Life Blog: United Colors of Singapore

Yey! Tomorrow is a public HOLIDAY! Rest day! I just hope I won’t get called for work. Singapore is havin this important occasion celebrated by Muslims around the globe, called the ‘Hari Raya Puasa.’ While last Saturday was another public holiday celebrated by Hindus, called Deepavali, which is also known as the festival of lights. There are also holidays for Chinese, as well as for Christians.

In this country you will find many different races. I guess, ‘say in one shopping mall, if you gather all the people together you’ll be surprised to see sorts of people coming from dif’rent places and races. Apart from Singaporeans, you’ll find Chinese from mainland, Malays, Filipinos, Japs, Thais, Koreans, Indians, Americans, Brits, and many others. There might even be some Cro-magnons (or Encino-man, hehe).

SG is such a small country. I think this is one obvious reason why we can easily find varied nationalities in many places. One of the things I admire here is havin 'less discrimination.' I observed one time, when I was trav'lin via MRT, that most people were just minding their own business – some were half-asleep (others were snoring), some were just quietly sitting there while reading books or listening to their mp3s, others were chattin with their friends. You’ll also hear different languages from those people conversing, and probably you’ll notice different smiles, funny faces, traditional outfits or some peculiar get ups, and of course, the unusual smell. In public transportations you’ll discover that signs are printed in 4 different languages. And hearing the announcements everyday as you head to/from work will somehow lodge this into your head. It goes something like..

“Your attention please, for your own safety, please stand behind the yellow line.” (English). “That cha chi chu yi…” (this is Mandarin, sorry I forgot the rest of the phrase). “Sila ambil perhatian, demi keselematan anda…” (this is Malay, I forgot the rest also, hehe). “Al lugi lipawl blah blah blah.. (this is Tamil, I obviously couldn’t remember the entire phrase, hihi)

Another thing that I’m thankful for in this country is knowing that many people speak English! You wouldn’t get lost because there will certainly be someone who could give you directions, in which you wouldn’t find difficult to understand.

c",)