My First Seven Weeks in Singapore
Thursday, November 3, 2011 7:22So I’ve been in Singapore for seven weeks. Seven weeks. That’s almost two months! Time has flown by, as I knew it would. I like it here. It’s hot. All the time. And I miss pizza. All the time. But otherwise I’m happy.
View from my Deck
Anyway, as a lot of you know, I moved to Singapore recently to head up a new digital shopping magazine for a global e-commerce company.
The decision to make the move was difficult in some ways but easy in a lot of other ways. Meaning, the good outweighed the bad and I (that is to say “we”) decided to pack up our stuff and high tail it to Asia. Let the adventure begin.
So we’ve been here almost 2 months so far and to be completely honest, it’s awesome. Obviously, there are so many differences when it comes to life in Singapore as opposed to life in the US. But, surprisingly, there are also a lot of similarities.
The similarities are the not-so-interesting part, i.e. I’m living in a large metropolitan city with all kinds of bars, restaurants, fashion, shopping, etc. The differences, however, are more interesting, whether the small ones like to-go coffee in a bag or the large ones like the act of chewing gum being punishable by law.
So to keep things simple, here’s a list of some of the differences I encounter on a daily basis:
- To-go coffee often comes in small plastic bag with handles and a straw.
- It’s always hot here; no seasons, no fall foliage.
- I can hike through the rain forest and hang out with monkeys any time I want to.
- People love to speed up in order to walk in front of you and then slow to the pace of turtles so you find yourself almost stepping on them.
- Elevators are rarely air conditioned, making a ride in one of the small, stuffy lifts almost painful.
- Eggs are on a shelf in the grocery store, not in the refrigerated section. However, once purchased, everyone places them in the fridge.
- Hawker centers are where we eat almost every day. What are they? Outdoor “cafeterias” filled with stalls that sell all kinds of different local foods, from Indian and Cantonese to Japanese and Malay. Because Singapore is such a melting pot, all of these kinds of food really are local.
- In a land of naturally very petite women, I have never seen so many of them so obsessed with “being skinny”. Dinner is something a lot of them don’t eat. Difficult for a size 6 gal like myself who has never been one to skip a meal…
- Singapore is made up of some of the friendliest human beginnings I have ever met.
- Local coffee is thick as mud and everyday I order : Kopi C Bing Siew Dai. Iced Coffee, less sugar. (In the states I was a no sugar gal, here black coffee makes my toes curl).
- My coffee guy knows me now and calls me Ms. NYC.
- Everyday it pours for about 20 minutes straight, and that’s usually it.
- Giordano is a major low-end clothing chain here and I am always asked if I am related. (Don’t I wish!) It’s like being Sally Walmart.
- Every day I miss my family and friends but I really love who I’m becoming so I don’t regret a thing.
To check out pictures from around Singapore, click right here!
P.S. I owe you some of the city lit up at night… I haven’t taken any of those yet.
