Hi, just came across this post in another website, just a word of caution on how other expats view Singapore, but personally, i'm liking it here in SG (only working here for ~3weeks)...
Finally Leaving Singapore
by Patricia Tan
It's late afternoon; I've been packing all day. My living room's littered with cardboard boxes to be picked up tomorrow by an international moving company. I'm tired and sweaty, and my back aches from lifting heavy piles of books. But there's a smile on my face that won't go away: my husband and I are finally leaving Singapore.
I'm a thirty year old Australian and have been living in Singapore for eight years. Love brought me here: my partner is Singaporean. We met at a university in my home town, Perth, Western Australia. After we graduated, I followed him to Singapore.
It was exciting at first. Having never lived anywhere else besides the small, quiet city of Perth, Singapore struck me as a cosmopolitan metropolis, a financial hub, a bustling shipping port. It seemed like my future here would be bright and happy.
Now I can't wait to leave. I despise Singapore and have wanted to leave for years. Packing up all of our personal belongings and moving back to Australia feels like a dream come true.
Shoes are next on my packing checklist. It horrifies me to discover that my favorite pair of leather boots is covered in mildew. This follows an earlier discovery of mildew on clothes in the back of my wardrobe. The small fortune we have spent on dehumidifiers has not helped at all. Frustrated, I wipe the sweat from my brow and more beads of sweat appear almost immediately. Curse the constant hot and humid weather here! It'll be wonderful to experience four seasons again, to feel chilly winter winds and curl up beneath a warm blanket. The perennial tropical climate in Singapore is definitely not for me.
To calm down, I look at the view outside my living room window. It's raining heavily, like it has been every afternoon for the past two weeks. It's monsoon season. There are large waterlogged fields of grass on my right. On my left looming block of residential flats nearly identical to my own. They remind me of pigeon holes in an office mailing room. It's probably only a matter of time until the grass fields are developed into more flats. Living space is a premium on this tiny island with over four million people.
Singapore's crowded environment has never suited me. There are high rise buildings, people and cars everywhere. The lack of wide open space is stifling. Homesickness overwhelms me, making me long for a drive through the countryside just outside of Perth.
The high density living here has also created an unspoken class system. More than 80% of the population, including my partner and me, live in "HDB flats" built by a government organization called the Housing Development Board. Those who can afford a bit more live in private
condominiums. Those who are even more affluent live in houses, which most Singaporeans refer to as "landed
property". Moving from an HDB flat to a private
condominium or landed property is called "upgrading" rather than simply "moving". When speaking to Singaporeans who live in more "upgraded" abodes, I sometimes feel like they are looking down on me. Such as when my ex-boss--a pampered girl in her mid-30's who still lives with her parents in their large luxurious house--said to me, "I don't mean to sound spoilt, but I cannot imagine living in an HDB flat."
Upgrading, earning more money, and gaining more material possessions are top priorities here.
It also seems important to keep track of the financial status of others. No one wants to lose or get left behind. 'Kiasu' (Hokkien for "scared to lose") is a term I often hear Singaporeans use when describing their fellow Singaporeans. Asking people, even strangers, nosey questions about their income or how much they paid for their home, car and other assets is a common occurrence (something that I find inappropriate and cannot get used to).
Singaporeans are not exactly known for their tact. In general, they come across as rude and obnoxious. Pushing, shoving, asking inappropriate personal questions, making personal remarks (they seem particularly fond of criticizing a person's appearance directly to their face), not bothering to say things like "excuse me" or "thank you", cutting queues, spitting on the floor, yelling and scolding at the drop of a hat, changing lanes on the road without signaling, and not holding the elevator door open are common behaviors. It is no surprise that the Singapore government has been running a "courtesy campaign" for years in an attempt to encourage manners.
I can't wait to leave this tiny, overcrowded, hot and humid island full of rude, materialistic people!
