Wheel of Fortune Overseas

by Jamie Rhein on

This is a sad, but true tale about just how mundane life can seem when one lives overseas. When my husband and I lived in Singapore for three years, by the 3rd year we’d seen everything in that city/country more than once. We liked it, but we’d seen it. With our work days filled with, well, work, we hurried home at the end of the day to make sure we caught Wheel of Fortune. I have no idea why we loved this show so, but about 2 in the afternoon, I’d look at the clock and think, “Just two more hours. Whooppee!”

Probably, our attachment to the show had a lot to do with air-conditioning. The only room in our town house with air-conditioning was the room with the TV. Trust me; if you go to Singapore, air-conditioning can turn an average experience into Nirvana. It didn’t even matter to us that we were seeing shows from the past years. Cars and money had been won long before we ever saw the contestants win. That may seem sad, considering here we were living in another country and our pleasure came from a TV show we don’t even watch when we live in the U.S. The feeling of sweat drying while we drank an afternoon cup of coffee while solving the puzzle was exquisite.

There must be something about Wheel of Fortune that crosses cultural boundaries because different countries have their own Wheel of Fortune versions. Not the Vanna White and Pat Sajak version, but their own version with hosts from their own countries. Here is a website that lets you know which countries have a Wheel of Fortune knock-off. Some are over, but some are still on-going or may come back in the future. Or, you may be able to catch a U.S. version Wheel of Fortune re-run. Overseas cable television still carries episodes. Here is an interesting article about television marketing overseas and it mentions Wheel of Fortune as a franchising success story. This past week, by the way, Wheel of Fortune’s theme was Far East Adventures. Coincidence? Maybe.

McDonald’s: A Hamburger by Any Other Name?

by Jamie Rhein on

Over coffee with Tom Barlow, former fellow blogger from my Blogging Ohio days, the subject of McDonald’s came up. He mentioned that he came across a McDonald’s menu from India when he was doing a blog for his new digs at Blogging Stocks. That caught my attention.

I’ve been to McDonald’s in India, Taiwan and Singapore. Not one for American fast food eating as a rule, there is something comforting about going to a place that looks familiar when one is living or traveling overseas. However, despite the fact that McDonald’s may look the same, what each serves up is quite different than the U.S. version when you consider that it’s the hamburger that put McDonald’s at the top of America’s fast food nation pile. In Asia, if there are hamburgers, sometimes it’s a special style sauce or some McDonald’s don’t serve hamburgers at all.

In India, for example, you’ll be hard pressed to find a McDonald’s that serves hamburgers. I don’t think any of them do. In Singapore hamburgers may or may not be on the menu depending where in the city the restaurant is located. There are chicken burgers galore however. The special sauces appeal to the palates of the people who mostly live in that particular country. In Taiwan, it’s possible to get corn soup as a side order. If you want to get the one menu item that tastes like it’s been cooked up in the U.S., French fries are universal. The largest McDonald’s I was ever in was in Bejing, China. When traveling, besides the French fries, you can count on McDonald’s for a clean toilet. At least, that’s been my experience. Thanks to Eric Deamer on Flickr for his shot of a McDonald’s menu in Taiwan.

Two Chinese New Year Performances

by Jamie Rhein on

This weekend is still a big one for Chinese New Year since this is a 15-day holiday that ends with the Lantern Festival. It’s now going into its second week. In case you can’t get to a celebration this year, here are two performances that I’m sending to you. The first is of last year’s Chinese New Year festivities in Singapore. This one was in Chinatown. (Yes, Singapore does have a Chinatown.) Having been to a Chinese New Year festival in Taiwan, Singapore and Columbus, Ohio myself, I can say each have a similar look and sound, so turn up the volume and enjoy a real deal experience. At the end is a brief look at dining out after the show. Made me hungry. Thanks jinaye for the post.

Also, because the Lion Dance is not included in this particular video that presents snippets of various performances, here is a link to a Lion Dance performed by Ling Nam Siu Lum Kung Fu Academy last Chinese New Year and posted on You Tube by siulumkuen. Click on the more section for a detailed explanation about the performers and the Lion Dance.

Beach Trash? Small Solutions to a Big Problem

by Jamie Rhein on

Erik’s post Global Trash Ruins Hawaiian Beaches reminded me of participating in a beach clean-up in Singapore. Some trash, like Erik’s post mentioned, are from ships that either dumped trash on purpose or landed in the water by mistake. Strong gusts of wind? Someone eating at a ship’s railing and a plastic fork dropped or a shoe came off? Because Singapore is a major port, ship trash is a big problem.

The clean-up I participated in several years ago was part of the International Coastal Clean-up organized by the Ocean Conservancy. For the past 20 years the conservancy assigns groups to particular beaches to clean up what they can and keep track of what’s being dumped. According to their website, 300,000 people participated in 2005. The 2006 tally is not entered.

I remember that when we picked up trash we kept track by counting the number of pieces and the category. During this past year’s event, September 16, 2006, 1,865 people participated in Singapore. You can see the total results here. It’s amazing to see the variety of things collected. The photo was taken by Steve Early, a friend of mine, who still teaches science at the Singapore American School. I just happened to find this out when I went poking around looking for a photograph. Small world. The school’s trash duty assignment was at the Kranji Mangroves.

The next International Coastal Clean-up is not until this coming September, but there are plenty of other smaller opportunities to pick trash up along beaches until then. Here are a sampling of three that happen every month. If you know of more, tell us. It would be neat to participate in a beach clean-up in other parts of the world. All this reminds me that when I’m at a beach somewhere and see that piece of trash that doesn’t belong, it’s not that much work to bend down and pick it up.

  • Save Our Shores out of Santa Cruz, CA offers Interpretive Beach Clean-ups where participants learn about the ecosystem of the area as well. There are clean-ups scheduled almost every month.
  • The 3rd Saturday of every month there’s “Justin Rudd’s 30-minute Beach Clean-up” in Long Beach, CA. The site also has a terrific video ad.
  • Blue Ocean organizes beach clean-ups in New Hampshire.

TWINF Panoramic Photos

by Adrienne Wilson on


Erik is usually the one to spread word on panos worth checking out and while I probably should have let him do the honors for this set found on The World is Not Flat (TWINF), I couldn’t resist pointing you to them myself. This shot taken on a rooftop in Singapore grabbed me because of the lime green color lining the building in the background along with the reds, lighter left side and darker right. The bottom photo taken at Angkor Wat speaks for itself – incredible. Other breathtaking shots from New Zealand, India, Thailand, Laos, Hong Kong, Portugal, Spain and Utah are all there to go awe over. Go sit in awe now. Go and wish you had been there too.