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!

What a sad day!

I wonder what is happening in Singapore??? Recently, one of my good friend, the "chilli queen" who stayed with me at my previous place was sent back to China almost overnight. From what I heard, the "authorities" found out that her certificates presented were false. She works at a local laundry shop in China town. I saw her the day before she left and she was full of remorse. As always with migrant workers, she had not paid up her agent's fee of SGD8,000 and this means she has to go back with a big debt to pay. And in China, with a salary of between RMB800 to RMB1,200, it will take ages to pay back such a loan!

Yesterday, I heard from my ex-landlord that he will be sent back the following day as well. This time, the company he is working for (a cleaning company) just handed him a letter and air ticket and told him that he has to fly back the following day. He is in a dilemma as he has a rental contract with 2 months deposit and so many belonging in the house (beds, washing machines, wardrobes etc...) that he has no time to clear them all.

I felt really sorry for him and went to see him yesterday. All his tenants were shocked too and nobody, including my ex-landlord, was sure why he was being sent home. We had a meal together and had a good talk.

Migrant worker life is really not that easy. Even when we are willing to work really hard, something comes up along the way that may destroy our dreams. In one of my last posting, I mentioned that my boss forgot to send my medical check-up results to MOM and this may cause them to terminate my employment pass. I still have not heard from them, and I am keeping my fingers crossed, that I won't have to face the same fate. It will be a total disaster for me!

I am lucky that this second time around, I did not go through an agent and do not have that huge debt to pay. But I can imagine what it is like for most other, when instead of going overseas to make some money, you end up with a big debt and have to work the rest of your life paying it off. I wish some of the employers could be more responsible... ie if they know their business is not doing well, they should not be hiring foreign workers. But unfortunately, it works the other way around. The more they are not doing well, the more they would want to cut cost and the more they would want to hire foreign workers. See my posting about this hot pot restaurant who brought me over and told me they are closing down... how irresponsible!

Gastric Pains!

When I first came to Singapore almost 3 years ago, one of the bad habits I developed was to go without meals and sometimes have only one meal a day, just to save a few dollars, especially over the weekends. During the weekdays, I work at the canteen at Chai Chee Technopark and at least meals were provided and I usually have a good breakfast and lunch but still would go without dinner. The timing is also different as we have to eat at a time when there are least customers. This means we have our breakfast at about 11am and our lunch at 3pm, the quietest time of the day.



The medicine I brought with me!

 Towards the second year, I developed gastric pains occassionally. Sometimes the pain get so intense, I have to take MC. My colleagues and room mates have always reminded me to take my meals regularly.

Recently, I developed gastric pains again and I had to take the afternoon off. When I came back a second time to Singapore, I brought some pain killers from China but they did not help.

The aweful medicine!

My Singaporean colleague, Ah Mei, happen to stop work at 2pm that particular day and told me that she will take me to see a doctor. We went to a Chinese doctor she recommended and he gave me a concoction which taste like a "water and soil" mixture! Yucks! And I was told I have to finish the whole course, which will take up to 2 weeks! Oh dear, one taste and I could almost puke! And to top it off, I had to pay SGD96 for the whole treatment! That's a lot of money for some "soil" like tasting mixture!

Some of my Singaporean colleagues had also advised me not to visit any Chinese doctor as many are not properly trained and may cause more harm than good! Is this true? For me, back in China, we visit Chinese doctor alot and many have proper certification and training in Chinese Universities.

I have since gotten well but I am not sure if it is due to the medicine or just that time heals. I'm wondering if I should stop taking the aweful tasting medicine! Yucks! I still have about half of it left!

Medical Check-up!

It's almost a year since I came back to Singapore. How time flies! Every year, we have to go for a medical check-up. Mine was just done abut a month ago and I had it done at the clinic at Bedok Central. We had to do a blood test, urine test and a few other check-ups. Quite a simple test actually. We also have to wait a week for the results.I collected my results about a month back and everything was fine.

I handed the result slip to my boss who told me that he will send it to MOM. However, somehow or other, he forgot and got a warning letter from MOM. He told me that if he is late, I may lose my permit and have to be deported. I was afraid. I was questioning this as it seems quite unfair that a worker is deported because the management forgot to send in the Medical result slip???

Anyway, my boss handed me an envelop to send, which I promptly did. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that nothing bad will come out of it. I cannot imagine being out of a job again when I have not even worked a year. I also cannot imagine leaving my sister her to fend for herself. I promised my mother that I will look after her... and I intend to keep my promise.

Church Donation - Do I give?

I've been attending the church here for some time and each time they pass the "red bag" around (see video), I tend to feel a little uncomfortable. It could be because when my friend brought me there some time back, she told me that normally, everyone gives something, no matter how small. Since she has gone back to China, I have been going to church on my own... and I am kind of at a lost as to how much to give.

Usually I give two dollars or so but today I realized that I did not have any small change and I gave a five dollar note. While the giving has never been an issue for me, five dollars is quite a big sum for me. Some friends tell me they normally give about 10% of their salary. This means about SGD95 for me each month and this can be quite painful on my wallet.... especially when every month, my finance is so tight and I am sending almost every dollar I earn back home.

Some people tell me that the more you give, the more you are blessed! Is this true?

Is giving a norm in church? Is 10% too much, too little? I really have a lot of questions and I hope some readers can enlighten me.

Old friends dinner invite...

Last weekend, I had to visit the supermarket to buy some groceries to cook dinner for my sister. Since it is near to my old place, I decided to visit my old friends again. Maybe now that I have a room to myself, I am feeling a bit lonely... I really don't know Yet, I do value the privacy that I have currently. Life is tough when you have to make such decisions. I do realize that one cannot have everything too. But I do know I miss my friends and would like to know how they are doing. It's always nice to have someone to talk to when you are alone.

I had a good look at the place now that we have left. A lady took over my sister's bed and decorated it beautifully. I am glad that things are moving along just fine for my ex-landlord, as he is also a friend. In fact, I think his "business" is getting better. It seems like every time someone vacates the place, someone else takes it up almost immediately!

It was about 6pm by the time I got there and some of my old friends were cooking dinner. They invited me to join in and I gladly accepted. For once, they had quite an elaborate meal which is quite rare. They even bought fish that day. Normally, we would just have rice and maybe one or two dishes of vegetables and some small pieces of pork. But fish is a rarity and a luxury too.

We had a delicious meal that evening. I was glad I visited them again. I still miss them a lot but come to think of it, I would not trade my privacy for it. At least now I can go back to visit them anytime I want.

Remitting money again!

Yesterday was 1st  June and I had my payday. As always I promptly make my down to People's Park Complex to remit money back home. I think the companies that help us remit money do good business. They charge us about SGD25 per remittance and this place is always full. I have done this every month for coming to 3 years and the situation is always the same whether I go there in the evening or on Saturdays or Sundays.

At any one time, there is an average of 30 people there... so that's a SGD750 collection. Throughtout the day, there could be easily 300 to 400 people. That would be a daily collection of SGD7,500 to SGD10,000. And that's not counting the exchange rates gains they would be making from converting SGD to RMB.

I would imagine they do one single transfer at the end of the day to China and from there, individually bank in the money to each account. Imagine the profits they would be raking in. No wonder, there are easily 10 shops doing such brisk business within People's Park complex alone. Personally, I have used the same one shop since I came to Singapore as they have proven reliable and I see no reason to change.

Can you imagine that during my first month in Singapore, I remitted SGD200 back to my parents in China and had to pay a SGD25 fee? That's more than a 10%! I guess we all get smarter with age and experience!

My sister's Birthday!

25 May is my sister's birthday! In China, we usually celebrate our birthday's by having a "special" sweet noodles and eggs, so signify having a longer life. However, in Singapore, and especially at a rented place where cooking should be kept to a minimum, this might not be so practical. So I was wondering how I should celebrate my sister's birthday???

I decided to buy a birthday cake for my sister. She wasn't really for buying a cake as she has been trying very hard to lose some weight. Ha ha. She has been working non-stop, even sacrificing her one free day to work overtime for a little more pay, so it's been hard to find any time to exercise at all. I feel quite lucky compared to her... at least I still have time to go jogging in the evening, and even do Yoga! For her, it's like the moment she gets home at about 11pm, she washes up and go to sleep and then wakes up and go to work! What a life for my poor sister... but we are both glad that we have a job in Singapore, knowing how hard it is to work here with the reduced foreigner's quota these days.

I told her it's only once a year! We should not forget to relax once in a while, even while we come to Singapore to earn a living! And to ease her guilt, I bought a mango cake. While still a cake, it at least has some fruits and my sister likes mangoes! In a simple celebration, we both had a slice of cake when she came home late at night. I offered my landlord a slice and kept the rest for another day.

For her birthday, my sister dressed up specially nice. She put on favorite best dress and make up for the day. She also bought herself something from the place where she worked... a pair of new shoes! Don't you think we both look a little alike in this picture of her (center pic)? Her face is a little rounder but the features are similar!

Paying my Rent!

It's the end of my first month stay at the new room... and it also means it is time to pay my rent. So instead of SGD210 each, we now have to pay SGD300 each.

After one month, I must say that despite the higher cost, it is a pleasure to pay the SGD90 extra for each of us, as the privacy alone is priceless. My sleep is more sound, I save time not having to queue for the bathroom or washing machines or even just cooking a bowl of instant noodles! I must say I am very happy to have found this beautiful cosy room for my sister and myself!

Here is a short video of me paying the money to my landlord! It's a little dark as my landlord enjoys doing his work in a more cosy lighting in the hall. Enjoy!