Thursday, January 1, 2009

A New Year in Singapore

Happy new year to everyone! More fruitful life, more blessings to share to our loved ones, friends, and community, and a great journey to life for the new year 2009.

WOW, I love new years. Christmas is amazing but new year is fabulous. These two celebrations are unique but they mean different in our lives. Well I am not here to write and compare the two important celebration and jubilation but I want to narrate what has happened to my new year here in Singapore.

We actually have office work in Dec 31st but after work, Olga and I planned to purchase a piece of cake somewhere in Tiong Bharu. It was also Analyn's birthday so we thought of buying a cake for this celebration well this is also for the New Year (wink). We bought a black forest cake. We came home at around 5:30PM and Razel has prepared the pastas and chicken and other goody-foodies. It's going to be a mouthful feast.

At around 7PM, our housemates' friends arrived and the birthday celebration began. We sang the infamous birthday song then the blowing of candles. After that, it was dinner time. The spaghetti was yum-yum, the breaded fried chicken was really sumptuous and the rest of the food were all tasty, so much that I don't know how to get them inside my tummy - I mean all of the food. I was filled and stuffed. I thought everyone was:)

After the celebration, Olga and I decided to watch the new year countdown at the Marina Bay. So I took a bath to refresh and Olga had her ritual as well. We bid new years and greetings and we went out of the flat.

Olga and I had to walk from our flat to the MRT station for 5-8 minutes. At last we reached the station and there was no crowd at all. I just thought people have celebrated new year in the comforts of their labyrinths. Well I was wrong! When we arrived at Raffles interchange and alighted to get to the other train bound for Marina Bay, there was a crowd. Olga and I did not know where the place was so we just followed the pile of people traversing the pavement. Wahahahaha I had a feeling that we are going to be lost or already lost. Well we reached a park where people set up some picnics but there was no music or what. So we decided that it was not "the place". We went back and rode a bus going to the Marina Barrage but prior to that, we had to walk for like miles =)). The pounds that we stocked in our tummies an hour ago were slowly eaten up. Going back, Marina Barrage was a nice place but it wasn't "the place". I sent an SMS to my Indonesian friend and told me that we should have gone to the City Hall MRT Station and from there walk to Esplanade. So Olga and I decided to get out of the building and move our way to City Hall. It took us another 30 minutes of our time and the clock was ticking for the countdown. We arrived at City Hall at around 10:30PM. We just wanted to get there because there's this concert where River Maya will be playing and it spelt fun but it will cost us 19SG dollars so going to the concert was not the main point of going there but more of watching the fireworks display. We were greeted by a really huge crowd at the City Hall going our way to Esplanade. Olga and I just walked and walked. It was getting 12 midnight. We stopped in front of Mandarin Oriental and decided to wait there. After minutes of waiting, the crowd cheered. There were few balloons being flown out to the sky. Inside this stadium was the concert but it did felt like a party though. Anyway, the moment we have waited for arrived. It was the fireworks display already. To our surprised it took place just 300 - 500 meters away from us and we were just luckily situated in front. There was extreme elation when the first batch of amazing fireworks jumped from its bunk. There were cheers all over the place and claps. It was a 1o - 15 minute show. I forgot my digital camera but Olga did bring hers so it was capturing the moment time. Well I sent my SMS to the Philippines to my family and friends and I was getting a network busy tone. I did not stop until my messages went through. It was fun and great even if we had to walk far. We got back home after the fireworks display and the flood of people was getting visible.

Compared to the Philippines, the new year in my hometown is celebrated with free as in free street party with charity campaigns and the same thing, a fabulous fireworks display. The neighborhood will have to make a lot of noise like blowing horns and noisy firecrackers (I hate firecrackers). What I am trying to say is, it's more fun to celebrate new year in the Philippines. Anyway there is this cultural differences and I cannot expect more. It's more of finding meaning to what or how it is. I just enjoyed the celebration as much as I could.

We arrived home really tired and our housemates were actually drinking beer and champagne. I had a glass of wine and that was it. By the way, it felt so starving so it was another belly feast. Hehehehe. After some small chit-chat and fun debates about relationships and hearing drunk people having to debate which was really fun, I just felt sleepy. Lots of opinions and lots of things to learn from your housemates. There was even a mini sing-along using youtube live streaming. I felt tired so at around 2AM, I said my prayers and then I went to bed.

That was how my friends and I greeted the new year.

5 comments:

Jane Jane said...

Happy New Year! Cheers... :)

Aree Bettermenn said...

Wishing you and your family health, wealth, and happiness in 2009!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for dropping by at my blog. Have a happy and bountiful new year!

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year to you! Well, you can't expect the celebration to be the same right? It's preferences..lol! I got sick watching fireworks for many years already at the same place.. So this year I celebrated differently..lol!

xgenesis007 said...

Hmmm... yeah a matter of preference and I am curious how did you celebrate it. How different ?