navalgazing — the perspective of a military family . . . the narcissism of a blog

CNY Shopping Center Event

by Mitja on January 28, 2012

A couple weeks ago we went to a Chinese New Year celebration at a shopping center near our house where, previously, we had seen a few fun performances. A low-key casual community event next door to a place we often go for noodle soup.

The God of Wealth and Citrus

Noodle soup hawker stall, still one of our daughter's favorite places to eat in Singapore. Note: Photo taken in 2010.

I feel like my daughter has grown up at this the hawker stall. When we arrived in Singapore she was three years old and could not speak with the woman behind the counter, who was from China. Now she can hold conversations in Mandarin with anyone there.

Citrus and friend at the noodle soup hawker stall in 2011.

We arrived just in time to say hello to the God of Wealth and watch a lion dance. I never tire of seeing them, even if this performance was nothing compared to the Lion Dance championship we saw downtown in 2009.

How often do you get to see a lion dance troupe on an escalator? I like to imagine that somewhere in Singapore is an old performer who is telling today’s generation that when he was younger, lions had to take the stairs.

Lions on the Escalator

After the lions departed, we sat through a feng shui presentation. Since the events were in Mandarin, I guessed, incorrectly, that there would be other performances to come. Forty-five minutes later it was beginning to feel like the time my mom took us to a wedding ceremony on the wrong day and we sat through a Catholic Mass, unable to politely extricate ourselves.

It started to become clear that there would be no events following the lecture and that a sales pitch was going to be the end of the evening. Our cue to leave was the flyer being handed out which offered several different products designed to maximize prosperity in the coming year. I decided that we did not need any Auspicious Shower Foam and we headed home.

Lion Dance at a local shopping center.

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Fantasy Road Trip

by Mitja on January 26, 2012

I discovered today that Google Maps is able to give driving directions from Singapore to Kabul. It would only take about four days of non-stop driving (4,400 miles/7,100 kilometers). Singapore to Malaysia to Myanmar, and through Bangladesh and Northern India along the borders of Bhutan and Nepal. Other than the last 1,000 miles through Pakistan it would probably be smooth sailing!

I have driven across the United States twice by myself and once on a Greyhound bus. If I can survive a solo drive with a cat, a kitty litter box and no air conditioning from Barstow to Oklahoma City, I think I could get pretty far with the kids on the South Asian Subcontinent.

The goal, of course, would be to make it an adventure in eating. When I drove from Seattle to Washington, D.C. via the southern route I wanted to follow in the footsteps of Calvin Trillin, figuring I could sample BBQ all along the way. Which I did, in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Kentucky. As they say in academia, more research is needed.

I ran into a dry spell of good food along the Virginia highways but it was just as well as the cat had been through a lot by then. To keep her cool I put a zip-lock bag of ice under a towel in the cat carrier but by Amarillo she no longer waited for me to fold the towel and straddled the bag of ice. I had never seen a cat panting before, or a cat as sad-looking as when the the ice melted and the bag leaked.

Of course the weather is always an issue. It can be brutally wet or hot in India, and Elysia reports that this week there has been a lot of snow near Kabul, so it is not a good time to visit even if I could go there. In any case, it would not be a lot of fun to get into a snowball fight with someone who carries a 9mm Beretta M9 pistol and has a Sharpshooter qualification.

Click on the photo for a larger version.

Sadly, we are unlikely to make it to India any time soon. Higher up on the list are Cambodia, Laos and Taiwan and we will be lucky if we make it to two of those places this summer when Elysia returns from Afghanistan.

Instead, the kids and I will just have to suffer through a six-day trip to Bali in February, something I felt obligated to book when I saw sale fares for US$100 round-trip from Singapore. We have heard good and bad things about Bali — beautiful in parts, Spring Break party in others — though I am also hoping to ferry over to Lomboc for some time on the beach.

Until then we will just have to stare out the window and look for monkeys, such as this one. He rejected what was in our trash bin but seems to be headed toward our patio furniture. It seemed slightly used last time we returned from traveling and someone left mango pits behind.

Monkey in our driveway.

Walking along the drain at the back of the house, near the maid’s quarters:

Monkey in back of our house, me making sure he stays away from our patio furniture because he left mango pits behind last time.

Well well well, look who is outside my kitchen door:

Well well well, look who is outside my kitchen door.

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Happy Chinese New Year from Afghanistan!

by Mitja on January 22, 2012

Happy New Year from Camp Blackhorse, Afghanistan!

Happy Chinese New Year from Camp Blackhorse, Afghanistan!

Elysia received a large box of Chinese New Year candies and decorations from her sister — this lantern was pretty complicated to put together — and I sent another 16 pounds of treats for her to share with other servicemembers and her Afghan mentees. It is a good thing they have a gym on base!

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Happy Chinese New Year from Singapore!

by Mitja on January 22, 2012

Happy Chinese New Year!

Citrus at her primary school's Chinese New Year celebration, Singapore.

I visited my daughter’s school on Friday for their Chinese New Year performance. It was a packed crowd with the entire school in the assembly hall, parents and guests from a local senior center. I was surprised to see that at least thirty former students — now in secondary school — also came to watch.

As always, the principal made his way around the auditorium and personally greeted and chatted with every parent. Other staff handed out oranges for good luck and longevity as well as hóngbāo with chocolate gold coins.

The school has very good guzheng ensemble and they performed two pieces followed by Chinese and hip-hop dance performances as well as singing by a group of Singaporean Indian students.

CLICK ON THIS PHOTO FOR A VIDEO OF A SOLO PERFORMANCE. Primary school guzheng performance for Chinese New Year.

It is when I see these children perform — they are in Primary 4 — that I wish we could stay in Singapore longer. Citrus has the opportunity to learn guzheng but there is no chance of her being able to continue in the States. The schools are very serious when it comes to building an award-winning team, with mandatory after-school practice of about five hours every week. Our daughter would not make much progress before we will have to leave and I do not want her to take a space that would benefit a Singapore child.

Chinese dance performance.

Primary school children singing at the Chinese New Year celebration.

A lion dance troupe also visited and they were impressive, walking the entire length of the assembly hall with one performer standing on the shoulders of the other for each lion.

Lion Dance at our daughter's primary school celebration for Chinese New Year.

The hour concluded with the children all singing songs for the New Year. Citrus already knows these songs from kindergarten, so I was happy to see her singing enthusiastically. In addition to wearing blue, she was a lot taller than her two friends and stood out enough for me to film her from the other side of the hall.