Being a citizen in a semi-foreign land.

felt like typing this after reading kenneth's blog..

all in a day.....
you wake up
wander around the house
the Garungguni man walks by that shouts in the familiar "Garung-gunnnni" and he is from China
You take the lift down and notice that the Bangladesh cleaner is moping the ground floor.
you decided to walk to the hawker centre, feeling hungry
you decide to order a plate of hainanese chicken rice(i love white chicken btw)
the one that is taking your order and helping you cut the chicken is from China--well hainan is in china right?
you noticed that the people clearing the dishes in the foodcourt isnt Singaporean
but you have no idea where they are from since you do not really communicate with them
You decided to cut your hair at the neighbourhood
and realise that the young girl who is tending to your hair
left her KL hometown at age 13 to learn to cut hair (and she is 17 now)
You took a bus to jurong point
only to see a PRC man talking to his wife and girl at the top of his voice
in a dialect that we do not really understand
your bus uncle that knows your bus route well is from malaysia
handphone rings
its a foreign number and you wonder who it was
oh its a phonecall from prudential, asking me if i would like to know more about insuring my future
did i mention that the girl could speak tagalog as well?
you called up samsung call centre to ask about the dvd finalising problem
the one that picked up is a filip.
you walked into bossini at Jurong Point
the girl that greets you in a filip accent
you go back to school, significant size of the class is from vietnam and india
brought my mum to the polyclinic
and lo and behold, it's a filip doctor
from one of the unis in manilla
industrial estate at near st 64 is a sight at nights
groups of workers, dressed in their outdoor bollywood wear walks towards jurong point
those who like it alfresco style will picnic at HDB block outside Ah Lian Bee Hoon coffeeshop near the new yet to be completed Pioneer Mrt
urine stench and litter are strewn
with the usual worker sitting ard or just lying dead drunk on the floor


Employers know that they can hire at the lower rate
Government knows that foreigners fill up positions which are not filled by Singaporeans
Foreigners know that Singapore is a safe country with many opportunities
dont blame it on the foreigners, blame it on Singapore

this is Singapore....