Christmas Lights In Texas

Overlooking the Gulf of Mexico Galveston Island is just 50 miles South of Houston and therefore a favorite weekend destination of the Houstonians.
Galveston Island is a barrier reef island that averages 2 miles in width, offering 32 miles of Gulf Coast beaches. I came worldwide to "fame" when on September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike ravaged Galveston, that tiny island.
Up to 13 feet of ocean water and debris submerged its historic downtown area, the Strand, which attracted thousands of tourists a year and was once called the "Wall Street of the Southwest" for its commercial prowess.
(Click on the photos to enlarge)

Tourism dried up, leaving shop owners and others who relied on visitors for income in the lurch. There are a lot of stores that are not open yet, and some are not going to reopen.
Now, a year later, Galveston is still on the road to recovery.
The festival of lights is one of many events that bring new life to the island.
Hundreds of thousands of lights illumminate the beach side trails at "Moody Garden", a public, non-profit educational destination utilizing nature in the advancement of rehabilitation, conservation, recreation and research.

In addition to the seasonal Festival of Lights, there are various nature inspired attractions such as the Aquarium Pyramid, Rainforest Pyramid, and Discovery Museum.
The event features a trail of holiday lighting displays that winds around the grounds of Moody Gardens. As you make your way down the trail you will pass themed scenes such as the Christmas Story and Toyland as well as fun and imaginative scenes like the Magic Castle, Arctic Express, Fantasy Forest, Wild Africa, Tropical Jungle and many more. Synchronized music and audio effects accompany the displays along with a new, state of the art sound system that fills the air with sounds of the Christmas Season.

1. Advent: Feuerzangenowlezeit

Erich's sausage kiosk is ready for Christmas celebrations

Santa Erich has arrived in his sledge and Rudi is parked in the multi storey car park
And since it's wintertime, it's time for a hot glass of "Feuerzangenbowle" to warm up your body, a tradition at Erich's every 1. Advent

Santa Erich and his elves

Only four more Sundays to Christmas

With the newly openend Malls on Orchard Road there is more competition in who's got the best Christmas decoration.
The following photo were taken by "TheChef", a very talented photographer, all shot hand held(!!) and the results are stunning. Thank you for allowing us to use these fantastic shots.
Ion@Orchard

5 Years of Wuerstelstand celebration

Some of the regular, most faithful customers and good friends came to celebrate Erich's 5th anniversary on November 1st!

MOHAMED ANUAR is the winner for 2009 Subaru challenge

The challenge is over for this year. All hands are off the cars. After cruelling days and nights one man was left standing, actually 2. I was the first time that the winner was announced with the runner up still having his hands on his refusing to admit that he had fouled out.

HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSAY

It's the 5th year and Erich ('s Wuerstelstand) is still alive!

Unbelievable 5 Halloweens Erich's friends of the darkness have been flocking to this haunted shed he calls Wuerstelstand and listened to his misterious stories from the dark side! Only masochists or creatures of the night have enough resistance to survive this torture! LOL

Click the photo to enlarge

Congratulations Erich and Helen! May you survive many more halloweens in this dark environment!

Happy anniversary!!

It's Palm Down Time Again- Day 4

Like Christmas the Subaru Impreza challenge comes around towards the end of a year.
The Challenge is back and will see once again Singaporeans pitting their endurance and tolerance levels against contenders from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, China, Taiwan and Indonesia!

400 contestants started to battle it out and the last one standing will take home the ultimate prize of a Subaru Impreza WRX Sedan 2.5MT worth $81,000 (without COE).

4 days rain and shine have passed and in the morning of the 4th day 8 contestants are still standing.

Can they brake last years record, 81 hours and 32 minutes, by Singaporean George Lee?

Happy National Day Austria

Today Austria is celebrating its „everlasting neutrality“ which was decided by the Austrian government on 26. October 1955.
It has been the national holiday day since 26. Oktober 1965 and a public holiday since 1967.

Most national days worldwide are related to historical events from the 20 th century. On the one hand that idea of a nation is not very old (ca. End of 18. Century ) on the other hand 2 world wars, the end of colonial supremacy and the fall of the Eastern bloc made arise new states.

One of the oldest national days is celebrated in Switzerland which celebrates the founding of their “Eidgenossenschaft“ on August 1. of 1291!
Their newly founded independence (with just few anniversaries) is celebrated by some Austrian neighbors , the Eastern European countries withe „youngest“ being Kosovo, on February 17. 2008. Slowenia is celebrating since June 25, 1991, as well as Croatia. Bosnia- Herzegowina celebrates March 1 as their day of independence since 1992.
Slovakia honors on January 1, the 1993 performed separation from Czechia. The Czechs however kept their original day of founding Czechoslovacia (October 28. 1918) despite their brake up.
Germans raise their glasses on October 3 the "Tag der Deutschen Einheit" (day of German unity) which is only 19 years old.
The Brits are most flexible: They celebrate the Queens birthday always on the 2. Saturday in June –due to the weather- although Queen Elizabeth II. was born on April 21. The Irish "St. Patricks Day" March 17 honors the obit of the national saint, St. Patrick.
July 4. the "Declaration of Independence" in 1776 is the National Day in the USA.

"Speak proper Singlish" (A new Government campaign)

After months of thorough auditioning the government announced that Ris Low (Miss Singapore 2009) and Puah Chu Kang ( No.1 Singapore contractor) will be the spokespersons for their newly launched campaign: "Speak proper Singlish"

Here's the first interview introducing the celebrities:

If you have trouble understanding, press the replay button and give it another try! ......and yes, you did hear words that sounded like English.

HAPPY DEEPAVALI

Little India has been beautifully decorated for Deepavali since a couple weeks. Come Saturday the celebrations will peak and all the roads and lanes will be even more packed than usual.
Diwali is celebrated on the first day of the lunar Kartika month, which comes in the month of October or November.
Diwali, or Deepavali, (also called Tihar and Swanti in Nepal) is a major Indian and Nepalese festival, and a significant festival in Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism. Many legends are associated with Diwali. Today it is celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the globe as the “Festival of Light” or “Celebration of Light” where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over evil within every human being. The festival is also celebrated by Buddhists of Nepal, particularly the Newar Buddhists.
According to one theory Diwali may have originated as a harvest festival, marking the last harvest of the year before winter. In an agrarian society this results in businessmen closing accounts, and beginning a new accounting year. The Goddess Lakshmi (the Goddess of wealth in Hinduism) thanked and worshipped on this day and everyone prays for a good and prosperous year ahead. This is the common factor in Diwali celebrations all over the Indian subcontinent.

The festival marks the victory of good over evil, and uplifting of spiritual darkness. Symbolically it marks the homecoming of goodwill and faith after an absence, as suggested by the Ramayana.
On the day of Diwali, many wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks. Some North Indian business communities start their financial year on Diwali and new account books are opened on this day.

Guess what: Singapore Girls don't want sex!!!

When girls engage in sexual activities with the opposite sex, it's more out of obligation than anything else, to maintain the relationship. But for the boys, (of course) it's because they want to do it," Mr Md Yusof Ismail, chief executive officer of Ain Society told MediaCorp.

Ya right, the boys want it but the girls don't! But only in Singapore I guess, not in the rest of the world!! Just blame it on the boys.

But that's not all. A survey done by contraceptive maker Durex found out that more than half of those aged 16 to 24 and 35 to 44 said they would like to have received more information on "emotional aspects of sex" as love, respect and the shared enjoyment of giving pleasure to one's partner.

Many of the people interviewed said these aspects were not covered during sex education in schools. Only 12 per cent of the 1,021 Singapore respondents claimed they were taught these aspects of sexual learning.
Do people need a manual "How to?" or "Emotion, love and feelings for dummies" Can this actually be taught?

Oh ya maybe get a certificate or even graduate from this program with a degree!

Guess you can tell how shocked I am about that very sad state of Singapore's young adults.

One last remark. I had a great upbringing, I witnessed the emotion, the love, the caring my parents had for each other. The openly showed it.
However I hardly have seen this with Singapore's families. Not many parents do show emotions, probably because they can't make money of it, so no point!
Maybe that's why kids need to learn it in school!

What a sad world we live in nowadays.