Thanksgiving, a time to count your blessings

Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Coincidentally at my lab, we had five persons, including me celebrating their birthdays in November (Nov 16, 21, 24, 25 & 26). That was the greatest concentrations of birthdays I ever experienced.

The celebration began on Nov 16 when BJ brought in a caramel cheesecake to celebrate for us all. After that day, I had enough of cheesecake as dessert or food. I ate pumpkin cheesecake in the morning for breakfast, a cheesecake at a seminar given by my boss and finally BJ's cheesecake in the afternoon during tea break. The amount of calories intake exceeded my system.

Knowing that I would be eating continuously, I put in extra effort to exercise in the morning and evening, alternating between swimming, running and lifting weights daily.

On Nov 21, I went to a Thanksgiving party organized by The Singapore Students Association at JHU. It was a potluck party where the undergrads cooked a turkey, roti prata, vegetables and steamed fish. I felt like an old fart among the youngsters and most were scholars. I also found out that some actually lived in the same condominium building as I.

Thereafter, I proceeded to Vladimir's party where I had lasagna, sausages wrapped in bacon strips and many more. My colleagues were amazed at the amount I could eat. I was so stuffed later that night. I slept the moment I laid on my bed.

On Thanksgiving, streets were quiet and stores were closed. Most would travel to their homes for this major holiday to be with family members. Airports, train stations and roads were packed from mass exodus starting as early as Sunday and peaked on Wednesday.

Together with Shuzhen and Wenmin (whom I 'picked-up' in Hopkins shuttle because she carried a bag advertising Singapore General Hospital), I drove to Josephine's home in Bethesda where she had graciously opened up her home to celebrate Thanksgiving. Driving on the highway was smooth since traffic was sparse.

Her home was huge with two real fireplaces and it was beautifully decorated. It definitely looked like an American home. I helped to make salad and carve honey baked ham. Besides the traditional dishes of stuffed turkey, sweet potato, cranberry sauce, etc, we Singaporeans had rice, Devil curry and Thai prawns. I was teased again for wolfing the wide spread of food at my age (FYI, I had three helpings of food and three helpings of dessert comprising of Edy's ice cream, grapes and caramel custard). I let the gals drove back the car as my brain had 'sank' to my stomach.

On Black Friday which marks the beginning of Christmas shopping season, I woke up at 5am and drove to White Marsh Mall to witness some shopping frenzy. Some stores opened as early as 12 midnight and most retailers offered door buster deals to attract consumers, especially electronics stores. I also observed that there was a high occurrence of advertisements selling diamond jewelery as an expression of love during this consumerism season. Husbands, I bet, are under a lot of pressure from the constant showing of these ads.

I was disappointed when I reached the mall. It was not as crowded as claimed. The discounts were not that attractive from sales which I had been. The best time to shop I found out was after each season when prices were really low. I intend to drive to outlet after this winter to find some bargains. I got a pair of brown dress shoes and a brown belt at Macy's for $76. My head was throbbing from five hours of sleep and I took a short nap only to wake up to go to Arundel Mills Mall where Vladimir, Dijana and I had bought tickets to watch Medieval Times where diners were entertained based on the true medieval tradition of royal families inviting guests to a festival and feast to watch Knights compete on horseback.

Dinner began with garlic bread and hot vegetable soup ladled into a pewter bowl. Next came roasted chicken, spare rib, a seasoned potato and apple roll served without silver ware. The horses were well-trained. They pranced and strut gracefully. Knights jousted and fight. Overall, the food was alright and the show was entertaining.

Since we had some time left on our car reservation, Vladimir and Dijana shopped while I took a brisk walk around the mall. The mall, being the largest in Maryland, took me 15 minutes to encircle.

On Saturday, I celebrated my birthday and am glad that I have the chance to work overseas and experience a different culture.

Duckpin bowling

On Saturday, Greg suggested to go bowling and four of us, including Vladimir and Djiana went to AMF Pikesville Lanes.

Upon entering the premise, I was glad that I did not smell cigarette smoke since lighting was banned. I hate to breathe second-hand smoke! I also noticed that there were a lot of boys and men wearing yarmlkes on their heads and dressed in white shirts and dark pants. This is no surprise since Pikesville has a large community of Jews. The head gear reminds Jews of God living in heaven above and they shows their respect to the divine presence by wearing a cap at all times.

Families with young kids, dating couples and bowling buddies were having fun bowling. We each paid $16 for unlimited games till closing time. At 10pm, lights went out and music came on like in the movies.

When we went to our lane, I noticed that the bowling balls were smaller than average size balls but slightly bigger than a shot put ball with no holes for inserting fingers. The pins were also smaller than usual and the lanes were shorter. I wondered why we were given a piece of paper when we collected our bowling shoes. I realized that it was used to record our results manually! There was no screen announcing the results. The best of all, we had to push a button every time to swipe and replace the pins. Compared with Ten-pin bowling, bowlers were allowed three shots per frame, rather than two.

While writing this post, I did some researching and found out that what we played was actually called Duckpin bowling. The ball was lighter which I played to my advantage by using brute force to knock down the pins but was ungraceful at my lofting. I scored the highest for two games and tied for one. The good thing about Duckpin bowling is that I do not suffer from arm aches the next day from throwing heavy balls as in Ten-pin bowling.

Salt-ejecting iron

After one year of storage, I took out my steamer iron from my cupboard to iron my wrinkled corduroy pants.

To my surprise, the iron started to spout out scales (mineral precipitate). I had taken for granted that water here is hard compared to Singapore. Hard water has high mineral content, usually consisting of calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate and sulfate ions. It is harder to lather soap or toothpaste with hard water than soft water.

In the span of almost two years, I had encountered two victims suffering from kidney stones which are usually calcium oxalate. I wonder if there is a correlation between hard water and kidney stones.

This brings me to another aspect where one had to adjust to a new environment. There is a Chinese phrase "水土不服 (shui2 tu3 bu4 fu2)" which means water and soil are not "compatible " with those back home. My friend even suggested that I mixed a portion of water brought from home together with water here so that I would not get sick.

My Serbian colleague also told me that fruits and meat tasted different. Well, soil and climate do play a big part in husbandry.

Halloween 2007

This was my first Halloween since I went back to Singapore before Oct 31 last year where it is not celebrated.

I noticed this festival when our department requested for donation of candies to be given out to children patients trick-or-treating at Hopkins hospital. We were encouraged to dress up in costumes when giving out the candies.

Supermarkets (e.g. Giants, Whole Foods), shops and homes were decorated in red, orange and yellow, colors of falls. Squashes, pumpkins, dolls of witches, skeletons etc. served as decorations.

Cinemas and TV stations started to screen horror movies, chilling-related serials and documentaries on Halloween.

It all began in pre-Christian Ireland where it was believed that the dead revisited the mortal world and large communal bonfires were built to ward off evil spirits. Coincidentally, Chinese culture also marked not only a day, but the entire seventh month of the Lunar calendar where the dead were released from Hades and allowed to roam the mortal world. Offerings of food, Hades money etc. were burnt to ward off spirits.

While waiting for the shuttle bus in the evening, children dressed as princesses, pirates and ghostly outfits were with parents, collecting goodies in bags or buckets. I also went around trick-or-treating, where I had two cute little boys, bony Mathias and clownish Amar as an excuse. They are children of friends I made here.

Two-year-old Mathias did not say trick-or-treat when collecting his goodies but no one minded since he was cute in his costume. The funny thing was he said, "Thank you" only after he turned his back from the giver.

Older Amar was observing the big inflatable decorations put upfront and costumes worn by other kids. They were scared when a man in a horror face mask came down the steps to give them candies.

The atmosphere was friendly where some families had their gathering and people were just sitting in the cold, giving out goodies to children and teenagers. The candies that Mathias received were brought to the lab since his parents would not like him to develop a sweet tooth. So much for Halloween.