So, this one is harder to write, or at least to hit the "publish" button for. I'm a little nervous to post the list of things we won't miss because although we lived there for a year, we are not Singaporean. Is it really fair for us to criticize? While it's okay for me to complain about a family member's behavior, if anyone outside the family does it, feelings get hurt. It is not my intention to hurt any Singaporean's feelings. My family has made a list of the things we don't like very much here and it is supposed to be funny or, failing that, at least fun. If you are a sensitive type, maybe skip this list and re-read our last post that instead discusses what we WILL miss: http://wellbebach.blogspot.sg/2013/06/one-year-later-what-we-will-miss-about.html.
CLIMATE
(The first three entries are all household pests. The reason this is such an issue is because the weather always stays warm. There are seasons for these things in the US so I can better anticipate them. And I know their season will end. Here, they are constant threats!)
1. Ants - Oh my God, the ants! All year round! Invading and trying to set up shop. Ants of every size, hundreds and hundreds of them!
2. Geckos - They are kind of cute, but also startling to see moving out of the corner of your eye in the middle of the night. And their tiny poops are annoying, too.
3. Large bugs - Most insects here have eaten something that turns them into giants. I don't know what it is, but it should be stopped.
4. The hot, hot, sticky heat - I have enjoyed an entire year of what is typically summer weather for us, but I am ready for sweater weather and even snow. Or at least I'm ready to be able to wear pants without sweating within 30 seconds of walking outside.
5. Smells - The intensity level is amped up a bit when the temperature stays warm. It takes getting used to.
SHOPPING
6. Grocery stores - I miss the sprawling markets of the US where I am familiar with the layout of just about any store and recognize most brands and products. It has been fun to discover new flavors and tastes, but I'm ready for a return to the familiar. Even Market Basket's aisles crowded with shoppers and their carts and workers and their huge boxes for re-stocking shelves. Bring it.
7. Long queues - Oh. My. God. I have never waited in lines as long as I have here in Singapore! How do you do it? Every trip to the grocery ends with a minimum 20 minute wait. MINIMUM (those caps are called for here)! I have read that part of the culture here is that people want to wait. Not because they are not busy--they are very busy! But because of the belief that if something is good it is worth waiting for and if something is not worth waiting for, there will be no line. If a store is valuable, it will have the longest queues. Right.
8. Complexity of shopping in general - I think the US had gone too far in the other direction so let me explain this one. If we need a few things, we are likely to have to visit a few different stores. At different shopping centres. In different parts of town. I like specialized stores. I like mom-and-pop shops, I do, but sometimes when I need a bunch of stuff I want to go to one large department store and get it done. Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, those are too big, but can't there be something in between?
SCHOOL
(We were grateful for the experience in local schools and the school system is pretty amazing overall. Although it wasn't a perfect fit for us, it's still a successful system that creates brilliant students.)
9. Competitiveness - All the students are working very hard to please their teachers. The punishments were not like we are used to in the US, not natural consequences or conferences with parents, more shaming. The first grade is spent preparing the students for big tests they take throughout their second year. These tests determine what track they will be in basically for the rest of their education. That's a lot more pressure at a much younger age than we are used to. We are also used to more cooperative learning and teamwork.
10. Afternoon session - Our daughter in the local schools attended the afternoon sessions. Everyone in her grade did. While it was nice not to be in a rush at 7 AM, it felt weird putting her on a bus at noon and then when she got home close to 7 PM, eating a quick dinner and getting ready for bed felt rushed. As a teacher myself, it was also difficult to allow my daughter to go to bed with homework not completed. I am used to getting all the homework done right after school, before dinner, before a restful sleep rather than saving it for the morning.
11. Tuition classes - Practically everyone takes extra classes outside of school, whether it's at one of the centres at the mall or from the local community centre. A kid's day is really over-scheduled for my taste. We were often the only family with school-aged kids at the pool or playground. The other kids were busy. I wish they had more time to play.
12. No one has time - The kids take extra classes, the parents work long hours, everyone is busy. No one has time to hang out for a barbecue or hangout session. Outside of my husband's work friends (who are wonderful), we didn't get to meet many people at all, no one in our neighborhood. It wasn't for lack of trying on our part.
13. E's biggest complaint about schools? "The bullies." I guess they are world-wide.
14. Things Stolen - For a country as safe as Singapore, it is surprising how much stuff is taken if you accidentally leave something at school. There were a few times E left something at the canteen or under a desk in a classroom. Any time she went back to look for it, it was gone. We always checked the lost and found and the items were never there either. She lost a water bottle, a wallet (with only very little money in it), 2 library books (that ended up costing us $44 to replace), and even a spare PE uniform that she had just bought and forgotten to carry with her to class. My sense is that it's part of the punishment. People feel it's okay to take something if you carelessly left it, if you thought so little of it that you didn't remember it. Does that make sense? I feel like that is the attitude. Don't get me wrong, Singapore is very SAFE and it's nice to not worry about pickpockets or getting mugged. Some of the travel guidebooks even said it would be safe to use a mobile phone or wallet to save your seat at a hawker centre, but if you just leave something overnight? It's just gone. I guess I just didn't expect this.
FASHION
(if you know me, you are laughing because I am probably the least fashionable person in the world)
15. Boy, that's a lot of pastel. (I'm used to an all or mostly-black wardrobe)
16. Boy, that's a lot of preppy style.
NON-SPECIFIC TO SINGAPORE
17. Having to figure everything out - I'm ready for the familiar and comfortable for a few months.
18. Somerville - Missing out on all the really cool Somerville events (Artbeat, Honk!, Porchfest, Open Studios, etc.) Not to mention all the HHPG stuff!
19. Not knowing many people, no neighborhood friends
20. Worrying that my family's behavior is going to represent an entire nation of people - That's a lot of pressure! And no, most American families are not nearly as loud as ours.
GENERAL (in random order)
21. Walking - Outside of Orchard Road, it's not much of a walking place. Sometimes there are no sidewalks at all. Cars will not stop for pedestrians crossing the street, even at a crosswalk. Also, it's so darned hot!
22. Expense - Singapore is a very expensive city, especially the alcohol. It's a good thing Tiger beer is so good because that's basically all we could afford to have around the house.
23. Poor customer service - The people in the shops are very helpful, but after the purchase, there is not much care for the customer. If you have to call the gas company, cable company, phone, etc. expect to be on hold for a day or two. And if someone says they will call you back, don't hold your breath.
24. Buyer beware! - Everything is for sale in Singapore, but the quality varies. We have had toys literally fall apart as we take them out of the package, electric fans burn out after just a few hours of use, etc. and it's just expected. I can't tell you how many times Ted has had to perform major surgery on our cheapo vacuum cleaner. We bought a stroller once and they neglected to tell us at the store that we needed to grab a set of wheels for it. Then, once we did all that, we realized that the company had installed the sunscreen attachment upside-down and could not be fixed. We were just out of luck.
25. Cycling - I miss it!
26. Movies - The movies in the theaters are usually older, released a week or more later than the US and I haven't found where there are any indie flicks.
27. Live music - We didn't find any good live music and we love good live music.
28. Bad radio - I mean, even in the US radio is bad because of Clear Channel but at least there are college radio stations. Here, they mostly all play the same 20 pop songs. But at least they have talking DJs.
29. Expensive highlights - I could only afford to get my hair highlighted once. Yikes. Not a good look for a woman turning 40.
30. Book Prices - Man, books are pricey here. I guess that's because I'm looking usually for stuff published in the US or the UK. Books made here are cheaper but there are fewer of those. Thank goodness for the libraries!
31. Slippery surfaces - It rains daily here pretty much. Why are all the surfaces made with slippery materials? I have to shuffle so slowly in the rain when all I really want to do is run for cover. I don't know how the women in sky-high heels do it every day without crutches.
32. Icy but not creamy ice cream - Good, creamy ice cream is too expensive. Wall's is kind of gross. Sorry.
33. No good pizza - We have looked and it's not really here. It's not bad at Picotin, but I'm not sure it's worth the price for the quality. I miss a nice piece of pizza. Also, fresh pasta does not do well in this climate so we haven't had that either. But really, there are so many other food options, we don't miss it. Pizza, I do miss though. And Mexican.
34. Food delivery - It sounds weird but you can't really order in Chinese. People go out to eat here. It's a social experience. That's nice, but some nights I just want to order in and relax. Cannot. The exception is Pizza Hut, KFC, and McDonald's for bulk orders. I'll pass.
35. Backing into parking spots - This is almost unheard of in the US. I understand why you do it, I just lack the patience to wait on 5 different cars backing into spots on my way to find parking before grocery shopping. Inevitably, mine is the only car faced the other direction. At least that makes my brown Honda Stream (the most common car and color here I think) easier to spot!
36. Drivers refusing to yield or help - When driving in an unfamiliar place, it is not uncommon to find yourself in the wrong lane. Would you like to switch lanes? Are you on the highway and about to miss your exit? Forget about it. You will not be allowed. I think this has to do with the punishment idea from before. If you didn't plan ahead, you don't deserve my help. Your mistake is not my problem. In fact, I will speed up and slow down along with you to prevent you from righting your mistake. Then maybe you will learn. You're welcome.
37. Crap kitchens - All the kitchens in every rental we saw were pretty basic, most without ovens. I suppose usually it's the helper in the kitchen and so the owner is less concerned? I don't know. I do know that I miss my island, my huge oven that can prepare several things at once, and my dishwasher. I also miss having hot water on demand instead of having to plan 10 minutes ahead.
38. Staring - It's kind of funny, kind of cute, but I also won't miss it. Sometimes when we walk around the neighborhood, we walk past older ladies who are sitting on the benches outside their HDB flats. Their jaws drop, they stare wide-eyed at us like we are from Mars instead of someplace just slightly closer. Usually, they have a helper or someone with them who smiles and says hi but the ladies themselves can't say hi because they are stunned silent. Funny.
39. Thinking we are tourists - Sometimes in the neighborhood or at touristy places, people welcome us to Singapore. I guess it's not obvious that we have lived here for a year. We must just look clueless. This one is also kind of sweet but I won't miss it.
40. Perfect Picture People - Oh man, speaking of touristy places. We are only here a year so we go to all of them, right? And even our usual go-to places are kind of spots that tourists might visit, too. I am definitely tired of waiting so as not to block people taking pictures. There are so many people. Taking so many pictures. And every once in a while, you get that one couple who wants to make sure every hair is in exact place and they will talk and groom each other all while blocking the path. It's just a picture, people!
41. iPads - I love mine too, but keep it at home. It is very annoying to have someone hold up an iPad to take a picture--or worse, video--with an iPad blocking everyone else's view.
That's it. That's everything we are ready to say goodbye to. Well, it looks like we will miss many more things than things we won't. There are at least 60 things we don't want to think about leaving behind and only 40 things that aggravate us. Not bad!
Since posting my original "What We Will Miss" list, I have already gone back to add safety to it and would now like to add two more things making the grand total of things we'll miss 63. First (or 62nd), we will miss is the lack of sirens. I suppose it goes along with safety. Where we live in Somerville, blocks from a hospital, we hear loud sirens every day.
And finally, respect for elders is central to the culture here and I sure love that. We will miss hearing children calling all adults "auntie" or "uncle." After we first moved into our building, I had a group of a few pre-teen boys come up to me calling out "Auntie!" as they approached. They wanted to find out the time but I was so stunned at having been called "Auntie" that I was hardly able to answer. It was very sweet. The boys were so respectful and well-mannered, of course. Somehow "Auntie" is way less offensive than "ma'am."
This past year has been quite an adventure, much, much bigger than we thought it would. We have grown very close as a family and for that I am appreciative. I hope that we have become more adaptable and easy-going along the way. I know we have learned a lot, visited some spectacular places, and met some really cool people who I hope we will always know. Thanks for taking the journey with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment