e block mid autumn festival!

Writer: Riddhwaj Jalan (aka Rid)
Editor: Ong Qing Liang

Before you read on, I would like to introduce myself first. I am an Indian student who has just arrived in Singapore a few months ago. Prior to the E block Mid Autumn Festival, I had had absolutely no idea about the existence of the Mid Autumn Festival (MAF). In fact, my initial reaction to MAF was: “does Singapore even have autumn in the first place??” So, what you are going to read is not another description of a rather commonly understood festival, but rather, recollections of the MAF experience through the eyes of a stranger to the Singaporean culture. :)

Well, I first heard about the existence of mooncakes a month ago, from a friend who decided to torture me with thirty minutes of “Eldorado-flavoured” epic sagas of the fabled origins of mooncakes (which didn’t help explain much actually). All I remember is that he mentioned something about a lady floating off to the moon and somewhere in the story there is a rabbit too. :) And so began my quest to see for myself what this mystic shaman fragility called the “mooncake” actually was.

I had a rather ambiguous image in mind about “mooncakes”. Did it look more like the moon or did it look more like a cake? Did it glimmer? Did it have a lot of craters on its surface? As such, I keenly looked forward to the E block MAF, where I would be able to lay my eyes on this legendary delicacy.

So on the night of 5th October, E blockers came together to celebrate MAF. Actually, I felt that the supper was more of an excuse for all the E-blockers to get together and repair the damage that the mid-terms had had on us. :P As always, the supper did not fail to be entertaining. There was a lot of good interaction, exciting games, delicious cuisine and endless peals of laughter. In line with the celestial theme, it was also the night where we had our ‘angel-mortal’ revelations.

mad rush for the mooncakes!

story telling session

I was particularly impressed by the lanterns which were put up everywhere. Somehow, they gave the event an ancient, traditional and an extraordinarily homely touch (there is one hanging on my door now). The vast variety and the difference in tastes of the moon cakes was also a kind of charm of its own; though to be honest I was hoping for a more “moonly” look (this did not stop me from popping mooncake after mooncake into my mouth though). :p

if only we had these!

sparklers!

more sparklers!

Overall I think that MAF is one of the many delights that Singapore has to offer and I am glad to have been a part of this fine tradition. I look forward to uncovering many more hidden facets of the Singaporean culture in the future! :D

E Block Supper 2

Writer: Nguyen Phuoc Lam
Editor: Janice Fan

The E Block Blog Can Be Found Here: http://keviieblock.blogspot.com/

The E-block mass supper on 21st October was meant to  allow the E blockers to unwind and charge up for the final lap of this semester. The 2^nd block supper was prepared by E block committee members. Having drawn some experiences from the 1^st supper, Kai Lin, Xifei and Loraine , the 3 I/Cs,  devoted much time to the preparation of the supper. They set the menu, bought the ingredients and allocated man power to prepare the specific dishes,  Obviously, all that effort did not go to naught; the 2^nd E block supper could be said to have been a resounding success.

E blockers gathering at Shepherd's Path

look at all that! yummy food...

Xiao Shuang, Zhuangli and Xifei enjoying the food! :)

Let’s take a closer look at what was available…

pasta (macaroni) with tomato sauce...

baked sandwich with sugar and butter

salad

wrapped vegetable and meat aka The Legendary E Block Samosa

watermelon

waffles

ice cream

Special event of the night:

… happy birthday to Kok Pun, Nivedh, Xifei and the October babies! :D

And look at who we have gracing this event:

Prof. Wong (E block RF ) and Buddhi ( E block alumni)

Soo…. it was a night of fellowship (catching up with our fellow neighbours), laughters and good food. Thank you Block Comm! The E Blockers sure did enjoy themselves! :D