Some things I have learned in the past two months

Talking Elevators

We discovered that it seems like every elevator here talks to you. At first when we arrived in Singapore I thought it was just the hotel we were staying at because it was a fancy hotel, but I was wrong, it turns out to be every elevator in Singapore. They tell you when the doors are opening, when they are closing and what floor you are on after it says doors opening. I guess it’s so that you are aware that the doors are opening so you can prepare yourself to get out and when they are closing so you make sure not to get stuck in the doors, I don’t know it’s odd. Some voices were nice, all of them have an UK accent, but some of them can have an attitude or sound mean even. The one in the mall across the street from us, 313, was very demanding “DOORS CLOSING, DOORS OPENING” like it was yelling at me, but when it announced what floor you were on it was very polite. This is the worst elevator I have encountered so far.

Help please

As most know, Singapore is a true melting pot. I don’t know if it’s culture or if it’s just this area but people around here are very nice and helpful, especially in the retail stores. You go into one store, does not matter where or what time it is, there is always someone there willing to help you. At first they don’t ask if you need help, they see you walk into the store and walk to the place where you are standing (with some space in between) and then after about a minute, they come right up next to you and ask if you need help. If you don’t need help they still follow you around the store until you buy something or leave the store. It’s nice but when I first got here I thought it was weird. Now I am use to it but it took a while.

Auntie and Uncle, not what you think.

Back in the US when when someone is talking to an older person they are addressed as Mr. Mrs or Ms., whatever their title it was formal. We were told by a couple of people that the older people around here are called Auntie (for older women) and Uncle (for older men). Now I thought that this was weird, but when we were at Harrys we took a cab home and I called the guy Uncle and it stuck. I was also on the MRT and there was a very old gentleman standing, so I got up and said Uncle, and the rest of the women around me tapped him and called him Uncle and gave him my seat. Honestly I don’t think he would have lasted the ride to the next station but he wanted to try so at first he didn’t want my seat. The first jerk of the train came and he immediately went to the seat and thanked me. Now, I am not THAT old but I was at lacrosse practice and the guys asked me how old I was and it turned out that I was the oldest. Once the guys found out, they started calling me Auntie because they were all ranging from the ages of 20-25, I am only 27 I am not old enough to be called Auntie, unless I am back in the states and my friends kids or my actual nieces call me that, then it’s fine.

Flat sheets.

When you go into a store to buy bedding there are many sheets we can buy. On beds we usually find a fitted sheet, flat sheet, pillow cases and a comforter. We went to Carefore after we knew we were getting our apartment because we needed King size sheets and we walked around and found the bedding section. We knew we needed the works, including a comforter. We were looking at comforters for a little bit and bam, someone to help us. We told them what we needed and they handed us, what I like to call, the package deal. It had it all, comforter, decorative pillows, pillow shams, pillow cases and fitted sheet. There was one thing missing, the flat sheet. We told the sales person that there was no flat sheet and she took us over to the section of flat sheets. You know what they wanted for a flat sheet? 45 DOLLARS! I am not kidding you. I about died. I said out loud that I didn’t understand why the cheapest flat sheet was that much and the person who was helping us let us know why. She said that it is the culture around here because it is so hot that they don’t use it. So if they don’t use it then why is it so damn expensive? It is most likely because they are trying to cater to the expats, but who knows. I will never understand it.

Food items and the expense.

I have also discovered that it is a lot cheaper to eat out at hawker stands than going to the grocery store. Hawker stands are places where you can get local food for a cheap price. I can go around the corner and get sweet and sour pork, chicken and rice for 3 sing dollars, which converts to 2.30 us dollars! Dustin and I ate dinner for a total of 6 sing dollars which is 4 us dollars and both of us were full! There are certain things that are so expensive in the grocery store, it makes me realize how much I took for granted back home in the states. Anything dairy is astronomical. Milk is about 6 bucks, and that’s for a half gallon. I am afraid to see what a gallon costs! A ten pack of processed cheese slices (Think Kraft cheese slices) is 7 dollars; the Kraft brand is 10 dollars. Don’t even get me started on ice cream, yogurt, sour cream and ricotta cheese!
Ground beef and things like that are expensive as well, but here they call it minced meat instead of ground beef. They also don’t have a big selection of meats in general like we are used to back in the states. Pasta sauce, a small jar of it is about 8 dollars and if it has cheese in it, it’s even more! Salsa and things of that nature are expensive as well. Orange juice is even expensive, it’s almost as expensive as milk, and actually, it is as expensive! They have something called an orange drink, I haven’t tasted it but I am assuming it’s like Sunny D or Tang (think tang being sold already made).
The most expensive thing we have run into here is how much alcohol is. For wine that I don’t care for at home (yellow tale, sorry mom) is about 27 sing dollars. The cheapest bottle of wine so far that we have found is about 13 sing dollars which is about 10 us dollars. I am used to buying a bottle of wine for 6 us dollars tops! I mean when we are having company we buy wine around 8 or 9 dollars, but for normal every day wine, 7 tops.