Sunday, March 30, 2014
Where To Go: Eastern United Temple - Khmer New Year 2014
April 11th-13th, 2014 will be the Cambodian New Year celebration at Wat Kanteyaram also known as Eastern United Temple. To Cambodians, we call it "Chaul Chnam Thmey", which in translation means "Enter the New Year." Chaul = Enter; Chnam = Year; and Thmey = New. There goes your foreign language lesson for the day.
The main festivities happens on Sunday April 13th. This celebration gathers people from and around Jacksonville as it is one of the biggest events to the Cambodian community each year. Each year we see more diversity in people who attend this event and we welcome them in and always hope they enjoy themselves.
Why does this event last three days long? In Cambodia they celebrate on April 14th (New Years Day) through April 17th. The reason why it is different in the U.S. is because the majority of us work on weekdays and therefore we have to celebrate during the weekend. The first day of celebration is called Maha Songkran.
The first day marks the ending of the year and the beginning of the new year. Here in Jax we have vendors that set up at the temple to sell food and other goods. We celebrate the night with live music and dance. People may light candles and incense sticks at the set up shrines to offer thanks to Buddha's teachings.
The second day is called Virak Wanabat and this is the day where people donate money to charities and the less fortunate. In Jacksonville the festivities continues with music, dance, games, and food all through the night.
The third day we call T'ngai Leang Saka. Monks and Buddhists cleanse the Buddha statue and their elders with perfumed water. Bathing the Buddha statue is a kind deed that will bring happiness, luck, prosperity, and longevity in life.
Wat Kanteyaram
4057 Hunt St.
Jacksonville, FL 32254
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Where To Go: The Date Thing
I am so excited to introduce a new project I started a few weeks ago. I often get asked where does one go for a cool date besides the movies. I even found myself in that predicament when I started dating again a couple months ago. There are so many places out there that no one would think of going on a date. Going to the movies on a first date is a bad idea, in my opinion. How are you supposed to get to know a person if you're just sitting quietly in the dark next to them.
Then I created The Date Thing in Jacksonville. It is my soon-to-be website and mobile app. I am currently populating the website so it is not quite official yet. So far I've added places such as The Edge Rock Gym, Doing Dishes, Painting with a Twist, Publix Apron, and A Social Affair Dance Studio. Below is a screen shot of what the current homepage looks like. You'll notice the categories I have listed as well. The website still has a lot of work to do and it will take some time since I am doing this by myself.
I call this The Date Thing because...well I just think it is easier to remember and it is kind of different. I kept calling it the date thing as I was speaking about it to a friend about my idea and it stuck. I didn't want to call it "Date Night" or "Night Out" because it just seems too cliché. The Date Thing is easier to use in a conversation, well maybe it's just me.
"Hun, what do you want to do tonight?"
"I can't think of anything, check The Date Thing."
In the meantime LIKE TDT on Facebook and FOLLOW TDT on Twitter.
Jacksonville Hidden Locales
This is a map of hidden gems in Jacksonville called "Jacksonville Hidden Locales" that was created and collaborated by students from my Understanding Emerging Media course at UNF. I had the toughest time choosing just one gem! If anybody knows me then they know that I know a lot about local businesses in Jacksonville. I chose to add Silver Cow, an awesome watering hole in Riverside.
View Jacksonville Hidden Locales in a larger map
Regina Huffington is the sweet owner of Silver Cow who worked hard to get her business to where it is now. She is very involved and visible in her business, which is what locals like to see.
Silver Cow currently offers 28 craft beers and 2 ciders on tap. They also have a great selection of bottled beers as well as wine and champagne. Recently, Silver Cow introduced the "Bovine Airways," a beer flight with (4), 4 oz. pours of your choice. You will also find a food menu so you can have some bites while enjoying your drinks.
The name Silver Cow derived from Silvertown and Cowford. Silvertown is what the Riverside of Jacksonville was known as and Cowford is the former name of Jacksonville.
View Jacksonville Hidden Locales in a larger map
Thursday, March 6, 2014
What To See: Land of the Tiger
Where to go: JUKEBOX 337 at Yamas Hookah
Live music is coming back to Taverna Yamas on Tuesday and Wednesday in the month of March! Come join Yamas on Tuesday with their all day special with $10 bottle of wine from Beaulieu Vineyards and Wednesday all day special with $4 martinis. Sit back in the Yamas Hookah lounge with a hookah, drink, and dinner while enjoying the beautiful sounds of JUKEBOX 337.
JUKEBOX 337 is based in Jacksonville, Florida with vocalist Lee Seaman, and guitarist, singer/songwriter Al Monte. You'll often find them playing together as a duo although other local musicians join them occasionally. Lee has an exceptional voice for the jazz standards. He is not limited to just jazz, he can also sing the blues, country, rock and pop. Al can play in all styles of music including jazz, rock, folk and pop and has been writing songs for over twenty five years. The duo have created unique sound of cover and originals. Their sound is great for bistros, happy hours, jazz clubs, weddings and special events.
Jukebox 337 at Yamas Hookah by Kemary Chan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Jukebox 337 at Yamas Hookah by Kemary Chan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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