD$200 if we did!

The kids did have their fair share of fun though. We stayed at the Down Town East Costa Sands Resort, which also had places of entertainment for the kids. Wild Wild Wet, the water theme park, was an instant hit and seeing that we were staying there, we received 8 free tickets and each ticket entitled an adult and a child to an entry. If you were to go there on your own, entry prices are AUD$12 for adults and AUD$8 for children. The kids went nuts there and each time we were there, we stayed on for 3 hours!

Overall, the family had a rather short but fun trip this time around as well. I wished we had been able to extend just a few more days so that I can soak up more of the sights, food and meeting up with old friends. Hopefully there would be a next time soon.

Oct2

Of Cultural Diversity

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Of Cultural Diversity

To some of you who have met me or seen my photos, you would see that I am an Asian, my whole family is Asian. But there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. Both my husband and I come from totally different backgrounds, he is a Chinese Vietnamese, while I am a Malay Singaporean. So, in Asian terms, our kids are of a mixed racial background.

With this also comes the question of religion, maybe not so much in Australia, but very much so if you came from Singapore and is a born Muslim. The issue of conversion comes into play and hence, how we raise our children. My husband and I know the intricacies of raising a child in a predominantly Anglo- Saxon society, and have always tried our best to inculcate whatever cultural backgrounds we each have into the upbringing of our children. It is not easy to raise a child without having to think about culture and religion, imagine the two of us trying our best not to let our children forget where we came from, so that they can pass it on to the generations to come. As for religion, we have decided not to pursue those issues. Life is complicated enough without having to introduce them to the idea of God etc. We believe in raising our children to be honest, loyal, knowledgeable and sincere human beings.

So how do we help foster the culture we both originate from? My religion celebrates Eid – the end of Ramadhan (fasting month), and with that celebration from my cultural background – we visit our friends and relatives and of course one of the most outstanding part of all cultures – FOOD! So, instead of focusing on the religious aspect of this celebration, we have the children dress up in the cultural costumes, I would bake the special cakes and cookies that we normally do in Singapore and also cook the special foods that are normally served. Rendang served with compressed rice, mixed vegetables in coconut milk, and much, much more! Recently I even invited my friends over to my house to have a taste of these fanfare. Another part of this celebration is the giving away of money to children or young adults who have not yet started working. It acts like a token, any amount is acceptable.

The same goes for my husband’s culture. He celebrates Chinese New Year. To expose my children to this part of the culture, we would go for a reunion dinner with his side of the family and on the eve we would hold our own reunion dinner at our house, just the five of us.  Here we would normally have steamboat – this is where we choose from an array of raw and marinated foods and cook it in simmering stock together. The children will also get to dress up and visit my husband’s family and get what we call “Ang Pow” or red packet, which is filled with money.

The children love celebrating these special cultural occasions and it also opens up their eyes on the different customs that come along with it. We only recently started celebrating Christmas. Again, not the religious but rather cultural aspect of gift giving and getting together with friends and family. In part, I think it is important to expose my chidren to the different cultural backgrounds that we have not only in our family but in our society. By teaching them about giving more than the receiving, it gives them a more wholesome experience and deeper understanding of where they come from and where they would be going and are a part of. We can only hope these experiences will enrich their lives and be passed on to the next generations.

So, how about you? Do you have any interesting cultural celebrations or customs that you might like to share?