On top of Singapore with my best friends at Ku De Ta
So, I’ve been home for about a month now and the number one question I’ve been asked by everyone is, “How is it like to be back?”
I don’t think I’ve satisfied anyone with my shrugs or single word mutterings, not even myself. So I will attempt to answer that question properly here.
To give you more context, this is the first time I’ll be home for more than a couple of weeks in about five years. I begin my next big adventure sometime next year, but until then I’m living at home with my parents. I don’t have to explain the adjustment that takes after living on your own for awhile but I’ll say that having family and my bestest childhood friends close is awesome and getting to enjoy our incredible local food with them is pretty sweet. Also, having our dogs around to soothe the soul and having a domestic helper (the term we use for maids to make ourselves feel better about our completely spoiled lifestyle) means not having to do laundry myself — a wonderful treat!
Apart from those things though, life in Singapore has been….well, I’ll start off by saying that no matter which city you live in, there’s always something to stress out about. In DC it was the transcience of the city, and the constant need to make new friends when your old friends moved away. In London it was the tube strikes. And in Singapore, it’s navigating through the extremely dense population, the majority of which seem to be sorely lacking in social graces. Now, before anyone gets offended, I’ll just say this is merely an account of what I’ve experienced so far in the last month I’ve been here and it is possible I’ve had the shear dumb luck of being surrounded by the only rude people in Singapore and the nicest, politest people are all outside of the 5 mile radius around me. Though I highly doubt that. The following are currently the three main stress causing areas of my life, in descending order of blood pressure.
1. Driving
Admittedly, having not driven often enough in the past few years, I’ve become a tad timid on the roads. But I also don’t remember having to navigate the rudest drivers ever. Nobody thanks you when you give way, nobody gives way and everybody cuts into lanes aggressively. At first I thought maybe the nicer I am, the nicer everyone else will be. I foolishly assumed good might spread more easily than evil. But in order to survive the roads, I’ve had to force myself to drive more aggressively. I always thank though, profusely in fact. I wave and do a thumbs up if I can. Hehe. If nobody else is amused, at least I am.
2. Hawker Centers and Food Courts
Last night my boyfriend Brian and I went for dinner at the Food Republic in VivoCity and it was CRRRowded! The usual practice in Singapore when in a party larger than one at a food court or a hawker center is to find a seat first and get someone to “chope” (reserve the seat) for the rest of the group. Sometimes people do it with a packet of tissue, which I think is absurd but I might do if I actually carried packets of tissue. Anyway, I decided that since we were only a party of two, that we could just get our food first and then grab a seat. Well our food was almost spilled all over the floor or else cold before we finally pushed through the crowds and got a seat, side-by-side. In this case, people weren’t rude. The practice of reserving seats is just ridiculous because tables and chairs lay empty for a good amount of time while some people hover near occupied tables, holding onto their trays of food, unable to eat. If no one was allowed to reserve seats, then maybe everybody would get a seat once they got their food. Also, the fact that it took so much time and energy just finding a seat meant I lingered longer, taking my time to eat and finish my drink and chat before I got up to leave. It’s a vicious cycle!
3. Being in the lift (or elevator as ye Americans say)
More often than not, someone plants himself or herself in front of the panel of floor buttons and doesn’t offer to hit the button for anyone else nor leave room for someone else to hit a button. Almost nobody thanks when you hold the door for them and few bother holding the door for you. In fact, they often excessively press the >I< button as they see you coming. SIGH.
So has it always been like this and have I just forgotten? I don't know. But I am rooting for the government to launch another courtesy campaign. And let it actually work this time.
