Sunday, July 6, 2008

The 5th of July

This year we celebrated the fourth on the fifth. The American Association of Singapore had a big celebration up in Sembawang (where our friends Jeff and Tenley live). J & T also invited us to tour a the USNS Mercy with them. It is a ship goes around the world responding to disasters and performing standard hospital care in places that are in need. The ship was cool, but the tour stank. First picture is our walk in their neighborhood to get to the bus to get to the ship. It was raining. Second picture is a ship that was turned into an oil refinery. It is huge. It looks like it's getting some repairs at the shipyard. Third picture is inside the ship.

After the ship, we got to visit the US Navy commissary at the shipyard. They have tons of American food and things, and they're super cheap! I got sour patch kids, batteries and golden grams. Yum!

After that we dropped off our yummy purchases, and then we went to the AA celebration at the Terror Club up there. Why it is called a Terror Club? Apparently after a British ship. I think they could come up with a better name.
Anyways - we ran into a bunch of people we know, we ate burgers, ben and jerry's, heard some old guy cover band that played American music including the Stones and the Dead (and were really good!), saw a lady with a flag through her head, and generally enjoyed ourselves for a bit.

THEN, we went back to their house. Please note the picture of the mangoes organized on J & T's lawn. They have mangoes falling from the sky. That house in the background is their's. Pretty cool, eh? We played puerto rico. We like that game. Jason said it ranks #1 board game in the world on some games website. THEN, we went to a park next to their house to watch the fireworks. They were really good! The puppies were scared. Please see the picture of the hiding puppies.

FINALLY, we went back to their house and learned Seafarers of Catan. It's an addition to Settlers of Catan, and it was wonderful! It was like learning a whole new dimension of this thing that we already loved. You get to build ships and have a totally different board, and there are new challenges and additions. We loved it.

During Seafarers, we got a puppy bath and had some sleeping puppies on our laps.

We also turned on the TV to watch Williams vs. Williams championship point. Pretty exciting.

It was an excellent day. Felt like vacation.

5 comments:

Dodge said...

Puppy Showers at TENLEY & JEFF's ABODE. Only $19.99. World's quickest tongues, guaranteed!

Matt and Melanie Hildebrandt said...

We're so lucky!!!! We got them for free!!

Jason said...

I've got to ask you then: how was Puerto Rico?

Personally, it's not at the top of my list, but it's still a quality game.

Next time that we meet up, I'll make sure that we have a game or two that you can play as alternatives to Settlers. It's not that Settlers is a bad game (I enjoy it quite a bit), it's just that variety is the spice of life!!

Matt and Melanie Hildebrandt said...

I think that Jeff and Tenley would agree...they try to teach us new things, and all we want is what we know and love. So lame. I would be worried about our personalities not wanting new things if we didn't just move to Singapore. As long as I play Settlers AND something else, I'm fine. :)

Matt really loves PR. I still don't QUITE get it - I have a hard time coming up with a strategy. It's pretty complicated, but it's good. Settlers is still better.

Jason said...

Thanks for the response! I was wondering if you had responded or not, and I'm glad that you're willing to try different games. There really are a bunch of good ones out there, and I'm glad that at least you'll humor your friends by playing something different.