Singapore in a Nutshell (Observations from an Outsider)

The following is my observations about life in Singapore. It is in no way a personal attack but more of an observation into the lifestyle and mannerisms of some people in Singapore. I know that if someone came to the US and did the same list it would be much worse so don't think I am trying to be on a high horse.

When looking at the country on a global scale, I think there are two types: the real Singapore and the one that gets parlayed in the press and has earned the country the title "Disneyland with the Death Penalty". What I mean by this is that when you tell people that you are moving to Singapore you hear the following types of comments, "You better not chew gum or they will fine you" or "Better not jaywalk or they will fine you" or don't do this or that normally followed by ".....or they will fine you" or "....they will cane you". This image that sits in Westerners minds has them using the Disneyland comment to describe the country. The reality is that if they actually enforced all the rules they claim they will they would have a budget surplus from all the fines and/or they would run out of rattan canes due to nonstop canings....(I do need to mention that canings are reserved for very serious crimes such as murder or sexual crimes, immigration stuff, or drug trafficking).

Now once you get into the country there are again 2 different Singapore's: downtown regions (Orchard Road, Clarke Quay etc) and the far suburbs where a majority people live in HDB complexes. The main differences are related to cleanliness and upkeep. In the downtown region, it is near spotless with very limited trash and beautifully kept new buildings. Its this Singapore that they want to promote. But you go 30 minutes outside the CBD (Central Business District) and you have these massive housing estates called (HDB) where a majority of people live. For the people in the US, these are best described as high rise apartment or condo like buildings. These areas (in my experience) tend to be dirty with lots of trash on the ground. I can only compare them to my condo in the US and its much dirtier. People seem to not care about throwing trash in the bins and instead throw stuff on the ground or leave them on public spaces (tables, chairs, steps). There has been many times that I have been walking home from work and I see someone take something out of their mailbox and proceed to drop it on the ground if they don't want it. (Even when a trash bin is 15 feet away). That brings up another issue: For a country that prides itself on cleanliness they have a lack of trash bins in public spaces. I have walked around with trash in my hand looking for a bin many times.

Now that you have a big picture of the country I will describe the mannerisms of the people. Please understand that these are not seen in every single person but when you see enough people do it you start to take notice.

1. People will not move out of the way to share a sidewalk or pathway. There are many times that I have been walking along a sidewalk and two people are walking toward me side by side. I continue to walk on my half of the sidewalk and then a deadly game of "chicken" ensues. I eventually have to get off the sidewalk or we would have run into each other. One time I did hold my ground and ran straight into a women (our shoulders banged each other).

2. This country needs to decide what side of the walk way you should walk on. I figured that because they drive on the left hand side of the road that you should also walk on the left but that doesn't hold true. People tend to walk wherever they want...some on the right...some on the left. And what I found interesting is that the escalators aren't even consistent. Sometimes the up escalator is on the right and sometimes its on the the left.

3. Males have an obsession with spitting, sucking in snot in their noses and other gross throat stuff. Before I got my new desk at work, I sat maybe 25 feet from the bathroom and an hour wouldn't go by without you hearing somebody in the bathroom hacking up a loogie! Thats 25 feet away with the door closed! We were at our friends pool one time and I witnessed the security guard cough and generate a loogie and then proceed to spit it into a napkin in his hand. Truly disgusting.

4. People here love kids and many many times have gone out of their way to care for Delaney. I would say that on a packed bus every morning somebody would get up and offer their seat to Delaney. Definitely a very nice gesture.

5. On the flip side, their love of kids causes many kids to go crazy in public. This is extremely frustrating when you are at dinner and trying to relax and their is a little kid running up and down the aisle without a parent chasing them. They let them "rule the roost".

6. This isn't about Singapore specifically, but more of a general comment about hospitality in the AsiaPac region. It is amazing the level of attention and warmth we have received while on vacation during our stay in Singapore. Whether it was Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand, all the people at the hotels have been TOP NOTCH. Not only has the service been good but there was a sense that they were being genuine. Sad to say that I haven't felt that in many US hotels.

Now observations about the country itself as a place to live. Overall, I would recommend it as a place for people to live at least on a temporary basis. Here are my thoughts:

1. Weather is amazing. Hot and humid day in/day out. No guesses. There are weeks when it seems to rain at 3pm daily but it only rains for a 1/2 hour and then because of the heat and humidity everything is dry within the hour. The weather definitely does wonders to lift your spirits when you are not dealing with the cold dreary winter. I also have felt healthier here without any colds/flu that I normally would have gotten due to the temperature swings witnessed in Chicago.

2. Singapore is truly a melting pot of nationalities. You have a huge expat community here so you are in constant contact with people from Europe, Australia, NA etc. You are given the chance to learn about other regions/countries through interaction.

3. The ability to witness different nationalities. The way Singapore was set up, they gave different sections of the island to different groups so that you now have Little India, Chinatown, etc. With this set up you can go visit communities and immerse yourself in their culture and eat some of the native foods.

4. Two negative sides to the country: Cars and Land. Cars are hyper expensive both because they cost more and because the government limits the amount of licenses it grants so that the license can get expensive. To give you an idea, the equivalent of a Honda Odyssey (minivan) might cost upwards of $60,000 USD here. In regards to the land issue....when dealing with a limited land supply with high demand, the prices escalate quickly. From a recent real estate book that came to our apartment here are some choices of rental properties: $6,500 (3bed/1bath, 1700sqft) and $7,000 (3bed/1bath, 1582sqft).
5. Another positive is lots of cheap airfare to exciting countries. Singapore is a hub for air traffic and have many discount carriers come though here such as Tiger Airways, Jetstar, etc. These guys offer great deals. I think Tiger Airways for a recent promotion offered one way tickets for $20 USD (but you have to add in taxes etc....but still a good deal).


That's all folks.....

The Dark Side of Chicago

One would think that a guy with his MBA from a Top 25 school working at a Fortune 500 company could afford to live in a suburb of Chicago.....WRONG. I ran the numbers last night and I am officially baffled how any young person fresh out of college affords to buy a house in this city. Let me lay out the details so you can understand my issue. First, the location of the house: approximately 1 1/2 hour from downtown Chicago and approx 30 minutes away from my office. Next the quality of the house: The houses we are looking at are the cheapest in the neighborhoods so don't think its some palatial estate. Simple 3 bedroom 2 bath with 2 car garage....that's our search criteria. And lastly...onto the financials: If you take my net monthly salary and subtract the following:

Monthly Mortgage Payment
Real Estate Property Taxes
Home Owners Insurance
then my bills...
Avg bills when we lived in the condo (incl gas, elec, phone, water, cable, visa, etc)
Derek student loans
Mel student loans
Car Insurance

The costs are split 40% come from house (the first 3) and then 60% (from the living expenses).

Do all that math and we are negative $1,100 for the month. That assumes we take all non retirement savings and put down a 20% down payment. Another assumption is that Melissa isn't working and therefore no childcare cost (if she was working, childcare is $850/month) but it would be offset by her wage (sub or fulltime? unknown now).

What gets us... is knowing how much we could buy a house for in other markets...


Thats it from "Depressed in the Midwest"

Lonely Commuter.....

This week is my first full week without my little girl with me in the mornings. It is weird and eerily quiet for my walk to the bus stop and the ride to work. Whats weird to think about is that this is the first time since she was born that I haven't had to wake her up in the morning, get her dressed and fed and then take her to either her first caregiver' house (Angela), or to her daycare (Motorola or Enchanted Care). The cycle even continued when we came here to Singapore and we would share a daily bus ride together to her school and then I would continue on to my office. This routine has been a constant for 3 1/2 years and now its not there. I definitely miss it because it was our time to bond and talk about stuff. Its amazing how much you can love a 3 1/2 year old...

Thailand

Thailand came and went. We stayed at a great resort...JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa. We got in late Wednesday night and went straight to bed. We woke up Thursday morning to rain. (For a minute we thought we were in Singapore!) The breakfast buffet was awesome. We stuffed ourselves there so we wouldn't have to get lunch. After breakfast, we all headed down to the Kids Club. We left Delaney and Lauren (our friends, Tracey, Sam, Lauren, and Sami came with us) in there while we explored. After exploring Derek and Sam played a ton of ping-pong. We decided to go into Phuket town around 2pm. Not much there...lots of local people and tons of motorbikes. Most people don't have cars. When we headed to town, we saw as many as 4 people on a motorbike. Pretty crazy! We went to some shops...one guy was selling 5 DVDs for 500 baht (about 3 dollars each US). Thought about buying some, but then thought better of it. We went to a restaurant for dinner, but left. It seemed pretty shady. It was on a bay, but there was no water. Check out the pics, you'll see what I mean. We ended up back at the resort for a very tasty Italian dinner.


On Friday, the Turks went on a little adventure to some other islands and we stayed at the resort. We went to the pool until it started raining. We went to the room, and then it stopped raining! We washed Delaney's hair while there so she could get the ever-famous beach braids. She loves them! She sat entirely still for the entire hour it took them to do her hair. She said after that it hurt and she had little tears in her eyes. She never once complained while they were doing it. I was very impressed by her. She still has them in as of Monday evening, and still loves them! She went to the Kids Club later in the afternoon while Derek and I had Thai massages on the beach. They were only 400 baht/hour which is under 15 dollars! They were quite nice. We ate dinner at a deli at the resort, headed to the beach at night for pictures, and went to bed.


Unfortunately, Delaney had other plans Friday night. At about 3 am, Derek said, "Melissa, she's throwing up!" I got out of bed and unfortunately had no idea where I was, so it took a moment to get to her. I picked her up and Derek said to put her down. We got her to the bathroom in time to throw up more. I had to leave the room b/c now I felt nauseous. Derek was the dad of the year that night. I went to tell housekeeping and then read my book on our patio b/c our room reeked of puke. Derek and Delaney ended up leaving around 4:30am to go for a walk to get fresh air. I read until about 5:15 and they came in at about 5:30. I heard Laney say soon after they got back that the room smelled and she wanted to leave. They left and came back around 8:00. They hung out at the pool and beach. She was sick a couple of times at the pool. They had nice conversations about the undertow and saw lots of crabs.


Saturday we took it easy b/c we didn't know if she would be "out of the woods" yet. (She got sick at Disney last year during the night. She was fine all day long, for our whole flight back to Aunt Linda and Uncle Mike's house. We gave her goldfish, and she threw up again. So we decided to play it safe.) The Turks went to Patong Beach and said it was much better than Phuket. Delaney napped for about 3 hours at the pool. I had a burger for dinner (I know...I am super adventurous) while Derek tried some sort of Thai chicken. It was very good, but too spicy for my taste. Laney ate bread.


We had the whole day there on Sunday as our flight didn't leave until 10 at night. We hung out at the pool. Delaney spent some time in the Kids Club and got to do a treasure hunt for candy. She was quite excited about that! Derek and Sam played more ping-pong. Derek didn't do so well that day. He lost a game to me and lost at least 3 to Sam. I do think he won at least one off of Sam.


Here are the pictures. I put them on Shutterfly, so that if any of you want to order some you are able to.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QcNGLly0asXUw&notag=1