Ask a random Singaporean to join in an outdoor exercise and you will probably see the person siam faster than the hawker aunty can yell “tak kiu jit puay!” But say there will be FREE FOOD and you can almost see the person Whatsapping his/her friends to come queue for the FREE FOOD.

So the very clever organisers of the Stand Up Sundown Party – over already btw, sorry you missed it – brought in the Roti Prata man, Satay encik and Teh Tarik uncle – to tarik in the crowds to the otherwise ghost town known as Raffles Place after dark.

Of course, it’s not because the organisers eat full got nothing to do. It’s to get Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans alike to enjoy some bonding time together while breathing in the fresh non exhaust-filled air in the CBD on a Friday night.

But of course there is no such thing as a free meal. Guests were tasked invited to do some outdoor exercises with secret messages (sneaky, sneaky) behind each exercise. But since the event is over, the messages are not so secret anymore. You can find them here in this video:

Or you can read about them here:

#1: Higher, better, together!

Roll out a trampoline and literally ROTFL as pairs of participants fumbled, bumped into each other and tumbled around. Until, that is, they stumbled on the secret of holding hands, like how some of our foreign friends are very comfortable doing. Suddenly they were jumping perfectly in harmony.

#2: Small talk build blocks

Tell one person one thing and the other person another thing and see them foil each other’s efforts at building blocks (this actually happens quite a lot in real life). So the hapless participants of this adult colour block stacking exercise were mightily confused what the other was trying to achieve. But once they started talking to each other, the stacking got easier.

Communication – the cornerstone of any lasting relationship. Ah…

#3: Food is a universal language

And we are not talking about the universally understood “Ooohs” and “Ahhs” which accompanied each display of the Prata Man’s tossing and the Teh Tarik Encik’s teh-tariking.

In between munching satay and the likes (which we think was the best exercise of the night), some of the guests took the opportunity to share how their foreign friends previously used to speak in their own language at work. But things changed after some feedback, and Singlish-speaking Singaporeans can once again understand and participate in the conversation.

But obviously, there is nothing like the universal language of food to pull people together. And given that eating is Singapore’s national pastime, it’s a natural conversation starter and starting point to reach out to our foreign friends and make them feel at home.

We’ll drink a toast to that.

All photos from StandUpFor.SG Facebook page

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