We had long looked forward to this day, simply for the novelty of watching the Super Bowl on a Monday morning. It turned out to be a fun and original experience but certainly not a this-is-weird-pinch-me cultural moment like driving on the left-side of the road. We awoke quietly and reluctantly at 6:15am and quietly made our way a cab which took us to the TGI Friday’s in the middle of town. We feared a long line of ex-pats but were pleasantly surprised to find the place half-full at most, reinforcing my suspicion that there are far fewer Americans in Singapore than I originally suspected. Of course, the fellow patrons who were in attendance seemed to be of the unemployed or unskilled variety. No suits, no ties, no collared shirts – even though it was a Monday morning. Of course, if the game had featured the Giants, Patriots, Cowboys or any other household football name perhaps more would have come out to support the teams.
This was the only day of the year that TGIF opened at 6am and probably one of the few in which they served eggs; they had specially made menu’s for the occasion. We all had our American breakfast and drank beer or bloody mary’s. We saw the same game that the rest of you saw only I think we had different commentators and we also didn’t get the American commercials; a disappointment. I enjoyed watching the locals march by the restaurant (which is open-air along a sidewalk) on their way to work, craning their necks in and judging the idiot Americans. When the Steelers turned the ball over on downs with two-minutes left in the fourth, thus effectively sealing the victory for Green Bay the place went absolutely mad – bottles flying everywhere, the waitresses swinging aprons over their heads, free drinks for all in attendance. Of course this last line is a gross exaggeration if not a downright lie. Several of the deadbeat patrons amongst us had already passed out at their tables and the remaining seemed to be lukewarm football fans at best, perhaps arriving at TGIF by mistake (“Hey Doris, isn’t this progressive, TGI Friday’s is open at 7am on Monday’s in Singapore. I sure as heck wish we had this back in Topeka”). We quickly settled our bill and headed to what would be a very long day of class where not a single of our classmates mentioned the existence of the Super Bowl.
This was the only day of the year that TGIF opened at 6am and probably one of the few in which they served eggs; they had specially made menu’s for the occasion. We all had our American breakfast and drank beer or bloody mary’s. We saw the same game that the rest of you saw only I think we had different commentators and we also didn’t get the American commercials; a disappointment. I enjoyed watching the locals march by the restaurant (which is open-air along a sidewalk) on their way to work, craning their necks in and judging the idiot Americans. When the Steelers turned the ball over on downs with two-minutes left in the fourth, thus effectively sealing the victory for Green Bay the place went absolutely mad – bottles flying everywhere, the waitresses swinging aprons over their heads, free drinks for all in attendance. Of course this last line is a gross exaggeration if not a downright lie. Several of the deadbeat patrons amongst us had already passed out at their tables and the remaining seemed to be lukewarm football fans at best, perhaps arriving at TGIF by mistake (“Hey Doris, isn’t this progressive, TGI Friday’s is open at 7am on Monday’s in Singapore. I sure as heck wish we had this back in Topeka”). We quickly settled our bill and headed to what would be a very long day of class where not a single of our classmates mentioned the existence of the Super Bowl.
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