The New Year

(potp: Anti-Drug billboard on a busstop in Sipo; I wonder if you can use this number to get help from inside this cell..)

LATE CHRISTMAS REPORT

So how do people celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve in Singapore? Well, as I already mentioned, Christmas is more like a big shopping and partying event, where people take to the streets (especially famous Orchard Rd) and listen to this haunting 'Rudolph The Reindeer'-Song which has been broadcast on streetlight-speakers for ages on some places in downtown.

Funny hats and Christmas-colored shorts are worn and everything is lit up, especially the palm trees which are decorated with lit rallies in every imaginable color. It's just the same craziness here like everywhere else in the Western world. Christmas is 'celebrated' in the malls and department stores from early November on already (I know, that is no news for anyone living in a Western country, the 'early worm' Christmas competition gets crazier every year) and the most important national sport (I wonder if you can compete at the Olympics..) "Extreme Shopping" becomes ever more important in Singapore. This was one good reason for me to take to my heels and run for Australia, where people seemed to have totally forgotten that it IS Christmas time :-) (To be honest, I imagined that it would just be the other way around)

WANNA HAVE SOME FOAM?


MTV organised a New Year's Eve party at Sentosa Island, featuring a big foam party and affordable drinks. When trying to sell a spare ticket, we met a group of students from Canada and Australia who have just arrived in Singapore. Maybe I can find a way to enjoy a bit of student life here after all..The first week in January also seemed to have been the very first week of the new semester. Well...I hope there will be some Singaporean Student parties quite soon!

(golden dancing performance..)

Well, as you know, one always feels obliged to do something SPECIAL on New Year's Eve. Sentosa seemed to be an ok lah choice, but somehow MTV did not get the mood right. We arrived shortly after 10pm, when the RnB music was already over (what the ?!). So there was only dull techno music left for the rest of the night. The two remaining 'dance floors' were of course located nicely...directly on the beach - one was really dancing on sand and under palm trees, while there was a beautiful view on distant lit up ships on the water.

(the personification of the positive side of this party :-), you can say what you want about Singapore, but showing a certain degree of naked skin in public does not seem to be as punishable as dancing in the streets..)

The so famous foam party was one of the sandy dance-floors..actually a separated space from the rest of the party, which seemed to scare almost all present females to death that night. The percentage of male party lions inside was not lower than 80%, which spoiled it significantly for me. There's not much fun in dancing between almost naked, wet, boozed and touchy males (provided there is not some specific preferance towards this particular part of the manhood).

(quick, quick...take a pic! it's over soon)

Well, maybe it was not the best choice after all to go there, but we found some new friends after all. Another bummer was that the so-called official fireworks (fireworks are of course generally banned in Singapore, what did you think?) was not more exciting than the stuff you can buy for about 20€ in a German supermarket..and it was over before I could make myself comfortable on the beach. Well, there is some improvement possible here, Singapore! Additionally, I do not like it that much to wait for 2h for a cab to get home..from 9pm to 5am all the mobile networks were jammed, so it was not possible to call a cab like usual (there is no public transport available from midnight to 5am..)

STOPPING TO WHINE

I hardly ever realise that I take the the most good things just for granted...there was no fu**ing freezing like in Germany that time of the year.. where you cannot feel your fingers after lighting fireworks for 15 minutes. And dancing into the New Year in shorts on a cosy beach cannot be too bad after all, right ;-) Well, human beings get used to improvements too quickly..out of my perspective this is one major flaw in human 'design' (no preference toward any religion intended). We seem never to be really happy with what we have and keep striving to the next bing thing, be it travels, gadgets, relationships or anything else. Overcoming this might be difficult. Nevertheless, I regard it as MY 'next big thing' to reach this goal..finally more enjoying than focusing on future achievements!

I call this my most important resolution for this year 2006, next to finishing my studies and finding a job (*sigh*)!

Tell me about your resolutions! This could be a good way to say you really mean it ;-)

I wish you all a successful year 2006!

Maik