60 signs you've been in Singapore too long!

[morenangpinay]

I'll add on:

You think your D-cup boobs are too big and everything under a C-cup is normal.

yah frustrating to find the right bra

[morenangpinay]

when you understand what they mean by "going bak"

it took me ages to understand that ...i always ask going back where??

[JR8]

- When you understand that if you encounter a local and he asks if you've 'taken rice', he's not asking whether have you eaten, rice or not. But there's a second level to it, it is not a literal question expecting a literal answer. It is perhaps like in the West, a person asking 'How ya' doin'?', they're simply greeting you rather than enquiring how your last doctor's visit went. The SGn question seems to be a close equivalent. My usual answer is along the lines of 'Yes, very nice (optional: patting stomach), have you?'

One experience I had again this morning.
- Having difficulty distinguishing between a bird and a plane.

[I was on the terrace, watching what looked like an eagle slowly meandering in the sky. It's quite a common site here. Then suddenly it turned and shot off towards the horizon. For a moment I was wondering if height/perspective were playing tricks with my eyes... then moments later came the delayed roar of jet engines ]

[rajagainstthemachine]

I'll add on:

You think your D-cup boobs are too big and everything under a C-cup is normal.

post is useless without pictures.

[nakatago]

You're already living in another country and it gets brought up that you lived in Singapore. Then the person who hasn't lived in Singapore (but only visited) says Singapore is one of the nicest countries to live in and looks to you for validation of what they said and you have a >30 second pause because you can't think of something polite to say because deep down, you know you've seen something most people don't and you don't want to ruin things for them. You've been to the dark side and made it back...you struggle if revealing the price of truth is worth it. Do you cast a light on this darkness or do you let people discover it for themselves, if they do ever run into it?

[maneo]

You're already living in another country and it gets brought up that you lived in Singapore. Then the person who hasn't lived in Singapore (but only visited) says Singapore is one of the nicest countries to live in and looks to you for validation of what they said and you have a >30 second pause because you can't think of something polite to say because deep down, you know you've seen something most people don't and you don't want to ruin things for them. You've been to the dark side and made it back...you struggle if revealing the price of truth is worth it. Do you cast a light on this darkness or do you let people discover it for themselves, if they do ever run into it?

Every place has it's own darkness.
Every place.

Am glad expats find so many issues with living here.
It keeps the rest of the horde away.

[JR8]

^ Nak!



Don't know what went into your coffee this morning, priceless!

[bgd]

Am glad expats find so many issues with living here.
It keeps the rest of the horde away.

That and the current manpower policies.

[nakatago]

Every place has it's own darkness.

The brighter the picture, the darker the negative.

[rajagainstthemachine]

1.The day you discover you've turned into a phone zombie and you are able to meander your way through vivo city crowds quite easily.

2. Chicken rice is part of your stable diet.

3.you learn that its ok to get exit from the front door in the bus sometimes, for a long time I always used to exit only from the rear exit.

more to come...

[the lynx]

...when you start speaking Singlish.

[ecureilx]

...when you start speaking Singlish.

When you walk into Starbucks or Coffee bean and nearly blurt out te xi... or kopi xi (there's no SB or CB near my work place or home.. )

Or when your new team lead says his friend canna for littering and you agree while the rest of the expat crew look confused ... more so when the team lead says the current process is chapalang...

[Wd40]

- When you understand that if you encounter a local and he asks if you've 'taken rice', he's not asking whether have you eaten, rice or not. But there's a second level to it, it is not a literal question expecting a literal answer. It is perhaps like in the West, a person asking 'How ya' doin'?', they're simply greeting you rather than enquiring how your last doctor's visit went. The SGn question seems to be a close equivalent. My usual answer is along the lines of 'Yes, very nice (optional: patting stomach), have you?'

One experience I had again this morning.
- Having difficulty distinguishing between a bird and a plane.

[I was on the terrace, watching what looked like an eagle slowly meandering in the sky. It's quite a common site here. Then suddenly it turned and shot off towards the horizon. For a moment I was wondering if height/perspective were playing tricks with my eyes... then moments later came the delayed roar of jet engines ]

This is used a lot in India as well, the literal translation of "Have you had your lunch/dinner?" I always wonder why people ask this question, may be because of high poverty levels in the past, that you need to ask whether a person had a meal or not.

[sundaymorningstaple]

That is how it was explained to me when I first got here 3 decades ago. It was based on poverty/hardship back in those days.

[x9200]

- When you understand that if you encounter a local and he asks if you've 'taken rice', he's not asking whether have you eaten, rice or not. But there's a second level to it, it is not a literal question expecting a literal answer.

I had it a hard way. It happened very shortly after my arrival to Singapore and was just trying to embrace all the new things around. I was going by a cab when the cabbie asked me something like this: did you have e-o-dee-ne? I took me good 15 min to make some sense out of this.
The problem was pretty complex and I realize it may sound a bit idiotic for an English native speaker but two factors kicked in: 1) I am a chemist; 2) in my native language you normally read words the same way they are written. What I got and had big problem to process was this: did you have iodine. I just could not get why a taxi driver was suddenly asking me whether I had a chemical element of the atomic number 53 belonging to the halogen group. A conspiracy thinking was triggered too: how the hell did he know I was a chemist?

Now I am already very familiar with the phrase so if somebody asks me, Sir, did you have your dinner, I can immediately answer, yes, thank you, how about yourself?