It is a very weird thing to be an expat in Singapore as opposed to just vacationing here. When I traveled overseas in the past I felt strange disgust for other American travelers. They (HUGE generalization) behaved so poorly at times that I just had to shake my head and hope no one figured out I was "one of them".
In Europe, I prided myself that very rarely did we get mistaken for Americans (thanks to Martin's Dutch and French). In China I began to feel a little more patriotic because of the simple freedoms that were not mine in that country. I almost (would have if he had been any closer to me) kissed the border guard when he said, "Welcome Home Ma'am" as I came back into LAX from China. I found that feeling very peculiar and just chalked it up to being a very emotional trip.
But living in Singapore has caused me to become much more patriotic than I ever felt in the states. These feelings are very strange for me given my past experiences traveling overseas. This year we ventured to the celebration that was put on by the American Association of Singapore. My patriotism soared as we walked into the gates... I only hesitated for a moment with embarrassment as I realized the name of the place where we were attending the 4rth celebration was called,
The Terror Club. It is the club for officers at the American Naval base.... Luckily I did not know the name of the club until I was already there. I may have considered not going just because of the name. How lame.
All that aside I felt a surge of joy as we entered the gates and saw all of the hot dogs, hamburgers, cotton candy, & people decked out in red, white, and blue......
I loved it! I felt home for a brief moment..... There were some funny things about the celebration such as... a reminder that we were in Singapore by their national anthem being sung before ours... and the ambassador mentioning that we were guests in this great land. Expats had a much more toned down look than the usual Virginia/ Maryland crowd and the fire works lasted seriously 4 minutes. We were quickly thrown back into the real world and realized how funny we looked when we took the MRT home and got more looks than usual..... we were all decked out in red, white, and blue, balloons, American flag tattoos, and patriotic face paint. There was no hiding that we were raging Americans and I was not ashamed!
I really missed being in America and realized that I will not take another 4rth for granted at home. It is a blessing (that I did nothing to deserve) to be an American.
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| Flag that Greta drew to help us feel more festive!! We sang the national anthem and recited the pledge to it! |
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| The irony here may allude you but I found it so funny that the "American Club" was being represented by only Singaporeans! I also loved their motto "The pursuit of happiness." Surely you must be happy if you (or your company) can afford the membership fees :) |
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| The girls were asked to take a picture for the front of Expat Living! I will post if they make the cover :) The professional picture looked much better.... |
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| Mmmmm sugared marshmallows |
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| Martin loves when I try to make sure someone knows I was there.... |
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| So glad Disney was there to market to us.... |
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| This little boy was on the MRT with us and could not stop pointing to Alice's balloon and squealing. Alice finally gave him the balloon and we listened to his squeals of delight all the way back to our condo! Really cute little guy. |
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| $20 dollar berry mix just to feel festive.... |
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| Our attempt to recreate a traditional 4rth meal.... It was pretty close. |
