Annoying Things About Singapore

Well, I don't know if these things are exclusive to Singapore, but they sure do seem to happen a lot around here.

The first thing that drives me crazy is the SLOW service! The other day I went to Koi Tea in the basement of 313 Somerset, and it took me 10 minutes to get my drink! The place seemed a bit understaffed and no one seemed to really care that people were standing around and tsking. Restaurants will let you sit for ages before asking for your order, and good luck getting the bill. It's not everywhere, but slow service happens too often to not consider it part of living here.

Another thing that really annoys me is when people stop on the bottom/top of the escalator to check their phone. It's quite dangerous at best when there are loads of people, not to mention really inconsiderate. Check your darn handphone somewhere else, please!

Can't forget about the general attitude people have when they don't have something/are too lazy to check. I've been in stores where I've asked if they had a product, and the salesperson would say no. After a bit of digging around, I've often been able to find it! Seriously now, I thought you were trying to make money....

This isn't really any person's fault, but here in Singapore your hair will act totally haywire. My mom looked like a lion, and I think it took two years before my hair looked decent. I've learned now to avoid aircon when possible and don't go outside with your hair even remotely damp, but it's super annoying.

Imported things. Everything here is imported, which I don't mind. But I do really hate being told to buy this or that because it was made in Germany or the USA or wherever. And of course they mark up the price to crazy heights when something is French or Italian.

Looping conversations. This is pretty common at restaurants or with service people in which you ask a question, get no response, and have to keep rephrasing it until you get the "I'm not sure" answer you suspected. Ugh.

Seems about accurate. I probably sound like a little spoiled princess, but sometimes you need things done quickly and accurately!

Things You Don't Care About Living Here

Since it's Thanksgiving back in the USA right now, I've been reading a lot of "I'm so thankful for this and that and blahblahblah" posts. They're nice and all, but they've reminded me of things we don't have here (and don't care about). 

1. Local Food. It's great in America that you can get local farm foods and whatnot, but that doesn't really exist here. I think you can get eggs and some green leafy vegetables grown here, and that's it. Everything is imported, and quite frankly, Singapore likes it that way. Why eat Malaysian stuff when you can get European cheese, Japanese or Thai rice, or New Zealand milk? I used to care about eating local in America, but it's just not possible now. 
2. Eating Organically. There's some organic food here for sure, but it's super expensive. The only things we eat organically are generally the stuff we can't find in general, like almond milk or something. There's organic peanut butter that's pretty good, but other than that... you just can't care about eating organic unless you want to pay an arm and a leg. Singapore isn't quite there yet in the organic movement- mostly because of the first point above, and also because Singaporeans just can't pay for it. 
3. Mosquito fogging. In America I know it's rather controversial because of pesticides and harm to children and whatever else they want to fuss about. Here it's normal, get over it. It's that or dengue, and dengue sucks way worse. 
4. Super divided rich-poor gap based on race. It's so deeply engrained into the culture here that you don't really think about it. The Tamil Indian men are construction workers, the Indonesian women are helpers, etc. White people are normally expats or tourists-- and always considered rich. 
5. Escalator safety. In America most people stand forwards and hold onto the railing, right? Well in Singapore couples face each other and talk/kiss. It's just a thing. 
6. "Other people". When I lived in America I remember a very strong mentality of worrying about what "other people" are doing. There was this constant threat of "other people" stealing this or that, or harming you in general. While this mentality does exist amongst some, it's not as prominent here. This one is hard to explain, but basically people don't walk around thinking others are out to get them. There aren't super-locks or weird "keep strangers away" machines here.

Well, that seems pretty accurate. Hope my readers in the USA had an awesome Thanksgiving and ate lots of turkey and pie. Before you ask, yes, you can find turkeys here, but your oven may not be big enough to hold your typical thousand-pound saline-pumped American bird. The American club and a few hotels do a pretty nice spread, but personally I'm a fan of chilli crab!