At Vivo for Father's Day.

Didn't know Father's Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide. Only found out about it in 2002 when shops like Target and Priceline in Hobart started selling Father's Day wrapped gifts in the months of August and September.

At that time, of course, I had always thought I have mistaken Father's Day as celebrated in June. Father's Day (and Mother's Day, for that matter) is not quite celebrated by my family. And only until recently we do and that is probably the day when we realised parents prefer such days celebrated. So until then, I never did make any effort to remember the dates (not like I do now!).

So, year after year in Hobart, and after a couple of yearly Father's Day calls from mum at home in Singapore, I finally put in some effort to find out, and eventually understood that Father's Day (and Mother's Day) is celebrated on different dates in different countries (check out the list below). But I still have no idea as to why such disparity occurs...

Father's Day yesterday was celebrated at Singapore's VivoCity with lots of fun and laughter. Attendance was full; Nunun is back from Perth, Hasan was not in camp, Murni has been in Singapore and I didn't go anywhere outside the island. VivoCity was chosen to be the destination because mum and dad had never been there since it opens in October last year and Earle Swensen's was dad's choice of western food and ice-cream dessert for Father's Day lunch.

So we spent about 3 hours dining and chatting at Earle Swensen's yesterday, plus an hour of checking out Singapore's latest "largest retail and lifestyle destination" VivoCity before retreating back home. As always, I had fun spending time with my family.

Despite it being Father's Day yesterday, the 'limelight' went pretty much to Nunun who found a huge, dead dragonfly in her salad as well as had ice chocolate spilled all over her by a waiter new to the job (waiter also happened to be Murni's former student). We were all then compensated with a large bowl of ice-cream called Earthquake (scroll up for picture) from a variety of flavour from Nunun's selection at the end of all our meals.


It was an enjoyable day regardless, and I believe everyone had a great time. But having said all these however, I do wonder if dad felt special on Father's Day yesterday. Anyhow to dad - I know he's not reading all these but nevertheless - Happy Father's Day. Thank you for being a great dad, the only sole bread winner in the house and the most inspiring person I have ever met in the whole of my life.

And thank you too for having trust in me when you sent me to Tassie to pursue my now seemingly futile degree (heh!), for all the money I have spent carelessly and for allowing me to be married to Kenji. Thank you, dad. In return, I could only pray for your success, longevity and good health (and et cetera) and pray to forever be a good daughter to you.

Below is a list of the officially recognised date of Father's Day worldwide. Copied off Wikipedia, the list shows some significant examples of the dates which vary from country to country.

• Third Sunday of June: Argentina, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, France, Greece, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Zimbabwe.

• June 23: Nicaragua, Poland, Uganda

• July 30: Vietnam

• Third Sunday of July: Uruguay

• Last Sunday of July: Dominican Republic

• 23: Mordad, Iran

• Second Sunday of August: Brazil

• August 8: Taiwan

• First Sunday of September: Australia, New Zealand

• Second Sunday of November: Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden

• December 5: Thailand

• February 23: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus

• March 19: Bolivia, Honduras, Italy, Liechtenstein, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland

• May 5: Romania

• May 8: South Korea (Parents' Day), Ascension Day, Germany

• First Sunday of June: Lithuania

• June 5: (Constitution Day) Denmark

• Second Sunday of June: Austria, Belgium, Ecuador

• June 17: El Salvador, Guatemala

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**Top picture: 'Earthquake' ice-cream in compensation of the spilled ice chocolate drink on Nunun's clothes (plus a bit on Murni's and my bags). And maybe for the dead dragonfly with dispatched wings in the salad, too.

**2nd picture: Modified family photo without Murni, who's behind the camera, at Earle Swensen's, VivoCity.

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