O Singapore

My love for Singapore has been reaffirmed after visiting this awesome city with Seo over Christmas. I really want to move here because of its quality of life and the fact that their government is currently putting a lot of emphasis on museums makes me even more eager to move.

Some people think that I am weird for liking such a strict and boring city. For me, I like the rules and regulations. They make the city safe and clean. To be honest, I don't think their government is that much stricter than HK's government nowadays. I understand that I am looking at the environment from a tourist point of view, but hey, their government is selling this image really well.

I also like the multiculturalism. HK always praise herself for being multicultural, but that's a lie. Those that can afford it, generally the Expats, enjoy the benefits while those that come from the mainland and southeast Asia are discriminated all the time, from children's education to earning a better livelihood. Again, this comes from me who only hung out with Singaporeans that can afford to study abroad in the States. But even then, it seems like people have a greater acceptance of other nationalities.

I think this is a great place for families and raising children. When was the last time you went to fly kites with your parents? They have this huge area by the bay that had lots of families hanging out when we visited. It's amazing. OK, I probably can't deal with their education part, but I'm sure there's schools there that provide a different curriculum.

Last but not least, the food! O my, it's tasty and cheap! I love their food courts and their different cuisines from around the area. Theirs is so much more authentic than than hk-ised version of southeast Asian. I've found one place in HK so far that has slightly better food, just slightly.

All in all, I just love it there and I feel that Singapore has so much more potential. It's still growing and it might catch up to HK soon.

First Day

Today's my first day at the new job. I really didn't know what to expect since my point of contact there said absolutely nothing about it other than the things I already knew.

I arrived 5mins earlier than my appointed time and was told that my point of contact hasn't arrived yet. That's fine with me since I was early. However, after waiting for 20mins, I was finally brought to a room by a staff and was told to fill out forms. By the time it's past 9.30, I finally met my point of contact who finally told me the structure of the department, who's my mentor, whom I'll be working under and my rotation. WHY COULDN'T YOU TELL ME ALL THAT EARLIER OVER THE PHONE?!

Then I met the director and chief curator. The chief curator will be my 'mentor' but I highly doubt that get would have time for me. I was told of various really cool exhibitions that the museum will be holding in near future. Got super excited about that. I am now put into the team that's about to put up the upcoming special exhibition. I was also told that I would be helping out with the exhibition on the Qin Emperor. Wait, what?! I seem to never leave his footsteps. Let's see what kind of artifacts they got.

I met my team members and got a tour of the galleries. My immediate supervisor was out for research and didn't have time to clean my desk (he piled part of his stuff in my area because he has no space left in his area for piling. Super messy). I was given the typical "read all these things because we havent planned on giving you what to do" reading.

Went to our cafeteria for lunch with coworkers. Score! I seriously havent worked at a place without a cafeteria. Then through their conversations, I realize I was put in the most stressful team. Haha. The other trainee asked me which time did I choose to come to work and I answered 8.45. He gave me a shocking face :O. Then he said don't come this early since you won't get off on time, ever. My team members agreed. Basically, according to the administration people, there's a choice of working times: 8.45-5.33/9.00-5.48/9.15-6.06. I chose 8.45 originally because I thought since this is a government job, I can get off at 5ish or 6 the latest. I guess it doesn't work that way for us in the curatorial unit. Blah.

My first day went by smoothly with a little bit of anxiety. But that's OK. That's why it's the first day. I don't mind work, just not repetitive work, non-stop, which I don't think will happen at this rate. Haha.