Long Time, No Blog

So it has been quite a while since I have done a big blog post and I am going to try and type something out now. I woke up very early this morning (7am) and thus have ample time to write something and plan to do just that. I realize I probably haven’t written very much at all about my life in Singapore since I haven’t written much since I’ve really moved to Singapore.

So for a bit about my daily life… at my current job I work 6 days a week. I start every day at 3:30 and we end anywhere from a very early 12:30 am to as late as 3 am – depending on how busy we are. I work as a waitress at a roof top bar that looks out over the fabulous skyline of Singapore, the iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel, and many of the historic and government buildings here in the CBD. Many customers tell me the view from our roof top is the best in Singapore. I would guess it probably is a top contender, but since I am almost always working I have no time to go and check out the other rooftop bars. Plus, I don’t always care to spend my time off at a bar since I already spend 65 hours a week at a bar. Plus, I feel more and more all the time that drinking is just not my idea of an ideal use of my free time. After a long day at work, me and my coworkers (specifically Joseba (Spanish), Jufri (Singaporean), and Nadia (Singaporean)) usually go out for dinner at a local café/bar just down the street from where we work called Lucky 69. We go there almost every night of the week, we order almost the same thing every night (I think they have the best Chicken Wings in all of Singapore – maybe all of SE Asia) and have gotten to know all the people who work there (Mary runs the bar, Melanie runs the café, Ya Shi is the newest Chinese employee, Ken and Jong are the Philippine brothers who deliver all the take away food on their pedal bikes). Last week we had Joseba’s birthday party there and they took such good care of us. Probably because most of us eat there twice a day, first on our break around 5pm or 6pm, and then again after work at 2 am.

In the mornings, which I always have free, I usually try to get up with enough time to head into the city or one of the nice neighborhood directly surrounding the CBD for my breakfast/lunch meal before work. I almost never cook for myself, the fanciest thing I make at home being scrambled eggs on toast. This is for many reasons including the fact that if you are savy you can eat very cheap here in Singapore, I enjoy being served by someone else since I spend my entire life serving others, and because the apartment I live in is not the most aesthetically pleasing place so I’d much rather sit at a sidewalk café where I can enjoy a nice ambiance or a hawker center where I really feel like I’m in Asia.

On my days off I never really know what to do since I always seem to have a day off when no one else is off (or I’m out of the country) so there isn’t much to note there. But, being that I have very little time off from work – or at least very little time off that “normal” people have off (evenings and weekends) I have really started being picky about who I spend my time with. I have very little free time and if I deem you are not worthy of it I will not spend it with you. This might be harsh, but I have to do what I want, it is my life, I will only live it once, and I’m still young and unattached so I can still be selfish in this respect. And although working 65 hours a week is not necessarily what I want to do for life, I am happy to fill my time now with a job as I don’t really have much for friends here in Singapore (outside of work) and don’t have any idea what I would do with 25 more hours a week of free time.

Now I think this leads nicely into some of the new “revelations” I have come to recently about my life – most of which I came to after spending so much time with Elizabeth, some I can talk to about things more important than work or what I did on my day off. And one of them has to do with work. I don’t really mind working long hours, or getting up early or staying up later for work, but I need to have a flexible job – especially when it comes to vacation time. Recently, my workplace has been immensely accommodating of all the holiday time I have requested (both paid and unpaid), and this is something I would require of any job going forward. I need ample time for any holiday I choose to take back to America, when that happens, and I also want time off (paid and unpaid) to travel to other locations as well. Here in Singapore the standard vacation time package is 2 weeks plus holidays-in-lieu which would leave me with just about 4 weeks a year (considering I work every holiday and thus get them all in-lieu). That is just not enough holiday time for me. I know to Americans this may sound demanding, but most of the world has at least this much holiday or more. They work for flexible companies that will give additional time off unpaid and this is what I’m pretty sure I will require for my entire life to stay happy. Thus, I will probably end up working for myself at some point. That way I can holiday when I want and when I’m not on holiday I can work as hard and long as I want to get done what needs to get done.

Another thing I have decided recently is that I’m not sure I’m ever going to find a place that I call home. I have found that almost every place we have been to I could see myself living (except Kuala Lumpur) and have enjoyed my time there because I was with my friends or the people were really nice. I think that my home will be where I have a life, but that is mobile and I’m not sure I will ever feel a huge attachment to a place. I was speaking to Elizabeth about this and she agreed. While Elizabeth was growing up she lived in 6 different countries always moving with her family as her father’s job moved around the world. Although her physical home changed she always felt at home because she was with her family. I think this is how I will feel as well.

Which leads nicely into revelation #3 for today – I would really like to find someone to share my life with. Now this won’t be easy for me as I have very little time to hang out with people as I work so much, and my standards are very high, but I just feel so unsettled sometimes and it is very much that way because I don’t really have anyone tying me down to any place. I have no reason to stay anywhere and thus whenever I go on holiday I can envision myself staying there because there is nothing pulling me back to my temporary home (NZ or Singapore or wherever) except a pay check. And being that I find myself to be rather easily employable that is not something that will ever keep me in a place over the chance to be with the people I want to be with.

Now talking about work leads into another great revelation – money. Many of the ex-pats who are living here in Singapore are making a lot of money, probably $10,000 + per month and likely much more. I am paid only a fraction of this. Many of these ex-pats are constantly telling me how expensive life is here in Singapore and many of them cannot comprehend that I can afford to live here with a job in a bar (and they don’t even know how little I make). Many of them spend $1,000+/weekend going out – I spend $1,200/month on all my expenses outside of rent and I am very happy with that. I currently have myself on a budget of $300/week (which I only budget at the weekly level, allowing myself to spend it any way I want within that) and find that I really enjoy everything I do. Sure, sometimes I get stressed out about money, but I enjoy every purchase I make and I make them smartly. And I do this so I can save a good portion of my income and then have the freedom to go on holiday or buy nice things when I deem it appropriate. I enjoy living like this and am pretty sure I will keep on this budget even when I get a raise because I enjoy the challenge of trying to make it work and the financial freedom I have to do fun things or change my life direction at a moment’s notice because I have money in the bank and the financial security to make those decisions.

Now my computer is starting to run low on battery (I’m currently only at 4%) so I am going to sign off for now. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading.

Best!