10/10/10, SIS 10 Year Anniversary

This weekend had a lot going on for me, and I only now have time to write about it-
Saturday night was the Singapore International 10 Year Anniversary. The snazzy event was held in the Melia Hotel Ballroom (a gigantic, vastly decorated venue) in the theme of "Oscar Night". Everyone showed up in gowns with glitzy shoes and styled hair, and it was definitely really fun to see my coworkers all done-up. I made the effort by getting a dress tailored (styled after a cute Alexander Wang dress) and paid an incredibly low amount for a really high-quality tailoring job. A lot of the foreigner teachers went out to get dresses made, and it was really interesting to see what everyone was wearing. Obviously, many pictures were snapped in the ballroom, which was covered in giant movie posters, red carpet backdrops, and ice sculptures. I had a great time bonding with coworkers that I, as of yet, hadn't had the time to get to know very well, since when we are at school, mostly everything we talk about is, well, shchool-related. The company handed out a large amount of raffle prizes (blenders, toasters, other household items), and considering what was being given out, I wasn't paying much attention to the names being called, as I was not too keen on winning a large collection of pots. But sure enough, someone nudged me on the arm asking, "Is your name Meghan McLane Marchie?" Completely shocked that someone knew my full name, I inquired to why they wanted to know. "They're calling your name on stage...". At this I jumped up and headed up onto the stage, in front of 400+ SIS employees (I believe about 7 schools were represented at the party). As it turns out, I was the only white person to win something, and it just so happened to be a brand new "Smart Phone" worth over 450 USD! I'm not much into cell phone technology, refusing to update from my flip phone from four years ago, so I was not too excited about the prize. By the time I got home and opened it up, I couldn't believe what these phones are capable of doing! I'm already addicted to LG's version of the iphone, and was not sure how I've been living without one. My mom had tried to get me to invest in an iphone in the past, but I kept saying how I never wanted to upgrade. Funny that it took a raffle win to get me hooked on smart phone technology. :)
Sunday rolled around, and with it, the culmination of the 10 days of the 1,000 Year Celebration. The city had been preparing for a massive parade all throughout the week, but at 8:30 AM after a big Saturday night, the closest I was willing to get was to my rooftop. The crowds of people lining the streets was unbelievable, and I regret not having my camera to snap a photo of all the heads from above. I went up to my roof in my pjs, expecting to take in thew view alone, but sure enough, my extremely Japanese neighbor was up there enjoying the spectacle as well. Since his English is extremely limited, our conversation suffered, but I managed to get some information out of Tando Nakimoto. He even left and returned 10 minutes later weilding a bunch of egg-salad finger sandwhiches for the two of us. It was incredibly cute, so I did my best to convey to him that I had in fact lived in Tokyo as a child and was now currently a teacher. As I've been told, my Japanese name was "Mechan". Tando got a kick out of the fact that I was technically "Mechan Teacher" which rhymes nicely with a heavy Japanese accent. A lot of laughing ensued, and I was really happy that I got to spend that moment getting to know someone from another country, and almost effectively getting to converse about the excitement of the parade.
Although fireworks had been planned in 29 locations throughout the city for the evening, and I had even made an attempt at throwing a roof party so my friends and I could watch them away from the throngs of people in the street, they were cancelled at the last moment. A freak firework explosion ended up killing 20+ people a couple days before (although the government only reported the death of 4 people) and the fireworks were all moved to one location, the one location impossible to see from my house! Everything about the fireworks cancellation was very fishy, with the government making claims that it needed to donate money to flood victims in central Viet Nam, or that the spirits of the dead wouldn't appreciate such a big show. None of it really made any sense, and all my Vietnamese friends claimed something else was going on, like maybe the government didn't want to admit that a majority of the fireworks had been destroyed. There were a few mentions of fireworks sabotage, but who knows. I was just upset that my roof party couldn't happen, and that I wouldn't get a chance to see the fireworks. But given how much fun I've had the past week with the celebrations, all was well. I spent the night at a Bia Hoi down the street, meeting some locals and some Veterans (who came over specifically for the 1,000 Year Parties). Overall, I am so happy that I was here to experience this important event, and surely won't be forgetting about it any time soon.