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
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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
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
Sunday, September 20, 2009
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
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
Friday, September 18, 2009
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
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
Thursday, September 17, 2009
The start of my new life here.....
I call this blog My life as an American expat and use the term expat quite often, so for those not sure what that is, let me explain. The term expat is short for expatriate which means a person who temporarily or permanently resides in a country that is not of their legal residence or natural origin, just an FYI.
It's very exciting to get back to work after several months off. It's interesting talking to people here because they are so unphased by the economy in the states, they have no idea how depressing it is and how many people are out of work. Well I have started my new job and I am about 3 days into work now.............let me tell you bit about my office.
We have about 100 designers or so which is quite large for a design firm. There are about 15 different nationalities represented and around 10 languages spoke in our office. In fact, my emails and drawings must be translated to Chinese before they are issued to clients so I have to allow for that translation time in my scheduling. Although english is the official language of the country, most speak their native tongue in the office as there are so many others from their home countries that work there as well. Culturally, I now understand why people whom immigrat to the US pretty much stay with others in their culture and often don't assimilate, but I plan to assimilate as much as possible without losing my American heritage (more on this a bit later), I will say there is a bond between the other Americans here and we typically have lunch together. Some differences about office function and business etiquette first, in Singapore lunch is a set hour from 1230-1330 or (130)we use a 24 hour clock system to tell time (or as I would call it in the states military time), I am still not completely used to this but I am getting there. You cannot take your lunch earlier nor later, the only way it can change from those is if you are in a meeting or with a client and it runs into that time slot, then you can extend your lunch but you can never take it early. They are quite strict with sick days, unlike in the US you cannot simply call in the morning and your company takes your word for it; here you must go to the doctor and get a doctors note, just like in grade school. There are no doctor appointments here, you just walk into a hospital when you are sick and see one then. We work very long hours here, I would say that I average about 10.5-11 hour days for now and I don't even have my full work load yet, so it will be upwards of 13 when that happens. You also must sign in and out when ever you leave the office so that they know where you are at all times. When you meet clients or potential business associates, you hand out and accept name cards (business cards) with both hands and present it to the receiver. It's very rude to hand someone or accept a name card with one hand, they often will not release the card until you put both hands on it.
I walk to work daily and it's about 15 minutes or so, I am not sure if there is a bus that goes to my office but the walk is easy. Well, it's easy minus the sweltering heat and humidity! The first day, I walked to work fully dressed in my business attire not considering the morning heat, needless to say on my first day of work I walked into the office to meet everyone and I looked like I had been on the treadmill for at least an hour running at a fairly high speed...........I am certain some people were pretty grossed out by my sweatiness........I acutally grossed myself out. I have since gotten smarter and now I just get dressed at work so that my clothes aren't sweaty all day. I also walk to work now with a towel so that I can wipe myself down during the walk and when I get to the office, you are literally soaked when you get there. The second day when people saw me walk in all sweaty they immediately started speaking in their native language to each other......I wonder if they were saying there goes the new sweaty american again??? I am told that after a few months your blood begins to thin out and you get used to the heat. It's like this all year around as we have no seasons here in Singapore. Your winter in the US is our monsoon season so that just means we get some rain for like a week or so I am told. I am also told that Singapore is the place on earth where you are most likely to get struck by lighting.......the lighting storms are pretty intense here too so take cover the second you hear thunder!!
A quick note on the time difference, Singapore is 12 hours ahead of EST (NY), 13 hours ahead of CST (Chicago) and 15 hours ahead of PST (Seattle).
You know, today I had an epiphany......there is a cliche that we always use: "If the shoe were on the other foot" and it hit me just how applicatable this cliche is in relationship to my life right now, let me explain. When we encounter other cultures in the states, we often hear how they live, where they eat, where they shop etc.....and we think it's weird, it's like we don't understand because we are so used to how people do things in our own culture, yet we are unphased because we are home country. I realized that now the shoe is on the other foot and when I tell people how I lived in the US and things we do there, they think I am weird and don't understand. I was talking to colleagues from Indonesia and we saw some pictures of Chicago in a magazine and it happened to be my neighborhood and the building next door, so they began asking me about life in the US. I told them I lived alone in Chicago and my family is in Seattle to which they immediately asked who takes care of me? Of course I replied I take care of myself but now I am intrigued by this question. Well who cooks for you and cleans for you they ask? I cook for myself and clean my own house I of course replied. This forced those around me to stop working and quiz me on why I live alone and how do I know how to cook and clean as men in their countries don't do these tasks. In fact, she told me that you never live alone in their culture and often after you are married you still live with your parents.......she says you have too. I of course don't understand this, I mean why do you have to stay with your parents and who tells you have to stay. Can you imagine parents in the US telling their 25+ year old kid they have to stay home until they are married and maybe even after..............I personally would love to see my parents try!
I have to say, I think I underestimated the concept of culture shock. It's not that I doubted that this existed, I just didn't think it was something that I would experience as much as I am. It's quite extreme to be honest and I don't even think I will truly experience it until I start traveling to some of the other asian countries where they do not speak english. You see, they call Singapore beginners Asia because you have access to western foods and other things in our culture and they speak english. I can only imagine what it will be like when I go to rural Vietnam or Thailand and they don't speak english..........it's scary but exciting at the same time. I am told that I will get used to the culture in a few months, I have to say it's getting a bit everyday to live abroad but it's happening slowly.
A few others things that I have recently learned about the local culture.....first, you don't tip in Singapore. It's almost like cab drivers, waiters etc don't understand why you are giving them extra money for their services. When you go to fastfood restaurants or "hawker stations" the local equivalent, you don't take your own trays and throw things away. I actually had people laughing at me last night when I picked up my tray to dump out my trash but I couldn't find the trash can. Someone politely let me know that you are not suppose to do this in these restaurants as it's offsenive. Taxi drivers are paid by the government here so they are paid quite well........probably equal to what some professionals here are getting paid. They also aren't requied to know the city like you are in Chicago and they also can tell you they don't want to take you to certain locations whenever they want or routes that you may want. I got into a cab a few days ago and told her where I wanted to go and she told me to get out because she didn't want to go there, the next cab driver said he would take me near there and drop me off a few blocks away because he didn't feel like driving their either.........but cabs are extremely cheap here in comparision to the US. You also pay for cabs waiting time..........for you big city folks/Chicagoans reading this, imagine being at a mall or convention center and their is a line of cabs waiting to pick up patrons........well their meters are running during that waiting time and when you get in that cab you are responsible for paying for that time, so lots of people will not get cabs at malls or big venues because you must pay for that waiting time.
I hope you all are enjoying reading these, it really helps me deal with things by writing this all out. It's actually quite therapeutic and helping get out my frustrations with the cultural differences. It's one thing to visit another country but moving to one is a whole other animal. Again, I hope you are enjoying reading these and remember to sign up as a follower (I feel like I a selling a service).
Until next time.
J
It's very exciting to get back to work after several months off. It's interesting talking to people here because they are so unphased by the economy in the states, they have no idea how depressing it is and how many people are out of work. Well I have started my new job and I am about 3 days into work now.............let me tell you bit about my office.
We have about 100 designers or so which is quite large for a design firm. There are about 15 different nationalities represented and around 10 languages spoke in our office. In fact, my emails and drawings must be translated to Chinese before they are issued to clients so I have to allow for that translation time in my scheduling. Although english is the official language of the country, most speak their native tongue in the office as there are so many others from their home countries that work there as well. Culturally, I now understand why people whom immigrat to the US pretty much stay with others in their culture and often don't assimilate, but I plan to assimilate as much as possible without losing my American heritage (more on this a bit later), I will say there is a bond between the other Americans here and we typically have lunch together. Some differences about office function and business etiquette first, in Singapore lunch is a set hour from 1230-1330 or (130)we use a 24 hour clock system to tell time (or as I would call it in the states military time), I am still not completely used to this but I am getting there. You cannot take your lunch earlier nor later, the only way it can change from those is if you are in a meeting or with a client and it runs into that time slot, then you can extend your lunch but you can never take it early. They are quite strict with sick days, unlike in the US you cannot simply call in the morning and your company takes your word for it; here you must go to the doctor and get a doctors note, just like in grade school. There are no doctor appointments here, you just walk into a hospital when you are sick and see one then. We work very long hours here, I would say that I average about 10.5-11 hour days for now and I don't even have my full work load yet, so it will be upwards of 13 when that happens. You also must sign in and out when ever you leave the office so that they know where you are at all times. When you meet clients or potential business associates, you hand out and accept name cards (business cards) with both hands and present it to the receiver. It's very rude to hand someone or accept a name card with one hand, they often will not release the card until you put both hands on it.
I walk to work daily and it's about 15 minutes or so, I am not sure if there is a bus that goes to my office but the walk is easy. Well, it's easy minus the sweltering heat and humidity! The first day, I walked to work fully dressed in my business attire not considering the morning heat, needless to say on my first day of work I walked into the office to meet everyone and I looked like I had been on the treadmill for at least an hour running at a fairly high speed...........I am certain some people were pretty grossed out by my sweatiness........I acutally grossed myself out. I have since gotten smarter and now I just get dressed at work so that my clothes aren't sweaty all day. I also walk to work now with a towel so that I can wipe myself down during the walk and when I get to the office, you are literally soaked when you get there. The second day when people saw me walk in all sweaty they immediately started speaking in their native language to each other......I wonder if they were saying there goes the new sweaty american again??? I am told that after a few months your blood begins to thin out and you get used to the heat. It's like this all year around as we have no seasons here in Singapore. Your winter in the US is our monsoon season so that just means we get some rain for like a week or so I am told. I am also told that Singapore is the place on earth where you are most likely to get struck by lighting.......the lighting storms are pretty intense here too so take cover the second you hear thunder!!
A quick note on the time difference, Singapore is 12 hours ahead of EST (NY), 13 hours ahead of CST (Chicago) and 15 hours ahead of PST (Seattle).
You know, today I had an epiphany......there is a cliche that we always use: "If the shoe were on the other foot" and it hit me just how applicatable this cliche is in relationship to my life right now, let me explain. When we encounter other cultures in the states, we often hear how they live, where they eat, where they shop etc.....and we think it's weird, it's like we don't understand because we are so used to how people do things in our own culture, yet we are unphased because we are home country. I realized that now the shoe is on the other foot and when I tell people how I lived in the US and things we do there, they think I am weird and don't understand. I was talking to colleagues from Indonesia and we saw some pictures of Chicago in a magazine and it happened to be my neighborhood and the building next door, so they began asking me about life in the US. I told them I lived alone in Chicago and my family is in Seattle to which they immediately asked who takes care of me? Of course I replied I take care of myself but now I am intrigued by this question. Well who cooks for you and cleans for you they ask? I cook for myself and clean my own house I of course replied. This forced those around me to stop working and quiz me on why I live alone and how do I know how to cook and clean as men in their countries don't do these tasks. In fact, she told me that you never live alone in their culture and often after you are married you still live with your parents.......she says you have too. I of course don't understand this, I mean why do you have to stay with your parents and who tells you have to stay. Can you imagine parents in the US telling their 25+ year old kid they have to stay home until they are married and maybe even after..............I personally would love to see my parents try!
I have to say, I think I underestimated the concept of culture shock. It's not that I doubted that this existed, I just didn't think it was something that I would experience as much as I am. It's quite extreme to be honest and I don't even think I will truly experience it until I start traveling to some of the other asian countries where they do not speak english. You see, they call Singapore beginners Asia because you have access to western foods and other things in our culture and they speak english. I can only imagine what it will be like when I go to rural Vietnam or Thailand and they don't speak english..........it's scary but exciting at the same time. I am told that I will get used to the culture in a few months, I have to say it's getting a bit everyday to live abroad but it's happening slowly.
A few others things that I have recently learned about the local culture.....first, you don't tip in Singapore. It's almost like cab drivers, waiters etc don't understand why you are giving them extra money for their services. When you go to fastfood restaurants or "hawker stations" the local equivalent, you don't take your own trays and throw things away. I actually had people laughing at me last night when I picked up my tray to dump out my trash but I couldn't find the trash can. Someone politely let me know that you are not suppose to do this in these restaurants as it's offsenive. Taxi drivers are paid by the government here so they are paid quite well........probably equal to what some professionals here are getting paid. They also aren't requied to know the city like you are in Chicago and they also can tell you they don't want to take you to certain locations whenever they want or routes that you may want. I got into a cab a few days ago and told her where I wanted to go and she told me to get out because she didn't want to go there, the next cab driver said he would take me near there and drop me off a few blocks away because he didn't feel like driving their either.........but cabs are extremely cheap here in comparision to the US. You also pay for cabs waiting time..........for you big city folks/Chicagoans reading this, imagine being at a mall or convention center and their is a line of cabs waiting to pick up patrons........well their meters are running during that waiting time and when you get in that cab you are responsible for paying for that time, so lots of people will not get cabs at malls or big venues because you must pay for that waiting time.
I hope you all are enjoying reading these, it really helps me deal with things by writing this all out. It's actually quite therapeutic and helping get out my frustrations with the cultural differences. It's one thing to visit another country but moving to one is a whole other animal. Again, I hope you are enjoying reading these and remember to sign up as a follower (I feel like I a selling a service).
Until next time.
J
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Welcome to Singapore Day 2 Saturday Sept. 12
Today is my apartment hunting day. I had been diligently searching for apartments prior to my departure from the states but unfortunately have not secured anything thus far. Because most places want you to sign a 12 month lease, viewing the place is a must before I sign my name. Although the cost of living in Singapore is fairly inexpensive, the cost of housing is quite expensive. Studio apartments are very rare as most apartments and condos in the city are 2-6 bedroom units, this doesn't include the maid quarters (more on that a bit later). The average studio or 1 bedroom apartment is rare here in Singapore so they are expensive, the cheapest I saw was about $2700.00 a month. Because of this, most people rent out rooms and share the common spaces....however since most don't cook here in Singapore, often the use of the kitchen is extra typically around an additional 50-100 a month. When you are renting here, it's nothing like in the US. First of all, here you can discriminate and not rent to someone based on everything in the US you cannot such as race, gender, religion etc. I have actually seen ads for rooms that said:"No Indians or Chinese" in bold letters there are even buildings here with signs outside that say the same things, its a bit disturbing seeing that coming from the states.....we all know that would be a big lawsuit in the US. As I started emailing agents about rooms I was interested in renting out, I was immediately asked what country I was from by some agents and others requested that I send a head shot before we proceed forward.
The room I decided on is in a a gated compound of about 4 new high rise buildings. Although there is no crime here in Singapore, I feel extra safe as we have armed guards at the compound entrance gates. This place is like a resort, a huge pool that would rival any resort and 3 smaller pools, lush tropical grounds,a workout facility, 2 lane bowling alley and karakoe rooms. Yes, they love to sing karakoe here and people just rent out these rooms with their friends and sit on the couch and sing. In fact when I got a tour of the common spaces there were 2 guys that looked like if they were in the US, they would be playing video games or watching the game, but here they were singing; I actually found it quite bizarre. I am renting out a room in a 4 bedroom condo without an attached bath, in Singapore they call this a common room. The agent and commission system here is quite backwards compared to the US. Here, the landlord hires an agent to list their room, I emailed them and expressed my interest they emailed me back, let me in the door and I have to pay them a half months rent commission, it would seem to me as though it makes more sense for the landlord to pay this fee as they hired them but not in Singapore.
The unit owner is in her mid 40's from Pakistan and lives in the mstr bedroom, she is very nice and accomodating with a really nurthering personality. She bought the place brand new a few months ago and had them take out the living room and make it into a 4th bedroom, this allows her to maximize the amount of rents she can charge. In Singapore, I have to assume that a 1300 sq ft condo like we live in is upwards of 6k a month. The other roommates are a girl from Switzerland, and I am told 2 other girls South America that share a bedroom but I haven't met them yet. My room came with a brand new bed, flat screen tv and desk, I also face the pool (I will post pictures later). The girls are moving out in 2 months when they are done with school and then new roommmates will move in. They all share a bath and I have the bath in the maid quarters since we do not have a live in maid, but sometimes I use their bath as it's right outside my room. Funny thing is, we are probably one of the only units that don't have a live in maid or a maid at all. Here, everyone has a maid and they call them "auntie" for females and "uncle" for males basically they are the help. My office even has an auntie and she just brings epeople drinks, washes the dishes and keeps the office clean, this is common in most Asian countries I am told. Almost all people have nannies and maids in SE Asia. Maintenance only comes once a week here unlike in the states where they come every evening. The unit owner has asked that we don't cook in the kitchen as apparently these girls are dirty, I told her that I am a very clean person so I am allowed to do some light cooking but I must clean immediately and I don't have to pay extra..... BONUS!! Most people eat at what they call "Hawker Centers" where you can get cheap but good local food where everything is fresh I ate lunch and dinner at these hawker stations yesterday and today for 6 dollars SGD and about 3 dollars USD total for the day, you can eat cheap as long as you eat local (I will be talking more about my food experiences in the next couple installments). A hawker center is almost like food street vendors in America, it's hard because you don't want to eat out as this is not something we do everyday in our culture. However, our options are to buy American food which is double or triple the price as it is there, like frozen pizza when it's on sale are $8.00 each and that is a good sale and a can of spaghetti sauce is about 6-7 dollars or we can buy local asia ingredients in stores and not know what we are cooking or even buying as it's not in english.
Ok, more about what I did today....the only way to truly learn your way around a new city is to simply get out and adventure, and that is exactly what I did today. I ventured back out to Orchard Road our shopping district to have a closer look at the area. I am walking in the sweltering heat and at this point, its imperative that I get food and water in my system. Expats get sick here from 2 things typically, first the extreme hot outside and then going inside to the extreme cold AC messes up our body temperature, so most Westerners get sick within the first 2 weeks because of this. The other is Westerners often don't keep themselves hydrated enough here or keep enough food in their system and they often pass out. I actually started to get the feeling of passing out as I was walking so I immediately go into the nearest restaurant to get food and drink. I ended up at McDonalds of all places.....now let me tell you about this McDonalds, it's packed!! The people are packed in their like sardines eating and socializing, I actually had to eat my food at the counter as you couldn't even walk in the dining area as people were standing and eating in the aisles and practically covering every square inch of the place. After they eat, they simply sit around and chat and just hang out at McDonalds as you would at the newest hot spot in town in the states.............it's actually like a cool spot here, they love McDonalds; in fact, they love it so much that you can have McDonalds delivered anywhere in Singapore 24/7 actually it's both McDonalds and KFC that deliver.
I have so much to write about, but I am going to stop it here and save it for tomorrow's blog, I hope you are all enjoying reading about my experiences as an American expat in Asia. Remember to sign up as a follower so that I know people are reading this, otherwise I will stop as it takes time to write all this. It's almost midnight here and I haven't yet adjusted to the time clock here, so again if there are any spelling or grammer mistakes bare with me
I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing them.
Jason
The room I decided on is in a a gated compound of about 4 new high rise buildings. Although there is no crime here in Singapore, I feel extra safe as we have armed guards at the compound entrance gates. This place is like a resort, a huge pool that would rival any resort and 3 smaller pools, lush tropical grounds,a workout facility, 2 lane bowling alley and karakoe rooms. Yes, they love to sing karakoe here and people just rent out these rooms with their friends and sit on the couch and sing. In fact when I got a tour of the common spaces there were 2 guys that looked like if they were in the US, they would be playing video games or watching the game, but here they were singing; I actually found it quite bizarre. I am renting out a room in a 4 bedroom condo without an attached bath, in Singapore they call this a common room. The agent and commission system here is quite backwards compared to the US. Here, the landlord hires an agent to list their room, I emailed them and expressed my interest they emailed me back, let me in the door and I have to pay them a half months rent commission, it would seem to me as though it makes more sense for the landlord to pay this fee as they hired them but not in Singapore.
The unit owner is in her mid 40's from Pakistan and lives in the mstr bedroom, she is very nice and accomodating with a really nurthering personality. She bought the place brand new a few months ago and had them take out the living room and make it into a 4th bedroom, this allows her to maximize the amount of rents she can charge. In Singapore, I have to assume that a 1300 sq ft condo like we live in is upwards of 6k a month. The other roommates are a girl from Switzerland, and I am told 2 other girls South America that share a bedroom but I haven't met them yet. My room came with a brand new bed, flat screen tv and desk, I also face the pool (I will post pictures later). The girls are moving out in 2 months when they are done with school and then new roommmates will move in. They all share a bath and I have the bath in the maid quarters since we do not have a live in maid, but sometimes I use their bath as it's right outside my room. Funny thing is, we are probably one of the only units that don't have a live in maid or a maid at all. Here, everyone has a maid and they call them "auntie" for females and "uncle" for males basically they are the help. My office even has an auntie and she just brings epeople drinks, washes the dishes and keeps the office clean, this is common in most Asian countries I am told. Almost all people have nannies and maids in SE Asia. Maintenance only comes once a week here unlike in the states where they come every evening. The unit owner has asked that we don't cook in the kitchen as apparently these girls are dirty, I told her that I am a very clean person so I am allowed to do some light cooking but I must clean immediately and I don't have to pay extra..... BONUS!! Most people eat at what they call "Hawker Centers" where you can get cheap but good local food where everything is fresh I ate lunch and dinner at these hawker stations yesterday and today for 6 dollars SGD and about 3 dollars USD total for the day, you can eat cheap as long as you eat local (I will be talking more about my food experiences in the next couple installments). A hawker center is almost like food street vendors in America, it's hard because you don't want to eat out as this is not something we do everyday in our culture. However, our options are to buy American food which is double or triple the price as it is there, like frozen pizza when it's on sale are $8.00 each and that is a good sale and a can of spaghetti sauce is about 6-7 dollars or we can buy local asia ingredients in stores and not know what we are cooking or even buying as it's not in english.
Ok, more about what I did today....the only way to truly learn your way around a new city is to simply get out and adventure, and that is exactly what I did today. I ventured back out to Orchard Road our shopping district to have a closer look at the area. I am walking in the sweltering heat and at this point, its imperative that I get food and water in my system. Expats get sick here from 2 things typically, first the extreme hot outside and then going inside to the extreme cold AC messes up our body temperature, so most Westerners get sick within the first 2 weeks because of this. The other is Westerners often don't keep themselves hydrated enough here or keep enough food in their system and they often pass out. I actually started to get the feeling of passing out as I was walking so I immediately go into the nearest restaurant to get food and drink. I ended up at McDonalds of all places.....now let me tell you about this McDonalds, it's packed!! The people are packed in their like sardines eating and socializing, I actually had to eat my food at the counter as you couldn't even walk in the dining area as people were standing and eating in the aisles and practically covering every square inch of the place. After they eat, they simply sit around and chat and just hang out at McDonalds as you would at the newest hot spot in town in the states.............it's actually like a cool spot here, they love McDonalds; in fact, they love it so much that you can have McDonalds delivered anywhere in Singapore 24/7 actually it's both McDonalds and KFC that deliver.
I have so much to write about, but I am going to stop it here and save it for tomorrow's blog, I hope you are all enjoying reading about my experiences as an American expat in Asia. Remember to sign up as a follower so that I know people are reading this, otherwise I will stop as it takes time to write all this. It's almost midnight here and I haven't yet adjusted to the time clock here, so again if there are any spelling or grammer mistakes bare with me
I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing them.
Jason
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Welcome to Singapore Day 1
My travels to Asia thus far have been pretty ok, my flights were both easy and surprisingly not to long. It's been over 10 years since I have been on a flight longer than 4.5 hours and that was from Seattle to Florida. In fact, I have never even left THe US, yes I have been to neighboring countries but those don't really count. Strange that my first trip out of the US is to move for an extended period of time. My trip began with a 9.5 hour flight to Tokyo Japan where I had a 2 hour layover. Unfortunately, once I arrived in Tokyo, my flight ton Singapore was cancelled but I was immediately book on another airline (it was another 6.5 hours to Singapore)and received a free ticket for the unconvenience so that was great. I also saw my first traditional Japanese toilet which is in the floor of the toilet stall. I was quite interested and wanted to use it just out of curiousity but it just seemed inefficient and to be honest, disgusting!! I found myself starring at this contraption for almost 5 minutes trying to understand how it's used, but it seems as though you just......well stand over the whole and do your business!! GROSS, I will post pictures later.
I arrived to my hotel in Singapore at around 2am, exhausted from my travels yet awake from the excitement of being in a foreign territory. Here is a bit of information about Singapore; Singapore is a small island that neighbors Malaysia and Indonesia, in fact both neighboring countries can be accessed in about 30 minutes either by car or boat. It is a a city state so it's just Singapore with no city name for mailing purposes, there are almost 5 million people that reside here with about 25% of those being expats here from other countries to work or study. It's about 85 degrees and tropical here year round and the humidity is quite unbearable as we are approx. 60 miles from the Equator. English is the official language of the country but most signage and television are also in Malay, Indian, and Chinese. There is only one station here that is broadcast in English and it's a conglomerate of many american stations; for instance you can watch Rachel Ray, Project Runway, The News (which is mostly about The US), and E News one after the other, they may also throw in a movie here and there as well all on the same channel. The country is surprisingly Western yet very Asian and different at the same time (more on this a bit later and in future blogs). The Singapore Dollar is our currently and roughly 70 cents USD equals 1.00 in Singapore which is good since I started everything with American dollars, I am however being paid in SGD.
My first day here I met up with a friend and colleague whom has been residing in Singapore for just over a year now, she was quite instrumental in helping secure job and place of residence here. We later embarked on a journey to get a cell phone for me since my Sprint phone can work in Asia, but not Singapore........what an experience this was and this is also where I began to really see the cultural differences. FIrst, Singaporeans love shopping, imagine Michigan Ave. in Chicago or Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills how they have streets lines with high end retails shops, well on Orchard Road here in Singapore they are entire malls next to each other. For almost an entire mile, you will see one giant mall after the other each with a variety of identical and/or new stores in them, it's quite repetitive. What's great is they are all stores that we have never seen in America, so I will eventually learn to love that street. There is also a mall at every train station stop rather it be a big major mall or small, small meaning the size of a small American mall and large would be something that can rival the Mall of American. We have bus/train cards like in Chicago called EZ Link. Their system is different than Chicago as you touch your card on the way in and on the way out. You are charged based on the distance you travelled which is why you do it on the way out as well. The great thing about this card is since it's cash activated, you can also use it like a credit card at some stores and even pays household bills such as electric and gas.........Singapore is mostly an all cash society so very few places accept credit cards, but all mall stores do.
If you are in expat like myself, you must always carry your passport and work visa, in fact you cannot do anything here without, cant open bank accounts, get a cell phone, or and apartment; nothing. However, here you can get cell phones at 7-11 which are on every corner and buy a prepaid card. The cards have a lot of benefits so you can buy a card for 8 dollars or so and it will last about a month or two if you are not calling Int'l. Gum can be purchased in this country contrary to popular belief however, you must provide your contact information at the point of purchase; ie an address and phone number.
I made 3 attempts to get a cell phone and found that no one but 7-11 would give me a phone without a hard copy of my work visa. I had to wait in line for 45 minutes to find this out. Yes a line, in Singapore, they have something called "queing" or as we in the states would say: waiting in line. If you see a line, then whatever others are waiting for must be cool, so you join the group and socialize. I have seen lines 50 deep to get into a 7-11 or use an ATM.
They love Western culture here, I saw a restaurant called: Hip Burger USA in which they had a lifesize board of Pres. Obama drapped in a American Flag serving a burger. They had John McCain up too during the election season. They also realy stare and point if they see you are Western......perhaps even follow or purchase the same goods. There are American and local food stores near my place of residence, it's far cheaper to eat like a local and stay away from American foods as they are quite expensive here. In fact, a frozen pizza here on avg. cost about 15 SGD each, energy is also quite expensive here because of the extreme use of AC units, an avg. bill for a 2 bedroom condo like Chicago would be upwards of $200 SGD a month.
Just a few facts about life so far here, I think my biggest hurdle will be the culture differences which I will start to talk about in my next installment. In the meantime please remember to sign up as a follower of my blog so that I know people are reading it and have inspiration to keep writing. Also let me know if there is something you would like to know about Singapore............and I am sorry if there are lots of typos, I am too tired to proof tonight.
Thanks.
Jason
I arrived to my hotel in Singapore at around 2am, exhausted from my travels yet awake from the excitement of being in a foreign territory. Here is a bit of information about Singapore; Singapore is a small island that neighbors Malaysia and Indonesia, in fact both neighboring countries can be accessed in about 30 minutes either by car or boat. It is a a city state so it's just Singapore with no city name for mailing purposes, there are almost 5 million people that reside here with about 25% of those being expats here from other countries to work or study. It's about 85 degrees and tropical here year round and the humidity is quite unbearable as we are approx. 60 miles from the Equator. English is the official language of the country but most signage and television are also in Malay, Indian, and Chinese. There is only one station here that is broadcast in English and it's a conglomerate of many american stations; for instance you can watch Rachel Ray, Project Runway, The News (which is mostly about The US), and E News one after the other, they may also throw in a movie here and there as well all on the same channel. The country is surprisingly Western yet very Asian and different at the same time (more on this a bit later and in future blogs). The Singapore Dollar is our currently and roughly 70 cents USD equals 1.00 in Singapore which is good since I started everything with American dollars, I am however being paid in SGD.
My first day here I met up with a friend and colleague whom has been residing in Singapore for just over a year now, she was quite instrumental in helping secure job and place of residence here. We later embarked on a journey to get a cell phone for me since my Sprint phone can work in Asia, but not Singapore........what an experience this was and this is also where I began to really see the cultural differences. FIrst, Singaporeans love shopping, imagine Michigan Ave. in Chicago or Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills how they have streets lines with high end retails shops, well on Orchard Road here in Singapore they are entire malls next to each other. For almost an entire mile, you will see one giant mall after the other each with a variety of identical and/or new stores in them, it's quite repetitive. What's great is they are all stores that we have never seen in America, so I will eventually learn to love that street. There is also a mall at every train station stop rather it be a big major mall or small, small meaning the size of a small American mall and large would be something that can rival the Mall of American. We have bus/train cards like in Chicago called EZ Link. Their system is different than Chicago as you touch your card on the way in and on the way out. You are charged based on the distance you travelled which is why you do it on the way out as well. The great thing about this card is since it's cash activated, you can also use it like a credit card at some stores and even pays household bills such as electric and gas.........Singapore is mostly an all cash society so very few places accept credit cards, but all mall stores do.
If you are in expat like myself, you must always carry your passport and work visa, in fact you cannot do anything here without, cant open bank accounts, get a cell phone, or and apartment; nothing. However, here you can get cell phones at 7-11 which are on every corner and buy a prepaid card. The cards have a lot of benefits so you can buy a card for 8 dollars or so and it will last about a month or two if you are not calling Int'l. Gum can be purchased in this country contrary to popular belief however, you must provide your contact information at the point of purchase; ie an address and phone number.
I made 3 attempts to get a cell phone and found that no one but 7-11 would give me a phone without a hard copy of my work visa. I had to wait in line for 45 minutes to find this out. Yes a line, in Singapore, they have something called "queing" or as we in the states would say: waiting in line. If you see a line, then whatever others are waiting for must be cool, so you join the group and socialize. I have seen lines 50 deep to get into a 7-11 or use an ATM.
They love Western culture here, I saw a restaurant called: Hip Burger USA in which they had a lifesize board of Pres. Obama drapped in a American Flag serving a burger. They had John McCain up too during the election season. They also realy stare and point if they see you are Western......perhaps even follow or purchase the same goods. There are American and local food stores near my place of residence, it's far cheaper to eat like a local and stay away from American foods as they are quite expensive here. In fact, a frozen pizza here on avg. cost about 15 SGD each, energy is also quite expensive here because of the extreme use of AC units, an avg. bill for a 2 bedroom condo like Chicago would be upwards of $200 SGD a month.
Just a few facts about life so far here, I think my biggest hurdle will be the culture differences which I will start to talk about in my next installment. In the meantime please remember to sign up as a follower of my blog so that I know people are reading it and have inspiration to keep writing. Also let me know if there is something you would like to know about Singapore............and I am sorry if there are lots of typos, I am too tired to proof tonight.
Thanks.
Jason
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