Things we still find amusing in Singapore
- Going for an early morning or late night coffee and the place is full of students still studying
- Going into Mustafa expecting to make a quick purchase
- People queuing to use an escalator rather than walk down a few stairs
- People who won't start eating until they have taken a few photos of their food plate
- Local couples wearing matching outfits
- That when I first arrived I believed I would only ever eat local food
- Being asked if we like durian
- That anyone could eat kaya toast for breakfast
- Watching people join the longest queue at the hawker centre just because it's the longest queue
- When the automated toilet flushes too soon
- That as an expat I am never questioned by security at any condo I visit
- The inappropriate names of condos, like 'Riverview' that is nowhere near a river
- Spelling and grammar of English signage
- When asked if I want bubbles in my tea
- Being offered pamphlets in Mandarin in the street
- Some of the things grown women here wear
- The price of canned abalone. Who would buy the canned stuff anyway?
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Christmas decorations in October
- Taxi drivers who insist on surging forward and slowing rather than just driving at a constant speed
- Pedestrians who text as they cut you off or stand still at the top/bottom of an escalator
- Seeing a local chap carrying his girlfriend's handbag
- Posing for 'selfie' photos
- Rice porridge, pig organ soup, century egg, turkey bacon
- Squat toilets
- People standing in the middle of the travelators
- Waiting more than 2 mins for a train
- Spitting
- Walking out of a mall and being assaulted by the heat and humidity
- Seeing people wearing surgical masks in the street
- When your students won't stop sniffing or use a tissue
- Having to wear your winter woollies to the movies
- Being told the restaurant doesn't serve free tap water
- That on the crowded buses locals still think it is ok to sit in the aisle seat.
- That people sitting in the aisle seat on buses think it is ok to just swivel in their seat to let you off.
- That locals insist on pushing the Door Close button multiple times in a lift
- The number of luxury cars here that are capable of driving at over 200 kms/hr but there are no roads in the whole island where you can do that
- When great food is spoilt by bad service
- The Singapore snort
- Our ability to speak or understand Mandarin
- Our ability to get lost using the Orchard Rd pedestrian underpasses
- When we hear "Sorry, there is no taxi available, please try again in 10 minutes."
- When we realise we were running for a train when we swore we never would
- When the only free cubicle is a squat toilet
- That I can still get on a train travelling in the wrong direction
- That when you politely get off the train to let someone off, nobody lets you back on again
- When the biggest size they have still doesn't fit
- When a taxi driver is changing shift and yells at you through the window
- That locals spend their day off sleeping
- September when everyone renovates the apartments above, below and beside ours
- That they haven't changed the announcements on the MRT in all the time we've been here
- When someone completely disregards the queue for the MRT and walks straight to the front
- Hearing "The doors are closing" announcement and still people try to get on the train
- That in this day and age teams of workers are delivered to the construction sites in the back of open lorries.
- There are no stars in the Singapore night sky
- Discovering that ordering no ice is more expensive
Things we still find exciting
- Finding a bakery that sells more than just sugary bread
- Finding an empty table at Chomp Chomp Hawker Centre
- Tropical downpours and thunder storms
- That so many birds can be found in such a built environment
- Making eye contact with someone on the MRT
- That taxi drivers can find their way everywhere on the island without a GPS
- Getting off a plane at Changi airport and being in the taxi in under 15 mins
- That moon cakes are considered a delicacy
- A little breeze as we walk down the drive of Cherry Hill Condo
- Getting hit by that first icy chill when you enter a shopping mall
- When people ask if we get homesick
- Marina Bay Sands and its skypark
- Bumping into friends in a crowded shopping mall or MRT platform
- Circling around Food Republic not knowing what to choose
- That when you ask a local for directions the response is always "Go straight, turn right"
- That while the Christian percentage of population in Singapore is still well below 20%, their decorations far outstrip anything seen in Australia. Every mall has at least one tree, but are they all 4 storeys high?Merry Christmas to everyone who reads this. We hope your New Year is filled with good health and happiness.
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