4th of July with the American Association of Singapore

(you know you're at an American gathering when there are metal detectors at the door)

Alright, I know I'm an entire week and a half late, since AAS held their annual 4th of July gathering on the 2nd of July. But hey, at least I'm determined to be thourough with our event coverage, even if not timely. To be honest, I caught a cold soon after the event, rapidly followed by Pris, so we've both been miserable and unwilling to expend the extra energy on blogging. This is my second time ill in two months now, not to mention that wonderful two month trip with pneumonia at the beginning of the year, so hopefully that'll be it for the year.

In any case, onto the fun stuff: along with thousands of other proud Americans and those who just wanted to watch fireworks, Pris and I traveled out to the Terror Club in Sembawang for the yearly Independence Day Celebrations for the second time. I'll let everyone stop here to snicker at the name of the venue for celebrating American independence. Entrance is free and, even better, they provide free shuttles too and from Sembawang MRT.

We attended last year to Ben and Jerry's ice cream displays, awesome corndogs, real sno cones without beans and corn on top (looking at you, ice kachang), and the only fireworks I'd seen outside of National Day. Unfortunately, it was also during a storm, and 75% of the venue was unusable due to mud, though we still returned home dirty and disgusting even trying to walk on the wooden planks.

This year we enjoyed much better weather, though much of the same good times. AAS kept several live bands playing throughout the event, which actually went from 4-10pm, even though we were lazy and only arrived about 7pm to make sure we'd get a spot to watch fireworks. The bands themselves were much the same as last year, very country and very good for background noise. I don't think there was ever a big crowd gathered at the stage to listen, but it was good to have some more local tunes playing through the hours.

We agreed the crowd seemed a bit bigger this year, though that could be due to better weather bringing everyone out. Either way, the long lines meant we had to forgo the free popcorn and cotton candy handouts, though we did grab a Snicker's ice cream bar that was probably my favorite part of the entire year. And oh yeah, the corn dogs were still just as amazing.

(to a homesick american this is like crunching into rainbows covered in sunshine draped in happiness)

There were a bunch of stalls set up for people to walk around and check out, from the local American school to a Navy booth, medical resources and pretty much anything you could think an expat might need. Most didn't apply to us so we didn't have to spend too much time looking around, but they were handing out free tote bags at one of the stalls!

More than anything, it's just a welcome relief to be surrounded by your own countrymen now and again in celebration, and the spirit was definitely high. Everyone had a good time chowing down food from Fat Boy's Burgers (they look amazing!), Fridays and the like, although Ben and Jerry's was sorely missed. Oh yeah, and drinking enough to put out a fire. Just the the 4th of July celebrations back home!

We did get a decent place to watch fireworks too, but unfortunately they were a little lacking this year. Last year seemed pretty short itself, maybe a 5-6 minute display, but this year couldn't have topped 3 minutes. Ah well, you can expect much in the way of fireworks in Singapore.

(they look a lot better if you just put a bunch of them together!)

Overall we did have a good time, both this year and last, and we'd be happy to recommend anyone come join in next year!