This is our final week of school before our three weeks of holiday, and it's nearly over already! It's been a reasonably quiet week in the office so far (unless you count the unfortunate red-eyed child who was stuck in here yesterday...), but busy, busy, busy otherwise. There's been basketball games, our open house, parties, and now tonight the elementary students are having their Christmas program. It's also finals week for the high schoolers.
In my attempts to be Christmas-y, I hung a big "Merry Christmas" banner and lights in my office. Now, all the lights I've used in the States had two options: you could set them to stay on constantly or blink. The lights I bought here in Singapore came with a box that allows them to do EIGHT different things. They have names like "slo-glo" and "twinkle flash" but it should really be "sparkly insanity" and "may cause seizures". Some of the settings are pretty, but I have to wonder who programmed the other ones.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Just over a week to go...
...until Christmas Break! We get an entire 3 weeks off of school here, which is amazing. I don't even know what I'm going to do with all that time off yet.
That said, I feel like I ought to talk a little about Christmas in Singapore as compared to Christmas in Wisconsin. For one thing, it's HOT here. If it's not hot, then it's rainy. No snow, no icicles, no chilly breeze to make you wish you'd worn an extra layer of clothes. Sometimes, I'm incredibly thankful for the warm weather and other times I really miss peeking out a window late at night and seeing the sparkle of moonlight (or, well, artificial lighting...) on a blanket of snow.
Another thing is that there aren't tons and tons of Christmas decorations: if I walk around my neighborhood, I might see a Christmas tree in a window and the Fairprice (grocery store) has decorations up. To see lots of decor, you need to go to a mall. The malls are decked out with trees, garland, lights, and other totally random decorations in every color of the rainbow. Orchard Road also has plenty of decorations. If I was a really awesome blogger, I'd show you all pictures - but I'm only a mediocre blogger. : )
A few things that have stayed the same:
Kids' Christmas plays. Here at school, the elementary kids are putting on two presentations complete with music and costumes. There are posters up around the school and sometimes I get to hear them singing Christmas songs. So fun! I'm excited to see their big shows!
Christmas at church. The church I go to observes Advent, which I really love. If you're not familiar with it, it's basically a period of waiting for Christ's birth and Christmas. Every Sunday during the four weeks leading up to Christmas, a family from the church lights a candle in the Advent wreath. The church is also getting ready for a children's Christmas presentation and some other activities. Two weeks ago they had carolers standing on the steps leading up to the sanctuary - I loved it!
Coffee shops. Walk into any Coffee Bean or Starbucks and they have the Christmas-themed cups and drinks just like in the U.S. (You can make mean faces at me, but I really like Coffee Bean better - as a non-coffee drinker, I'm loving the tea lattes...)
So, those are just a few observations. I've been trying to get into a Christmas-y mood and hung lights in the First Aid Office - they haven't caused any seizures yet, so I think it's okay. :)
That said, I feel like I ought to talk a little about Christmas in Singapore as compared to Christmas in Wisconsin. For one thing, it's HOT here. If it's not hot, then it's rainy. No snow, no icicles, no chilly breeze to make you wish you'd worn an extra layer of clothes. Sometimes, I'm incredibly thankful for the warm weather and other times I really miss peeking out a window late at night and seeing the sparkle of moonlight (or, well, artificial lighting...) on a blanket of snow.
Another thing is that there aren't tons and tons of Christmas decorations: if I walk around my neighborhood, I might see a Christmas tree in a window and the Fairprice (grocery store) has decorations up. To see lots of decor, you need to go to a mall. The malls are decked out with trees, garland, lights, and other totally random decorations in every color of the rainbow. Orchard Road also has plenty of decorations. If I was a really awesome blogger, I'd show you all pictures - but I'm only a mediocre blogger. : )
A few things that have stayed the same:
Kids' Christmas plays. Here at school, the elementary kids are putting on two presentations complete with music and costumes. There are posters up around the school and sometimes I get to hear them singing Christmas songs. So fun! I'm excited to see their big shows!
Christmas at church. The church I go to observes Advent, which I really love. If you're not familiar with it, it's basically a period of waiting for Christ's birth and Christmas. Every Sunday during the four weeks leading up to Christmas, a family from the church lights a candle in the Advent wreath. The church is also getting ready for a children's Christmas presentation and some other activities. Two weeks ago they had carolers standing on the steps leading up to the sanctuary - I loved it!
Coffee shops. Walk into any Coffee Bean or Starbucks and they have the Christmas-themed cups and drinks just like in the U.S. (You can make mean faces at me, but I really like Coffee Bean better - as a non-coffee drinker, I'm loving the tea lattes...)
So, those are just a few observations. I've been trying to get into a Christmas-y mood and hung lights in the First Aid Office - they haven't caused any seizures yet, so I think it's okay. :)
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