Ex-Pat Life In Singapore

(Newswire.net — September 1, 2014) Singapore, Singapore — If you love to travel (and we do!), Singapore is an excellent place for a home base. It is a quick hop to many fantastic places in Southeast Asia! When we first moved here, I didn’t know what to expect. My husband had just taken a job (with a substantial promotion) at a large multinational bank here, and we relocated from the San Francisco/Bay Area. We didn’t speak the local dialects, Mandarin or Cantonese. My husband has been learning Mandarin, and I can speak Spanish and French well enough to get by, as well as some Japanese. I figured this would be a great adventure!

One of the best things about living in Singapore has been the opportunity to immerse ourselves in different cultures and languages. I didn’t know that Singapore was so diverse! We attended a huge Chinese New Year celebration in Chingay and watched a great parade!  We also went to the Singapore Botanic Gardens. I found it unusual to find so much green space in a cosmopolitan city.

Once my husband settled into his new position, we started planning our excursions. We wanted to not only get to know our new home better, but also see more of the surrounding countries.  We took a four-day trip to Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur over a long holiday weekend.

We took a train to Malacca City, and saw all the sites including UNESCO’s World Heritage Site, learned more from our guide about the culture and what ‘everyday’ people do for a living.  The countryside and the people were beautiful and so friendly, we were amazed.  We had been worried about traveling to Malaysia given all the past skirmishes between the Muslims and non-Muslims that we used to hear about in the States, but we needn’t have worried.

On the second day we drove to Kuala Lumpur (which is the capital of Malaysia), where we visited the National Palace, the National Museum, the National Monument, the National Mosque (extremely beautiful!), the Sultan Abdul Samad Building and the Royal Selangor Club. We stayed in a wonderful hotel and could hear them calling the faithful to prayer from our room.

The next day we visited Batu Caves, which I am told is a limestone hill, but I couldn’t tell. We enjoyed exploring the many caves and shrines, and walking up the 272 (I counted) steps up the hill to a statue of Murugan (who is a Hindu god). We were told that it’s the tallest statue in all of Malaysia! The view of Singapore and the surrounding vista was spectacular!

We also had time to explore the other caves which included many Hindu shrines. We purchased some amazing batiks to bring home and remind us of our trip.  For our next trip, I want to visit Bali in Indonesia or perhaps New Zealand.  I’m so glad that we moved to Singapore!

 

 

Established in 1956, the school primarily serves the American and international expatriate communities of Singapore. SAS is registered with the Singapore Council for Private Education, affiliated with the Office of Overseas Schools through the U.S. Department of State, and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

For more information about Singapore American School visit www.sas.edu.sg.