4/9/2023 0 Comments Raindrop cake san diego![]() ![]() But it’s a whole different playing field, and much more in-depth. Strategy (or “planning”) is tough, but rewarding-I get to put all my research skills I learned as a journalist to use, and I get to work on some pretty cool clients (PayPal, Starbucks, MAC, LEGO). Food is much cheaper than I expected, especially when you eat locally (you can get a full meal for $2.50 USD!), and clothing/cosmetics are around the same price as they are in America. But otherwise, everyday expenses aren’t terrible. The Certificate of Entitlement for owning a car will set you back around $150K, which is why the MRT is so accessible. The cost of housing is very high, since space is so limited, and owning a car is equally as expensive because of astronomical fees and the legal requirement to replace it after ten years. Some in Chinese, some in Thai, and some in a language I don’t recognize.īut it’s actually not as expensive as you might think to live here. But there actually aren’t a lot of Americans here, despite the large expat population white people tend to be Australian. Staring isn’t as much of a thing, so I don’t feel quite as much like an outsider, but since the majority of the population here is Chinese, people still think that I’m mixed or Filipino or Malay (which is funny because my dad was born in Malaysia). Everything here is written in English, but with Asian translations. I find I am more surprised to see white people than actual Singaporeans are, and I always have this strange compulsion to be friends with them because my first assumption is that they’re American. ![]() ![]() There are a lot of foreigners, so it’s not uncommon to see women wearing hijabs next to Chinese businessmen and European tourists. And so far, I’ve managed to use the MRT system without getting lost once, which is quite an accomplishment if you know how directionally-challenged I am. It’s super-easy and straightforward to use, and the bus system goes everywhere. By my second day, some of the areas and buildings had already started to look familiar. It only takes around two hours to cross the country, which is mind-blowing to me considering that it takes two hours just to reach LA from San Diego. It has none of the grime of China or Thailand. The buildings are colorful, strikingly geometric, and meticulously designed (which is apparently due to the fact all of the building façades are renovated every five years). The most amusing part is that the people here are completely unbothered by it-my coworkers will continue talking to me over thunder so loud it rattles the windows, and don’t seem to notice the rain at all. I forget it’s pretty much a tropical island, but torrential downpours in 89☏ weather are a nice reminder. As a Californian, I was deeply fascinated by the fact that it absolutely pours for around 15 minutes mid-afternoon every day, and then just stops as if nothing happened. ![]() What I wasn’t prepared for were the random thunderstorms that are apparently very common here. On a scale of “San Diego” to “baking cookies in Death Valley in the summertime,” I’d say Singapore would be “slightly uncomfortable and occasionally inconvenient.” I don’t even need air conditioning most of the time, which is a welcome change from Hong Kong where it was so stiflingly hot and humid that I’d feel dizzy midway through the day and couldn’t use my camera because the lens would fog up. It’s very green and lush, with trees dotting the spaces in between skyscrapers, and the weather is hot and humid, but not nearly as awful as I expected. ![]()
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