Tis the season

Christmas is less than three weeks away (what?!), so I've been trying to get in the holiday spirit over the past few days.  Singapore definitely has no shortage of Christmas decorations, which is ironic because most Singaporeans only associate Christmas with sales and not anything else...

The theme on this section of Orchard Road is hot pink...

Obviously, the lack of cold weather is kind of distracting, but I've been trying (successfully) to drink as many peppermint mochas in red cups as possible.  I watched Love Actually the other night, and I've also tried to do a little online shopping, but it just isn't as fun when you also have to figure out the logistics of how to get items from America to Asia...

One thing that I thought would really help was going to see The Nutcracker!!  For those of you who don't know, I took ballet for a lot of years when I was younger, so I love going to the ballet, and I especially love The Nutcracker!  (Warning - I am about to get super ballet nerdy on you guys...)

A group of girlfriends and I bought tickets to go see the Singapore Dance Theater's The Nutcracker last night.  The show didn't start until 8, so a few of us met for dinner ahead of time.  The walk over from the office the restaurant was short, which was good because the storm clouds were rolling in!

Even during winter, the sun doesn't set until 7pm.

Thankful for a covered rooftop patio!

After a few shared tapas, it was showtime.  Given that we only paid S$28 for our tickets, I was impressed with our seats! 

So... it was an interesting interpretation of The Nutcracker.  First of all, it was set in Shanghai.. so the opening scene where usually it is all the families walking through the snow to get to Clara's house... yeah, that was a bunch of people shopping at a Chinese jewelry store located next to the Anglo-Shanghai bank... ok, interesting.

The first act was a bit disorienting.  I couldn't really tell who was meant to be Clara, as there was one really young girl who basically did nothing, and one older girl who was dancing with the Drosselmeyer's nephew (who traditionally becomes the Nutcracker).  The Nutcracker doll was never broken, and tons of the dancing got cut out of the party scene, including the two big dolls!  Drosselmeyer's nephew was also accompanied by these other four dudes.. and I could never figure out exactly what they were supposed to be each time they reappeared.

During the bit after the party when Clara (she was the younger girl, as it turns out) is supposed to go check on the broken Nutcracker doll.. well there were mice, but the toy soldiers and the Nutcracker Prince were replaced by the nephew and the four dudes. Clara doesn't throw her shoe, but the nephew defeats the Rat King, and then Clara (with Drosselmeyer by her side) faints.  There were no angels, but snow was the close of the first act.

The second act had more dancing, which was fun, but it still had so many gaps in the story!  Clara shows up in dreamland by herself.  She is basically sitting on a loveseat alone, and Drosselmeyer just stands next to her as all the acts do their dances.  And not all the acts were there!  Candy canes is my absolute favorite, and they weren't there.  Neither was the Arabian dancer or Mother Ginger and the Polichinelles.  The Chinese tea act was two girls with ribbons, Marzipan and the Shepard Girls was a pas de deux instead, and there were Flowers but no Dewdrop Fairy.  But the four dudes were there....

Alright, ballet nerd rant over.

For those of you who are still reading (probably just my mother), here is something that has nothing to do with the holidays...

Today's lunch at McDonald's was the Kampung Burger!  From time to time, they have these random special features, and I will usually aim to try them - just to see what they are like!  I would say that the Kampung Burger is probably my favorite one that I've tried so far.  Kampung means village, but this "burger" featured fried chicken, lettuce, cheese, barbecue sauce, and a slice of pineapple.. all on an English muffin.  It sounds a bit weird, I know, but actually it was really good!!

So I'm off to Cambodia tomorrow evening.  Going to check out some more temples!  See you guys later!