Donating Blood in Singapore

First, a quick warning. This post is about BLOOD. It also has a picture of blood in a bag. If this grosses you out, please don't put yourself through it and scroll past this post!

(they even have a mascot!)

Back when I lived in Ohio, I made it a point to donate blood as often as I felt up to. I'm blood type O+, which always seemed in critical stock in my area, and since I fit the criteria in the States it seemed a necessary evil, even though I'm actually terrified of needles. And blood. Even making this post is kind of making me queasy, but it's for a good cause! Seriously though, I'm a huge baby and cry nearly every time I go- my parents can tell horror stories about me running through doctor's offices to escape the poor nurses tasked with updating my vaccines. Fortunately, I haven't yet run from anyone at blood drives, so I consider that progress.

At any rate, since I moved to Singapore about a year and a half ago I haven't attempted to donate blood, but after seeing a site detailing the current low stocks of type O blood, thought it was about time I gathered my courage again and went for it. It looks like at the moment the stocks have been raised out of the red and into the yellow, which I'm going to attribute to my own fearless bravery stop laughing now. 

(see, be nice. jerks.)

You would think that donating blood anywhere in the world would be relatively the same, but as there are a surprising amount of different criteria and things to keep in mind, I thought making a blog post and hopefully rallying a few more people to go to their nearest blood drive might be worth it. So first, a few of the facts to keep in mind:

• You have to weigh at least 45kg to donate, which is about 100lbs. If you weigh between 45 and 50kg you'll donate a smaller amount, but as the minimum weight for donation in the US is 110lbs, it's quite a big difference. 
• For most blood drives, you don't need to register. I walked in at the Pasir Ris East CC blood drive and it was so empty I was literally through in under an hour, and if I wasn't such a baby could have been through in about 30 minutes. 
• You can find a listing of upcoming blood drives here or head to one of the few blood banks in the country (Bloodbank@HSA or Bloodbank@Woodlands) any time.

Aside from the few differences in criteria, even the process was a bit different. Like in the States, first you have to read information about donating blood and pages that talk about who can't.

However, they also shorten the process by having you answer that long list of repetitive questions about your health and history yourself through checkboxes, rather than having a nurse ask you or take time answering on a computer. Locals will need to bring along their IC for identification, and although it tells foreigners to bring their passports, my EP was all I needed to get through.

(by this point the terror was just starting to build, you can't read more than a hint of horror in my eyes)

The procedure after that is all normal. You talk to a nurse who checks out your info and makes sure you have no questions, go through the dreaded iron test (actually not bad, I had a great nurse and it didn't even sting a bit) and take a seat on the long chairs to await the donation. 

Since it was seriously dead, they were pretty much waiting on me to get there and sit. Luckily it was all the same after that too, my extreme twitching and attempts to keep myself from crying even got the same response here as back in Ohio! That's when it gets different. Usually at this point in Ohio they'd stick me with a needle and I'd spend the next 5-10 minutes trying in vain to ignore the weird feeling and slight discomfort and do my best to not pass out after glancing at the slowly filling bag to my side. But Singapore is a haven for people like me, and instead they actually give you a local pain killer injection first. That may not seem like a big deal, but when you're as terrified of needles as I am, not having to feel the needle in your arm during the process is pretty much the best thing that could possibly happen.

(look, they even gave me a sticker since it was my first time in Singapore!)

 I'd been really hitting the water a few days before donating, and I guess it thinned my blood a bit because my bag was almost full after about 2-3 minutes and I had to lie down to not pass out.

 

(serious, this was just barely more than a minute since starting)

But in the end I did make it through my first blood donation in Singapore and came out alive. I'll probably take a while to get my courage up again, but since it's a minimum 12 weeks between donations here, rather than the 56 days in the States, I've got a while.

Useful Links- 

Everything you need to know about donating blood in Singapore- youtube video

HSA requirements and information

Donorweb blood donation pledge form

Good luck with your donations and feel free to share any experiences giving blood in Singapore or around the world!

Kite Festival 2011

I'm not much for kites and neither is Michi, but man does this site make for some pretty awesome photos!

Alright, I'll admit the only reason I considered re-attending the Kite Festival this year was because I'd missed out on obtaining the goodie bags the year before.

FREEBIES!!!

And a redemption stamp to ward off the greedy folk. I'm not kidding when I say I've seen people walk away with ten bags hanging off each arm.

Presented by Act 3 International, the NTUC Income Kite Festival Singapore 2011 was held at The Promontory at Marina Bay on 3rd and 4th September. Having been here the previous year I can safely say that the event was pretty much exactly the same this year as it was the year before, although not any less spectacular. Buskers were just one such attraction of the event:

The kites were, of course, the main attraction of the entire festival, and we were lucky to witness NTUC's own orange kite take to the skies. It was humongous!

It needed two people to hold it up!

Lifting off...

And up into the sky!

The tail was seriously long

...REALLY long

Flying a kite wasn't as easy as it looked... either that or I just really suck at flying them. Each goodie bag had a little orange NTUC kite, and getting that little 4" by 3" into the air was harder than I'd thought.

My best achievement: 6 feet off the pavement for 3 seconds

What I should have done instead

We didn't participate too much in this event (hence the complete lack of actual blog material in this post), but it was definitely worth the trip out to enjoy the beautiful breeze and to admire the picturesque scenery. If you're an avid kite flyer or enthusiast or just someone looking for a good place to get good photos, mark this event down in your calendar when it comes around next year.

Hair for Hope 2011 - Shaving for a Cause

I'd heard of people shaving their heads to show support for cancer patients before, and though I'd played with the idea for a little while I'd never actually given it any serious thought. It wasn't until a friend of mine (let's call her W for now) mentioned that she was planning to sign up for the event, but didn't want to do it alone, that I decided this was probably the perfect excuse chance I was waiting for.

Now into its 9th consecutive year, Hair for Hope is "the only head-shaving event in Singapore that serves to raise funds and awareness of childhood cancer. Every shaven head represents an understanding by an individual of the ordeals that a child with cancer is subjected to." Participants can either register via their website, or attend the event as a walk-in shavee, which was what W and I did.

It was surprisingly but amazingly crowded, considering the goal of the event! The displays on the stage are live counters and show exactly how many male and female participants were and are being shaved.

Michi and I made our way down earlier even though W was only supposed to meet us at 1pm, and it was lucky we did. The walk-in shavee queue was limited to 300 slots, and there were at least already 200 people in the walk-in shavee queue by the time we arrived only an hour after the event had officially begun!

It went from this...

... to this in about twenty minutes.

The queue didn't actually start moving until 2pm though, and W had joined us by then, along with her mother (who had also decided that impromptu shaving sounded fun). It took a while, slowly drawing closer to the main event taking place on the stage, but it was finally time to get bald.

Exhibit A: Before shaving

And after! I was given the HfH shirt during the sign-up process.

It wasn't too bad of an experience for me since I'm not a very appearance-conscious person myself, but I can't imagine how W or her mom felt (I've known W for about five years now, and she is very vain!) going under the razor. I'd like to think it's the courage of people like them, and all the other shavees at the event, especially female shavees, who really underscore the HfH message to people with cancer that it's okay to be bald.

The event is open today (Sunday, 24 July) as well, from 11am to 7pm at Vivocity (Harbourfont MRT station), if anyone reading this is interested in signing up. I think I'm definitely going to add this to my list of yearly events to attend and participate in. Plus, I'll be saving on shampoo and haircut costs!    

Going in to work on Monday with my head shaved is going to be awesome

edit 09 Aug: We have a few additional pictures from the event including our friend W and her mother who also shaved!

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!

Pink Dot 2011 Coverage

(i'm sure this is unnecessary by now, but... click here to go to the official site!)

Even though it's pretty late over here, Pris and I were so excited after our day at Pink Dot 2011 we had to make the post the same night. (We've already covered the basics of what Pink Dot is all about in our pre-post here, so check that post for a bit of background first if you don't already know!) We had a bit of early preparation to pump ourselves up with a trip to the neoprint machines in Bugis for a Pink Dot photoshoot and afterward headed straight to Hong Lim Park, despite the fact that nothing began at all until 4:30 and we were two and a half hours early.

(camwhoring for a good cause!)

To our surprise, the event preparation was well under way and there were already a few die hard souls gathering and grabbing some choice spots as well as a ton of volunteers hard at work setting things up. We got ourselves a spot too and watched as the first few dozen people or so quickly turned into several hundred, even though it was still well before starting time.

As expected, the Speaker's Corner turned into a sea of pink before we knew it, with great weather and everyone in high spirits making our time even better. We wandered around a while to see everything going on, but this turned out to be unnecessary for two reasons: 1) By the time things really started it was so packed walking was almost impossible, and 2) the volunteers were ridiculously on top of things, with dozens of trays being passed around with free drinks, cupcakes, informational brochures, pins and other fun souvenirs.

(this won the award for sweetest drink. seriously, go here if you can, these people are awesome! www.thegardenslug.com)

(go here too, these mini cupcakes were delicious! @thewokandbarrel)

 All the great free treats were definitely the icing on the cupcake, totally unexpected but wonderfully welcome, but the real stars were the staff who kept everyone laughing and happy, so props to all the Pink Dot 2011 crew, you all definitely brightened our day!

 Several staff were patrolling the area with sticky hearts they were asking people to write messages on. Both Pris and I wrote our messages and got to stick them on the walking message board (see above), but when we saw where they all ended up it was even more fun and touching.

(Pink Dot message board! Instant written pick-me-up)

Soon after that the promised concert got underway, with performances by the Dim Sum Dollies, Voguelicious and Rima S and plenty more. 

(told you they were there. unfortunately, we didn't get to hear the MRT song today)

 (they had some serious dance moves. also, look at those heels!)

The concert was great, but the best part of the event came when all over 10,000 of the participants tried to form a huge human pink dot. Unfortunately only citizens and PRs could form the dot, as per the rules of the Speaker's Corner, but even they alone managed to take up the entire space. I'm going to link here to pictures from all the Pink Dot events just for comparison to how insane this was:

Pink Dot 2009- 2,500 particpants

Pink Dot 2010- 4,000 participants

Pink Dot 2011- over 10,000 participants!

We're not sure if they actually expected this high of a turnout, but if they didn't no one could tell. Despite the huge crowd, there was excess of everything; drinks, snacks, brochures, balloons, pom poms and pretty much anything else you could expect. We got a few of our own pics of the dot forming (well, I did, Pris was already in it. Try and spot her in the photos!), but definitely check out the links, the aerial view is fantastic.

 Once everyone was gathered there was a countdown and all at once hundreds of balloons were released by the crowd. 

I gotta admit, that was a pretty tear jerking moment, with everyone yelling in support and cheering and the general excitement in the air. Not something you'd expect in a country where it is still officially illegal for two men to be together (of course, there are no provisions on women in the law, I suppose the government doesn't think that exists?)

We even got a quick snapshot of ourselves before heading off.

One last note before signing off here: if you haven't already watched the Pink Dot 2011 video, you need to watch it now. I don't think anyone with half a heart could finish through that without shedding a tear or two-

edit 19 June: Pink Dot made the local Yahoo news again!