aDrenais' Book of Shadows

Nothing makes me feel more patriotic than spending National Day away from Singapore. This is the second time in my life that I have not spent the evening of Aug 9 watching the NDP in front of the telly, if my memory serves me correctly. The first was during my exchange stint in Xiamen, although there was no public outburst of patrioticism then. My urge to burst into "Count on Me Singapore" was probably hampered by the certain knowledge that I'd be back in Singapore celebrating the next National Day.

Now that I'm a certified overseas labourer (I'm too lowly paid to be considered an expatriate), I find myself marking National Day on my calendar with a deep pride for my homeland that I didn't know I possess. I found myself humming National Day tunes all day, and wishing that I was back home just to catch the spectacular fireworks that will go on for 3 days (heard this from a fellow Singaporean). I was ecstatic when I heard about the National Day gathering for Singaporeans held in Ponderosa, Bahrain. I was finally going to meet fellow Singaporeans slaving away in this strange land!

It was with little regret I decided not to join my seniors in Gulf Air, whom I've grown rather attached to in the past months, for their private celebrations because they were not in the mood to socialise. I wasn't disappointed by my choice - I met over 50 people, both Singaporeans and Asians (mainly Malaysians) working in Singaporean-owned companies like City Neon, Pico, NCS and Century. They were mainly professionals like architects or structural engineers acting as consultants for the numerous construction projects being undertaken in Bahrain, and the Gulf Air girls were easily the most lowly-paid among the lot. It felt good to hear Singlish mixed with pidgin Mandarin all around me, it felt almost like home!

The organisers planned the event really well, and we had door gifts and games like a proper D&D. The door gifts were chocolates that came along with a little Singapore flag, it was a lovely welcome gift. After a few rounds of the buffet spread, we were split into 4 teams for the games. The first segment required us to guess buildings/places in Singapore, just by seeing maybe one-twentieth of the entire picture. Places that popped up included the new Supreme Court (I thought it was the revolving restaurant near the Esplanade), Sheares Bridge and Clifford Pier. The next segment involved questions that were uniquely Singaporean. Once again, I lauded the organisers' efforts at making the event a Singaporean affair. It was great fun answering questions like "Who's Ah Lian's boyfriend (Ah Beng)? Who's her best friend (Ah Huay)", "What's the story behind the Merlion (the creation by STB)", and the cover charge to Zouk (I got this one correct!)". The games section ended with a slide show of all things Singaporean. Not surprisingly, food featured prominently, and I gazed longingly for all the food I didn't realise I missed - mee pok dry, Hainanese chicken rice, laksa...

There was a birthday cake too, and instead of singing the Happy Birthday song, we sang "Majullah Singapura"! The candles nearly burnt to the end, and the organisers looked distressed at the ruined cake with all the candle wax, but honestly it was the high point of the event as we concluded the last notes of "Majullah, Singapura". I met tons of people that I would love to go out with sometime, and added alot of namecards to my collection (I laugh when people ask for my namecard, I tell them that unskilled labour don't require namecards).

We finally departed at about 11pm, with me feeling happier than I have in a long while. Happy 41st Birthday, Singapore.