Sleepless in Singapore!

Have you ever wonder how migrant workers like myself sleep in a room of 4-8 people, and yet manage to get a good 6-8 hours sleep a night?

Consider that we all work different hours. I work from 6am to 6pm, my sister from 10.30am to 10.30pm and some of my room mates work from 12noon to midnight. Some work regular 9-5 jobs while some factory workers work the night shift from 7pm to 7am. Our off days are different too... my off-days coincide with the weekends, my sister's off-day is on Monday and some are on different workdays. And the biggest problem of all... is that alarm clocks go off at different times of the day!

Because of this, the lights go on and off all the time, when someone comes home. There is a small television set in my room and sometimes, my room mates watch television late into the night, especially those who start work only at noon the next day. When I first got to Singapore 3 years ago, I could hardly sleep because of this and I sometimes go to work with puffy eyes.

I've heard from some of my male customers that Singapore men has to serve the army for 2-3 years. Soldiers sleep in a bunk with some 8-16 others. But they tell me that they don't face the same problems I do because by the end of the day, they will be so tired out with all the training that they just fall flat and sleep. Also, soldiers tend to sleep all at the same time, following the hours of their team members.

Well, I found the solution, after about a year in Singapore. I use an eye patch that a friend gave to me so that I can sleep with the room fully lighted up. And I use earplugs to block out the noise. I always tell my customers that when they do fly, to keep some of their earplugs and eye patches given on the plane for me. These are small items that gets lost all the time, and they don't last that long as well. Also, sometimes my new room mates who learn my sleeping habits will ask me if I have some to spare... and I will gladly give them whatever I have. I keep a small selection of different colored earplugs just like those you see in the pictures above. Earplugs and Eye Patches donations... anyone?

Some customers are nice... instead of just giving me the eye patches and ear plugs, they give me a complete toiletry bag from the airline! I'm so lucky that I meet nice people all the time! I have two of these which I like so much, I keep them and did not even use them.

Occasionally, when I just want to have a short nap, I will listen to music from my phone using a small headset that plugs into my ears. This blocks out the noise and I sleep with nice music. The only catch is that I often wake up to a phone that runs flat out of batteries!