High Holidays
Had my first set of high holidays here and they were very nice. The difference isn't as much being in Singapore, it's more about becoming an adult and deciding what the holidays mean to me. We had a lovely Rosh Hashanah. For first night, we went to a young adults dinner our friends organized. It was a great atmosphere with an excellent community feel. Second night, we went to the synagogue for dinner. Smaller group than I expected, but still okay. The highlight was that there was an Ashkenazi minyan for prayers, so I felt more at home. The next day, we went over to our friends Jonathan and Margaret's for lunch. They are so nice to let me come over for holiday meals - great friends.
Yom Kippur wasn't as smooth sailing. I took off on Saturday, but it was smack in the middle of my three day, three in the morning, work weekend. Add to it, I came down with a cold on Friday. So, I wasn't feeling real well coming into it. It put me in the position of having to decide if fasting really made sense. To be honest, I had never really understood the reasons for doing the fast. Well, on Friday night, I found out the reasons we fast, don't wear leather, stand a lot, etc. I decided to fast as long as I could, but if I really felt like having to eat, go for it. I was able to hold off, and we had a lovely breakfast at our friends Matt and Mel's (they just had a baby this week, a huge mazel tov to them!).
As far as the rest, we had one meal in the sukkah and were able to go for a little bit of Simchat Torah. I've been working the mornings this month, which means having to go home earlier to get some sleep.
Singapore Grand Prix & Sports Report
Formula 1 racing came to Singapore late in September. To me, this was really awesome. They create a street track downtown by the Marina for a night race. It's so impressive - it not like going out to the Texas Motor Speedway. Literally, it sits downtown.
On the Friday before the race, I got to go cover a press conference for Lotus Racing. Had a good time meeting their drivers.
It's always fun to be out in the field a bit.As far as other sports go, the baseball season is wrapping up. The Rangers are doing very well. Hopefully it stays that way! Some of my work friends seem to have really gotten into it this season which is great. I mean, when things like Roy Halladay throwing only the second ever postseason no-hitter, it's kind of hard not to like it!
We had a NFL workshop the other day. I was just trying to show everyone why it's the most popular sport in the states right now.
Basketball is on the brink of a new season. No one is talking about the Mavs, because let's face it, until they really do something, it's kind of the same 50 win, early playoff exit expectation for this season. I do think that underdog feeling could help. This season, I will say Miami Heat, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh seemingly a thousand times (may be a bit low with that prediction). Still, really excited to see it start up again.
Social Stylings
The coming and going of friends continues here. It's all to be expected though if you're mostly friends with the expat community. I mean, Amanda and I will leave at some point. It's just part of living here.
However, that has all come with some fun events. We went to a Glee themed going away party, a burrito night, a great poolside welcome back barbeque and a housewarming party. As with everything in life, it's all fluid.Travel Bug
One of my biggest reasons for moving here was the opportunity to travel the globe. Amanda and I took September off, but that made me really want to go somewhere. Luckily, things are falling into place. We're heading to Bangkok for a weekend at the end of the month. I expect it will be hugely different from our Krabi, Thailand experience. After that, some of our Mizzou friends studying in Australia are coming to visit.
Then, it's off to Dallas for Thanksgiving - really excited to see everyone! This will be Amanda's first trip back home, and I'm sure she'll love it.
As for 2011, I'm hoping to really explore. This week, my friend told me about a great fare from Singapore to New Zealand. So, after some website surfing, we booked a trip to Auckland in May! I'm super excited. We'll try to travel around a bit, but we only have 8 days, so we'll have to make 'em worth it. This doesn't mean I don't still want to go to Australia, we'll just have to go another time.
I really am trying to take advantage of living in this part of the world. Singapore is such a great springboard to travel to other places. Speaking of, still on my list of places to visit, Hong Kong, Bali, Australia and Seoul. South Korea is the main focus as I want to go while Jordan is still teaching there. Of course, all this is work days and budget permitting.
So, hard to believe it's already been ten months here in the little red dot! I still love being here, and it's great having Amanda with me.
Last note, we found a really delicious pizza place. It would totally pass my cousin Zack's test!
Toodles,
Michael
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