Happy Deepavali

My third day in Singapore, Christian and I took a trip over to Little India to explore and visit what was rumored to be the biggest one-stop shop ever. Mustafa didn't disappoint. Four expansive floors filled with everything from household appliances, team jerseys, luggage, sunglasses, food stuffs, and three aisles of deodorant. They're open 24 hours a day and employ over 1200 staff to keep it running. I expected to round a corner and find an aisle full of live goats or perhaps a post office. I thought a trip to Costco on a Saturday morning required special breathing techniques to navigate, but this was just crazy. The over-the-topness almost scared the sense right out of me and I attempted to buy a pair of bright green crocs. Don't judge - the floor of our condo is cold, hard marble and my poor dogs ache.

In the end, we bought a package of sponges, some outlet converters, a box of sandwich baggies, and a mop that I think was made for hobbits as it's about 2 feet long and makes sweeping for this 5 foot 10 girl a real hunched pleasure. Aside from learning that Little India's megalo-mart can be thrown over on the "done and never needs to be done again" list, we did make it out of there with the knowledge that the Indian community was preparing for Deepavali (or Diwali). Celebrated in the Hindu community, Deepavali is known as the "festival of lights" and from what I understand, it's a pretty major celebration. One important and admirable practice that Hindus follow during the festival is to light oil lamps in their homes on Deepavali morning. By lighting the lamps, Hindus are thanking the gods for the happiness, knowledge, peace and wealth that they have received. See how much I'm learning?

As luck would have it, a co-worker friend of Christian's invited us over to his home (which happens to be in our building) to help he and his wife kick-off what was to be a whole weekend of festivities for them, their family, and friends. It was also going to be our first dinner out with people who weren't each other. I love spending time with Christian but needless to say, I was pretty psyched to have this to look forward to.

Shankar and Raka had also invited two other couples from the building. Andrew and Steph, a couple from Australia who are expecting their first baby next Spring, and Christie and Simon. Christie just moved here from oddly, San Francisco, and her boyfriend Simon is British. Shankar and Raka were amazing hosts. Their home is just like ours, only with real extravagances like actual furniture and real live serving dishes and floor pillows. Their home is gorgeous and filled with all sorts of antique delights from their travels across India, China, and the rest of Asia. If we were impressed by their pad, it only deepened when they began serving us food. Delicious homemade Indian food - little fried balls of minced meat (pork? chicken?), braised lamb, fresh naan, curried potatoes, and the best yogurt sauce ever. Add to that wine glasses that never seemed to stay empty, good conversation among a group of strangers who seemed that night to have known each other for years, and a warm, cozy setting and Christian and I not only experienced our very first Deepavali, but a night out with folks who I can only imagine we'll be seeing a lot of.

One of my biggest fears coming here was whether or not we'd be able to make friends. With our um, quirky, sense of humor and the fact that we've managed to never really need to make "new" friends, I was a bit worried it would be hard for us to get out and meet like-minded people. We have between us such a fantastic troupe of besties who we've been lucky enough to know for most our lives. We've never really had to try and meet new people. But all those fears diminished that evening - the eve of Deepavali. In one evening, four couples, all from very different parts of the world, shared delicious food, some great laughs, and a warm home. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we left feeling very grateful and happy for the "wealth" that was shared with us. Happy Deepavali everyone!