My big eyes!

The other day, a male customer came to buy coffee early in the morning. He was looking down as he placed his order and I turned around to make the coffee for him. I did not think much of it because he is quite a regular morning coffee drinker.

My colleague, who spoke good English asked him, "Why are you looking down?". He blushed a little and said, "I dare not look into her eyes", gesturing to me.... ha ha! And then my colleague asked him, "What's wrong with her eyes?"

My cheeky colleague then turned to me and said, "He said he dare not look into your eyes!". I was also kind of taken aback by the statement and was at a loss for words. I even felt a warmth came to my face as I blushed a little. Then as I regained my composure a little, I handed him the coffee, took his money, smiled at him and said, "Don't worry, I don't bite!"

Anyway, I'm not sure if I should just take that as a compliment. Maybe I'll go back and examine my eyes in front of the mirror!

Specially for my reader "Cucumber"!

Some time ago, when I wrote about giving a farewell treat to my friend, Jian Wei, a reader asked me where this place was. I told him that I will let him know once my friend had a chance to call me from China and actually give me the address.

Well, she finally did call and I did remember my promise to find out exactly where this Hot Pot place where we ate was. It's at 12 Jalan Ayer just across the road from the Kallang MRT. I even stopped by just to take a picture of the place.

This place seems pretty popular with Chinese people in Singapore, and I am not so sure why. Maybe the food is just to their taste or the price is reasonable. It certainly was good and the price must not be too bad if I can afford it!

Well, "Cucumber", so make sure you go and let me know what you think of the food there!

Gambling away your money!

Ever since the Casino opened in Singapore, I have been hearing many of my Chinese friends contributing to its success. No wonder, I remember reading about them (the Casinos) posting record earnings in the papers a while back. Interestingly, none of my Singaporean friends have been into the Casino! Is this because of the SGD100 levy for locals to enter?

Where I stay, my landlord alone had lost almost SGD10,000 of his hard earned money at the Casino over 6 months (that's him below with the thumbs up despite the loss)! Instead of sending money home, he had to call home to ask his parents to send money here! It seems he comes from quite a well-to-do family, so maybe that's not too bad. But just 2 nights ago, he came home in the early morning, just as I was about to leave for work and told me he lost another SGD2,000... amazing... and here I am trying to save every penny I have to send home!

Another female colleague working at the Changi Airport told me one Sunday evening at about 8pm, when she came back from the Casino that she just lost SGD1,500. She's so upset, she is going to take a bath, have dinner and then head back to the Casino to try and win her money back! On Monday, she did not go to work as she had to take MC as she was "dead tired"! I dare not asked her if she manage to recoup her losses!

The money may not sound like a lot of money to Singaporeans. I read about a few businessmen who lost millions. But to us migrant workers, SGD800 is about the average month's pay and looking at it that way, my landlord had lost about a year of his salary!

So far, I have not been to the Casinos but maybe I might go and take a look with my sister when she has a day off. But having heard a few of such stories, I am a bit worried that I may be tempted to part with my money (not that there is much) ... thank goodness, I am not a gambler!

Merry Christmas

Christmas is here again... and New Year... and then Chinese New Year... how nice! I want to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

While this is certainly the season to be jolly, I was kind of wondering what might it be had I been working at Bread Junction? Would I have been working over the holidays non-stop? I'm not sure if my sister will be working over the holidays yet... I'll have to check with her later!

While the holidays are fun, sometimes I wish we could be home for such holidays to see our family again. I had not been home for Christmas, New Year or Chinese New Year for three years now. While Christmas and New Year are not such big events in rural China, Chinese New Year is definitely a big, big thing... and all I can do (and all the other migrant workers too) is to call home and have a nice chat with my parents!

"Merry Christmas Everyone!"

While I have no regrets coming out to earn money, I feel sorry for my parents who are getting older every year. My only wish is that they will stay safe and sound for the next few years while I am out here earning money and then I will go back and buy a home and start a small business and be with them!

Sick and so close to Christmas!

For the last two days, I had been feeling lethargic and had a slight sore throat. However, today, it got worse and I could barely wake up. Unfortunately, I was the only one holding they keys to my work place so by hook or by crook, I have to make it to work!

I dragged myself out of bed but I was already late. The clock showed 5.30am when I normally got up at 5am. I rushed through washing up, changed my clothes and headed out the house to make it to the work place just in time. I was dead tired and felt like fainting! Nevertheless, I continued to make coffee and sandwiches just like I did everyday until about 8.00am when I could not take it anymore and called my boss to tell him that I had to go see a doctor.

I came home and went to the nearby clinic at Bedok. I was surprised as there were already quite a few people at this early hour. The doctor detected a fever in me and gave me a day MC and some medicine. He advised me to take more rest and drink more water. I figured that I must not have had enough rest.

Since my sister came, I had been cooking for her every day. She works late and comes home about 11pm every night. I normally wait for her and have a chat with her till midnight before we both go to bed. The problem is that I have to get up at 5am while she gets up at 9am. So since she came, I have been having about 5 hours of sleep every day, which is barely sufficient!

Well, anyway, I did tell her that once she is used to the food outside and working life, I will have to stop cooking and worrying about whether she will find her way home at night. It's just not the worrying alone I guess, I also want to see her because her off day is on Monday while mine is on Saturday and Sunday. Our working hours just don't match quite well which means we will hardly ever talk if I sleep early and she wakes up late...

We'll see how things work out!

My boss sent me for training!

My boss approached me the other day telling me that I have to attend a training conducted by the government to improve the service level of those in the service line in Singapore. As I was the newest addition to the company, I was chosen to attend this one day course on Saturday. The course runs from 8.45am to 6pm at Potong Pasir. It wasn't a place I was very familiar with, so I was intially a little afraid that I might not be able to find it!

He told me that he had to pay SGD120 for me to attend this course and the day will end with quiz. He jokingly remarked that I had to do well in the quiz (test), otherwise, I should not come back to work the next day. I answered, "Yes Boss, I understand!". Hmm... I wondered if I detected a sense of seriousness in his voice???

I had a tough time finding the place and it was a good thing that I went early. The company is XPRIENZ and they do audit on food outlets and cleanliness as well as conduct courses on hygiene. Interestingly, I met an ex-colleague from Chai Chee there. Her name is 阿花 (Ah Hua) and is the one in blue in the picture on the left. The course was conducted using computers to aid the training and was quite "hi-tech"... at least by my "lo tech" standards!

I found the course to be interesting and I felt a sense of relief when I finally passed the test and "graduated" with a certificate. At least I can face my boss the next day.

The course was attended by mostly Chinese nationals and was conducted in Mandarin, although there were a few Singaporeans. I guess the Singapore government is doing it's part to ensure that all food outlets have clean and hygienic practices, especially those hiring foreign workers who may not be familiar with the hygiene standards of Singapore.

Despite having to use my rest day for the course, I felt good, especially when I came away learning something new and interesting! I will look forward to more of these in the future!

Looking after my sister!

My sister started work on Wednesday afternoon after her medical check-up earlier in the day. The agent said that she will be selling clothes but she ended up selling shoes instead! She did not mind that actually, they are quite the same. She works at the Ang Mo Kio MRT Station at a store called KIYO. I believed they have several branches all over the island as I remembered seeing them before. I text my sister to tell her that I will be picking her up as she is not sure how to take the train system in Singapore. I'll show her the way home and then the following day, she will have to do it all on her own.

That evening when I came home, I prepared some dinner for her before I went to pick her. Here's what the dinner looked like. My sister told me she is not quite used to the local food yet, so I'll just cook something up for the next few days until she knows what to eat. I know how it's like to be in a new country... in a new culture all alone. I've been through it all just over 2 years ago and it's no fun... so I'm going to make sure my sister's life here is better!

My sister works 6 days a week from 10am to 10pm with one day off. She chose to have Monday off every week. For this, she is paid SGD1,000 per month with a SGD200 living allowance. Better than what I get but then... I'm really happy with my job!

Finally... my sister is here!

Finally, my sister is now in Singapore. The two pictures you see here are pictures of me waiting at the airport. I had a drink at the Burger King outlet at the Arrival Hall as I was quite a bit early... almost an hour early in fact. I had to be sure as I had never picked up anyone at the airport before and I wanted to make sure I was at the right terminal.

I had wanted to take a picture of my sister but she resisted (and kept covering her face) as she claims she looked a mess after being on the plane for so many hours! Maybe such vanity runs in the family! I'll try to grab a few pictures of her in the next few days if I have the chance!

We arrived home safely at about 2am both tired but excited. The agent picked her up the next morning (after I had called the China agent to complain) and brought her to their office at Jalan Berseh for some documentation. At about 11am, they told her that she can go home without at least explaning to her how. Interestingly, the night before, my sister had forgetten to take down the address of the Bedok place I am staying (and in my excitement I forgot to give it to her), even if she had the money, she won't know how to tell the cab driver to take her home, let alone take a bus or mrt. My sister had some RMB with her but we still did not have the opportunity to change the money to SGD.

Anyway, she called me when and I was able to give her directions home. She managed to get home safe and sound... smart girl!

I'll take her out to show her Singapore this evening. Afterall, this might be the only evening I get to spend with her as her working hours will be from 10am to 10pm while mine is from 6am to 6pm. She gets one day off a week although this might be a weekday! Sigh! I thought we would at least have one day a week together!

Tonight's the night!

Tonight, or rather Wednesday morning will be the day my sister arrives in Singapore. I guess she must be just as excited as I am! However, looking back at what I went through when I first came to Singapore, I tried to tone her excitement down a little. Isn't it true that in life, if we keep our expectations lower, we will almost always be happy. However, if expectations are too high, we can be sorely disappointed. Anyway, I am so excited I cannot sleep!

I don't expect her to go through what I went through, like sleeping in a room with eight people and having barely any money left to even to eat during my first month. Afterall, I came on my own but now she has the benefit of having me here to pave the way for her... ha ha... if you can call that pave the way (as I am still struggling myself too!) But at least, she can come knowing that she has a place to stay, a familiar face to pick her at the airport and a family member to talk to when she is down. I remember on one outing with some friends, I refused to buy a bottle of water at SGD1.00, knowing that back home in China, the same bottle sells for RMB1(about SGD0.20), even though I was parched dry and about to collapse of dehydration.

My lovely sister... welcome to Singapore!

My Sister is coming!

On Friday, my sister text me and asked me to call home urgently. I was at work and I felt kind of uneasy as I wasn't sure if something might have gone wrong at home. Somehow, I could feel the sense of urgency in the message. Unfortunately, I could not call home immediately as it was during the peak lunch hour and during that time, we hardly have a moment's rest.

Finally at about 4pm, I called home and she picked up the phone. She told me excitedly that she had accepted a job with an agent to sell clothes in Singapore. She had paid almost SGD8,000 to the agent. I asked where she will be working and she could not give me an answer, so I was kind of worried. As I could not speak for long during working hours, I told her that I will call back again in the evening. My mind is in a whirl... at least I have to thank God that it is not a major catastrophe at home!

When I got home, the first thing I did was to call her again to get more details. The agent even got her flight booked and she will be arriving on Wednesday the following week at the unearthly hour of 1.30am. She asked me to pick her up as the agent told her that he will not be picking her up due to the timing of the flight. He had the cheek to tell my sister to stay at the airport till morning when he will come and pick her up! Damn  agent... after collecting SGD8,000 in agent's fee, they won't even make the effort to pick up a "client" at 1.30am in the morning. At least my agent did pick me up the first time I came, even though he was more than a hour late. Aren't agents an irresponsible lot? Imagine my sister, coming from the country side to a big city like Singapore, with no one to pick her... how would she feel? Good thing I am already here, so at least I can pick her up!

I'm still a little concerned as she still does not know where she will be working. And I have to get to work early the next morning so I won't be able to help her. Hmm.... Not sure now if this is good news or not... but my sister is so eager to come, she can't even wait for me to find her a job to save the hefty agent's fee. I did not even dare to ask her where she got the money from! Maybe I'll ask her when she comes!

My "Creditors" were pestering my mum for money!

During my first stint in Singapore, I had been sending money back every month without fail in amounts ranging from SGD500 to SGD600. Normally I would call my mum to let her know that I have sent the money so that she will look out for it in the next few days. I knew that I had borrowed alot of money and I need to repay them as soon as possible. It's just the right thing to do!

This one day, about the forth month into my work, I called my mum and she asked if I could send more money back. I was kind of taken aback as the amount I had sent back should be enough to pay my "creditors" as promised. However, it seems they have been pressuring my mum for more, as they were probably afraid that I would renege on my promise to pay. This had put tremendous pressure and stress when I first came to Singapore, and often it even put a strain on the relationship between me and my mum.

I never had thoughts of running away. I wanted to pay back the money as soon as possible so that I could continue to save some money after I have paid up my debt. I had been "stingy" on myself, holding back on outings, meals, and even buying little things of necessity to a girl. I was living on less than SGD150 a month and sending the rest back or paying for my rent.

Looking back now, I wondered how I got through that tremendously tough period of my life... and still managed to smile when serving customers!

Christmas is just round the corner!

On Friday, my boss called a few of us aside and told us that we need to help decorate the canteen for Christmas. In China, most of us don't celebrate Christmas and even during my last two years in Singapore working in Chai Chee, we hardly celebrate Christmas. So actually, I don't have any ideas as to how "Christmas decoration" should look like. On the right, you will see a picture of me "painting" the pictures with stencils. The picture is rather blur and I am not sure why. All I did was pass my phone to my colleague to take a picture of me for this blog. Somehow the rest of the pictures I took were not blur and hazy like this one???

Anyway, he explained to us our job and told us we can start once the lunch crowd and tea crowd has left. This usually happens around 4pm and we each went our way to do various parts of the canteen. Some of us worked individually while some worked in teams of two, especially when it is a bigger area. We were "issued" with cans of "snow" and stencils where we will use to create the pictures and wordings on the glass door and panels. On the left is my colleague helping me put the finishing touches to another of our "artwork".

My task was to decorate the main doorway with snowflakes, white Christmas letterings and pictures of stuffed stockings, Christmas trees and even Santa Claus etc... and I was to work together with one of my male colleague. It was a fun job, and I did learn something new today, so it was rather fulfilling as well. I thoroughly enjoyed my day, especially as I stood back to admire our finished "work of art"! Here is a picture of the final product on the right and bottom. Does it look good?

If you are ever in the area, do come by and tell me what a good job we have done! Make my day!

Finally, a real pair of running shoes!

I had started jogging about a month ago now, almost all the time using an old pair of Converse look-a-like which I brought here from China. They were not the most comfortable jogging shoes. The soles were flat and there were no support for my in-soles. I'm not sure they might pose a health problem if I jog too much in them.

Anyway, 2nd Dec is my first pay-day with this new company and I am happy to say that unlike the other company that can drag your pay as long as ten days, I got mine right on the day! Sometimes it is nice to work for an ethical employer!

As stated earlier, I've decided to "invest" in a pair of jogging shoes, since I had already made up mind to jog on a regular basis. So in the evening, I walked into the Bata shoe shop near my home and bought this nice pink pair of running shoes.... a women's size 6 (US). Aren't they beautiful? I had earlier selected a pair costing SGD38 but as I scanned the shop, I realised that there was this pair on sale at only SGD29. Well, they aren't NIKE's or ADIDA's but I'm sure they'll do just as well. They aren't going to make me run faster, but I'm hoping they'll make me feel more comfortable and provide me the necessary shock absorbancy necessary to protect my joints.

I was so excited about getting them I went home, wore them and took them for a run immediately!

My new workplace!

It's been almost a month since I started work at my new place at MOE. I'm very happy to be here and would like to show my readers how my new work place looks like. It is a large canteen at the MOE(Ministry of Education) building in Buona Vista catering to the staff as well as workers in the area. However, outsiders have to obtain security passes to enter the canteen. For some reasons, the security is tight here. Nevertheless, the crowd is good, the business is good and I am sure my boss is a happy man!

Work begins at 6.15am. My boss made me in-charge of the keys so I have to be the first one to be there and the last one to leave. I leave my home at about 5.30am to take the first train from Bedok MRT to Buona Vista MRT and usually get to work at about 6 to 6.10am. I usually leave work at about 6pm when the canteen closes.

While this is still a 12 hour day, the hours and place are fixed so at least I can plan for my own private life. For example, I can plan to meet some friends after work or even buy some groceries. The 12 hour work day is not even an issue as I have been working a 12 hour plus day since I first came to Singapore more than 2 years ago. Believe me, life in my hometown in China is much tougher. Besides a 12 hour plus day, we have to cope with poor and unreliable public transport and road / weather conditions and most of all, a rather insignificant pay package of less than SGD200 (USD165) per month. In my previous work place, it is almost impossible as the boss will hold me back or change my schedule at the last minute.

"Any recommendations from my readers ... will be most appreciated."

We also do not work Saturday and Sunday. This leaves me time and I intend to use this valuable time to take up some courses (once I have saved up enough money). First on the list will be an English course and second will be some IT courses that will help me to use the computer more effectively. Any recommendations from my readers on English courses and / or IT courses (use of word/excel) will be most appreciated. I also hope to buy my own computer once I have enough money. Currently, I have to use the cybercafe near my home, which can be a little inconvenient.

Enjoy the pictures I had taken for you!