Something about me & Singapore

I just swinged by my sister blog and this particular entry makes me really sad... Sometimes I wonder if I had made the right decision coming here...

Since it happened that I had been posting entries mentioning Singapore recently, I thought I would also have an entry giving a short intro to my homeland and me.

Home is Singapore to me. Where all my friends and family are. Home is where I had spend the first 25 years of my life at.

Home is also where almost all of my favourite food can be found. As skinny as I am, I love to EAT! My fiance is always saying that there is a fat woman hiding in that scrawny little body. Some of my favourites are: the fried chicken near my parents' flat, Mala Steamboat(I know its not really SEAsian food but I like!), satay, wanton noodle, mee siam, mee rebus, mee soto, char kway teoh, laksa, pig's organs soup, kway chap, Wu Xiang, curry fish head, roti prata, black pepper crab, chili crab, frog legs porridge, my mum's home made noodles, cuttlefish + radish soup, bak kut teh and so many many more.... ... I can go on and on. I miss all that are not found here. And so much is not found here. Singapore food is like Chinese food but yet at the same time totally different. Our food is more of a fusion of Chinese, Malay and Indian food as these are also the 3 major races that can be found there.

I am pretty sure that some of my favourite dishes must be making some of you cringed (pig organs anyone? =P). Hahaha. That is probably the chinese influence. Like my father told my fiance at the dinner table once "We, Chinese, eat everything." My fiance used to complain about the chili sauce(from Singapore) I use (cos it contains belacan). He says it smells like death but to me, it smells heavenly. Now, he is so used to it, he doesn't notice it anymore. ;-)

When I was back in Singapore, I was always dreaming about living in another country, immersing myself in another culture and having a lifestyle that is totally different from the one I had in Singapore. Well, from the looks of things so far, I got my wish. I am here in America, ~9000 miles away from home. The culture is of course totally different. You know the saying, the grass is always greener on the other side. That's the case for me. Now that I am here, I yearned to be back home. Well, that might still happen sometimes in the future. G loves Singapore too and is not opposed to relocating there. If not, there is always the yearly visit back home. Although that is nothing like living there...

Since my relocation, I feel that my national pride is stronger than ever. I guess this could be due to the fact that I am far away from family and friends. Away from all that is familar. It could also be that the culture is so different, I feel even more strongly to try to hold on to my culture and values and therefore my identity.

I am still very surprised when I see people's eyes lit up with recognition when I mentioned that I am from Singapore. Most of the time, they tell me how much they loved Singapore Airline and of course the reknown Singapore girl! One of the guy even told me that he read somewhere that Singapore Airline has a special brew of perfume that supposedly makes the stewardess more alluring. I immediately called up my friend who is an air stewardess to confirm that and of course, that is totally crap. Interesting rumour, isn't it?

If they had been to Singapore before, they will tell me how much they love it. The food, the shopping, the people, the sights and of course not forgetting, how clean it is! I always beamed with pride whenever I hear these. So far, the highest form of compliments I received for my country comes from a colleague who visited Singapore just last December. She is puzzled why I would ever consider leaving Singapore. Well, love makes people do strange things.

Anyway, I had also complied a small list of links that is all about Singapore in case you are interested to find out more about my beloved tiny little country. Like where on earth it is located, the climate, the population and so on. Please check out the photo links especially. They are amazing. As they have copyrights reserved, I am not sure if I can upload it on my blog.

Image courtesy of the Singapore Tourism Board

Here are some links that will provide more information about Singapore:

• A website all about Singapore
• A Summary of Singapore
  
• Singapore Tourism Board-Uniquely Singapore
• Our local newspaper: The Straits Times
• Singapore Airline
• Our National Anthem in the 4 official languages of Singapore and our pledge as well
• A gorgeous online photo album of Singapore by Lim Lian Hai
• Another wonderful online photo album
• Live streaming of all the radio stations in Singapore
• If you would like to know more about Singapore and Malaysia food, Makan Time is a good place to start and even try out some of the recipes.
• CIA factbook on Singapore
• Lonely Planet-Singapore
  

Image courtesy of the Singapore Tourism Board