User Comments - auntie68

Posted on: Singapore

Posted on: Singapore

Wah! ISS! Jenny 老师, I'm just a humble 美以美 (Methodist Girls' School) alumnus. Your education, being a genuine international education, was probably a million times broader and deeper than mine. Wah!

Posted on: Singapore

Dear heruilin, Amber really means what she is saying. In this country, our urban planners use something that is actually (I kid you not) called "instant trees". One moment you are looking at a raw building site with a new building on it, the next moment suddenly it has trees on the sites. Scary. I understand that we are really good at this "technology" ie engineering and growing city-resistant trees which can be used to "green-up" a place quickly. At the moment, we make a lot of money selling these applications to oil-rich (but not naturally green) emirates in the Persian Gulf. Weird, huh?

Posted on: Singapore

Dear sebire, it's just gone 9.00am, and thanks to you, I'm already wondering what time the char kuei teow stalls open. Yum. You sound like a real bibik. Isn't it fun to grow up in such a strongly matriarchial culture? I bet your Dad (is he European?) is pretty well-trained. This Auntie can't speak Baba Malay either, but I really miss the sound of it now that my grandmother and my father aren't around to speak it any more. Cheers -- Auntie

Posted on: Singapore

lydia1981 (gosh, "auntie68" seemed like such a good idea when I was in my twenties, now that I'm about to turn 40... yikes!) -- 其实没有什么典型的景点! Singapore is such a small island -- 47km by 17 km lozenge. But I'd definitely recommend the zoos. Especially the Night Safari; the animals are so much more active and interesting at night. If you've only ever seen big cats during the day, at night it's like they're on cocaine. Always love the "firefly" enclosure. Will never forget walking through the "bat" enclosure and having this big black upside thing (in the gloom, I thought it was a jackfruit under canvas; we do that) unfold its wings right next to my face. The museums are great. I love the Asian Civilizations Museum, in Empress Place, which focuses on the influences of West, East, South, and Southeast Asia in Singapore. Singapore Art Museum. Oh yes, the National Museum has just been reopened after a massive refurbishment, I hear it's brilliant. I love the Botanic Gardens. Historically, they were conceived in the 19th century when the British Empire was providing ideal conditions for botanists to fulfill their wildest dreams. It has a patch of primary rainforest. My young German friend was raving about Sungei Buloh nature reserve. European friends seem to love the buzz of Little India (Serangoon Road) much more than Chinatown. If you're feeling really brave, go to Serangoon Road on a Sunday, when it is heaving with Indian and Bangladeshi foreign workers on their day off. There is a lovely Burmese buddhist temple just off Balestier Road (not far from Serangoon Road). The huge banyan trees shielding it from the road are very atmospheric. We really don't have any "sights" to speak of. Sorry! I get the feeling that apart from the shopping and food, visitors treat it as a comfortable base from which to make short trips to rougher (but more beautiful) destinations in Asia. If you are "templed-out" from other Asian countries, you might enjoy spending the day by the sea at the East Coast Park, which has a very relaxed, "family" feel. Behind the driving range there is a pizza place which opens on to the "beach". Lots of walkers, joggers, cyclists, inline skaters, doggies etc out to get some air. Warning: There is no way to get a view of the sea from anywhere in Singapore without an oil tanker in it. If the kids are feeling bored, the Central Fire Station in Hill Street (right next to Funan, the computer/camera mall) has an open day nearly every Saturday morning for families and children. The kids get to climb on the rigs, try on helmets, extinguish fires etc etc. My friends have told me that if you don't already know Asia well, the "Toto, we're not in Kansas any more!" feeling is very intense. Everything looks so modern and westernized, but yet it feels totally unfamiliar because you are processing so many cultures at the same time. lydia1981, I bet you wish you had never asked!

Posted on: Singapore

Dear goulniky, I agree with you. Even somebody like me has a "dialect", in my case it is "Peranakan Malay", which is -- very sadly, for me -- dying out. No doubt about that. My grandparents were fluent, my father spoke it fluently enough with the grandparents, but the "patois" simply couldn't survive two decades of Singapore's "Speak Mandarin campaign". But no matter what, I still can't imagine my beloved dialect being elevated to any kind of "official" status, it is a personal, family dialect and it means the most to me as such. With my two-year-old nephew, whose languages are English and Tagalog, I'll just do my best. Chances seem about even; Tagalog (his other mother tongue) is close enough to Malay for him to have a "fighting chance" at learning some Peranakan. Let's see...

Posted on: Singapore

Ok, bazza, I got that, thanks. Please let me know if you think you and missus can handle an Auntie in Singapore when you visit, okay? Thanks...

Posted on: Singapore

Dear matthiasb, actually, as a former lawyer who has worked in Clifford Centre, and then in UOB Centre (or was that UOB, well, heh heh, what a pleasure it is to not know or care, today!), I know perfectly well what you and your gf meant by what you wrote. I guess what I was emphasizing (clumsily, sorry!) was the fact that expats (especially Europeans and Americans) do genuinely tend to get really frustrated because Singaporeans amble along so slowly, and slow them down! Just search expatsingapore.com. your own source, and you will find so many complaints about our slow walking. I've never understood that!

Posted on: Singapore

Dear tvan, I'm afraid I'm not "Auntie Sue" (she who is from Australia, and is much loved), I am only "Auntie". Not that I don't cherish it when I am mistaken for her... she is in a class of her own. A "trannie", in Singlish, is a transvestite or a transsexual who is perfectly happy and proud to be known as such. In the Singapore context, I suppose that refers to a man who either dresses like a woman, or who has even undergone some (or all) of the arduous surgery required to adapt his plumbing to his true sex. I am VERY proud of the fact that trannies in Singapore are treated like human beings, which they are. One of my distant cousins became a "boy" in his mid twenties. It was a not an easy decision, believe me, but I supported it 100%, and so did my mother, who was his godmother, and his parents. When he finally worked up the courage to tell his octagenarian granny about his plans, this granny (who loved him very much) said, "Oh. So you will be my grand-SON? How wonderful! Grandson! I have another grandson! I'm so happy!" Much love, Auntie (NOT Auntie Sue)

Posted on: Singapore

Aie! matthiasb, I actually thought that foreigners think that we walk too slowly, the way we amble along seems to bug the hell out of anybody who has been lucky enough to experience disciplined Japanese commuters during peak hours. But then again, my only source is the source that you yourself quote -- expatsingapore.com --, plus a few polite (but sincere) grumbles from much-loved expatriate friends! I always thought that the problem with walking in Singapore, besides the hot and humid weather, was the "bovine" natives who don't walk quickly enough. All the best, Auntie