Heeeey guys!!
I'm still in the mood to blog. So I just post something that have been in my mind. I want to share what I've learnt during my stay in Singapore. I lived there for more than 3 years, since October 2010. Time really fly..
I hope this post will help you, especially if you want to move to Singapore.. Or at least it will give you some insight.
1. Finding a
Yes. Rental in Singapore is the most expensive. When I first came to Singapore, I rented a room to be shared with one roomate to save cost. I paid S$350/month. The last room that we (my husband and I, we already married) rent cost S$1,100/month. Every month the rental expenses is like 25% of your total salary (depends on the salary though). With that price you can rent a two story house with 3 bedrooms for 2 months in Surabaya my hometown.
And finding the perfect place to live, especially if you're a girl is really difficult. A lot of factor to consider, like: location (near your workplace or not), the cleanliness of the house itself, the landlord (whether they're annoying or not), do they limit the usage of the air conditioner (some of my friend got limitation of using air conditioner for only 8 hours/day). And if you share the room with someone else, those factors above must be compromised by both of you.
Sometime, even if you already found the perfect place, the landlord can suddenly ask you to move out, because they need the room. And you have to do over the search in such a short notice, normally is 1 month.
Moving house also not easy, if you have lots of stuffs, you have to pack them, then unpack again. If you need to hire a mover it also another expenses. Mover cost is around S$80-150, depends on how many stuff you have.
The room with shared bathroom of course will cheaper, but I experience sharing a bathroom among 4 girls, it not easy at all, as girl really take a looooong time in the bathroom. So we have to make a time arrangement for using the bathroom every morning. If the first person wake up late, means the rest will be late to work too. I shared a bathroom with 3 boys too. This is even worse... The bathroom is really disgusting, there're hair everywhere, toothpaste stain on the sink, molds on the wall, etc. I have to wear slipper and close my eyes during shower. I really dragged shower time because going inside the bathroom is like a torture. I already cleaned the bathroom once, but not long after it got dirty again.
Sharing a bathroom also not easy especially when you have the urge to do the big business. Luckily I never encounter that situation, but my husband once have to go to the nearest Mc Donalds just to do the big business because other people is occupying the bathroom.
2. You literally have to walk to everywhere
At first when I came to Singapore as a tourist, I really don't mind to walk everywhere. I found that really refreshing and healthy. So I was excited when I first come to Singapore I was like: Oh, I don't mind walking, I need the exercise though, I have a lot of fat to be burnt, I'm sick and tired being stuck in the car seat during traffic jam, I love observing other people on the MRT/Bus. MRT here I come...
But sometimes you'll missed having a private car, especially on conditions like: heavy rain and you wear a new suede shoes, you're sick and have to walk to see the doctor because the location is too near for a cab ride, you just finished shopping at Ikea and bought a lot of stuffs.
I was once carried a stuff with a paper bag, and it was raining, and I have to climb the overhead bridge. So imagine with my 2 hands I have to carry my bag, the paperbag with heavy stuff and an umbrella! I can be a Circus member... And suddenly the paperbag broke because of wet and all my stuff scattered. Luckily there was a quite cute guy helped me collect all my stuff.. But it was in real life, so nothing further going on like in Korean drama... I just said thank you and continue walking...
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| Bored in the bus? Just take a wefie.. |
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| Spotted someone on the train who really look like my friend. See, this is the joy travelling by train. You'll see a lot of people. |
3. There is no need to addressing other people with "Pak/Bu/Kak" (meaning: Mr/Mrs)
Even I only called my boss by his first name. It was really rude in Indonesia to call your boss by his/her first name, you could get fired. Only in formal letter you have to use those title. But in daily life you just call everyone literally by their first name.
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| Hi Boss, thank you for reading my blog ... |
4. Applying job in Singapore are via email. You search for the job posting from the internet, not from newspaper. That's called technology in modern life
Last time I came to Singapore I brought a lot of copies of my resume and also a lot of C4 envelope. They're all useless. There're still some job offering from the newspaper though, depends on the position. But for Graphic Designer jobs like mine you just find it via jobsdb/jobstreet/monster/etc.
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| What I do for living... |
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| See, I was pretty busy... |
The fastest I've ever encounter was the people called me before the email reached me. But what I like about this habit is when you need to complain about something or make reservation, you don't have to call. Just send via email, mostly you'll get a reply withing the same day or the next day. I'm not the kind of person who like direct conversation, especially about complaining or inquiring prices (haven't decided to buy yet, just checking the price). And everything can be communicated via email. Most of my clients, I never met them or speak to them. All my job and amendments come via email.
During my early day of working in an office environment, my "Singlish" is still not that good. My first phone call from a client was a disaster, I didn't understand what she's talking about at all, but I was to shy to ask to repeat, I don't want he think that he's speaking with an idiot. I was so stressed when my phone rang. But slowly I got the hang of it. Like in 2 weeks maybe. Having conversation with your colleagues help you a lot in learning Singlish.
6. There are minimum 2 parties in a year on your office
Chinese New Year and DnD (Dinner and Dance). But luckily with my previous company I had 3 in a year!! CNY, DnD (company bday) and Christmas.
My first Christmas party in the office was the most memorable, because we have to dress in a movie star costume. I didn't mine spend S$50 to rent the costume. It was fun!
During Chinese New Year party, there will be cooking competition. We will cook in a team of your choice. I won for 3rd place once! I never ever cook before, and in that competition We (my teammate and I) have to cook for 50 portions! And there will be lucky draw too! I never ever won a lucky draw before, not even the lowest price. But during my work time in this company, every year I sure win something. And I even won the 1st price!! Wooow... So far I've got, an expensive hamper with ginseng, bird nest and wine in it and 2 blenders (one of them I switch to a slow cooker with a friend).
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| My very first Christmas Party in the office. Can you spot me? |
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| Chinese New Year Cooking Competition |
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| What we do during the party... Get drunk.... |
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| Look I won the first prize!! |
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| I love to eat |
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| Second year cooking competition that we won the third place! |
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| I won the best dress on company DnD |
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| My last CNY Cooking Competition, which was a total failure |
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| Dinner and Dance 2012 |
7. Chinese Language in really crucial
You better start take a course now. I'm a Chinese born in Indonesia, but I cannot speak Chinese at all. I was too lazy to took a course. Only when I'm already at Singapore I took a course, bought via groupon. But it only lasted for a month. My brain cannot take it. And Chinese course is much much cheaper in Indonesia than in Singapore.
In daily life, most of the conversation are in Chinese. Especially if you encounter with an elderly food seller. They don't speak english at all. And ordering food can be quite frustrating. The juicy gossips in your office also comes in Chinese, unless you're working in a multi-national company when there're really mixed nationality in the office. But the good things I don't understand chinese is it didn't bother me when I heard other colleagues complaining about work or they talked about me. Just focus on your work!
The ironic thing that ever happen to me is during lunch time, when you're sitting on a table with all your colleagues and everyone talking in Chinese and they laugh, but you don't understand what's happening. And I had to options: join the laughter as I understand what's the funny part or act cool and pretend to be busy with my phone. Mostly I chose the later though, I don't want my colleague thought that I was crazy. Situation like that sometimes made me regret why I didn't learn Chinese.
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| Miss you guys... SY sorry if this is not your best photo. This is the only one I have. |
I really home sick and missed my best friends. But luckily I got the best housemates. We are like a sisters, We celebrate each other bday, we can borrow each other stuff like clothes, makeup, etc. I always wanted to have a sister and suddenly I had 3!
I had a clique consist of 7 indonesian girls. We always had an outing at least once a month. Even now we're all apart, we still communicating to each other via whatsapp.
Finding a good community is also important, as they're the one who will help you during difficult times. Eg: clean a new house. I went to an Indonesian church, so I always felt like home. And the pastor is really a good cook. He always cook lots of yummy Indonesian food. This can cure our homecisk of Indonesian food. Indonesian food in Singapore cost super expensive and the taste is not really there.
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| When we watched Indonesia VS Singapore Soccer Match |
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| One of my best friend, took a pre-wedding photos for us. For Free... |
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| Do you know where it is? |
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| Not a pre-wedding photo |
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| Church Event, we all have to wear "Batik" |
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| During Indonesian Independence Day Celebration |
These are the things related to my job, maybe if one of you willing to work in Singapore, this might help. The most common design software that being used in Singapore are Adobe Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. Nobody use Corel anymore. Freehand is also a bit rare. The measurement units used in Singapore is millimeter (mm) not centimeter like in Indonesia.
10. There is a lot of food in Singapore (only if you have money)
Any kind of food you can get in Singapore. Korean? Japanese? Italian? French? Turkish? Moroccan? Anything, you name it, you'll find it here. All the food taste as good as the original, because the chef and the ingredients comes from the origin country. But of course the authentic food comes with the price.
But still, the japanese food you eat in Japan is better than in Singapore. Wait until you eat Japanese food in Indonesia. In Indonesia (I mean in y hometown, Surabaya) is very difficult to find a good Western food. Everything has been adjusted to the local taste buds.
If you don't really have a lot of money to spend on food then you'll have to stuck with Mixed Rice, Chicken Rice, Bak Chor Mee, Yong Tou Foo, Laksa or Roti Prata. Every food court mostly have the same variety. Everywhere you go, you'll sure find Mixed Rice or Chicken Rice.
What I like and miss the most is Iced Milo... It's difficult to find a good Ice Milo here T_T
For food photos and where to get them, please go to my instagram instead: @whatvinaeat
And don't forget to press the follow button... Here're a glimpse..
11. Being invited to a Wedding is super expensive
Unlike in Indonesia. People are more considerate when giving "gift money" when attending a wedding banquet. Normally the minimum of money being given out is S$80/person, if you're attending as a couple then multiple it by two. The rate for Wedding Lunch Reception or Weekdays Reception will be slightly cheaper. But the rates also depends on the place. The more high class the place, the more money must be given.
So when you're not invited to a party please be grateful. With that amount of money I could by a two ways plane tickets back to my home town.
It's really different compared to a wedding in Indonesia. People here are more "thick skinned" I guess. Sometimes they can come in a packs, the parents, two kids and the maid! and only give the "gift money" enough to cover one person meal cost.
And on a wedding reception people dress very casual. Nobody wear formal long evening gown or go to the hairdresser to get full make up and hair done. Mostly the ladies will only wear short dress. But this one depends on the reception place though. I never attend a really high class wedding in Singapore.
The decoration and entertainment also very simple. No grand decoration or dancers or orchestra. But the one that I really envious is bride in Singapore can have 2 or 3 dresses only for the Dinner Reception!! Normally in Indonesia the bride only have one dress to be worn from morning until night. Maybe just add different accessories and change hair style.
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| How I dressed when attending a Wedding |
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| Wedding Reception with the Groom. |
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| Our Wedding. My colleagues must thought that I'm really rich can have such a grand wedding. No, that's common practice in Indonesia. |
They can celebrate before the day itself, but not after. Unlike in Indonesia, nobody celebrate birthday before the actual date. Nobody wants to grow older before the time I guess.. And and the best thing is, in Singapore the Birthday girl/boy will get treated by their friends. Not the other way around like in Indonesia. On your birthday everyone will ask you to treat them for a free food. Better you hide at home or you'll be broke.
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| Celebrate colleague's bday |
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| My 26th Bday Celebration |
OK, those are the things that I can remember at this moment, I will update more if I suddenly remember something else...
