Life in Little India

It's been a few weeks since my last blog, but I have decided to change the format up a bit to keep it interesting as I continue this blog over the next few months. Going forward, I will visit either a new location in or around Singapore every weekend (work/health permitting) or my travels to other countries and describe my experiences here; this will also force me to get out and enjoy the various cultures that Singapore has to offer............food and all, but also allow the blog to be a bit more focused! I will also try and add supplemental photos for each installment.

So this week, we are going to Little India which is actually the neighborhood where I reside.

Little India is a small ethnic enclave that sits in the southeast portion of the island of Singapore. When Singapore was a British colony, this is where the Indian immigrants were forced to live under the British law of ethnic segregation and eventually built up lots of ethnic shops and restaurants. Today, the neighborhood has grown and modernized where small derelict buildings now stand beside new glass high rise condos and enormous shopping centers. Although the neighborhood now consists of many expats from all over the world and few Indians, the culture still lives on with those that remain and on weekends Indians are literally bused in to spend the day basking in all things Indian.

There is one day a week that locals (non-Indians) will tell you to stay away from this neighborhood and that is Sunday, so in order to get the full experience, I decided that I would spend my Sunday evening and sulk in the local culture.

It began a little before dinner time, I decided to leave my apartment and begin my evening. It was still daylight out with no hint of nightfall, the temperature had cooled to a nice 75 degrees with a slight breeze, perfect for enjoying a night out. As I exit the gates of the compound where I reside, I immediately notice that people are heading towards the festivities. In Little India, there are lots of open grass fields and this is my first stop as it's where I see the largest mass of people. Here, you see Indians of all different ages, races, and socioeconomic status just hanging out with friends and chatting perhaps about politics, personal lives or football (soccer). Coming from western culture or perhaps Chicago when you see large groups of people, you immediately think that there is entertainment somewhere, good food, something free, or something bad is about to happen or has already taken place; but here non of the aforementioned are true. It appears as though there are no real festivities taking place and these individuals, sit and stand seemingly not bothered by the moist and muddy grass and enjoy the brisk evening and each others company. Wanting to go in for a closer look and perhaps some Indian food, I decide to enter this enclave where all the ethnic shops and hawker centers/restaurants are. The grassfields and shops are separated by Serangoon Road which is a pretty major thruway here in Singapore. However, on this night, it's as if the rules and laws do not exist in Little India. People walk across the 3 lane semi-highway where cars typically travel around 45-50 mph as if the cars do not exist. Driver's honk their horns, throw their hands up in frustration, but ultimately are forced to wait as the patron's of this neighborhood are out celebrating and will not acknowledge any negativity.

I cross the road with the masses to arrive just outside Mustafa Center (see my blog dated 9/20/09, My First Weekend in Singapore) for details on Mustafa Center. The shopping district is lined with ethnic shops and restaurants on either side, the road is narrow, the width is probably less than a typically American residential road yet here, you have cars and trucks parked on both sides of the road. The streets are packed with hundreds if not over a thousand people walking down this road as well as moving cars that can only move about a few feet every ten minutes or so because of the crowd of people. They have clearly taken a wrong turn and you cannot help but feel bad for these people. The architecture of the buildings certainly let you know that you are not in modern Singapore, barely standing derelict buildings line the streets, I recognized that there is a colonial influence in the architecture but alot of the ballistrades and ornate mouldings of the period have since been torn off due to old age, or "shotty" remodel jobs. On these streets, you can purchase traditional Muslim attire, toys for children, fruits and vegetables and even raw meat and fish. I have been told that these are the places where you want to get your fruits and vegetables but I cannot fathom purchasing fully exposed to the elements, raw meat and fish on a back side street in a tropical climate. If you remember above, I said it had cooled to about 75 degrees, it is pretty much 85 degrees or so year round in Singapore and rarely gets below 70-75 degrees; in fact I am not sure it has since I moved here just over 2 months ago, as you can image these are not ideal temperatures for raw meat and poultry.

Walking through this area is absolutely surreal and you almost have to be here and experience it to believe it. There is loud Hindi music in the background, people packed shoulder to shoulder as well as hand in hand celebrating, and shop keepers/restaurateurs with megaphones trying to attract people to their shops; all with a very foul stench in the air. It's as if the natural scents of mother nature do not exist on this block and whatever is being cooked or sold have consumed the air; the smell wasn't pleasant nor offensive but I can assure you have haven't smelled this before.

I continue on barging my way through the crowd in a somewhat uncivilized fashion and arrive at a group of a few hundred people listening to music. It's definitely Hindi music as I recognized it from friends in Chicago, I am several feet away from what I thought was the actual singer that had this large crowd and I realize that these hundreds of people are all watching a music video on a 20 inch television. What was particularly interesting was no one was dancing, singing along or even moving, this music was almost hypnotic and had these guys in a trance like state of mind. The artist was dancing, singing and resembled a hippy like version of Britney Spears that had these middle aged men hypnotyized, I am not sure I have ever seen anything like this.

At this point, I am hungry and decide to continue down this road until I find a restaurant to eat, so I stop at a place that seemed like a popular spot and the food looked good. I order a rice dish that seemed to be quite popular and an Iced Tea (they love ice tea here), as I wait for my food, I watch a group of men play a board game that was a cross between shuffle board, checkers and pool. They played the game on a shuffle board with the salt or whatever that powder is, where the object of the game looked like you had to take these checker pieces and sink them into the holes on all four corners of the board. Obviously a game that I had never seen before, yet the excitement of these guys and intrigue of trying to figure out this game really won me over, I too began to get excited when I a piece was sunk into a hole that I almost forgot I had ordered food. My order is ready so I go to receive it "here you go". "What is this"? I ask, he says to me with confusion and slight irritation: "you had the rice and iced tea right"? I acknowledge and receive my food.

Ok, how do I explain this? My food came in a cone shaped piece of flimsy cardboard and my iced tea came in a plastic bag...no cup, just a bag and a straw, in fact, its a hospital fluid bad that they serve drinks in. As you can probably imagine, I stood there not knowing what to do. It was only at this point that I realized there are no tables in this place, it's packed shoulder to shoulder and there I stood with a greasy piece of cardboard that is at this point burning my hand and getting flimsier by the minute in one hand, and an ice cold hospital fluid bag filled with iced tea and a straw in the other hand. I don't even know where to begin so I ask for a cup and the guy pretty much just looked at me, shook his head, and rolled his eyes and said a few choice words under his breath in another language. But I must say, the food was good and definitely worth the difficulty I endured trying to consume it. At that point after I finish my meal, I have decided that although my time here was brief, I had experienced enough of Little India, and it was time to end my night out.

So just a quick update, some of you saw on my facebook page that I was in the ER this week for a sore throat. I know it seems dramatic, but in order to see a doctor here, you must go to the hospital and to get sick time off work, you must have a doctor's note. My intent was just to make sure I was ok since I had this sore throat for well over a week and it turns out it was the flu. I am all better now and was required to stay home for 2 days.

The hospital was interesting, it was like the DMV actually. You have to take a number and in the waiting room there are these offices that have "Now Serving" numbers above the door and a main board illustrating which which room your number is being served in. When your number is called, you go into the room, tell the doctor your symptoms, and he prescribes something and then he rings the bell for the next number to enter as you exit. It was quite fast, yet impersonal at the same time, it was interesting to say the least.

I hope you enjoyed this installment of my blog, I am not sure where next week will take me so until next time.

Have a good week

Jason

It's actually the start of my 7th week here, I sometimes can't even believe it myself. I know that I said it in previous blogs, but I really do remember what it was like months ago deciding if I wanted to accept this job opportunity and I can remember packing my suitcases. The time really does go by fast, I have become so immersed in work and have a pretty set schedule that I have gotten into a pretty good routine. I miss home quite a bit and the conveniences of home are definitely missed and obviously friends and my condo are missed but those are all things that will be there when I return.........which will be for a week during Christmas holiday!!!!

It's been just over a week since my last installment; I know I originally thought I was going to be blogging more often but when you get home from work every night around 10pm or 10am EST, the last thing on your mind is what are you going to blog about. I will however keep this up to once a week at least until things start getting more interesting and I start traveling for work or leisure.

Prior to my departure from the states, a family friend thought they saw fear in eyes before I left, I personally think it's normal and frankly would be strange if I didn't have a little fear of moving out of the country for an extended period of time. One of the things that was nerve racking was not only moving to another country, but starting a new job.

I ran went through so many scenarios in head over how the people were going to be, how they would react/accept me, do they even like American's and will I make friends? Everyone has been great to work with and socialize with as well. I obviously have so many questions about the culturally differences and although they may seem somewhat ignorant to them, they of course politely answer them and I think they find humor in them as well.

Recently, the issue of race has come up a few times and I have been asked about racism in America. Race really isn't a big issue here but I must say I have noticed there are some prejudices here with people from certain countries. The interesting thing about that is, here you can discriminate against someone because of their race, at least for housing. I may have explained this in a earlier blog, but I have actually seen signs that read: "No Indians or Chinese allowed" outside of Apt. buildings, we all know that this would be a major lawsuit in the states. So, I am asked how bad is racism in the states? My reply was "that is a relative question, certain people and certain races have different experiences in America and it can be based on education, socioeconomic status etc......so it's hard for me to give you a definitive answer. The reply I got was: "but, you can drink out of the same water fountains as "ang mor's" (white people) right? Of course this is funny to me and I let him know that minorities have been able to drink out of white water fountains for about 40+ years now but I was more interested in what an "ang mor" was.

Ang Mor is what they call white people or westerners here, it's not negative just local slang really or Singlish if you will. The direct translation of Ang mor is red hair or red beard, it originates from when the vikings sailed around the world and began settling into China.........they had red beards so they called them red beards or Ang mor's! Again, I decided to ask what they call me since I am not white but I am a westerner. So, I learned that I am called "hei ang mor" which means black red beard or black white person. Hmmm I think, black white person???????

During this same conversation it somehow came up that I had to go and pick up my dry cleaning. "Why use drycleaning, just hand wash your clothes" I am told, and everyone around us seemed to be in agreement with this theory but me. Puzzled, I put my hand on my head and think for a second.........I slowly realized that I don't know how to hand wash anything and in fact, I have never hand washed anything in my life I told them. They were all astonished at this........but then it made sense to me. Everyday when I walk to work and home from work, you see clothes hanging out of everyone's window and you see "aunties"either taking the clothes down, or putting them up. The same holds true in the building where I reside and all units have washing machines. It suddenly became clear to me that although they have washing machines and dryers along with dishwashers, most people here still wash everything by hand and chose not to use the modern conveniences that are readily available to us. This is one of those things that just doesn't make sense, if you have the modern conveniences, then why not use them? But I realized that although we have them here, everyone didn't have these same modern conveniences depending on what country they came from. Singapore is such a melting pot of so many races and countries, you just never know where the people came from.

Having been here for almost 2 months now, I have also had the privilege of observing family life here which is quite different than in the states. Let me first preface this by saying I am not saying that American's aren't these things nor that they do not do the same things, I am simply saying they go a step further than we do in the states. Asian culture has a far greater respect for their elders than we do in the states. It's quite amazing so see the love and respect that these children have for their parents and grandparents here and they are also very hospitable. Education is very highly regarded and quite frankly next to family the most important thing. I have been thinking alot about this, and I am honestly worried for average American children when I see the competition here that they will be up against some day in the professional world. These children go to school year round, learn multiple languages at early ages and the idea of getting good grades is almost like a sport in itself that all kids in the school can take part in. The entire family, both immediate and extended will sacrifice all they can to ensure that the next generation is properly educated.

I was having a conversation with a friend about living at home with your parents and they all said that they thought American youth we're stupid for not living at home with parents well into your 20's and even 30's. I was told by a local that here, you are a loser if you live at home past 35 years old............I can only imagine what we would say about a 35 year old whom still lives with parents and never moved out. It's quite the opposite in the states, I mean it seems like we want to leave home on our 18th birthday and some of us never come back. The locals say this is why American's look so much older than them because we try and age ourselves faster than we should and in the long run we really do age ourselves. Although it sounds strange, in reality it is kind of food for thought......they look younger than us, live healthier lives than us, and live longer than us, there just might be something to this way of thinking.

On another note, I got another hair cut this weekend so I got to see my "Asian brutha from anotha mutha" and this time after he was done, he looked in the mirror at me and said: "I hook you up playa"! And I have my first Chinese language book and CD that I have been studying for when I take my first business trip to China. It's funny because I study the book at night and then I go to work and try to have a very basic conversation and say good morning, how are you etc.... sometimes I get the words mixed up and I will say something to them and they reply: "Ahh, I think you just asked me where is the post office?" But the important thing there is that they understood what I was saying, regardless of if it was correct or not.

Alright, it's late now and I have a very long 2 weeks ahead of me at work. I have more stories, but I am saving them for future blogs so I have stuff to continue to write about.

Until next time,

Jason

5 weeks and counting.....

I have officially made it 5 weeks so far........I am telling you, the weeks go by so fast it's crazy, I am sure before I know it a year will have gone by and who knows where I will be or have been by then, but I am certainly looking forward to the unknown.

So also that means 5 weeks on the job, I am adjusting quite well. They pretty much had me working within the first 30 minutes of walking in the door so I am getting both training and a little trial by fire. Things are done in half the time in Asia than they are in the US, I look at some of my project schedules and think it's almost impossible to get done but we are managing quite well. Being so busy, I haven't had the time to really think how fast these deadlines are because I have been so immersed in getting the work done. Here in Asia though, we work harder, faster, and much longer hours than you people in the states!! Just kidding, that is what they always say to me....they things like" you people in the states or you American's and your drive thru banks" for some reason a drive thru restaurants and banks is very strange to them and they nearly flipped out when I told them we also have drive thru pharmacies as well....... they were under the impression that we also have drive thru doctors appt (I am not kidding here) where you go through the drive thru and order a shot or vaccine and the doctors administers the shot while you are in your car. I just let them believe that this is how I always received my shots and continued on with the story.

So this week I had to make a run to the grocery store and pick up some additional hygiene items such as toothpaste, deodorant etc. I am looking for deodorant and struggling to find it yet I know that I am in the correct aisle. Oh I forgot, I am in the American/Western style grocery store that has lots of American brands. I can't find any deodorant at all in the store, confused I continue to walk around the hygiene section and eventually notice that in the original aisle I was in they had 1 stick of deodorant and lucky for me, it's the kind I HATE. I am probably too picky about alot of things, but I dont like gel deodorant or the kind that leaves white residue because it just gets stuck in your arm hair. I learned that deodorant is not the most popular of items here and I have always had my suspicions (if you know what I mean), so it seems as though I have to switch deodorants or just import it which other Americans have been known to do that here. Anyways, as I am walking around looking for deodorant I continue to notice that there is large quantities of an item in each aisle that I went in. What is this I continue to ask because they only had 1 stick of deodorant but hundreds of this item so it must be popular I thought to myself................well, I eventually succumb to my curiosity and discover that this item that they carry in large quantities happens to be disposable men's brief underwear. At the time, I just kind of laughed to myself and thought nothing of it really. But later as the week progressed, I found that I couldn't get them out of my mind, I would think about them at home, at work and just bust out laughing hysterically. I had so many things go through my head, I mean what goes on in your underwear that is so bad, that you can't just wash them? I don't get it! As we are now at the end of the week, I have admitted to myself that I am absolutely obsessed with these things and have to go back to the store and get a closer look because these are hilarious and I don't know why, I don't think they would have been so funny to me had they had more deodorant and it not be in a grocery store because there is nothing wrong with wearing briefs. But hygiene is not a priority with some I am told (again confirming my suspicions) and I think a combo of no deodorant and not showering for weeks at a time, you probably do just need to throw your underwear away at that point as it's been a long and dirty life for them.

So tonight I went back to the store to get a closer look..........I almost want to try them out just because I think it will make for a good story. As an FYI, perhaps too much of a fyi even I am not a brief man, I am all about the boxer, but I am willing to try these out. I sometimes embarrass easy and this would typically be something I would be embarrassed to ask for but not tonight...........I would asking anyone: "hey, can you tell me where I can find the disposable brief underwear section" I think I just liked saying disposable brief underwear...............it's crazy I know but this so funny to me. So it turns out they come 7 to a pack and are only $1.95 SGD or just over a dollar USD. One thing I do know, if I ever get strapped for cash here I know where I can get cheap underwear and when I get money again I can just throw them away no big deal!!! And does anyone wonder why a grocery store sells underwear in the hygiene aisle?

As I have said before, I really want to learn and embrace the local culture here. There is a very strong Chinese influence here, in fact most Singaporeans are of Chinese decent or what we call Singaporean Chinese. I am actually told that there isn't really a "Singapore race" per say but Singapore is really a melting pot for all races in Asia which is also why I think it's a great places for expats from other countries to live and work, particularly from other countries because they speak English or Singlish as they say which can be difficult to understand......let me try to explain.

You may remember from a previous installment that I said Singaporeans add "lah" to the end of words randomly. So I will ask someone: "Hey can you forward that email to me" the reply I will get is: "Canlah" and sometimes they will drag it out and say: "Canlaaaahhhhhhh". They also use the words "can and cannot" as both to ask a question and to answer a question. So if they are asking me if I can get my work done in time they will say: "Can"? and if I were a Singaporean, I would reply "Can" or "Cannot". Let me just say, it makes absolutely no sense to me and I will be talking to someone and they will add lah at the end of words randomly........so lately I have been calling people out on it and asking them why do they do it as it doesn't make sense, it's not proper English. Apparently, you can add lah to anyword and give it a meaning, it's adding emphasis to the verb or adjective you used but it can also be informal. So you can say: "How do you feel today"? Tiredlaaahhhhhh.........would be the reply. So add in the accent, improper English and random words that mean nothing in the English language, it can be difficult at times to communicate. But you get used to it and although I will add a lah every now and then to a word, I am not sure it will stick over time. I certainly do want to learn more about Singlish.

On another note, I have been asking about why and when you call someone Auntie or Uncle. The Chinese culture is very hierarchical, you must always show a great deal of respect to your elders and part of that respect is to not call them by their first name. I always thought you just called "the help" auntie and uncle but it seems that it's so much more than that. You remember that I said we don't have building maintenance that comes in and cleans the building after hours like we do in the states, we have an office auntie and she cleans and brings people coffee, water etc. You just call her auntie, never by her name, I am told that it would be extremely rude if I were to call her by her name because she is our auntie...of course being my sarcastic self I continue to debate them and tell them but she is not my auntie so I can't call her that and taxi drivers aren't my uncle, so I can't call them uncle. "Well, what do you call a taxi driver in your country" they say to me? "Well, I would say Sir, please take me to ......" To which they all immediately started laughing and saying that Americans are so formal. "Ok, what if a woman in the grocery store drops her bag, you wouldn't say, excuse me auntie you dropped your bag"? "No I reply, she is not my mom or dad's sister so she is not my auntie" I say with extra emphasis.

The conversation was somewhat funny but at the same time I struggled. I realized that once again I am the weird one and I had 10 people laughing at me because I am so convinced that I am right yet they know I am wrong, after all I am in their country now. It can be quite difficult at times for me because I really do try and understand these things but some of them don't make sense, it's like I can't comprehend calling some random guy uncle or random woman my auntie. I was even told that your real aunts and uncles you don't call them by name in the Chinese culture, you still refer to them as auntie or uncle and again, it's very rude to just address them by their name.

They also do names differently here so they are typically confused by my name. For instance, in Chinese culture you do your surname or last name first followed by your first name, then middle name and family name I think. Family names are given by the grandparents to an entire generation. So lets say my name is Daniels, Jason R...........(u don't need to know my middle name) then I would be given another name, let's say it's Smith for instance, so it would be: Daniels, Jason, R........ Smith. Smith would be given to all of my cousins that are in my generation so that when we are introduced to people, they automatically know what generation of the family we are in because I have the name Smith and my kids and my brothers kids would have Johnson and all of their cousins would have Johnson as well because it's a entirely new generation of the family. Because my signature reads: Jason Daniels, they always think that Jason is my surname or last name and Daniels is my first name.....so I am often referred to as Daniels but that doesn't bother me.

So in closing, the next time I see those of you reading this, remember to cut me some slack if you hear me say: Canlaaahhhh or Cannot or perhaps I am hungrylaaahhhhh! Oh, and don't be offended if I call you auntie or uncle, it just means that you are older me and that I respect you!!!

Learning and growing it's happening daily here and I am really starting to enjoy my time. I am going to start planning some trips outside of work to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Bali Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Dubai all places I plan to visit in the coming months and I can fly to on weekends for sometimes under $200 SGD or $140 USD and stay at 5 star hotels for around $50 USD. I will of course be posting pictures and writing about those trips as well so stay tuned. I have a day off this weekend so I will post more pictures of Singapore up on Facebook and here finally for you to see how beautiful Singapore is. I hope you still enjoying reading my blog because I sure love writing it. It's a totally new way of expressing yourself that I was not previously familiar with until now but it's great.

Until next time,

Jason

I have survived........

I have officically been living in Singapore for a month now, it's so crazy because it seems like yesterday I was excited about my first day on the new job, first time overseas, but also sad to leave Chicago. I love my job and feel as though I am settling in well at the office and also with the country.

As stated in a previous blog I said I was going to start taking Chinese lessons.......let me tell you, this has to be the most difficult language to learn in the world. In fact, I think it would be extremely difficult for any westerner to learn as the pronunciation and function of the language is quite unique. First, in english, we have 26-27 letters that we use to pronounce words....each letter has a proper way of pronounciating and can only be written in 3 ways. Well in Chinese (Chinese Mandarin, not Chinese Cantonese) they do not have a alphabet or way of pronouncing words. Their language consists of a what they call "characters" which are basically strokes of the pin and these characters make up the words. There are somewhere between 5-10 thousand characters that make up the written form of the language as a whole and the written form of the language is still evolving to date. For instance, let's use the word car.........we know there is only 3 different ways (to my knowledge) to write this word,we can do it in lower case, upper case, or cursive which are all part of the written form of the english language. Well that same word in Chinese Mandarin can be written upwards of 50 different ways depending on the characters you use and what era of the language you are writing in; remember the language is still evolving so the written form has changed over time. A friend of mine writes the language completly different from her mother and vice versa..........but because her mother understands most of the characters used in this new form of the language, she can for the most part read the new language. The characters can also be a "sketched out" form of the word meaning the word turtle in one form of the written language actually looks like a line drawing of a turtle because of the characters that are used; the characters used for the word water are actually wave like to signify water. I hope you can follow that....it's a pretty difficult concept to grasp and even more difficult to explain over a blog.

The language also reads from from right to left and in columns rather than across the entire page like we do in the states. However, as the language continues to evolve, many of the younger generation Chinese are reading left to right and across the page like we do in western society. If you hear the language everyday you begin to pick up certain words and perhaps can have an idea of what people are talking about......all signage is in both english and chinese and people for the most part speak both, but often people speak Chinese Mandarin in leisure converstions, so it sometimes feels as though I hear more Chinese daily that English......unless I am having lunch with the American club at work (that's what they call the 3 of us). On that note, there is an American club here where other American expats get together hang out etc..probably something I will do when I have more time for sure.

Now regarding the food......I can't say I am totally adjusting toowell to this. There is a place next door to our office that I get lunch at everyday. It's a hawker center so it's basically chinese and indian fast food tightly packed into a covered outdoor area on the ground level of an old high rise building. The business are all family owned, the grandparents do the cooking, sons and daughters whom speak english serve the guests and and grandchildren helpout whereever they can. By US standards, I think most would consider this place just above a "dive/hole in the wall" but the food is quite good and it has a B rating. In Singapore, restaurants are rated on the their cleanliness and given a grade of A-D and they must display their cleanliness grade on their signage for guests to see.

For the most part, I pretty much get chicken fried rice everyday for lunch.....when I am feeling adventrous, I will get shrimp or as they call it here, prawn fried rice. I can now just walk up to the counter and when they see me they yell my order to their grandmother in Chinese. Today the grandmother saw me and said" You no get chicken fried rice, get something else"....I of course declined but in the future do plan to try other things. I have a friend in Chicago who is an amazing chef and he would probably be pretty disappointed with my food selections thus far, but I do plan to be more adventurous in the future.

This region loves spicy food, they put chili sauce and jalopenos on everything here. In fact, the restaurant next door always puts them all over my rice and you can imagine my disappointment to see a third of my food covered in this sauce and jalopenos, if you don't know this about me, I HATE spicy foods........a friend of mine in Chicago used to make fun of me and say that tomatoes made my eyes water, so you can imagine my frustration the first time I bit into that chili sauce covered rice. Chili sauce is also put on french frieds, all soap/liquid chinese dishes from what I can see, all meats etc. Because I am such a picky eater as they learned at work, I have been advised by many to bring along protein and power bars with me when I go to China for business as they are quite adventurous with their foods and when they are entertaining us westerners, they want us to try everything........I have been told they will try and feed me: pig tongue, goose feet, dog (but not the domestic kind), pig ears and many other strange foods to us westerners but delicacees in their culture.......oh and shark fin soap, so it looks like I will be packing a lunch for my first trip to China. But I am told they are sensitive to western taste buds and have began to ask us in advance if there is anything we won't eat, so I guess in my case that's everything but chicken fried rice.

The Chinese way of dining is also quite different from ours.......they do not like eating in open restaurants like we eat at in the states. Most restaurants are all private dining rooms and some have individual kitchens and bathrooms so that you don't mix with other guests. In fact, it's almost considered low class to eat out in the open in traditional chinese restaurants. You also only eat at round dining tables..........in the center of the table there is a lazy susan that spins around and will hold all of the food. People order a number of entrees and you just spin the lazy susan around and everyone shares, from my understanding no one orders their own entree. I am learning alot about these cultural differences because alot of the hotels I am working on, have a high end chinese restaurant in them; so in order to properly design a high end chinese restaurant, I am forced to learn how they traditionally dine, very different from us.

Not sure it made news in the US but there was a big earthquake that hit Indonesia, the island of Sumatra actually which is about 600km or 350 miles or so away, but it was an 8.0 shallow earthquake so for those of you that grew up on the west coast or have knowledge of earthquakes, you know that was strong, it was so strong, that most buildings here in Singapore were forced to evacuate because it shook us pretty good here as well. I am not sure if buildings here are built to withstand earthquakes but we had someone out this week assessing the damage.......it shook our office really good, you should have seen the people running for the door and grabbing their belongings.

From the last installment of my blog, I told you that I received confirmation that there are active camera in my apartment and my landlord offered to let me watch the footage if I wanted to see who has been stealing my water. I of course declined, but was told that I got in the shower the night of the incident at 1153pm and the culprit stole my water at approx. 1155pm...kind of creepy that someone can tell you what you did that precise huh? I also got an email about new house rules and some of them are as follows: No alcohol, bacon or any pork products on the premises, we can only have food in the fridge for 5 days at a time, we are no longer allowed to cook on the stove, only the microwave now, no guests can enter the premises they must wait outside for us, we must keep our room and bathroom doors closed at all times so we don't let the energy/chi of the house flow out (some feng shui thing), we must walk around decently clothed since both sexes are in the house, and we can only use the dining table......to dine, nothing else, no cpus, no paperwork nothing and we cannot wear shoes in the house and can only leave a maximum of 2 pairs in the shoe rack and all others must be kept in our room. My mother didn't even has rules this strict............but I must say, it's kind of how I run my house so in a strange way, I kind of respect the fact that she has these rules.......I suppose the only thing I personally would have done differently, is I would not have sent out an email to everyone, I would have handed the house rules to everyone on day one on a laminated card so they can have them in their wallet or purse at all times to serve as a reminder!!!!

Ok, I will save the remainder of my stories for my next installment. I hope you all are enjoying reading about my experiences over here, I sometimes have so much in my head I can't type fast enough and I don't want to have a entry that takes an hour to read either. On another note, I plan to get another hair this weekend so I will get to see my "Asian Brotha" again this weekend.
I will also post pictures on my blog this weekend, I have posted them on my facebook page but I will take and post more this weekend.

Until next time,

Jason

Coming up on my one month anniversary

I know it's been a few days since my last entry, I have been working long hours at the office and it's going to continue to be this way in the coming weeks. I can't believe that it's now the start of my fourth week here in Singapore. It seems like just yesterday I was interviewing for the job and talking to close friends and family about what to do about the situation if I am offered the job. I was so nervous for the interview and it wasn't because of the job, it was because I was now interviewing for a job overseas and I didn't know what I would do if I was offered the position. Well, I am now here and enjoying my time at work and getting to know another culture.

I have had a few homesick moments over the last few weeks. I really miss my condo in Chicago, my furniture, my bed and just being surrounded by my stuff. I never realized how attached you could get to a house or just stuff in general. I even had a day at work when I came across a picture of Chicago and my neighborhood and it was quite emotional for me. As I have said in previous installments of my blog, it gets easier day by day to live here, but that doesn't mean it's without it's challenges.

From previous installments, you know that I have 4 room mates all from different counties; Pakistan, Switzerland, and Mexico. The landlord who is in her 40 lives here and the other girls are in their early 20's. Recently, I have been having problems with someone taking my bottled water, I casually mentioned this to the landlord and one of the other roommates the other night and the landlord says: don't worry, that is what the cameras in the house are for, we can go and watch the footage and see who is stealing your water. "Cameras" I ask to confirm what I had already suspected, "Yes, I installed them to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen, we can go and watch the footage if you want" she says. I am uncomfortable with this idea so I decline her offer, however I am now even more uncomfortable because it's now confirmed that we have active cameras in our house and the landlord watches the footage. Creepy right???

I am now not sure how long I am going to live here after my lease as this is too uncomfortable for me. I am not sure if there are cameras in my room, but I do know there is what looks like a motion detector on the ceiling next to my bed...............but could be a camera, who knows. Eitherway, it freaks me out because this is my home and not a reality TV show.

I recently attempted to go the grocery store as I was tired of eating local foods and wanted to have some of the typical foods I would cook at home. I decided to shop here because the store is located in the mall across the street from my house and I noticed when I walked in the store they actually take credit cards; remember Singapore is pretty much an all cash society and most places do not accept cards; in fact they think that Americans are weird because we will use our debit cards to purchase small things like coffee at starbucks or a $5.00 lunch, the Americans in our office go back and forth all the time with the locals about this issue. The locals, would rather carry hundreds if not thousands of dollars on them daily to purchase their goods.

I started with getting some chicken; well here Chicken does not come in nicely cut and packaged breast tenders. Here, you buy the whole chicken and it includes the head. You can however ask the on site butcher to cut the head off for you at an additional charge............needless to say I don't think I will be purchasing any chicken while I am here. I wouldn't even know how to cook an entire chicken and for those of you that know my eating habits, you know that I do not eat any meat off of the bone, so this chicken will not work for me. The store I went to is called Fair Price and it's much like an American style Grocery store. This store has wide aisles and is fairly organized in it's layout......however I am not sure that I would say the place lives up to it's name. I felt the prices were quite expensive and it's far cheaper for me to eat local foods daily. Yogurt (spelled yoghurt here) is about $1.5o each all the way up to $3.00 each, and frozen/packaged foods here are very expensive. Grapes for a small container were $8.50. It seems quite strange to me that fresh foods instead of packaged foods are cheaper but they really are here. Also, fish and other seafoods such as shrimp are sold with the head here. This grocery store also has local sales reps that stand in the aisles and attempt to sell you their product as you shop much like a street vendor and they become quite aggressive when they see you looking at competitors brands.

I continue to shop and observe the prices as well as the products in the store; there are lots of American brands here, in fact if you are willing to pay the price, you can pretty much eat the same things you ate in the states...but they will be different brands and double if not triple the price you paid in the states. I was looking for a mutlivitamin and noticed they carried a price tag of $107.50...........for a typically bottle that we would pay $20-30 dollars for in the states.

I finally complete my shopping trip and arrive at the counter; the clerk rings up my groceries and says that will be $50.00 (not sure what the exact amount was) I pull out my card to pay and she says to me: "I am sorry sir but we do not take that Visa". Confused by this I seek clarification: "But it's a Visa and this sign right here says you accept Visa Cards. "But Sir, we only accept the Visa cards that are pictured below". I of course don't understand and look at the sign and notice that there are photos of 3 different types of Visa cards and I learned that they only accept Visa cards on them that have that particular picture on them and that are from certain banks. So I am forced to pay cash and of course I have no cash on me and there isn't a single ATM in the entire mall........so I was forced to enjoy yet another night of Pizza Hut.

Culturally, one of the things that I have recently noticed is that people rather they be friends, married or lovers, they always walk down the street engaging each other. Here, women walk hand and hand with one another and men do the same. As a sign of love and respect, people also hold hands with their mothers and fathers as they shop and walk down the streets at local markets. I began to questions this with some of the locals................"Because I love my mom and dad, that is why I hold her hand when we shop and walk together" they replied. Well I love my mom and dad too, but I have no desire to hold their hands. This is the same with friends too, it's a sign of love and friendship to walk hand and hand here......men hold hands, women hold hands without any sexual attraction or undertone, it's simply a sign of love and respect here. Coming from Western society, I still don't get it, I mean why do they have to hold hands with each other to show their love......aren't there other ways of showing you love a friend and your mom and dad? But this mostly happens in Little India where I live, not sure it happens with Chinese Singaporeans as much.

It's late and I have a very long work week ahead of me, I will begin traveling shortly and be able to write about going to other cultures such as China, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, in fact I plan to take a weekend trip up to Kuala Lumpur next month as it's quite easy to get there from Singapore.

Thanks for reading this installment of my blog, I hope you enjoy and continue to follow me through this journey.

Until next time,

Jason

I can't believe it's my third week here.......

So as I stated in my previous installment, it was F1 weekend and the city is packed with tourist from all over Europe and Asia to watch some amazing driving and fast cars............and Beyonce!! I didn't however get to make it as it was packed and the concert went on all thru the night, oh yeah there were other performers to such as No Doubt, Black Eyed Peas and for some reason Lindsey Lohan was here hosting the event, I thought that was random but I guess she has to take whatever she can get at this stage of her career.

So Saturday morning I get up and decide I need to get a haircut since my last haircut was prior to my departure from Chicago. I get online and start calling places to ask about specifics......since my hair is so short, its required to cut my hair with clippers and not just scissors to be effective, but that is with most guys in reality. I come across a place called "Clippers" and assumed they must be able to use them since it's their name and call to make an appointment. I never realized how attached you are to the person that cuts your hair and it can be stressful finding a new person because you really develop a relationship with your stylist or barber over the years.

So I arrive at the salon and was pleasantly surprised at how nice and quant the place was. It had a very masculine/industrial feel with a gothic undertone; the floors were a charcoal gray concrete and the walls had a dark black wall covering on them with a slight pattern. The mirrors at each station were a guilded gold with a very ornate frame. As I enter, I am greated by who is apparently the lead stylist and what I later find out is the only stylist in the entire place. He was about 5'-4", small frame and had long neatly styled hair as you would expect a salon owner to have. "You Jason" he says; "Yes I replied". "Oh....you good looking, you very good looking" he says to me a few times in his Chinese accent and fairly good English. I am taken back by this lack of introduction for a first time customer. Uncomfortable at this point as he and a few of the other patrons continue to compliment me, I decide to difuse the situation, I thank him for his compliments and extend my hand out for a proper introduction. Instead of the typical handshake, he decides to well.........I guess, go "Gangster" on me and attempted to do this very strange street like handshake and embrace me with a hug. "Brother, you good looking, I hook you up, sit here" he says to me.

I quickly decided that I am going to continue on with this appointment as this could be one of the funniest experiences of my life. It's amazing because it's like people watch Hollywood movies and see Americans on tv and they think that this is how we all are and what we all do. You see Paris Hilton shopping and spending tons of money on tv and they believe that this is what we as American's do as well.

So, the story continues; his assistant shampoos me and brings me some tea to enjoy while I wait for the lead stylist to begin my cut. "Bro, I be over shortly, here are some American magazines for you to read Bro". I must have been address as Bro or Brother 50+ times during my 1.5 hours there. He begins the cut and we begin to engage in normal dialogue. However he never cut my hair for more than 10 minutes. He would spend time with me, and then walk over and spend 10 minutes with another customer and he did this the entire duration of my cut.
"Have you ever cut anyone's hair that is as curly as mine"? I ask and sip some of the tea I was provided. "Oh Bro, you hair fine, it's normal...........I once cut a negro's hair before". I practically choked on my tea as I knew what he said, but thought I might be hearing things; "I'm sorry, I missed that last statement" I politely say to him, he proceeds to repeat himself and I very nicely correct him.

After the cut, I proceed to exit, thank him and this time he extends his hand. I accept the hand shake and again, he goes "gangster" on me and attempts to do a street like handshake where the web of our thumbs meet and he reaches in for a what I would call a "half or man hug" it was just ackward all around. And let me say, I have more street cred than this guy and I have no street cred!!

So a few things have occured to me about this situation first, race doesn't mean anything here, in fact I would venture to say it's a very American issue. Here, you are either American or African and it's almost like they don't correlate the 2......I mean, how can one be both? At first glance, I don't look "African" meaning I have light skin and I speak proper English with a western accent, so what can I possibly be in their eyes? I have realized that they just don't address race or anything with me on that topic, infact a girl at the office made a comment about someone being Western and White again. I ask her"where do I fit in because I am western and obviously not white"? Her reply was" I don't know where you fit in actually, what do they call you"?

Today, someone at work finally worked up the courage to ask me "what race I am". Just as an FYI, I have been asked a few times if I am from Africa by locals here and called Obama. So my colleeauge whom I sit next to says: "Would you be considered African American"? I reply with a slight laugh, and answer yes. "But you don't have dark skin........you have light skin like Obama and he is mixed" I politely just explain to him that black people come in all different colors just like other races including whites.

Let me preface this by saying everyone in Singapore is not like this, I just happen to run into the ones that are.

But, it's interesting how people can see things on movies and on television about other cultures and it's like they believe that this is how they all are. I began to wonder if we do that as Americans? Do we watch Bollywood movies or Asian cinema and believe that they have accuratly portrayed the culture and the people of that region or country? I can honestly say that I will certainly be more sensitive to this issue since I have now encounted people that do this with our culture. I mean really, the guy that cut my hair clearly saw a movie with black people in it and tried to act like he did when I came in.....or he saw a Hollywood movie where black or white people were speaking and acting like he did and figured that this was the American way. Although I think the story is quite funny, it was also a learning lesson for me and at the end of the day he did a good job and I will return to see my........ Asian brother!!

If I haven't said it before, Singapore is a great country and I would highly recommend coming here to visit as it's a great introduction to Asian culture.......which is so very different than American culture.

Thanks for reading my blog, please remember to signup as a follower and remember you can write comments and leave questions for me at the bottom of the page. I have more stories, but want to save them for future blogs.

Until next time,

Jason

Life Continues in Singapore.........

Well this weekend in Singapore it's what they call F1 weekend. Basically, it's the European/Asian version of American Nascar racing, but it's so BIG here. There are lots of American artists coming to perform during the race such as Beyonce, No Doubt, Black Eyed Peas and so many more and they perform all night while the race is going on. You have to have tickets to attend the event obviouisly, but it's televised everywhere and I am going to certainly try and get as close as possible. What's crazy about this is, it doesn't take place in a stadium for racing like it does in the US, here they have actually closed off part of the city....well country rather and they race on the streets that we drive on daily, it's actually pretty cool. Bleacher seats are set up, additional night lights add an extra glow to our night skyline and light the track for night racing. Although I am not a huge Nascar fan or as we say in Singapore F1, I did grow up watching this with my dad so I am quite familiar with it and plan to go just to get the experience.......well and who am I kidding, I want to try and catch a glimpse of Beyonce!

So one of things my close friends and family ask me is they want to know how I am truly doing here. There really is so much going on and I am learning so much about myself during this time as well. It's a challenge, and I am exposed to people from so many different backgrounds and other things I wouldn't get in the US. I am also challenging myself in so many ways, I never thought I could go 2 weeks without television. Of course I miss American television and I think I have found a way to watch my shows via the net, but never in my wildest dreams could I imagine life without television. The strange thing about it all is I am actually ok with it. It's unique how simple life is here for everyone, people including myself just go to work, eat and sleep and every now and then have a night on the town. However, I would say that Singapore is more of a tourist destination and that the local night life here isn't so big.

Before I left the states, I tried to speak with as many people as possible whom have either lived in other countries for a period of time, or left their home country to move to the states. I wanted to try and get as much information as possible to try and prepare myself for this experience. As I have encountered many students both in the US and here that leave their home country and study abroad. I feel as though that's more of a luxury in the states to go and study abroad and it's usually for about a semester or 2 but never to complete your degree like they do in other countries. Obviously this is because we have so many good schools and options in the states compared to other countries around the world.

I also love to hear about how others view America, it's actually quite fascinated to hear opinions of those that are truly on the outside and only know what they see on tv and never live it everyday as we do. I had the privilege of speaking to the unit owner of my condo the other night and she proceeded to tell me just how dangerous the US was. She says when she visited, she never left her hotel after 6pm because she feared that she would shot because guns are legal in the US and she always heard that people just shot others in the US for no reason, I found this to be strange because I feel very safe. She also had opinions about American's eating too much and our obesity epidemic.

Because I want to take as much as possible from this experience I am constantly asking others about their up bringing and life back home. Here, you almost begin to feel bad at just how good we have it in the states. Let me tell you, some of the worst in our country have it so much better than these folks do and yet they don't even realize that they were living below poverty in other countries. I have met people that were raised in villages where they had never showered before coming to Singapore and in their villages, they washed off with a bucket and water once a week or so. Yet as an American, I sometimes complain when I cannot take a second shower at night before I go to bed. Being exposed to other cultures not as wealthy as your own makes you realize how insignifcant some of your problems are. That same person also takes care of his family back home on his designer salary. Just some random thoughts...

So they are also building a new casino here for additional entertainment. I am told that it is state of the art and will be an amazing facility. It's going to be geared more towards tourist as locals will only be allowed to gamble a maximum of $50.00. The interesting thing is, if you know someone in your family has a gambling problem, you will be able to call the casino and let them know that this person is coming there to gamble and they can prevent them from entering the premises. Foreigners however have no limits and can gamble as much as they want......I just found this to be interesting. Please note that this is not confirmed, just something I heard from a local.

I learned this week that Singaporeans during school were required to learn both Chinese and English almost until HS graduation. I had been wondering why all people at my office who are from Singapore speak Chinese and found out they had to learned both until 11th grade I believe. A big difference from how in the states we take a foreign language for 2 years I think....makes me wish we were required to learn more about foreign language. I am planning to start my Chinese lessons this week so I will let you all know how that goes.

It's also amazing how clean and safe this country is. I have heard so many stories about the cleanliness and at first glance, I thought Chicago is just as clean (for a large American city, I always felt Chicago is kept very clean). But, I realized just how clean everything when I starting using their underground subway system. Here, waiting areas to board the trains are made of shiny granite and marble and the walls are painted a fresh white and have a polished stainless steel as well. The trains have a very fresh new smell to them and have relatively normal looking people on them unlike in Chicago where they reek of urine and you often have to deal with the person yelling at themselves behind you. There is relatively little to no crime in Singapore, here people actually use their purses and wallets as tables holders at restaurants without reserved seating without any fear of theft. In large crowds, people leave their personal belongs in corners without a fear of theft and return to them at the close of the night. I was asked to do the same but found that I couldn't concentrate because I just focused on my bag and made sure that it was always in my sight. I eventually grabbed it and kept it on my shoulder as I still have a US mentality and feared that it would be gone the second I looked away. I was told that a guy stole a necklace at a high end shop here and no one even noticed him or that a expensive necklace was missing. I don't know if they ever caught the man, but it was big news as there was theft here.

As I stated before, it's slowly getting easier and easier to live abroad. Singapore is a very beautiful and clean country that I highly recommend you all visit. It's a great introduction to Asia as they speak English here as well but you definitily get exposed to the Asian culture.

I hope you enjoyed this installment. I will continue to write as long as you are reading. Remember, you can send comments to me at the bottom of the installment and also see what others are saying.

Thanks for following and know that it means a lot to me that you are reading this and care what's going on in my life while I am away.

Until next time


Jason

I am slowly adjusting........

So as I stated in a earlier blog I am slowly adjusting and life is getting easier. During the week, I am so immersed in my work and daily activities that I don't ever have time to think about how much I miss being at home. This past weekend was my first full weekend away and I was really having a home sick moment. It's all the little things that you miss most when you are away I realized. Yes of course I miss my friends and family but I miss my house and the familiarity of things in my house. Now don't get me wrong, I live in a very nice condo here in Singapore, but I can not do things as freely as I would if I were in my own condo in Chicago. Somethings I want to cook something and not be bothered as I just had a long day at work, if it's rainy out on a Saturday sometimes I just want to sit on the couch and watch tv, well we have no living room here.....it's things like that I miss most, just having quality "me time".

Ok, so some other general things I am learning about life and business in Singapore as I said before everyday is a learning experience for me. When I meet people here both in business and in personal time, you always bow most of you know this already but I want to warn you to not be surprised if I bow to you when I actually make it back to the states.

Monday was a national holiday here as we were celebrating Hari Raya which is the muslim new year and end of ramadan I believe. Taking advantage of the day off we decide to go and see a movie, Inglorious Bastards as a matter of fact which is quite weird but also good in a very strange way. We get most of the same movies here that you all have in the states but alittle later depending on the movie. Television is a different story, depending on the show they are either weeks behind or even entire seasons behind where you are in the states. For example, they are just finishing up Top Chef Season 1 here and I was in the middle of watching Top Chef Season 6 when I left Chicago. Desperate Housewives is about 2-3 season behind the US and Project Runway just started it's 6th season here last week, so they are only about 4 weeks behind the US on that show. If you remember from earlier blogs, I only have 1 english speaking channel so all of these shows come on this channel whereas in the US it's several channels.

As stated in a previous blog, Singapore is pretty much an all cash society, in fact countless local and global business do not accept credit or debit cards here. Unlike in the US, all debit cards are not as good as credit cards. In fact here, I believe Singapore debit cards cannot be used for internet purchases because they are considered "point of purchase cards" which I think means you have to be present to make the purchase, but I could be wrong as I just learned this today when I was finally able to open a local bank account. However, for some reason movie theatres prefer their customers to use credit cards so if you plan use a credit card to purchase your movie tickets, you don't have to wait in line and can just cut everyone else waiting. That's regardless of if it's a big movie premiere or not, if you have a credit card, you simply walk to the front and you get first choice of seats. Oh I haven't told you that yet, in Singapore movie theatre seats are all reserved. When you purchase them at the box office, you also select your seats based on availability; so when you are there with friends, you have to make sure that you pay together to ensure that you all get to sit together, I learned this because I tried to buy my own ticket and was told that I would have to sit alone unless I purchased my ticket with my friends. Furthermore, they always keep about 10 prime location seats available in case a seat or something breaks during the movie, which means they never technically sell out a movie. In addition to new movies, there are also older movies in theatres here; for instance you can see the original Terminator or Back to the Future in theatres here. All movies of course are subtitles in both english and chinese as these are the official languages of Singapore.

As a side note, although the theatre likes when you pay with a credit card, the consession stand does not accept any credit cards. Also movies are about $6 USD when you do the conversion so it's a little cheaper here than in the states.

So eating out for me has been an experience and a half, one of the first things my friends here did when I arrived was take me out to a great local restaurant to experience Singapore to it's fullest. Willing and excited to embrace the local culture I decide I want to order local foods to which I found out the local chef was off that day so I had to make another selection (I guess all staff chefs can't cook the entire menu here), so I decide on my old faithful........ chessburger and fries!!! Now I must say, I was warned that restaurants here don't accept special orders and you just accept them as they come off the menu, but I never order anything special I thought to myself so I basically ignored the statement. "I'll have the cheeseburger and fries" I told the waitress, "but I just want it plain with only meat bun and cheese" I got the most puzzling look I think I have ever received in my life to which she replied: "so you just want the bun and cheese?" "No" I say, "meat, but and cheese"....this exchange goes on for about a minute maybe 2 all while my friends continue to laugh and allow me to embarrass myself. Me, not picking up on the not-so-subtle hints that this woman has had it with me I proceed to ask her: "how do you guys cook that here?" "I don't understand, what do you mean how do we cook it?" she replies " Well....what is your minimum, Med rare, med well.........you know?" I say to the waitress to which she replies: "Ummm, we use a grill I don't know what temperature though" At this point, Kristin and Sarah just stop me and tell the waitress to proceed with the order...........I later had a similar incident when I ordered a burger without any chilli on it,but I won't go into the details.

I recently have taken note of the wildlife here in Singapore, there are not alot of pigeons or as I like to call them "flying rats" and no other real wildlife. Here, wild cats and dogs play in the streets like squirrels in the US. They don't seem to be vicious, they are fed and taken care of by shop keepers and I think the gov't has to provide some sort of aid as well, but I am not sure. It seems to me as though cats and dogs as domestic pets is more of a western thing. It seems so normal to have cats sitting on the bus bench with you while you wait, or dogs running around playing and wondering the streets while you eat, I have to assume that there is no animal protection agency that will house these animals like a humane society.

So today I had to apply for my Chinese Visa, you can't just travel in and out of China, you have to apply for a Visa and it has a maximum of 6 months and you must renew after that. We do alot of work in China as that have a booming economy compared to the states. I have 3 projects there so it's looking like probably in the next few months, I will make my first trip out there and several there after. Since Chinese is the second most spoke language in the office, I am exposed to it daily. I get emails, meeting minutes, phone calls (I can't do anything with those) pretty much all forms of correspondence in both english and chinese. I am also learning things about the language. As stated before, there is 2 types of Chinese; Mandarin which I think is the most common and Cantonese. Both are what they call tonal languages; one language has 4 tones while the other has 8 but I am not quite sure which is which. So you can say a word in 1 tone and then in another and it can have a totally different meaning. Sometimes, you may hear Chinese people doing what we perceive as yelling and perhaps even a angry tone may just be excitement. I have heard in meetings the client almost yelling to the top of their lungs and being quite animated to which our translator says: "they love the design guys, it's exactly what they wanted!" It's very hard conducting business and living in a place where you don't fully know the language and culture for that matter.

So, some of you reading have been asking me about how long I plan to stay here. I have a 2 year work visa that expires in Sept. of 2011 at which I can renew, go to another country to work at one of our other offices, or return to the states. At this point I don't know how long I will remain in Singapore I am working on great projects and the company I currently work for is amazing, but it's not easy living in another country, let me tell you although I think Singapore is fantastic. However during this, what I am learning about myself and what I am learning in my career is priceless. My industry conducts business completely different here than in the states and now I will forever have this knowledge.

I think during my next installment I will tell you a bit more about what's going on in my head, the things I learning about myself and how people view Americans, but also how looking from the outside can also change how you view America or at least our way of life, cause I now realize how much I love America.

I know it's a little jumbled, but I have so much to tell, but only a limited amount of time to get this information out.

Until next time,

J

My first weekend in Singapore.......

First of all, I can't believe it's already been a week since I arrived in Singapore, I am told that this time will go fast and it will be a year before I know it but it seems like yesterday I was packing my clothes in my Chicago living room. I realized just how much I miss that living room as where I currently live we don't have one, I just rent a room that has everything in it, but sometimes it's nice to be able to leave your room on a rainy day.

Well on Friday after work, my friends decided to take me on the town for a brief yet action packed night. We went to the river walk which happens to be where lots of Western expats hang out. This area is absolutely beautiful; all of the dining and bars are along the river that has a great view of all of Singapore. It's also next to the downtown banking district so the lights and building reflections glisten off the night river. This area was actually quite European in feel, there were narrow walkways and a variety of restaurants, bars, pubs, and clubs line the walkway while on the other side is the river dining experience. The interesting thing about this place was, for a second I actually forgot I was in SE Asia. There were only Americans and Europeans at these locations. I turned to Sarah (one of my colleagues) and said: "This place is amazing but I noticed that there are only white people here" (which means westerners here although I am a westerner and not white but anyways). I say this to her just as the bartender hands her a beer and says that will be $15 SGD; naive in my knowledge of the local costs of things I say to her: "Oh, is that for both you and Kristin's beer?" To which she replies:"NO, this is just for my beer and Kristin will have to pay $15 for her beer as well". Yes that's right, for all you drinkers reading this blog you will either become me and not drink or be dirt poor from drinking......but I am certain there would be no drunkenness as that would cost $100's of dollars for some of you!!! :) You'll be happy to know that beer is cheaper during happy hour and you can get them for about $12 SGD

Saturday was a rainy day here but because it was a little chilly (about 70-75 degrees) I decided I was going to go out and wonder around since it's not sweltering hot today. But first, I realized that the new mall just opened up across the street from my house, so why not take a look around, maybe even have lunch. I walk around a bit and decide that since I ate local all week, why not treat myself to some western foods. So I ended up at Pizza Hut......I know, who comes to SE Asia to eat Pizza Hut but cut my slack, I ate rice, vegetables and chicken all week.

Now, this wasn't the American Pizza Hut which is what attracted me to the place. I knew there was something a bit more and wanted to find out. I began to look around and soak in my environment and begin noticing the food that is being served. I am hardly seeing any pizza, I am seeing beautifully presented crab and shrimp sea food pastas and rice dishes served on contemporary, square stark white plates that slightly curve up on the edges (I really liked the design of the plates) as you can imagine, the sea food too is quite fresh here. They were also serving the most amazing looking cakes and desserts and it was here when I realized that I am not in your average Pizza Hut. The way the food was designed and presented I feel could rival any 3-4 star restaurant.......and I know a thing about this stuff because I watch Top Chef!!

The menu was quite extensive, I am not the most adventurous person with regards to food but everything looked incredible, I found myself overwhelmed with what to order. In the states, I would have noticed that it took someone 10 minutes to actually come to my table and take my order but I was just an awe at what was being served. I also noticed that the portions are much smaller here. In the states, what we consider to be a medium pizza is definitely a large and will feed the whole family here. I was warned that portions pretty much everywhere outside of the US are much smaller and so far this certainly holds true. So, after I see all of this amazing food, you are probably wondering what I ordered right? Well I am not going to tell you until the end of this blog, so you have to continue reading.

The whole point of my venturing out today was really to get a cell phone and laundry detergent but I ended up doing so much more. First, I have decided that I want an iPhone since they seem great and everyone swears by them. As a side note, I do have a cell phone that I got from 7-11 but it's so low tech, that I find it very user unfriendly!! So I go to the store yet again to attempt to get this phone to which I am told: You will have to get on the waiting list and we do not know when you will get it because the list is long". I of course question this because who gets on a waiting list for a cell phone. "Well can I just go to the Apple store and buy an iPhone and then you hook it up?" I ask. To which he replied: "No, we have exclusive rights to the iPhone and not even Apple can sell them without going through us". I confirmed this and it's true and I would have to wait for about 6 months before I got my phone.....so I realized yesterday that I will not be getting an iPhone. By the way, they are so popular here because I was told they are just now making their way to Asia although they have been out in the states for years it seems like, so everyone here wants one now because they have been reading about us having them in states forever now! After all that, no cell phone for me until Tuesday when I get my official work pass/visa.

So now onto getting laundry detergent. I go to Mustafa Center which is where everyone told me to go for all my needs while in Singapore, I have also been told that it's quite overwhelming but thought how overwhelming can a store be? Let me tell you about Mustafa Center, it takes up almost an entire city block much like the Merchandise Mart in Chicago but remember that blocks are much smaller here than in Chicago, it's a traditional Indian store and it's in the heart of Little India. This place has everything you can imagine, in fact picture every possible store you can in the US both stores in malls and independently owned stores, now put them all under one roof with no store walls or barriers like we have in the US and you have Mustafa's. This place has clothing, both mid-higher end clothing (but ethnic not high end fashion designers that we are used to in the US) to low end clothes. You can get electronics, grocery shop, hardware store items, jewelry anything you can imagine. You may be thinking it sounds like a Walmart or Target but trust me, those stores combined having nothing on Mustafa Center.

I start out getting hygiene items such as lotion, toothpaste etc. and as I walk the aisles you realize that they have the same American brands we use everyday. At this point, I am in what I called the Walgreens section of the structure. Whatever you could get at Walgreens, you could get in this section of the building, except for laundry detergent. "Where can I get laundry detergent?" I ask, go upstairs to the 4th floor I am told by the clerk. So I walk upstairs to which I am in what I will call the Target section of the building. Remember, I am identifying these areas based what store they would be in the US, but there was literally no division amongst these sections. Anyhow, I am in the target clothing and toy section looking for laundry detergent; the aisles in this place are extremely narrow and the shelves are over stuffed with merchandise, so it felt very claustrophobic. This place is like a labyrinth, there are no windows or clocks much like a vegas casino so you have no concept of time of day. People sit around and socialize block stairways, and aisles and have little to no consideration of other shoppers, kids are playing in overstuffed and narrow aisles and all I want is laundry detergent.

45 minutes and 3 buildings later, I arrive to the grocery store section of the structure where I am told I can find laundry detergent. The aisle ways are even more narrow here. I would venture to say that if 2 grown men stood shoulder to shoulder they could completely block the aisle and these shelves are even more overstuffed than other sections of place, these aisles are probably less than half the size of traditional American grocery store aisles . This place is packed, people are literally shoulder to shoulder walking on top of each other while shopping. Again, wives stop in narrow aisles and children run around and play, scream and shout while others try to shop, because it's so packed, it's much like a traffic jam in a car so you are stuck waiting there for them to finish their conversation.....and you only hope that others in front of you don't join in. No one says excuse me and eventually just push their way through the crowd, this is ultimately what I need to do if I wanted to get out alive.

To reference one of my earlier blogs, there was no frozen foods section in this grocery store, only fresh foods sold here! Nothing like the US huh?

I eventually make it out alive but it took me another 20 minutes to find an exit. In the states, we have occupancy loads and exit requirements and I would have to say that this is non existent in this place. I have never been so excited to see daylight as I was there for almost an hour and half and I went there for laundry detergent. I found myself quite overwhelmed and thought I was in a dream as I was walking through the grocery store. I mean, don't people want personal space or have consideration for others? The overstuffed crowd and narrow walkways seems quite normal to these people and I felt as if I was the only one taking notice to the fact that this wasn't normal......but then I realized it is normal to these people and again, I am the weird one. It would seem to me as though personal space is almost non existent in this place, not Singapore though just in Little India. After my very exhausting trip to the grocery store, I laid in bed the rest of the day.

So you are probably wondering what I ate at Pizza Hut right? Well I had the Pepperoni Pizza! I know disappointing, but I needed something from home as it was a rainy Sat. afternoon and I was having a homesick moment, it made me feel better!!!

Tomorrow is Monday and it's a Nat'l holiday in Singapore, we are celebrating Hari Raya which is the Muslim New Year and the end of Ramadan. I will be going out and taking pictures to again tell you about my experiences. Hope you enjoyed this installment of my blog, please keep reading and remember to sign up as a follower, but most importantly just keep reading. Please also remember that you can write comments at the bottom of my blog and see what others are saying and ask me questions there.

Until next time,

J

I said in previous installments that I was going to talk about some of my food adventures.......so here goes. For those reading this that know me really well, you know that I am a very picky eater; in fact when I told people that I was going to be moving to Singapore the first 2 questions I got were: "What are you going to eat there?" and "Do they have bowling alleys?" Well, I haven't been too adventurous yet with my food but I am trying a variety of rice dishes.

So, remember the food is very fresh here, in fact I had to explain to some of my co-workers what packaged food was. It was like they didn't understand that food even came in a package wrapped particularly meats......oh and they think Campbells Soup is the most disgusting thing ever. I mean, who eats a soup that comes in a can and lasts for years, in their eyes it's quite bizarre. So they took me to this hawker station where I ordered chicken and rice, can't go wrong there right? Well, I thought they were going to go in the back, cook my chicken and then bring it out to me. NO, he took the chicken on the routisserre cooking out of the window...that still had it's head attached and started chopping it up for my dish. Confused I politely said: " Excuse me, is that my dish?"...in a very chinese accent he replied "You had the chicken and rice, yes this yours". I had to explain to my friend that I had never seen a chicken cooked with a head still attached. Seriously, that chicken could have been alive only hours ago and now I was eating it, what a weird feeling it was. That being said, it was good. I explained the concept of packaged chicken and again it was an uphill battle. Coming from Indonesia as they do, everything is fresh like it is here, so no frozen or packaged foods, I had to explain to the what a frozen pizza was and how much I love it, but at 15 each, that will be a treat I have on special occasions. She had the fish eyes and something else crazy, I don't think I need to tell you all what the answer was when she offered me some.

When I was explaining what frozen pizza was, I told them that I sometimes have an addiction to grease. "What is grease they asked?" Now, how do you explain to someone what grease is, I am taking suggestions but still not sure how to answer that one. She says in broken yet clear english: "Grease, oh I know, John Travolta?" I am completely speechless at this point. Although it was funny, I also found this quite interesting how people from other countries correlate/remember certain things in American society. I am American and I have never seen Grease, yet here you have this woman from a small island in Indonesia who knows who John Travolta is, it's quite fascinating to me how others view our culture. We also had a talk about bringing in food that embodies our country of origin. What can someone bring that embodies Americana the office American's ponder; to which a local yelled out: "Subway", we love Subway? The Americans immediately bust out in laughter as we all know that subway doesn't embody Americana, to which her very serious reply was: "maybe Quizno's"?

We know from previous installments of my blog that Singapore is a small island just off Malaysia and Indonesia. It's about 25 miles or so border to border in each direction (this is an estimate I got from a local). Because of it's proximity, you can easily get to other countries such as China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bali etc in under 2 hours with flights as low as $50 SGD round trip. We have budget airlines here which I believe would be an equivalent to Southwest in the states. Most of the neighboring asian countries have their own budget airline that comes through Singapore so their is a separate terminal for these airlines. Because you have access to some of the world's most amazing beaches for a relatively low price, it's imperative that you book your travel around 6 months or so in advance. In fact, this weekend is the celebration of Muslim new year and the city is adorned in beautiful lavish decorations. We have giant archways hovering over our streets covered in lights and other traditional indian patterns and motifs; it lights up the steets for miles and as you are driving down the road you are just wrapped in a sea of gorgeous colorful lights, jewels and people celebrating.

As a side note, we do not celebrate American holidays here; we celebrate Chinese and Indian holidays so as I write this at 3am on Saturday morning, I have a 3 day weekend as Monday we are off in celebration of the new year. Although Singapore is a litter free country which I love and it keep the country beautiful, because of the holiday they are allowed to set up chicken cage wire on the streets and burn trash or whatever. I am told that during this time, most Muslims have been fasting for quite sometime now and they must make a sacrifice at these depositories I will call them. So right now you will walk the streets and smell the stench of burning paper. I plan to go and take pictures as I not sure when I would ever get this opportunity again in my life.

Because we work so much in China and so many of the other asian dialects take inspiration from them, I am planning to begin taking Mandarin lessons very soon as I am already starting to pick up certain things since I am exposed to it daily. I am getting emails, drawings and sometimes phone calls in Mandarin so I should probably start to know some basics. Remember, there is not just a Chinese language, there is Mandarin and Cantonese which are both languages spoke in China. So I may learn some basic Mandarin, but still can go to a parts of China where I cannot communicate with the locals as the languages are that different. I will tell you a bit more about the language in later installments. Singaporeans have something they call "Singlish" here where it's a combination of their language and english and they add "lah" to the end of words. For instance, they will say: " Canlah"? which means can you do this? or "Sure not?" "which means are you sure?" I went to a industry party last night and the lady wanted me to sit in the sofa and try it out...she kept saying: "try it on, try it on!" I of course am wondering what and why is she asking me to try something on, but it eventually made sense. These types of phrases get lost in communication in many languages though. The British say things that Americans don't understand and vice versa I am sure and we too speak the same language.

One of the great things about our office is they are very caring and helpful especially to those of us that have relocated from other countries. They are always asking how I am adjusting to the culture and talking to me about ways of assimilating properly. It's interesting to be in American living abroad and see things going on in your home country on the news, it's almost like you don't believe it's really happening. It's surprisingly easy to disconnect as I have been so immersed in my work and getting settled that I have watched tv for only about an hour this entire week....yes I know strange for me right because I love television? I am so out of touch with health care reform debate, the economy, jobs reports etc. One of the things a friend back home said before I left is that I may come home to a different country in a few years and that thought alone is pretty concerning, yet could be very true. The news here briefly touched on a march/protest to WA earlier this week and I watched the clip which had little information available but it was almost quite emotional for me. It was weird for me to see things taking place in my home country and I am not there, it was almost like for the first time in my life I was able to see it from an outside perspective. I have been wondering/told that I will go through a reverse culture shock when I eventually return to the US because I will have been so used to the Asian way of doing things. It's like in this one whole week, so much about me and my life has changed and it's quite refreshing because I feel like I am growing so much as a person daily. I have not had a single night that when I lay down for bed, I hadn't learned at least one new thing that day; for me that alone makes whatever trials I may encounter during this journey worth it until the end.

Again remember, I write these blogs usually after midnight in this case, it's 330am when I am going to post this. Don't judge me based on my grammer and spelling errors as I am noticing errors when I go back and read previous blogs during normal hours. Either way I am enjoying writing these entries, I am enjoying the feedback and comments I am getting as well so please keep them coming. Pictures will be up this weekend both on facebook and here. Become a follower!!!

Until next time,

J