Making friends with the locals

[aargon]

As they say, when in Rome, make friends with the Romans.

Can anyone share their experiences? is it easy making friends with local singaporeans or do expats pretty much just stick together like glue?

[Bafana]

Easy way to make fiends with locals is to have a beer or two at the coffee shop and be friendly. Also hang out with local work mates. A lot of expats are insular but I have avoided such club mentality and found the experience fantastic. Go to Marine Parade Coffee Shop (the one with the giant octopus statue and ask for Dave (older Indian guy) from there have fun and lots of friends.

[x9200]

As they say, when in Rome, make friends with the Romans.

Can anyone share their experiences? is it easy making friends with local singaporeans or do expats pretty much just stick together like glue?

Depends. Going regularly out to an ordinary coffee shop is a good idea but not necessarily you would be instantly swarmed by willing-to-make-friends locals On the other hand If you will be socially proactive your chances I think may be higher than with your colleagues at work.

[phella]

i'm a local, any expat who wants to talk or have a beer, venture into the pub/restaurant biz or whatever can contact me....

[JaanJ]

aargon wrote:

As they say, when in Rome, make friends with the Romans.

Can anyone share their experiences? is it easy making friends with local singaporeans or do expats pretty much just stick together like glue?

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Just take your time to get soaked in the local culture. And soon you'll find yourself mingling with a nice bunch of local folks

[econoMIC]

As they say, when in Rome, make friends with the Romans.

Can anyone share their experiences? is it easy making friends with local singaporeans or do expats pretty much just stick together like glue?

I hate seeing pure expat groups together. There are some regulars at Brewerkz every Friday night and never ever do they have any locals in their midst. What I do not understand is that if you were back home you maybe would never speak to each other but just because you are in a foreign place all the ang mos have a shared history or something? Weird. Plus people will be missing out on many great thoughts and fun with the locals. I personally wouldn't want to miss it for the world.

[mortlock2005]

Until recently we lived in a condo and the only people we tended to socialise with has been other expats. My husband has lunch with locals at work, and sometimes goes out for dinner or a drink. We're not hugely social people and tend to spend our time at home or doing things with the kids.

A few months ago we moved to a house on the east coast and we have the NICEST neighbours. They have had us over for dinner, they are always offering us helpful "local" advice, introduced us to everyone at the local wet market, etc. They have been invaluable help, and really nice new friends. That said, we haven't really made any other friends from our neighbours.

[x9200]

I hate seeing pure expat groups together. There are some regulars at Brewerkz every Friday night and never ever do they have any locals in their midst. What I do not understand is that if you were back home you maybe would never speak to each other but just because you are in a foreign place all the ang mos have a shared history or something? Weird. Plus people will be missing out on many great thoughts and fun with the locals. I personally wouldn't want to miss it for the world.

If it comes to any drinking gathering I found locals showing pretty much reserve in active participation - loosing face syndrome if they get drunk as per my guess. This may be a factor sometimes.

[econoMIC]

I hate seeing pure expat groups together. There are some regulars at Brewerkz every Friday night and never ever do they have any locals in their midst. What I do not understand is that if you were back home you maybe would never speak to each other but just because you are in a foreign place all the ang mos have a shared history or something? Weird. Plus people will be missing out on many great thoughts and fun with the locals. I personally wouldn't want to miss it for the world.

If it comes to any drinking gathering I found locals showing pretty much reserve in active participation - loosing face syndrome if they get drunk as per my guess. This may be a factor sometimes.

Correct! That is why I enjoy it. People do not end up drunk, vomiting all over the place and starting to talk rubbish unlike here in the UK. Go out with friends and past 10PM it is "uncool" to not be drunk and make yourself look like a total wally.

I had many sessions at Brewerkz with my local mates and it was nice having funny, easy, non-drunk conversations with them.

[sundaymorningstaple]

If it comes to any drinking gathering I found locals showing pretty much reserve in active participation - loosing face syndrome if they get drunk as per my guess. This may be a factor sometimes.

You haven't seen our local gals at Zouk on Friday & Saturday's & Ladies nights then, have you!

They lie around on the sidewalks in their own chunder & piss so much it made the newspapers a couple of months back!

[x9200]

Correct! That is why I enjoy it. People do not end up drunk, vomiting all over the place and starting to talk rubbish unlike here in the UK. Go out with friends and past 10PM it is "uncool" to not be drunk and make yourself look like a total wally.

I had many sessions at Brewerkz with my local mates and it was nice having funny, easy, non-drunk conversations with them.

C'mon, is it really like nothing at all or the full throttle? I do not remember a single time we ended up in the condition you mentioned above. Talking rubbish is a part of the process so nothing wrong with this.You can find the right balance and not get completely wasted. More importantly, as far as I can see the locals are more afraid of what may happen to them while drinking than what would happen to the others. This is also not too much fun if you are the only sober in such company regardless you are a local or an ang-moh.
Having a gathering and stay sober is ok - do not get me wrong, but the point is that both the locals and the expats like to go out and have few drinks but it looks like the locals are afraid to do it together with the expats. This is not like the locals are abstinents. The only spontaneous "mixed" drinking session I had so far during my 8y stay in SG was in a coffee shop with my motorbike mechanic. He was a simply guy acting naturally and was not obsessed with loosing face stigmas of all the sorts.

[x9200]

If it comes to any drinking gathering I found locals showing pretty much reserve in active participation - loosing face syndrome if they get drunk as per my guess. This may be a factor sometimes.

You haven't seen our local gals at Zouk on Friday & Saturday's & Ladies nights then, have you!

They lie around on the sidewalks in their own chunder & piss so much it made the newspapers a couple of months back!

Nope. Have not had that much luck so far

[econoMIC]

... the point is that both the locals and the expats like to go out and have few drinks but it looks like the locals are afraid to do it together with the expats.

Never seen this problem before. Take your NS mates out for an evening and you can get wasted with them. No problem at all. Got quite a few expat friends who regularly go on tour with their NS buds.

[x9200]

... the point is that both the locals and the expats like to go out and have few drinks but it looks like the locals are afraid to do it together with the expats.

Never seen this problem before. Take your NS mates out for an evening and you can get wasted with them. No problem at all. Got quite a few expat friends who regularly go on tour with their NS buds.

I am not really sure what do you mean by my NS (National Service?) mates but it looks like it can be a different social/working environment thing.

[local lad]

I probably cannot speak for the rest of the local community here but personally I think it is the common ground that binds all types of people together, locals and expats alike. Some local friends of mine have expat friends ,or specifically colleagues , that like to go for drinks with them. Their conversations usually entails frustrations with the common superiors and other work-related issues. Another group of my local friends have expat friends that shared the same sports interests, for instance,
tennis. They have regular sessions every week and go to their favourie haunt for supper / drinks after that.

I do not suppose any expat would just walk up to any local and ask for friendship without any objective in mind, likewise goes for the locals.

If you really want to make friends with the locals , start with their interest. It will go a long way.