Being in Singapore???

Many Chinese come to sunny Singapore to earn a living. Some like Singapore, some don't. In fact, when I first came to Singapore, I dislike it (see my post on "New kid on the block"). I had to share a room with eight people, I had to work long hours, no friends, I had to queue long hours to use the bathrooms and the weather is so hot and humid, that it just saps your energy away, my bed had bed bugs etc... etc.... And to top it all off, the stress of having not enough money to pay off my debt, adds on to the dislike for being here.

However, as time goes on, I felt that being here isn't all that bad. The people are generally nice and I made many good friends. Even the Chinese (from China) tend to be closer knit now that most of us are away from home. While the pay is low by Singapore standards, it is high going by what we can earn in China. As stated earlier, I earn about RMB800 per month in China while here I earn the equivalent in SGD, which is about 5 times more.

Now that my debt is paid, Singapore is not bad at all. My sister, who had me to pick her up from the airport, and a place to stay and me to cook for her, loves being here, despite the hard work. She is lucky in the sense that she never had to go through the initial culture shock, many of us face. Some of my new colleagues think being in Singapore is fine but not on a long term basis... the pressure and stress is just too great!

I came across many new Chinese workers who initially dislike being here. I try to council them, telling them I felt exactly the same before but now, things are a lot better once you get used to it. Being without any good qualifications, there is no way we can earn this kind of money in China. So with 2 years to pay my debts and another 2-4 years of hard work, earning and saving, I should have a healthy sum to bring home and either start a small business or buy a house. It's a little sacrifice we all have to make to realize our dreams!

I had some new Chinese colleagues recently and decided to ask them about their initial experience in Singapore. The above were their answers.

Everything can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. A glass of water can be half full or half empty... it all depends on how you look at it. Looking at things positively gives you energy and strength to live life to the fullest! Looking at it negatively, saps your energy, breaks you down and makes everything look gloomy!