Day to Day Lives

For the last week I have been trying to decide what should write about. First, I thought about the song from the Broadway show, Avenue Q, “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist.” Then I could not help, but thinking of all the luxurious slogans of Singapore Airlines, known to be “A Great Way To Fly” or when they suggest you to, “Experience a whole new way to fly in comfort and leisure with First Class, Business Class, and Economy Class.” Singapore is a land where luxury buildings rise among public housing (subsidized by the state, the tenant has 99 year lease and the apartment is renovated every 40years). It’s also a land where you can find housing developments called Bel Air and shopping to rival 5^th Ave, but you can also find an area of town called “Little India.”

I recently found out that there is no minimum wage in Singapore that in fact Starbucks charges $4.50 for a latte and they pay their employees $3.50 an hour. It might surprise you to know that is on the high end for the service industry. In the evening you will often see truck beds full of construction day laborers. At first I couldn’t understand where they all lived or how they could afford to live in Singapore, until someone explained that at night they head over the border to Malaysia where they live in shanty villages. They get one day week off (Sunday) and flood the streets of Little India.

Being a maid is also an interesting profession in Singapore. Full time maids tend hail from either Thailand or the Philippines. Many apartments come with a small maid’s courters, which is usually off the kitchen and not air conditioned. Their bedroom is usually big enough to place a twin bed and maybe squeeze in a dresser that is, if you are a maid who ends up with an Expat family. If you are a maid who works for a local family you will most likely receive a mat for your room or you might sleep in the kitchen, if not with the children. Maids are paid about $140-$210 a MONTH (on the higher end for an Expat), plus as the employer you must pay about $210 a month in taxes. Time off depends on the family the maid works for and what they are paid, it could be every Sunday off or one Sunday a month or one Sunday every 3-4 months! Often if maid is employed by local, they may not be allowed to leave the house until their day off. Condos do not allow maids use the swimming pool. If you get pregnant as a foreign maid you are automatically deported, unless the father is a citizen and willing to marry you.
Singapore does make public transportation fast, comfortable and affordable, you will pay no more than a dollar to ride a bus or take the subway. Taxis are also extremely cheap $3.50 a ride on average. Going to a matinee is also reasonable about $5.00. You can also splurge ($20) and go to the luxury movie theatre were servers bring food to you as you set in a reclining lazy boy with a blanket.
You can eat out here on average anywhere from $4.00 to $35.00 a person.It’s often cheaper for a family to eat out than to buy groceries. Service is more often than not sub par, whether dining or shopping. Our favorite bar that we have discovered is not far from our hotel. At the Park View. The building was built several years ago by an extremely wealthy man from Hong Kong. He is so particular about whom he allows to rent office space in the building that he must check their fung shui. In the lobby of building is spectacular bar with waitresses who fly to retrieve bottles of wine. The ambiance is beyond glamorous and if this bar was in New York it would be packed with people and top notch servers. But here in Singapore it’s practically empty every time we have been with fabulous live music and no one clapping. The servers although cute are for the most part lack luster and have no idea what’s on the menu. All that aside, I find this all fascinating since there is a sign when you enter that reads, “Members Only.” When we looked up information a membership we found the cost was $3,000 a year.

HERE IS SOME INFO ON THE AREA WE ARE CURRENTLY LIVING IN: http://wikitravel.org/en/Singapore/Bugis