Profile of Singapore ex-pats



Preeti -- a new friend who I really admire and consider an "extreme ex-pat"
-- see below --
and Daniele, her fantastic Italian roommate.

Since I arrived in Singapore in early September 2010, I've met A LOT of ex-pats -- mostly American, British and Australian but also Chinese, Indian, South African and others. There is an instant bond when you meet a fellow ex-pat, as you immediately dive into conversations about the food ("don't you just LOVE chili crab?" and/or, "do you think the hawkers use MSG?"), your condo ("the kitchens are so small!"), the heat ("I miss seasons!"), the efficiency of Singapore ("It's just so CLEAN and SAFE"), your mutual fear of bugs and lizards (ok, I am the one bringing this up) and other mandatory topics.

From there, the conversation takes one of a few paths, based on the type of ex-pat you are. I am not aiming to over-simplify but it seems there are four general categories of ex-pats here:



The American Club-going, American School-attending young family. Often senior executives who were brought over for a specific professional purpose, they have old-school ex-pat packages and live near Orchard Road, Bukit Timah, Holland Village and mingle with other families through the American Club or children's school activities. Some really get into the local culture and travel all around Asia; others are content to remain at home and gather with friends to discuss their nanny and "live-in" (it's pretty common to have a live-in helper to do housework, nanny your kids, etc) woes.

The reluctant ex-pat. I've only run across a few of these -- people who by circumstance or choice relocated to Singapore and seem content to tolerate it. They like the cleanliness and efficiency but are scared of the food ("I don't like intense flavors" and/or "The McDonald's here actually is pretty good.") and stick close to ex-pat havens such as Clarke Quay, Dempsey Hill and Orchard Road malls.

Another "extreme ex-pat" I befriended.
She is London-born but had lived everywhere,
and traveled solo across South America. She and her
boyfriend, a Frenchman she met in Columbia,
are doing a rickshaw race across India in April.

The enthusiastic DINK-types (which I think we fall into). Professionals in their 20s/30s who proactively decided to live abroad for a few years, eager to embrace a new country and be in the center of a growing economy and an fast-evolving culture. They might not literally be "double incomes" as many are here solo, but generally they're comfortable in terms of income. They spend the week working long hours but carve out time for lots of food experimentation, walks through Fort Canning Park, lazy strolls through Singapore's 805 million shopping malls, cheap meals in the local hawker centers, exploring Arab Street, Little India, Chinatown, etc, attending local festivals, and madly planning long weekends to Thailand, Vietnam, China, etc. They live fairly central and aim to socialize with other ex-pats as well as Singaporean colleagues and friends.

A subtype of the DINK category is the extreme ex-pat -- this is the category I wish I was in but sadly am not nearly cool enough. I've met several of these people, including a few new friends I would consider close friends -- young professionals who have perhaps lived abroad before and have a defined adventurous spirit as exhibited by their many experiences camping their way through Asia, hiking numerous large mountains, deep sea diving in Philippines, living in hectic India, safari-ing through Africa, or crossing South America solo via bus. They're keen to KNOW people and different cultures and thrive on the adrenaline of adventure travel. Car sickness, bugs, squatting toilets or lizards don't stop them -- they view these as minor inconveniences that are small in the grand scheme of adventures to be had. 

It will be interesting to see if this experience moves me any closer to this category. There certainly is already a sense of ,"If I can move alone halfway around the world to Asia, what else can I do?" so it'll be interesting to see where this takes me.

My wonderful Italian (er, Singaporean) colleagues



Fish head curry @ Ocean Fish Head Curry (original name, I know...) on Telok Ayer



I mentioned in a previous post that I'm concerned I'll gain 20 pounds very quickly. This fear is even more near now that my colleagues have made it a priority to ensure I'm eating all sorts of local specialties. All the time. They're the Italian family I don't have here.



Much of this comes about through the lunch hour, a work custom that fortunately has held pretty firm here. My first few weeks, I often brought lunch or ran downstairs for some takeaway to bring back to my desk. I was puzzled by how positively quiet the office becomes from about 1145 - 130 p.m. Then I realized that people actually take lunch, often with colleagues. So once I stopped dashing out for takeaway, I was around to actually be invited!

I've had some really terrific lunches so far. Highlights:

Shanghai style xiaolongbao (dumplings with that yummy "soup" inside), "Chinese pizza" and many other Shanghai specialties at this old shophouse near the office. It was very fun going with a group of 10 or so, where the heavy majority of the people are and speak Chinese and kept putting food on my plate to try. They're often pleasantly surprised when I enthusiastically agree to try whatever they recommend, as their impression of Westerners is that they're not adventerous in their eating. Have they met my friends?!

One of my favorites -- fish head curry at the famous Ocean Fish Head Curry shop. This is not nearly as strange as it sounds and is, with chil crab, probably the signature local dish. It stems from South Indian cuisine and involves the head of a fish that is similar to red snapper stewed in a spicy curry with vegetables. Over rice and with mantou (a fried or steamed bun), it's really good. I can't wait to take Louis there, and then recreate (maybe with red snapper fillet) at home. With a collection of other, smaller dishes and fresh lime juice to drink (refreshing!), each of us paid about $10USD. Everyone insisted I have the last bite, even though I also had been awarded the first and continuously had my plate re-filled. Not going to lie -- it was good.

One table from dinner. Way too much food. Awesome.

We also had an office dinner after paintball (alas, I didn't actually play paintball due to some pressing deliverables) at Ah Yat, a Chinese seafood restaurant near Bukit Timah. More chili crab (YUM), along with cold Tiger beer, sauteed kailan (similar to kale), lightly fried prawns, scallops fried in yam (hard to explain -- but good) and various rices and mantou.

On top of the lunches...and the dinners...a few colleagues are convinced I need to eat between meals and hence bring me little Chinese sweets (including this yummy rolled cake that tasted like a gourmet Twinkie), "real" French breads and muffins and other goodies. It's so thoughtful of them! I think they're sincerely excited to meet ex-pats who want to dig into their food.

Come visit! We need to show them we Westerners are adventerous eaters!

Things to Love and Loathe...Part 2

LOVE - The unfamiliarity with fresh milk here. At the grocery store, I heard several local shoppers tell the store employee that they're scared about fresh milk.

LOVE - Upon seeing me put milk in my coffee at the office, a colleague asks with genuine fascination, "What does that taste like? We usually used canned milk [condensed milk]." So now she's going to try it next time!

Things to Love and Loathe about Living in Singapore -- part 1

• LOATHE - Sweat running down your legs when you cross them outside for more than two minutes.LOATHE - A cappuccino often is more like a latte.
• LOATHE - Cable companies are just as useless in their customer service though at least they genuinely are trying to help you.
• LOVE - Bus drivers are called bus captains.
• LOVE - Buses are hyper air con and super cheap.
• LOATHE - Buses are often irregular. My 186 commute is reminiscient of the CTA 151 -- interminably late, over-crowded and never preceded by empty taxis when you need them.
• LOVE and LOATHE - Taxi queues. A godsend at times, a nightmare at others. I miss just hailing a cab in the middle of the street.
• LOVE - The fact that air travel feels luxe. Airports are clean, the employees are smiling, people are calm and the flight actually an experience I look forward to.
• LOVE - Singapore Airlines. The best airline ever.
• LOVE - Local, tasty -- though rarely healthy -- meals under 10USD.
• LOATHE - Inconsistent presence of toilets in restaurants. Sometimes they are down the "hall" within the broader building. (And don't get me started on the squatting toilets that still pop up, though not as much as in China.)
• LOATHE - The presence of lizards and roaches, and the inevitability that they will make stopovers in your abode.

• LOATHE - The curious 2ft by 2ft opening in my kitchen. Much better covered with Saran wrap. Though the pink bubble wrap was festive.
• LOVE - Trying new Indian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese food then having easy access to fully stocked grocery aisles to try to recreate. No more "ethnic aisles" @ Dominick's that try to cram 20 ethnic cuisines in one aisle.
• LOVE - Clean, air con taxis that you can pay by credit card or EZ Link (think CTA card).
• LOVE - The trusting taxi driver who let me exit taxi without paying when his card reader was down and trusted I would transfer it to his account. I did!!
• LOVE - Easy availability of iPhone 4s
• LOVE - Peranakan food and culture
• LOVE - Having exposure not to "Chinese food" but Szechuan, Hokkien, Hainanese, etc.
• LOVE - New friends who hail from China, Australia, India, UK, etc.
• LOVE - The humility of Asians in the  workplace. Lots to learn from them.
• LOATHE - Creepy prostitutes and cigarette smoke -- often can't escape them when out in popular bar or hotel areas.
• LOVE - Shops are open until about 10 p.m.
• LOATHE - Shops, grocery stores and even some breakfast places don't open until 10 a.m.
• LOVE - The ahhhhh feeling when you must break from 90 degree heat and the too-close sun by jumping in the pool that inexplicably remains cool.
• LOVE - Arriving home to a HUGE courtyard filled with fountains, pools, palm trees and countless flora.
• LOATHE - The strange way stores bag your groceries -- by category, not weight...so all heavy canned goods are together, bottles of wine, paper items, etc.