Singapore

Singapore

We've lived in Singapore a fair while now.  Lived in 5 apartments (4 within the same condo).  Went from no car, to cronky car, to kinda ok car and now to a really decent car, (cars are positively extortionate here).  Gone from waiting for the postman to arrive everyday due to homesickness and not having a computer - and then when we got one of course it was all dial up with limited access.  E-mailing was different too as not many others had a computer to be able to write to them.

Big M & Little M

Big M and Little M both go to the Canadian school which is and international school with many nationalities.  Friends with Canadians, Americans, Swedes, Australians and so on.  The world to them is so small, having been educated in international schools, and complete access to the internet, skype, Microsoft chat, etc etc....

Having been so homesick for so long after we arrived, I can't imagine not living here now! Waking up, opening the curtains and seeing the pool and palm trees.  No seasons, which some hate, but I quite like.  No expense of a winter wardrobe.  In fact we don't own anything remotely warm.  The weather is usually around 93 every day and gets down to 86 around December.  It has been known for Big M to wear a sweatshirt on those very chilly days :).

Some Singapore Facts:

- Singapore became independent from Malaysia in 1965



The Merlion

  -The Merlion  is an imaginary creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish used as a mascot of Singapore

- Singapore  is only 682.7 square kilometres


-Apart from Monaco, Singapore is the most  densely populated country in the world, with 6,430 people per square kilometre


Vanda Miss Joaquim

-Singlish, is a Singaporean patois mixing English with the odd phrase of Chinese, Malay and even Tamil.  However the official language of the country is English

- The national flower of Singapore is Vanda Miss Joaquim

- The Singapore Sling was first served in 1915 at the Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel. The ingredients are gin, Cointreau, cherry brandy, Dom Benedictine, pineapple juice, Grenadine, Angostura bitters and limes.

 

Singapore Sling




Raffles Hotel


- Contrary to belief chewing gum is allowed in Singapore.  It is available in small quantities over the counter in pharmacies (which you have to sign for) and is possible to bring a packet or two (only) into the country

- Streets and buildings are meticulously clean with heavy fines for littering (hence the small quantities of chewing gum)


We have made friends with some lovely people and our lifestyle is defiantly different from what it would be at home.  In fact we have been here so long that it seems the lifestyle at home is the different one. It's not strange to cook a turkey dinner at Christmas in such a hot climate nor look at our Christmas tree with air conditioning and fans instead of gas central heating and a fire.  Both Big and Little M  would find "home" very different indeed!

The Singapore Flag