Initial Observations on Singapore

So I've had a lot of opinions and ideas about what Singapore is without having the chance to write them all down before forgetting them. I did this for Switzerland, and was really surprised by how my views of that lovable little country in the Alps changed over the time I was there. Now it's Singapore's turn... remember that this is a n00b's perspective, so if you want some real insights talk to Subhash Tilak Doshi, Yuekai Sun, or Jennifer Luo since they're actual Singaporeans in one way or another.

The Republic of Singapore is definitely a freewheeling capitalist citystate which serves as the "beacon on the hill" for the rest of Southeast Asia. Compared to Hong Kong, which I'm more familiar with, it is definitely more diverse ethnically-wise, and perhaps a little more "outdoorsy" in terms of where people eat, gather, etc... a Hongkonger I know said of S'pore: "It's tropical", when I actually thought HK was tropical already. It is of course very warm/humid, all year round. But my dorm room does not have AC (I actually hate AC so this is a big bonus, have a turbo-speed ceiling fan instead).

The diversity is amazing, mostly Chinese but a large number of Indians, Malays, etc. Most of the natives I meet at NUS do not identify themselves to me as their ethnicity, but just "Singaporean", which surprised me since they usually like to associate with friends who can speak their native language other than English.

Oh, and that's another thing... even though English is the official language of NUS, I'm very glad I know some Mandarin, not because it's easier to talk to other students but because of the foodcourts. I've discovered that if you go to a Chinese foodstall and order in English, you'll most likely get a little bit less food on your plate than if you order in Mandarin. So I'm practicing my food vocab so eventually I can get anything at a good deal. It doesn't always work because some of the vendors just know by looking at me that I'm not full-Asian. Actually a lot of people know I'm not pure... is it really that obvious?

But the food, no matter where you go, is rarely disappointing, and very cheap. There is one stall which I call "Chef Stacy's stall", which you should of course avoid, but the rest are good. They arrange these foodcourts in interesting layouts. There is always just one stall for everything, e.g. one Indian stall, one northern Chinese style stall, one Hokkien Chinese stall, one Vietnamese stall, etc, etc... and one beverage stall, which usually sells US$ 1 bubble tea (or pearl milk tea, if that's what you know). It's good bubble tea, too, with actual chunks of fruit in it if you get fruit flavoring. I think after this trip I will no longer have the heart to buy any of the Rice Asian student clubs' bubble teas at US$ 3 each...

NUS students (not the rest of the exchange crowd) make everyone at Rice look like a party-animal. They work and study pretty hard, especially the non-Singaporean students from China or India, who are recruited to NUS on some very substantial scholarships, and are some of the best of the best from their home countries. There is a college system here that is very similar to Rice's, but I'm in the only on-campus quarters that are not officially part of the college system (kind of like how we treat Martel, or will treat Duncan & McMurtry). But apparently the other college-system dorms are considered the "party" dorms, because the students in those dorms have very established social groups and lots of traditions and activities that students from my dorm consider to be "fun, but detrimental to study habits". My dorm therefore doesn't have a strong uniting culture, but it has it's own foodcourt (you can get a meal here anytime from 7AM to 2:30 AM), grocery store, sports facilities, etc. and the buildings are all relatively new, so those are advantages. The entire dorm is separated into "blocks", or just different buildings, on each storey of which there are "clusters". Each cluster is a group of about 10 guys or girls (no co-ed, in fact, if you have a person of the opposite sex in your room you're obliged to leave the door open), and each cluster has an RA-appointed cluster leader, who is sort of like a floor-rep from Sid, except their job is not to represent, but to issue orders from higher authority. For example, they go around checking if people left their shoes or clothes out of the rooms and just this week we had a cluster-cleaning session where we all went to the kitchen with rags and sponges to clean. So it's a very communal system, except instead of community by beer and parties it's community by chores.

Wow this is a lot of writing... starting to get antsy and hungry. Time to get out, I'll start a new article when I'm bach...