Majulah Singapura!

Malay for "Onward Singapore" this is the anthem for Singapore.  How is this relevant???  August 9th is National Day in Singapore, the day in which Singapore got its independence from Malaysia in 1965.  So yesterday I got to celebrate my first National Day as a resident of Singapore.

I was sort of expecting something along the lines of the 4th of July back in America with families getting together and celebrate, but for most of the day it seemed just like any other ordinary day.  Nobody out on the streets waving flags, nobody grilling out, nobody singing patriotic songs...these are all the visions I had built up for this day in my head.  Considering the fact that I have been seeing flags hanging out of the HDBs and signs advertising Singapore's 46th Birthday (like 46 is a special number), I had some high expectations.

They did, however, have a big celebration at night in the floating soccer stadium (literally a soccer stadium that floats in the marina) where they put on quite a show, but you have to have a ticket in order to enter, and you have to be a native to get a ticket.  SO, some of my co-workers and I did the next best thing and went down to the marina and stood outside the stadium to watch the firework show at the end.  Although the entire show lasted all of 15 minutes, it still was a spectacular show!  I definitely felt a little Singaporean pride.