What a Weekend's Worth

Before we get to the fun of the weekend, let me just start by saying this was a very nice work week. Because of the weird schedule, I had only a couple of days at work this week. Not only that, but at work, I got to watch Mizzou basketball beat Illinois for the first time in almost a decade in the Bragging Rights game! That is one of the awesome benefits of where I work, sometimes I can check in on Mizzou sports. Later this week, Mizzou's bowl game will be on while I'm at work. Hopefully that results in a win.

Alrighty, now to the weekend. Okay, I fibbed, we'll start with Thursday night. I was very tired, but I was in the mood for pizza. So, I decided to be a big boy and get pizza delivered to my big boy apartment. Well, lost in translations was my order. I ordered two ten inch pizzas, knowing that would be plenty and there would be leftovers. When the delivery man got to the door, it was two fourteen inch pizzas. I'm not really one to turn down more pizza, but this was more than I was expecting. After eating about five slices, I felt really good about myself (sarcastic comment).

On Friday morning, I woke up and skyped for a little while. The mornings are normally the best time to chat, because my mornings are the nights in the states. After chatting, I had pizza for lunch (why not, I have enough for ten friends). I went to the fitness center for a light workout and realized how much I like the condo facilities. The fitness center is just what I need it to be and the pool area is really, really nice (I shall be visiting it this week).

Enough about the residence, yall know how happy I am with it so far. I got ready and headed over to the Koch's. Way back when I first got here, I went over to the Koch's for dinner one night. While there, I met "The Divas," Raye's group of four expat women who live here. Lucky for me, the group was getting together with their families for Christmas dinner and I was invited. At the party, there were two American families and two Canadian families. The house this party was at was incredible. It certainly ranks up with some of the nices houses I've ever been in. It is a renovated shop house, meaning it used to have a store on the bottom level and a living area upstairs. Now, it's been remodeled into a beautiful home. The hosts are renting out the place which had a koi pond, beautiful living room and all sorts of nice things. The party had a great balance of people my age and people the Koch's age and I really enjoyed everyone's company. We played a Christmas trivia game-my team didn't do so well...hmmm I wonder why. We did a Secret Santa exchange to which my gift was successfully received and I enjoyed what I got as well. The highlight, besides meeting everyone, had to be the food. It was incredible, like Thanksgiving part 2. All the Divas chipped in to create a table full of Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, vegetables, mashed potatoes, green beans, challah (a traditional chritzmach item) and desserts. The food was simply phenomena and I had seconds. For my first Christmas dinner, this really showed me why people love that holiday so much. We didn't do any religious stuff, we just all got together and enjoyed each other's company.


Now to Saturday and getting back to the tribe hahaha. I woke up and went to Chabad. Services were very nice, although to be honest, I got there toward the very end. After services, there was a lunch upstairs at the community center. I sat down with the twenty year old crowd again. The food at lunch was really very nice and the conversation was good as well.

After lunch, I came back and got ready for the second half of the day. Earlier in the week, one of guys I met at the other congregation called me and was nice enough to invite me to go with him and his wife to a movie and dinner on Saturday. I ended up taking a bus to the theater, which was a first for me. I was a little nervous about taking the bus, because up until this point, I've been a train guy. The bus was a nice change of pace. It maybe took a little longer, but it was nice getting out and seeing some more of the city. On the train, all I see is the inside of stations. The bus takes you through the streets, allows you to get a view of more things.

Anyways, I got to the theater on time and met Matt and Mel upstairs. They moved here about two years ago I think. Anyways, their friend Julia met us at the movies and we went to go see Avatar. For those non movie buffs, this movie had a lot of hype for it's cinematic value. This was my first experience with a feature length 3D film and I loved it. The movie was a bit long, but I was really into it. I wont go through a full review of the movie, but you can check out my friend Steve Chaitman's thoughts here on Movie Muse. I don't know if the link worked, hopefully it does. http://moviemusereviews.com/2009/12/review-avatar/#more-512

After dinner, we all headed out to the East Coast Food Center. I haven't been out to this part of Singapore yet, but I will definitely be going back. I don't want to call this touristy, but it definitely has a more islandy atmosphere than the other hawker centers. Two more of Matt and Mel's friends met us for dinner. We found a table right near the beach with a nice view of the water. We ordered a pitcher of Tiger and Matt brought back some satays to the table. Satay, I'm sure, you might be more familiar with. It's meat on a stick-they are little small bites with a side of peanut sauce. I really liked it, I mean come on, meat on a stick, what's not to like. After, everyone went and got their own main course. I had a tough time choosing what I want, but I settled on nasi ayam. It's a Malaysian chicken and rice dish. The chicken had a nice crispy and sweet flavor to it.

That pretty much wrapped up a great Friday and Saturday full of good people, good food and good conversation. Today, I've been getting things ready for when my friend Jordan comes in town. My pledge brother from Mizzou is teaching English in South Korea for the year. I think he's on winter vacation and so he's spending a couple of days in Beijing and then he's coming here. On Wednesday, we're planning to go to Malaysia. Unfortunately, this is one of the big work weeks for me, so it will be a little difficult to do a bunch of stuff during his visit. Hopefully, it will all work out though. He definitely can handle doing some sites on his own as he's already traveled quite a bit more than I have.

This whole weekend, the one thing that has stuck out to me in terms of travel, is there are lots of opportunities to go to different beaches and cool tropical spots in the region. I really hope that in my time here, I get to go to some of them. Thanks to my visits going to Miami growing up, I've always had a love of beaches and there are some of the best ones in the world here. If anyone comes to visit, I promise we'll go to a beach or two (of course work schedule allowing haha).

All in all, I had a great weekend and the best part, the fun is just beginning.

Michael