Palamariu Family Blog

Between Bali and India, Singapore found his practical useful place. It’s quite handy to have such an organized and uncorrupted place so easy accessible from all the points of South East Asia. In Singapore we arranged our visas for India, which are harder to get than we initially imagined.

Of course, besides the administrative part of our traveling adventures, we enjoyed the company of friends. We had several board games nights, movie night at Vani’s place, Egyptian day with Yasmine. In few words, Singapore was a good relaxing preamble before India.

Moreover, we experienced Chinese New Year and its cultural side. As for other cultural events like Deepavali, Christmas, New Year etc., Singapore dressed up with lights and Chinese symbols for entering the year of Tiger. Since this is an important event celebrated by 70% of people living in Singapore, 2 days were declared public holiday; that made a 4 day weekend for Singaporeans.

The first day of the year is celebrated in very different ways by the nationalities living in Singapore. Malay, Filipinos, Indians, white people (everybody except the Chinese) filled out the parks along the sea side camping, picnicking and riding bikes or rollerblading. It looked like a 1st May celebration in Romania. I want to make a short parenthesis here: being such a small country, Singapore doesn’t have rural areas or wild nature, but it has huge parks (10+ km2). Therefore, for spending some time in the nature, people camp in the parks in the most organized way possible, being at maximum 1h by bus away from their homes.

For Chinese people, the new day of the year is celebrated together with the family – with parents’ siblings, grandparents and cousins. It’s a day when Chinese wearing very fancy clothes visit and spend time, catching up with their extended families. It reminded me about Christmas because of the family reunion, but also Easter because it was so warm outside and people shown off their best clothes from their wardrobe.

At a personal level, we had some time to evaluate Indonesia experience and its meaning but also the learning it provided us with. It’s quite interesting what we came up with: Radu sees us back to Singapore when finishing our travelings and myself I’m more and more attracted by the idea of starting a PHD in September… maybe in Singapore

For the past days, every morning, we had a special way of starting our day: Laughing out loud! Literally. In the lobby of Kubu Merta villa. For at least 10 minutes. No jokes necessary. Though you do need a lot of openness and willingness to try it out!

And if you don’t believe me, here are some pictures:

“Why?” is a valid question you might ask. Well, because somebody explained to us all the benefits that laughter has on our body. Even if the laughter is fake. It doesn’t matter because our body doesn’t know the difference. Just like when you watch a horror movie you might get scared, even if you know it is just a movie. As the body doesn’t know the difference. The same with laughter. If you laugh, you will feel good, even if there is nothing funny.

How about the benefits of laughing? Looking on the different websites, I especially liked the ones that say that laughing for 15 minutes is the same as going to the gym for an hour because it works a lot of your muscles (especially the abdomen- figure that? getting a 6 pack from laughing).

Also, when we laugh, our brain releases endorphins, the happiness hormones. Again, no matter if the laughter is real or not. And there are studies that prove that laughing for 15 minutes a day has been enough to lift away depression. (have a look here for more scientific tests)

So, with all this in mind, we will certainly be doing it again. It’s too fun to stop. Plus, it is FREE!

How about you? Are you willing to try out laughing out loud for 10 minutes a day?

Unlike the other years, this Christmas was a very special one. Why? Because this year I had the chance to change the myth I used to believe in: that Christmas feels like Christmas only if it is cold outside, if I spent at least 2 weeks preparing presents and only if I spend it in Alba Iulia.

It turns out that you can be filled with Christmas spirit even if you are in Bali, at 28 degrees and with no presents bought. As Santa Claus was here, spreading his magic over the Christmas trees:

Also, carols filled the air for hours in the Kubu Merta villa. People of different nationalities: Indonesians, Americans, Romanians, Spanish, Czech, Dutch, Indians, Germans, Australians accompanied by the harmonium and tabla drums we sang our hearts out. Not only that, but we also had a salsa lesson, thanks to Obed.

And, as the old tradition goes, we started going from house to house to sing carols…on Skype!! What a feeling: parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents and friends, welcomed us and sang with us, each with their own unique carols.

Moreover, since Christmas is the celebration of Jesus birth, the spiritual side could not be missing. Therefore, we even had a Christmas service at the villa. Father Terry conducted a wonderful mass for a handful of Christians: Barbara, Phil, Elsha, Herman, Nula, myself and Radu.

So…we are very grateful for a happy and fulfilling Christmas! We certainly won’t ever forget it!