Another Weekend's Worth

Well boy oh boy, what a difference finding a place makes. This weekend was drastically different from my first as I was able to put aside my residential worries and just have a good time. Friday night, I left work and was able to get to the American club just as dinner was about to wrap up. Let’s start by saying there are two synagogues in Singapore, an Orthodox one and a more liberal one. On Friday, the reform/conservative congregation got together for services. Since they don’t actually have a building to themselves, they use a room at the Singapore American Club (more on how cool that place is later). So, I got to the club at about nine at night. Obviously, services were over, but as it was the first night of Channukah, people were still hanging around. When I got there, I first said hello to Raye and Paul, and like the good Jewish mom Raye is, she guided me quickly to the food and challah. After getting some food, I sat down at a table with all young adults. It was a bit of quick fire introductions, but it was really nice to meet more people. As you all know, I’m not one to turn down a conversation. Most of the guys work in finance. For some reason, I was a little bit tentative to talk about ESPN, but it’s quickly where the conversation went. We all chatted around for about the next thirty minutes, which was really nice. After, the Kochs were nice enough to drop me off at the hotel.

The American Club is best described as a country club like place. Normally, to go in, you have to a paying member or a guest of one. The club is very pretty and elegant. The ballroom where the congregation met was very nice. There is a huge pool and a bowling alley there. The coolest part though is definitely the Union Bar. It’s exactly what you’d expect from an American bar. I only went in briefly, but it is cool that they have hundreds of college pennant flags in there. I didn’t find Mizzou’s but I will.

Saturday was really nice, more of the type of day I’d like to continue having on off days. I woke up and walked to Maghain Aboth, the Orthodox synagogue here. I will simply begin by saying the building is beautiful. The actual sanctuary building was built in the late 1800s. It is very nice outside and just as pretty inside. I got there right in the middle of the Torah service. The congregation is Sephardic, so I had a tad bit of trouble following along, but luckily I found an Artscroll siddur to use. Services were nice and it still amazes me how far religion spreads. After services we went next store to the less than five year old, Jacob Ballas Center. It’s the community center equipped with ballroom, kosher market, restaurant, children’s playrooms and housing for students. I only got to see the ballroom today, but that was plenty to give me an indication of how great the rest of the building must be. The room was really beautiful. I sat with another group of young people, a couple of people work in Singapore, and some are staying and learning with the rabbi (I don’t know if it’s a yeshiva or if I can call them yeshiva buchers). I had a great time talking with everyone and the food was excellent. In addition to not being one to turn down conversation, I also rarely turn down food haha.

After, I went to the Singapore Art Museum which is very close to the synagogue. At the moment, the museum is featuring a Pilipino art exhibit. It took an English tour which was quite nice. I’m really not the type that goes to art museums, but I’m also not opposed to it. After the tour, I walked around for a little bit. There was a cool section where an artist had made these beautiful bottles and then also made scents that described states of being. For example, I smelled the dream one and the wasted youth one. I’d never really thought of that as an art, but the glass figurines holding the scents definitely were. I’ll be posting some photos from the exhibit on Facebook I’m sure (Including, a wedding party getting married there). I almost forgot to mention, the art museum used to be a private school called St. Vincents I believe. Well, enrollment was down and the school couldn’t afford to stay open, so the government turned the building into the art museum (how cool is that? This follows a little bit on the Chijmes renovation mentioned in a previous post). In total, I probably spent about an hour and fifteen minutes at the museum and really enjoyed it.

Just as I got back to the hotel, I went to go grab an afternoon snack with Helmi and Nazmah Talib. The Talibs are in the international accounting group my dad used to be a part of (might still be a part of?). Anyways, they were nice enough to invite me out to coffee at a local coffee chain (I think it’s called The Coffee Corner). It was very nice meeting them, as Helmi had been so helpful in making my decision to come to Singapore. I ended up getting a delightful oreo milkshake (original, I know).

After, I went shopping for a small TV at the technology center near the hotel. I haven’t made my decision on what I’m going to do, but it was nice being able to look at a couple of different stores. My goal is that if possible, I’d like to get a television that I could possibly use in the US as well. We’ll just have to see.


And now it’s time for Sunday. I woke up and headed over the Koch’s to hang out and chat with family. While at their apartment, I was able to phone with Dad, Pammy, Zach, David, Melissa, Ellie and the birthday boy Aaron Lazaar. Skype wise, I was able to have lovely conversations with Susanne and Evan. However, that was after my lovely chit-chat with Amanda. After a nice conversation, I was telling Amanda how it’s been difficult to watch my favorite show “How I Met Your Mother.” I’ve been using a site my cousin Jimmy showed me, which so far has been okay, but the Internet can sometimes be slow. Well, I’d watched about half of the latest HIMYM episode, when I figured out a plan. Amanda has a DVR, so she turned the computer and camera toward her television and played the last half of the show! It was kind of like we were watching together even though we’re half a world apart. It was a very good episode by the way.

After hanging out a little bit more, I went over to the Raffles Hotel. Let me just say, this place is like a paradise. Make sure to check out the Facebook album for photos. I looked around at the hotel museum for a little while. The hotel was built in the late 1800s and is a beautiful British style bungalow. It reminded me of what Gatsby would have liked to stay in. Back in the olden days, there would be live music, lots of dancing, carousing and billiards. I mean this place is very luxurious. The Queen has stayed there, Presidents and Heads of State as well. However, everyone knows this place for it’s famous drink, the Singapore Sling. I didn’t have one while there, but I will at some point. I walked around the courtyard, looked inside the super expensive restaurants and shop. It is fun to go there and just think of what is possible (to actually ever stay there, I’d probably have to win the lottery to justify it). Also, I saw my second wedding of the weekend, very nice.

After Raffles, I met with my friend, Akshobh, in Little India. He took me to a vegetarian restaurant that was really good. I can’t tell you the names of the things we ate, it was good though. With these places, I’ve just been telling the people I go with, just order it and I’ll try eating it (of course, I preface that with no pork). It was a little spicy, but not terrible. One dish had a crispy flat bread, while the other was more of a pancake filled with potatoes.

Right across from the restaurant is the very famous Mustafa Shopping Center. This place is really impressive. It’s about six floors of shopping with pretty much everything you can think of. It’s not so much of a mall. I would say it’s more like a big department store. I looked at tv prices there, bedding, cookware, all sorts of stuff. If anyone comes to visit, I’ll take you here, it’s too impressive to pass up. I’m sure I’ll be back there to get a pot and pan, maybe my television as well. As Akshobh loved to tell me, the place has great rates.


Then it was off to Clarke Quay. As you might remember from the first blog, this was one of my immediate favorites in the city. It’s a mixture of the Riverwalk in San Antonio and a place like Legacy center. We really only walked around, but it was fun to go there. It’s just funny to see how different the demographics are in different part of the city, definitely one of the coolest parts of Singapore.

IF YOU DON’T READ ANY OTHER PART OF THIS BLOG, READ THIS ONE.

So on the way to Orchard Road, we were on the MRT and someone said, do you go to Mizzou (I was wearing a homecoming shirt)? I looked up and saw two young people. I said yeah, I actually just graduated from Mizzou. The young lady told me she had graduated from there in 2005. Naturally, she said so what are you doing here? I told her about ESS and she quickly started asking me about people from KOMU (of course realizing I was a journalism kid, we’d have similar professors). I don’t know how to explain this, but it was such a cool feeling to be all the way across the world and to meet a fellow member of the Mizzou Mafia. This fellow Tiger, Caroline, and her husband were visiting Singapore for a couple of days. They live in Japan at the moment. She just moved over there and before moving she’d worked at KAKE-TV in Wichita. So, of course, I told her oddly enough, that’s the first place I applied for a job at back in February. Unfortunately, our visit was too short as we’d gotten to our stop. As I was walking out of the MRT, I realized that I might have actually sent her an email way back when to get some help applying there. How crazy is that? Bottom line, I love Mizzou. I’m glad she had asked, because I am definitely the person who will go up to someone whose wearing a MU shirt and say hello.
Continuing on, the reason we were going to Orchard was to go to the hotel where the Arsenal Fan Club meets. Akshobh is a huge Arsenal (one of the Big 4 English Football teams) fan. We met up with his cousin and some of his friends around a quarter past eleven. Here is what is awesome/crazy about Singapore-football fans, the games often don’t start here until past midnight and people stay up and watch, then go to work the next morning. I wasn’t planning on staying for the Arsenal/Liverpool, game but once I was there, the atmosphere pulled me in. Football fans are awesome. The dedication, the team songs, it’s all very cool. I mean as the game was starting, singing of Arsenal songs just continued from kickoff until about three minutes in. As many of you know, I haven’t picked my team just yet, but Arsenal definitely now has a leg up. It doesn’t hurt that Arsenal had a cool second half comeback to beat the struggling Liverpool side, 2-1 (Plus, if I become an Arsenal fan, I know one Dallas Rabbi that would be pretty happy). It’s just funny because I didn’t intend to stay for the game, and then I wasn’t going to stay for more than a half, and of course I stayed for the whole match. It really was quite fun.

That pretty much wraps up a great weekend. Since I’m writing this second part on Monday, I’ll also note that I’m learning Final Cut Pro at work. It’s an editing program used in newsrooms all over the world. It’s similar to Avid (the one I used at KOMU), there’s just different buttons and shortcuts to learn. It was nice getting to mess around with it today.

Until next time,
Michael