Can or not, lah?

Less than a fortnight fresh off the boat, OH and I have started to notice a number of things in Singapore, some of which are quite amusing, and some which, quite frankly, frustrates the hell out of one. The following are a few first observations:

-       Singapore has a love affair with plastic bags. Every shop, stall, outlet you go to, they seem to delight in double, nay, triple bagging for that 2oz bottle of soy sauce you just bought.  Everything else should be bagged individually. Having for years brought my own bags to the supermarket, the cashiers cannot process not putting things into plastic bags, to the point of them bagging up stuff to put into my canvas bag.

-       “I go check”. This is the stock response to almost everything. “Does this come in a different size?” ‘I go check.’; “Does your mother work here?” ‘I go check’; “Does my bum look big in this?” (giggle) ‘I go check’; “What’s your name?” (PANIC) ‘I go check’.

-       Substitutions in restaurants are unheard of, and can often lead to you and your waiter sobbing and rocking in the corner, both reduced to gibbering wrecks. You, over the simple incomprehension why you cannot have a salad substitution, and the waiter because the binary system does not allow for the“IF” command. Americans, go home right now.

-       Japanese/Korean culture. All the girls seem to want to look like Manga dolls, with pinched faces, large vacant eyes, and a permanent expression like they’ve sat on a cucumber. Also, if you are adverse to Hello Kitty, this is not the country for you.

-       Queuing for free stuff. Admittedly I have been guilty of this trait, queuing to find that I’m being given free tampons, or baby rusks. Here, however, I noticed a long snaking queue for free sugar samples. You might as well hand out free toothpicks for amusement.

So, there it is, the first installation of observations of life in a different country. We will return soon with more quirks, so, stay tuned!