National Day

Last Friday was Singapore's National Day--similar to the U.S. 4th of July.  On August 9, 1965, Singapore declared its independence from Malaysia.  National Day is celebrated with a big parade and fireworks each year.  About a month prior to National Day, Singapore flags can be seen flying on many of the housing buildings, as well as by landed property (private houses), along the streets, and in many other places.

In addition to the flags, there are signs hung up in various areas regarding each town's celebration of the holiday.  (Singapore has different areas in which to live, and these areas are called "towns.")  Each year there is a new National Day song, and these songs were played on the radio in the grocery store in the weeks leading up to National Day.  There is also a different theme for the celebration each year, with this year's theme being "Many Stories...One Singapore."

Ang Mo Kio and Sengkang are two "towns" of Singapore.

On National Day we got together with a couple families from church to watch the festivities in the comfort of one of their homes.  (The whole celebration was broadcast over the internet.)  As you can see in the following picture, most of our family was dressed in red. We thought this was pretty much a requirement of celebrating National Day here, especially because we had seen a sign for a local celebration that required us to wear red if we went. Not only was red NOT a requirement, but when we got back to our flat, there was quite a group of people waiting for the elevator--and one of them was a young man wearing a USA shirt.  We had to laugh at how we Americans were dressed up for Singapore, and the Singaporean was wearing a USA shirt!

The cupcakes are to celebrate another special birthday--Jael is 2!

We enjoyed our first National Day here.  It was interesting to see another country celebrate its Independence Day.