Kerstmis / christmas
Terwijl we toch in de tropen zitten leeft Kerst wel in Singapore. Niet vanwege de christelijke achtergrond of het gezellig samen rond het haardvuur chocolademelk drinken, maar vanwege het shoppen.
Scholen houden Kerstmarkten om wat geld bij te verdienen. Op de GESS dus ook. Je kon voor 5 dollar op de foto met de Kerstman, om geld bij elkaar te sparen voor grade 10's trip naar India in maart, waar ze gaan helpen om een school te bouwen. Youri was "de" kandidaat om Santa Claus te zijn. De arme vent zweette zich het rambam maar toch een beste duit bij elkaar ge-hohoho'ed.
Alle winkels hier hebben uitverkoop zo rond de Kerst en het lijkt er wel op dat het allemaal gratis is.
Straten en winklels zijn versierd met kerst verlichting en overal staan gigantische kerstbomen (nep) in allerlei kleuren en themas.
Maar de echte bomen worden steeds populairder en zijn nu bij elk tuincentrum te koop. Zelfs Ikea verkoopt echte Kerstbomen.
Wij hebben er vandaag ook 1 gekocht, een Nordlander van 2 meter voor 100 S$ (60 Euro). Ze komen hem morgen brengen tussen 09.00 en 17.00 (erg ruim) want je blijft tenslotte in Singapore wonen, je kan niet zelf gaan slepen, gemak dient de mens.
Nu alleen afwachten of de boom het houdt, het is tenslotte nog 2 weken tot de kerst en 3 weken tot nieuwjaar
Being in the tropics doesn't mean they completely skip Christmas. You would think that Singaporeans, with mainly a Chinese heritage would ignore Christmas as Chinese New Year is only 6 weeks or so away. No, Christmas is very popular in Singapore, not because of the birth of Christ, or sitting around a fire drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows, but because of the shopping.
There are Christmas sales everywhere, with discounts up to 70% and special "member" shopping nights. Yeah everybody is trying to make some money out of it. No sign of Economic crisis in Singapore, the lines in front of Gucci and Chanel are no shorter than usual.
The German European School organised a Christmas fair as well. Grade 10 is planning to go to India in March to help build a school and they need S$ 3,000 (10 % of the total cost) to do this. They want to earn all that money (not just ask the parents to cough it up). They have been working hard for it already and the fair should bring them a long way. One of the acitivities was a photo booth where you could get your picture taken with Santa for 5 bucks. No other than Youri was chosen to be Sint Nick, together with his buddy Jack. Both have a healthy Santa figure so it made absolute sense (a skinny Chinese doesn't look good with a beard and a German Santa is stretching it as well).
Youri was sweating like a pig after a couple of hours but he enjoyed himself with all the girls lining up to sit on his lap, and they made a nice bundle of money.
All streets and shops are decortated with bright colors and fake Christmas trees, but the real deal is getting more and more popular as well. You can buy them at a nursery or even at Ikea. So we went out to get our one this morning and scored a nice looking Nordlander for S$ 100, which is not bad for a 2 meter tall tree.
They will deliver it tomorrow between 09.00 and 17.00 as this is still Singapore. "One can not be seen tossing around with a tree in one's car" A man with a van will take care of it, you can even book the disposal already. Hey it is Asia, everything is possible.
Let's hope the tree lasts till Christmas as it is still 2 weeks away, and with a lot of luck it might see New Year in three weeks.
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Scholen houden Kerstmarkten om wat geld bij te verdienen. Op de GESS dus ook. Je kon voor 5 dollar op de foto met de Kerstman, om geld bij elkaar te sparen voor grade 10's trip naar India in maart, waar ze gaan helpen om een school te bouwen. Youri was "de" kandidaat om Santa Claus te zijn. De arme vent zweette zich het rambam maar toch een beste duit bij elkaar ge-hohoho'ed.
Alle winkels hier hebben uitverkoop zo rond de Kerst en het lijkt er wel op dat het allemaal gratis is.
Straten en winklels zijn versierd met kerst verlichting en overal staan gigantische kerstbomen (nep) in allerlei kleuren en themas.
Maar de echte bomen worden steeds populairder en zijn nu bij elk tuincentrum te koop. Zelfs Ikea verkoopt echte Kerstbomen.
Wij hebben er vandaag ook 1 gekocht, een Nordlander van 2 meter voor 100 S$ (60 Euro). Ze komen hem morgen brengen tussen 09.00 en 17.00 (erg ruim) want je blijft tenslotte in Singapore wonen, je kan niet zelf gaan slepen, gemak dient de mens.
Nu alleen afwachten of de boom het houdt, het is tenslotte nog 2 weken tot de kerst en 3 weken tot nieuwjaar
Being in the tropics doesn't mean they completely skip Christmas. You would think that Singaporeans, with mainly a Chinese heritage would ignore Christmas as Chinese New Year is only 6 weeks or so away. No, Christmas is very popular in Singapore, not because of the birth of Christ, or sitting around a fire drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows, but because of the shopping.
There are Christmas sales everywhere, with discounts up to 70% and special "member" shopping nights. Yeah everybody is trying to make some money out of it. No sign of Economic crisis in Singapore, the lines in front of Gucci and Chanel are no shorter than usual.
The German European School organised a Christmas fair as well. Grade 10 is planning to go to India in March to help build a school and they need S$ 3,000 (10 % of the total cost) to do this. They want to earn all that money (not just ask the parents to cough it up). They have been working hard for it already and the fair should bring them a long way. One of the acitivities was a photo booth where you could get your picture taken with Santa for 5 bucks. No other than Youri was chosen to be Sint Nick, together with his buddy Jack. Both have a healthy Santa figure so it made absolute sense (a skinny Chinese doesn't look good with a beard and a German Santa is stretching it as well).
Youri was sweating like a pig after a couple of hours but he enjoyed himself with all the girls lining up to sit on his lap, and they made a nice bundle of money.
All streets and shops are decortated with bright colors and fake Christmas trees, but the real deal is getting more and more popular as well. You can buy them at a nursery or even at Ikea. So we went out to get our one this morning and scored a nice looking Nordlander for S$ 100, which is not bad for a 2 meter tall tree.
They will deliver it tomorrow between 09.00 and 17.00 as this is still Singapore. "One can not be seen tossing around with a tree in one's car" A man with a van will take care of it, you can even book the disposal already. Hey it is Asia, everything is possible.
Let's hope the tree lasts till Christmas as it is still 2 weeks away, and with a lot of luck it might see New Year in three weeks.
posted by Tony en Sandra Moes @ 6:38:00 pm
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