Thoughts on Singapore

Looking back at the pictures, it was a great time. But my memory serves me differently. There isn't much that I really miss. It's a strange feeling. After leaving Sweden and Austria, there were countless things I missed upon returning to the States. I missed all the delicious lingonberry juices in Sweden and all the amazing museums if Vienna. I missed being immersed in the languages and learning new things in those languages. After leaving Singapore, that longing feeling was lacking.

Hiking the tree top walk in MacRitchie Reservoir 

There are things I miss from Singapore. I really enjoyed my job as an English teacher. It was quite daunting at first since it was my first real teaching job. I enjoyed making worksheets and reading stories with the children. I miss them and the teachers I worked with. I miss having that job. I miss the friends that I made there, whether it be from German class or through Nico. I also miss some of the food. I loved buttered chicken, Xiaolongbao (Chinese soup dumplings), and all the fresh tropical fruit. The scenery is something that was definitely a novelty for me and I loved it. Talking walks in the jungle was great; it was the new 'woods' for me. It was so interesting to look at and identify all the new plant and animal species. The zoo in Singapore was also a favorite place for Nico and I. It's in the jungle and the amount of different species they have is amazing. It is the best zoo I have been to. I really miss the crazy tropical thunderstorms/downpours. There were always so entertaining for me to watch for some reason. From there, my list of favorite things starts to dwindle...more like stops.

Xiaolongbao in the bamboo basket. 

Buttered chicken (the orange one) from
Jaggi's; our favorite Indian restaurant.

The weather is alright in Singapore. It just gets tiring to constantly be sweating while you do everything. It also made me tired in general. I also had trouble staying hydrated because I'd always forget to drink water (and still do) I was also sick quite often. Maybe I was picking up bugs from the kids or maybe it was from being dehydrated, or a combination of both. It was terrible being sick every month with some bug. That leads me to health care. The GP doctors there are not what I am used to. I found one that was very nice and trained in the U.K. but she was definitely Singaporean at heart. A typical appointment would last 5 minutes or less. In the end you walk away with 2-5 different prescriptions for your ailment(s). They give you the medicine there but that's a lot of different things to be taking. If you call in sick to work, you need to go to the doctor to get a note. Even for one day. People there go to the doctor for everything, including colds. I had to go get a sick note for a cold and walked away with 4 different medicines, one of which was not for congestion, sore throat, or fever. I was even prescribed antibiotics for a cold. To me, that is just medicine overload. I always feel a cold will just work its way out of your system. So, for me, the health care system is a minus.

Singapore has a well connected transit system but it can be expensive. You pay for the distance in Singapore. There's no sort of monthly/yearly ticket. I usually spent anywhere from $30-40USD a week on transport. The downside is I feel like it took forever to get anywhere. I spent approximately 2 hours a day on transit getting to and from work. The people on transit are also quite rude. I've seen many people 'sleeping' or too busy on their phone to get up for the elderly/injured/pregnant while they take up the seat designated for this purpose.
Quality of living for Nico and I was nothing like we are used to and it was hard for us to adapt. He was working quite long hours at work, which for his European standards was new. It wasn't about the quality of the work so much as the amount of time he spent there. My work hours were fine but coupled with my transit times made for a long day. By the time we both got home and had found somewhere to eat dinner, the day was done. Our living situation was also odd. We shared a condo with our landlord and 2 other people. The condo was 3 bedrooms. The landlord had her 'bedroom' on the balcony with the living/dining room as the rest of her bedroom. This made the kitchen, which was in a dire state, the only common area in the condo. While at home, we were confined to our bedroom. We ate out almost every day. Getting groceries was hassle in the heat and the kitchen, like I said, was terrible. It was hard to cook much besides noodles or make a salad. We came to realize that the amount of money you make in Singapore is directly correlated with the quality of living. If you can make enough money to rent your own apartment and be on your own, than the situation greatly improves. But that was something we couldn't afford. We were paying $1200USD for a bedroom with an attached bathroom.

The culture in Singapore is interesting. I really enjoyed learning about the Malay and Indian cultures. The Chinese culture was interesting, but for me it left something to be desired. It was definitely challenging for me to live there. It was an experience and I wouldn't trade if for anything; it just had more ups and downs than I had expected based on my previous experience living abroad. Singapore is a beautiful country. I do want to go back and visit some day. But for me, living there is no longer on my list.