weird singapore couple or weird me?

[newtosingapore]

I just moved to Cote D'Azur. There's some minor problem in my apartment that needs to be fixed. My agent told me to locate a guy in the basement of block 66 for help. Then it's raining. The guard told me that I could walk thru the underground parking lot. I walked over and had a look at my mailbox. strangly there's piece of paper from the building management to a resident of Block 66. Then I just thought why not just drop it in the right mailbox since I am going there anyway.

I walked over block 66. My card didn't work and I couldn't get into the building. "Dumb you" you may say. Yeah, just moving from US, I don't have such experience living in a huge development. Anyway, there came a Singapore couple, middle age. They stared me suspiciously. I told them that I'm living in Block 60 and I wanted to find the building management guy. They didn't let me in. Then I said "But could you please do a favor by dropping this mail in the mailbox? This is a notice from the building management to a resident in this block." (I didnt find the mailbox outside the block.)

The lady had a look at the piece of notice and said "I don't think so. I'm not sure you're a resident here."

Aren't they just weired or am I weired in a sense? I'm totally new here and haven't got quite used to the "Lah, Yah, Wah" yet. Maybe my behavior is weired in locals' eyes. Sometime I just couldn't understand a lot of things here.

[dot dot dot]

not the nicest experience, I agree. Give it time, people might be a bit overreacting from times to times here, but looking at it from a positive side: there is social control, which can be a good thing as well in certain occasions.

Don't give it too much a thought, there's all kinds of people here.

Eric

[Wham]

that is a funny story. THe old lockout... Has happened to all of us i think - just a good thing you weren't half naked.

It is good to understand that there is a high value placed on conformity here in asia and that "sticking out" is dangerous and to be avoided- and this syndrome is worse in say Japan or Korea. To THEM, you were in an embarassing situation, so the BEST THING to do would be to AVOID all association with you lest someone else see them somehow associated with the EMBARASSING PERSON (worse yet that your are western). There is a bright side to it, IF you do something totally stupid - people will tend to pretend it didn't happen if at all possible. In business this has worked in my favor once or twice...

oh, and if you ever have some food stuck in your front tooth in the middle of a dinner party - NOBODY will EVER say anything unless they REALLY know you well - and the only way you will know is if everyone starts to pretend you are NOT THERE. good luck!

[tiki]

I'm Maori so I have a couple of 'Maori Tattoos' on me and I get a kick everytime I'm taking the lift and some ( usually elderly ) people especially women would pretend to wait for the next one and not share the ride with me.

...I'd laff my arse off in the lift!

Imagine if I had a mo'ko ( face tattoo ).....

It's a small world that's why some poeple are 'narrow'..

[sydgirl]

To Newtosingapore,

You made me laugh out loud when I read your post. I find Singapore full of ridiculous behaviour regarding following this rule and that rule. Let me give you an example. I have recently moved into a new condo and I was told one day by a guard that I needed to inform the guardhouse when I would be getting deliveries of furniture. So I complied.

The next thing I know management comes knocking on my door to tell me I need to fill out forms and then they will hand them to the guard house. So I do this and take the forms to the management office where the guy tells me I can't have delivered things after a certain date because I will have missed my deadline. DEADLINE. WHAT DEADLINE I SAY. He points to the white board with his nice little table drawn up showing my unit number and my deadline date. I could not believe how stupid this system was and mostly because they never told ME!

I told him I haven't even had time to go to the furniture shops yet to shop around, purchase and then get deliveries made. He had a solution I could then draw up my own timetable and give that to him. I just decided to ignore the tables, wave to the guards and get on with moving in.

I'm from Sydney and it makes you laugh when you see people take this form of operating seriously.

[sydgirl]

My goodness Tiki if I had of seen you I might of thought I was in Bondi.

[dot dot dot]

that is a funny story. THe old lockout... Has happened to all of us i think - just a good thing you weren't half naked.

It is good to understand that there is a high value placed on conformity here in asia and that "sticking out" is dangerous and to be avoided- and this syndrome is worse in say Japan or Korea. To THEM, you were in an embarassing situation, so the BEST THING to do would be to AVOID all association with you lest someone else see them somehow associated with the EMBARASSING PERSON (worse yet that your are western). There is a bright side to it, IF you do something totally stupid - people will tend to pretend it didn't happen if at all possible. In business this has worked in my favor once or twice...

oh, and if you ever have some food stuck in your front tooth in the middle of a dinner party - NOBODY will EVER say anything unless they REALLY know you well - and the only way you will know is if everyone starts to pretend you are NOT THERE. good luck!

Well...

Not saying anything to you for having something stuck between your teeth is because it is considered respecting you, being polite to you, you will 'not loose face', so in local culture this is actually something very good to do.

As for the sticking out in society here, one only does that by showing how successful one is materialistically: drive the BMW 7 series, expensive jewellry, branded items etc etc. You will gain respect if doing this.

Funny, cause in Holland for example you also better not stick out from the rest, your head will be chopped off. So if you drive a BMW 7 series back there, you will be seen as a potential drugdealer or someone who just wants to show off. No respect gained.

Difference in cultures I guess.

Eric

[guruvishwanath]

Welcome to the land of process, procedures and paper work!

My uncle, who is a vegetarian, decided to hit MacDonalds. This episode is a few years ago. He decided that heading off to little india is a blowing waste of time and he just wanted something simple. He figured he can get a simple meal without the meat patti. Cool, he thinks. He queues up orders a burger but tells them to leave the patti out and just give the bun, lettuce and mayo and cheese! This is when things started going wonky. The counter girl looked horrified and said they cant do that. My uncle was like "why? I am paying you the full price for the meal. No compromise on that". Then the manager came and he was blah-blahing with uncle. Finally after 10 minutes of this drama, my uncle says, just give the burger. It comes. My uncle takes out the wrapping, takes out the patti and chucks it in the garbage, checkes for any residues and wraps back the burger, pays the money. You should have seen the moritified crew and crowd. Me and my uncle were in splits all the way home and during the meal!

Realisation is that if there is a process and you get creative with it. good luck!

[tiki]

My goodness Tiki if I had of seen you I might of thought I was in Bondi.

..nxt time whilst waiting for the lift with them folks,I might just do a little 'haka.'That wud surely give me plenty of solo elevator rides heh!

[Married Expat]

Or perhaps something more authentically Maori - get drunk, unemployed and give the wife a bit of slap around?

My goodness Tiki if I had of seen you I might of thought I was in Bondi.

..nxt time whilst waiting for the lift with them folks,I might just do a little 'haka.'That wud surely give me plenty of solo elevator rides heh!

[Guest]

Or perhaps something more authentically Maori - get drunk, unemployed and give the wife a bit of slap around?

My goodness Tiki if I had of seen you I might of thought I was in Bondi.

..nxt time whilst waiting for the lift with them folks,I might just do a little 'haka.'That wud surely give me plenty of solo elevator rides heh!

Wud luv to but the wife's not to keen that. If you're a guy and married,if your nick is to go by, cud I borrow your wife?

[Guest]

Or perhaps something more authentically Maori - get drunk, unemployed and give the wife a bit of slap around?

..nxt time whilst waiting for the lift with them folks,I might just do a little 'haka.'That wud surely give me plenty of solo elevator rides heh!

Wud luv to but the wife's not to keen that. If you're a guy and married,if your nick is to go by, cud I borrow your wife?

HAHAHAHA

[k1w1]

Or perhaps something more authentically Maori - get drunk, unemployed and give the wife a bit of slap around?

Highly effing offensive. Australian, are we?

[dot dot dot]

k1w1,

we all know know how well mannered and civilised the self proclaimed indigenous Australians are themselves....

Sept 3, 2005
Scandals liven up dreary Aussie politics

Brogden is only the latest in a long line to get into trouble over women and booze
By Roger Maynard
Australia Correspondent

SYDNEY - THE disgraced Australian politician who tried to commit suicide after he admitted making a racist comment and further embarrassing details emerged about his private life, may have brought shame on himself and parliamentary colleagues, but he can draw comfort from one fact: He is not alone.


LADIES' MAN: Mr Hawke with Ms d'Alpuget, who was his biographer before he left his wife to marry her. He was also a drinker and still holds the Guinness record for drinking a yard of ale in the fastest time.


Mr John Brogden was still recovering from his self-inflicted knife wounds in a private Sydney clinic on Thursday as the New South Wales Liberal Party stood behind a new leader, Mr Peter Debnam, who was elected unopposed.

Mr Brogden, who earlier apologised for propositioning two female journalists and calling the wife of former New South Wales premier Bob Carr 'a mail-order bride', is the latest in a long line of Australian politicians to fall victim to scandal and innuendo.

Only last year, a Liberal candidate in the federal election, Mr Ross Cameron, failed to be re-elected after he admitted cheating on his wife.

Mr Cameron, 39, a friend of Prime Minister John Howard, had marketed himself in previous elections as a family man with deep Christian convictions.

During the Labor administration of the l990s, then-foreign minister Gareth Evans had an affair with the leader of the Democrats Party, Ms Cheryl Kernot.

Their relationship, which had been a subject of gossip at Parliament House in Canberra for some years, was eventually made public by a journalist who was irritated that Ms Kernot failed to acknowledge it in her autobiography.


EXPOSED: Mr Evans' affair with Democrats' leader Cheryl Kernot was made public by a journalist.
In 2003, another Democrats leader, Mr Andrew Bartlett, made the headlines after he had too many drinks and abused Liberal senator Jeannie Ferris in the parliamentary chamber, calling her a 'bitch'.

Former Labor prime minister Bob Hawke, once a renowned boozer, also had a reputation as a ladies' man. He left his wife and married his biographer, Ms Blanche d'Alpuget.

Mr Hawke, who went on to give up alcohol for the term of his prime ministership, still holds the record in the Guinness Book for drinking a yard of ale in the fastest time.

Another Australian leader, the late Liberal prime minister Sir John Gorton, also loved a drink and the company of women. He was once criticised by the opposition for visiting singer Liza Minnelli, then a nightclub singer, in her dressing room. He was also attacked for appointing an attractive 22-year-old woman called Ainsley Gotto as his principal private secretary.


PANTS DOWN: Mr Fraser was found in the lobby of an American inn wearing just a towel and shirt.
In l999, the then-president of the New South Wales Upper House, Mr Max Willis, was asked to resign after he attended a late-night sitting in an inebriated state.

Among the stories about Australian political leaders, one of the most hilarious was former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser's 'Memphis Trousers Incident'.

During a visit to the United States, he was found walking around the lobby of the Admiral Benbow Inn in Memphis without his trousers.

Retired from active politics at the time, the former PM was attired merely in a shirt and towel. Later, he claimed to have been drugged.

The story has entered the annals of Australian political history alongside the other many and varied tales of drunkenness and sexual shenanigans which have done so much to enliven an otherwise dreary parliamentary landscape.


Eric

[Married Expat]

Not nearly as "effing" offensive as unleashing a haka on "some (usually elderly) people especially women" so a point can be made about people not wanting to share elevator rides. But I guess in that case, it's ok - it's only directed towards the locals, right?

And yes I am Australian, your point is?

Or perhaps something more authentically Maori - get drunk, unemployed and give the wife a bit of slap around?

Highly effing offensive. Australian, are we?