Justin Teo

Black Friday 30 November 2008

After thanksgiving, what’s most important is Black Friday. It’s shopping day, named like Black Monday when the stock market crashed. So why would retailers name such an important shopping day after a stock market catastrophe? It is said that retailers were typically in the red, incurring losses and sales on Black Friday are so good that it is the time that they first go into black, starting to make profits for the year.

At Boston, black friday is over hyped. Things are not really much cheaper.

MIT

 Before we start our journey….

Penang

 We filled our stomachs in between shopping…

Newbury Street

Newbury Street.. me.

A very nice street to shop where Zara here is 3 storey high.

Very cheap DVDs.

And came back with only these. I bought a lot of dvds cos they are really cheap…. ranges from US$5 to US$10… It’s scary that I already have about 40 original DVDs here now… dunno how to bring back to Singapore… haha.

Galleria, Quincy Market, Downtown Crossing, Newbury Street, Shabu Zen 28 November 2008

We have more feasting and shoppings! You see the trend.. everything I blog about is shopping and eating. Haha.

Out to Galleria

On the way out..

Reese

Me...

Beef Ribs.. the 3rd time we having this..

This shows u proportion

This plate is for one person, but you can see that we really have to share it..

Snickers Cake

Shopping and Feasting with Classmates

Were out shopping with Chen Si, Zhang Hui, Wang Jie, Yuwei, Yu Qian and Qinwen today. Started the day with lunch at Quincy Market.

Bread Bowl and Lobster Roll

Christmas is Coming!!

Christmas Tree!

Reese and Me

Vegetable Plates

Raw Meat to be cooked..

Almost done!

Life seems good for me? Haha. Some people asked why are all my pictures are showing me having fun. And did I ever study? Haha, nobody takes pictures of themselves suffering or studying right?

But I am quite enjoying myself

In everything, with Thanksgiving 27 November 2008

Today is Thanksgiving.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6.

Origins of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving originated in the 1600s when God delivered the Pilgrims from England to America.

In 1534, the Act of Supremacy made the king the leader of the Church of England. However, Bible believing Christians wanted to be loyal to God and true to the Bible. They called themselves Pilgrims, as they began leaving England for Leydan, Holland in 1607. In Holland, they were penniless and being foreigners, they qualified for only the lowest paying jobs. And to preserve their worship practices in their native language (English), they are convinced that God wanted them to sail to America and begin all over with.

102 men and women set sail across the Atlantic. They met with a storm, and on 9th November realised that the storm had blown them to Cape Cod, 100 miles north of their planned destination at Virginia. The storm had been providential, because at Cape Cod, they are free from obligations to the New England Company, which had business dealings in Virginia. So they believed that God wanted them to be at Cape Cod, and they settled there and form a new kind of government.

In three months from December 1620 to March 1621, 45% of the men and women died from diseases, but they were thankful because it is half the death toll at Jamestown. Good and bad things happened during that time, but the Christians were full of thanksgiving to God for His mercies.

Governor Bradford proclaimed a day of public thanksgiving to God to be held. As pilgrims to a foreign land, they invited their neighbours to 3 days of feasting – Fat turkeys, many types of vegetables, cornmeal pudding, fruit pies, maple syrup, popcorn.

Thanksgiving celebration spread throughout the regions of America. George Washington, declared in 1789, “Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour… I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, Who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country….”

in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln set aside the last Thursday in November as a national holiday, when family became the focus of the holiday. In 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s adminstration declared Thanksgiving to be on the fourth Thursday of November.

(Paraphrased from Bill Perry’s American Holidays, Multi-Language Media, 1995.)

The Pilgrims had 3 days of feasting in Thanksgiving. Me too, I went for 3 separate thanksgiving dinner. One hosted by the Boston churches, one by SMA, and one by Westgate.

Thanksgiving with Boston Churches

Reese and Me at Thanksgiving

Table decorations

Our Food

Thanksgiving with SMA

SMA CE. Classmates from China, India, Singapore.

Food

Really good apple pies

My Food

Thanksgiving with Westgate

Buffet Table

Our Food

Reese and her food

 And this concludes our 3 days of Thanksgiving feasting

Two Weeks in November 16 November 2008

15th November 2008: Burlington Coat Factory, Shabu Zen

We went to Burlington Coat Factory today. It was a very long journey! Things are cheap there but not really that nice. What’s worth mentioning about this day is…

Dinner at Shabu Zen! With Chen Si, Yuwei, Nirjhar, Chin Soon, Yu Qian and Reese.

Before eating...

Many types of soup to choose from. We have the regular, and the “spicy chinese” (which I suppose is what we call 麻辣. It’s great, though we didn’t make it spicy enough.

Surf and Turf, Meat Platter

The meat is great… thin and tender. We’ve been to several Chinese restaurants here in these 3 months. This place is clearly the best… highly recommended. Fantastic.. very satisfying meal. Even Nirjhar enjoyed it, haha. His first time trying steamboat, haha induction into Chinese culture.

10th November 2008: Dinner at Legal Seafoods

Dinner at Legal Seafoods

Boston Clam Chowder. It was said that this is the best chowder you can get over here. Not great… pretty average. The best is at Hyatt.

Fisherman

Tastes… alright..

Fish and Chips

Tastes bad. Won’t recommend this place to anyone.

8th November 2008: Cambridgeside Galleria

Outside Student Centre..

This was at MIT. Many leaves were falling from the trees at that moment.. but didn’t manage to capture it.

Nice red tree

Nice red tree outside the medical centre. This is really pretty…

Dinner..

Dinner.. enough to feed a cow again, haha.

2nd November 2008

Outside Stata Centre

1st November 2008: Cambridgeside Galleria too

Memorial Drive

Nice row of trees along the street that I always walk along the way to school. Oh not actually, I seldom walk to school these days, have been taking the shuttle.

Beef Ribs

Beef Ribs. Is good! Used angus beef. Angus beef seems pretty common here.

Strawberry Shortcake

Dessert.. I like.

Other Random Photos

Yellow Tree

A tree near Westgate..

Can you spot the same tree?

The same tree looks like this 2 weeks later. Haha. All the leaves dropped to the floor.

Selfmade Lunch

I packed my own lunch to school today (5th November). Nice looking sandwich right!!

Reese Made Dinner

Reese prepared dinner on most nights. This dinner was on 7th November. 麻油鸡，肉骨茶, vegetables, kimchi radish, and white rice.

Dinner on 9th November

Reese prepared dinner. Black pepper beef, green lettuce and crabstick salad.