Watch the Footage

Because this sounds really fun and is, of course, really cool. I'm curious too, to know what you guys think of Singapore

Well, that one is interesting.

From what I've read. Singapore is the only City-State that actually exists today, which is quite badass. But sadly that's all I have as far as information goes. (For now. ^_^)

I know absolutely nothing about Singapore.

I'm picturing... rice fields. Do you have rice fields?

*feels like an ignorant and arrogant American*

narrativedilettante wrote:I know absolutely nothing about Singapore.

I'm picturing... rice fields. Do you have rice fields?

*feels like an ignorant and arrogant American*

I too know naught of Singapore, but I picture tall buildings rather than rice fields. Do you have those?
*also feels the shame of ignorance*

Well my mom goes to singapore on business occasionally which means I should know something about Singapore. but no. *headdesk*

narrativedilettante wrote:I'm picturing... rice fields. Do you have rice fields?

Well, no, sadly, we don't. Rice fields are... too large. Singapore is puny
We do have hydroponics farms though! But not many.

Genndy Oda C.O.G. wrote:I too know naught of Singapore, but I picture tall buildings rather than rice fields. Do you have those?

Yes! Trust me, anywhere in Singapore that isn't ulu (malay word for remote or backwards, usually the former) is almost completely tall buildings. The main form of accomodation here are HDB flats (Housing Development Board. Man, the ego in that naming) because since we don't have much land area, we have to build up I live on the 10th floor, personally, not very tall, but tall enough for this area There's one area, Ang Mo Kio, I went there to climb up 40 floors for training for a Nepal trip.

Okay, stupid question... What is/are the official language(s) in Singapore? What's commonly spoken? What language(s) do you learn in school, and to what extent?

agoraoptera wrote:

narrativedilettante wrote:I'm picturing... rice fields. Do you have rice fields?

Well, no, sadly, we don't. Rice fields are... too large. Singapore is puny
We do have hydroponics farms though! But not many.

Oh. Okay.

Hydroponics farms are awesome, though!

Qara-Xuan Zenith wrote:Okay, stupid question... What is/are the official language(s) in Singapore? What's commonly spoken? What language(s) do you learn in school, and to what extent?

Official languages are English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil to "reflect our ethnic diversity". English is the most commonly used for official business and Singlish is the most commonly spoken. Singlish is... an amalgamation of all four and then some. The languages we learn are English and our Mother Tongue (Chinese for me) because ahem English is not our native language so nobody has an advantage and Mother Tongue to preserve the racial culture. That is, in fact, what I studied in Social Studies for the past two years. >_>

stupid question...
When you say Chinese... Mandarin or Cantonese?

>_>
<_<

Mandarin. Cantonese is.. Hong Kong? And since my parents are Hokkien and Hokchew, I don't know Canto

A classmate of mine has gone to Singapore a few times. She usually buy eletronic devices and such there because they are cheaper at some lind of big market you have over there. That's all I know about Singapore.

Victin wrote:A classmate of mine has gone to Singapore a few times. She usually buy eletronic devices and such there because they are cheaper at some lind of big market you have over there. That's all I know about Singapore.

What.
We go to other places for electronics because its cheaper elsewhere. .-.

agoraoptera wrote:

Victin wrote:A classmate of mine has gone to Singapore a few times. She usually buy eletronic devices and such there because they are cheaper at some lind of big market you have over there. That's all I know about Singapore.

What.
We go to other places for electronics because its cheaper elsewhere. .-.

But I spoke from Brazil's point of view. EVERYTHING is more expensive here.

I am so sorry for your economy.
And mine, but that's neither Singapore nor Brazil.

I'm curious as to what kind of cool traditions and holidays you guys celebrate. What's your favourite local holday, Agora?

Let me think.. Okay, the big festivities are Chinese New Year (coming up real soon!), Good Friday (and Easter Sunday), Vesak Day (Buddhists), National Day, Hari Raya Puasa (Malay/Muslim), Moon Cake Lantern Festival (Chinese), Hungry Ghost Festival (Chinese), Deepavali (aka Festival of Lights, Indian), Hari Raya Haji (Malay/Muslim) and Christmas. I.. think that's about it.

My favourite? Christmas, I suppose. Chinese New Year's fun too, because that's when we go and visit all our other more distantly connected relatives. Chinese New Year's a big favourite among the kids and/or greedy people because when you visit your relatives, those who are married give ang paos or hong baos (read: Red Packet) to those who arent, including children. Said red packet contains money So, basically, my parents give red packets to my cousins while I receive red packets from my uncles and aunties. The colour is red, because to Chinese, red is a very auspicious colour. There's a funny story behind it about a monster called Nian....

[/digress] Nian was this monster that came around once every year and terrorised everyone. Somehow or another, the people found out that it was afraid of a) the colour red and b) firecrackers. That's why you see firecrackers and so much red during Chinese New Year, because we're chasing away a monster by the name of [/translate] Year [translate] which we represent with the lion dancing. As much as I'd love to link a video, the ones on Youtube are all "WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP LION DANCING" so, no. Lion dancing usually involves a lot of cymbals, one big drum and two people in the lion dance suit which is this: http://www.china-cart.com/bookpic/20078 ... 482327.jpg
Usually its red, which, of course, doesn't make sense since the beast is AFRAID of red.... Anyway.[digress]

So, yes. Festivals.

agoraoptera wrote:Good Friday (and Easter Sunday)

In America, Easter Sunday is a far bigger deal than Good Friday. Is it the other way around in Singapore?

Uhh, Easter Sunday's the bigger deal, of course, but since Sunday is already an off-day, you could say Good Friday is bigger for the non-Christians since they get a long weekend

Ah! We don't typically get a day off for Good Friday.

So I just found out that not only was last year the Year of the Dragon, it was also the Year of the Black Water Dragon. Pretty cool, huh?

Happy Chinese New Year! Well, Chinese New Year's Eve but I bet most of you will read this when it's CNY proper. The Chinese calendar is lunar-based and 10th of Feb 2013 is the start of the Lunar Year by the Chinese's reckoning

During this period, we mostly go and visit our relatives (I believe I've said this before?) and have reunion dinners, etc. There's this other practice we have, this thing called Yu Sheng. It's a salad kind of thing which has fish, shredded vegetables, condiments, sauces, little crackers, stuff like that. Its name literally means raw fish, but its a homophone for an increase in abundance. Chinese people LOVE their homophones. Typically, a family will all take their chopsticks and toss and mix the whole dish together while calling out blessings for the new year before digging in. This is a picture of what it looks like before the mixing: https://twitter.com/agoraoptera/status/ ... 20/photo/1

So, yes. Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year everyone! ^^

I'm of the opinion that I like that tradition! The salad looks delicious.

The salad IS good :3

By the way, today I went to a family friend's house and there was LION DANCING :D:D
I took a video, but ran out of space halfway D: Got most of it though. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wte4rTig ... e=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKqPC_Sy ... e=youtu.be

agoraoptera wrote:The salad IS good :3

By the way, today I went to a family friend's house and there was LION DANCING :D:D
I took a video, but ran out of space halfway D: Got most of it though. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wte4rTig ... e=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKqPC_Sy ... e=youtu.be

Oh wow, that is amazing and awesome