You know you're becoming Singaporean when ...





1. You add chili padi -- not chili sauce -- to everything, or so say my colleagues who claim I'm becoming Singaporean. I take this as a compliment. Fresh chili rocks.


2. You can sleep with your air-conditioning (or "air con," as the locals say) off, even though it only gets down to about 77 degrees F at night. I cheat a bit -- I have my standing fan blowing on me.




3. You can communicate with the nice taxi uncles without (or, almost without) issue. You know how to give direction -- major landmark or street first, then specific building or address, followed by a major cross street if necessary, unless you're going somewhere "local," in which case it may take them a few seconds to actually belive you mean to go there -- without resorting to charades or Google Maps. You will never be 100 percent foolproof, note.

Favorite coffee in Singapore so far -- 40 Hands in Tiong Bahru,
near Tiong Bahru Market
Photo: 40HandsCoffee.com

4. You start to prefer the local coffee -- kopi -- over Starbucks or similar chain stores. You enjoy frequenting the "kopitiams" and can order with confidence coffee -- "kopi" -- black -- "kopi o/oh" -- iced -- "peng" -- and, my personal choice, without sugar -- "kosong." If you also have embraced the local breakfast of kaya toast (this rich concoction of toast slathered with a gooey spread of kaya, which is coconut, egg, sugar and pandan) and soft-boiled eggs ... well, you may as well never leave. To be fair, I'm halfway there. I have forsaken Starbucks and the like generally and have gravitated toward some of the local cafes and roasters -- e.g., the exceptional 40 Hands in Tiong Bahru. Best. Latte. EVER.

5. You forego expensive grocery chains like Cold Storage and brave the local markets. A recent shopping excursion at Tiong Bahru Market for ingredients to make Thai green mango salad ran me about SGD10 -- for green mango, Thai basil, cilantro, red pepper, chil padi, limes and a few other produce items for the week. The same purchases at Cold Storage would have ran me SGD20+.