Any mamas from Singapore out there?

[zicki]

We're considering a move from Vancouver, Canada to Singapore and I wanted to touch base with any Singaporean mdc mamas for advice.

Thanks!
Nicki

[TudoBem]

We're looking into a possible relocation to Singapore as well. Would love to hear from moms there on how it is to live there, natural parenting, etc.!

[zicki]

No response yet from anyone actually there, so maybe we can just talk amongst ourselves! Where are you from, and are you being recruited by a specific company in Singapore?

Nicki

[nznavo]

I hardly ever post here, but I do live in Singapore most of the time. We travel a lot. What kind of questions do you have? I'm happy to answer what I can.

[zicki]

Hallo! Thanks for checking in..

Some questions off the top..

Where's the best area for family living (parks, activities, etc)?

How much is rent (is it all apts or townhomes or...?) for a 3 br place?

What would you think is a livable salary for a family of 4 (or if you prefer, how much are groceries for a week)?

Is there any kind of natural family living movement over there?

What's the school system like (I read the schooling website, I'm wondering more first-hand)..

Etc, etc, etc..

Thanks!
Nicki

PS - TudoBem, sorry I haven't replied to your PM yet.. I'll get to it! :)

[nznavo]

I'll give it a go! You might also want to check out www.expatsingapore.com. They have a parenting subforum. You won't find anything useful about natural living but will find info about schooling etc. My child is only 12mo, so I haven't ever thought about schooling.

People say the best area for outdoor/family living is the East Coast. There's a big coastal park out there. Rent is cheaper there but you need to factor in a commute. I don't know the specifics of renting, commuting in that area as we live closer to the centre of town.

We live in an older condo which is all big 3 bedroom places and mostly families with young kids. It's very friendly and family friendly and in a green neighborhood. Rents for this kind of thing are in the $2000-3000 SGD ballpark. You could probably find a place for c.$1500 (maybe less? really depends on what you need) and the sky is pretty much the limit in terms of higher end rents.

I find Singapore pretty expensive. It's hard to know what a family of 4 would need. Like pretty much everywhere you can do it cheaply (wet markets etc) or you can spend a fortune. I probably spend about $500 a week. That's a bit of a stab in the dark and doesn't include rent or utilities, but food, transport, entertainment etc. Maybe more. Sorry, I'm a bit vague on that! It would be a good question for the forums I posted above as you'd get a range. As I mentioned we travel a lot and my husband is often away while we're there so spending varies a lot depending on what's going on.

I do come across people who are more at the natural living end of the spectrum but it's kind of random so I don't know how much of a movement there is. There are a couple of good organic food stores and cafes and talking to the folks who work there would be an easy way to find out what's going on. Most of the natural parenting folks I know are a result of having hired a doula and getting to know this organisation's other clients.

Not sure how old your children are, but if you CD you should probably bring supplies with you. There's one place that sells fitted ones but they're really expensive and you can't get decent prefolds.

Babe just woke up so that's the end of me. Feel free to ask more.

[TudoBem]

Thanks for the info.!

I have a few other questions.

1. Are condos in more of the center of the city still "green"? I have a 15 mo. old who loves to walk around in nature and am wondering how far you are generally from parks at any given location. Are there a lot of spots of green and parks around the city?

2. You mentioned your condo was pretty friendly. Do you generally find people/families friendly? Is it easy to make friends, find friends for your dc? I'll be a SAHM. Are there many SAHM's there or do they mostly work?

3. Is it easy to find toys/art supplies/baby gear for children there? Are these things much more expensive?

4. You said you spend around $500/week. Is that mostly food? How would you loosely break it down?

5. What kind of things do you do for entertainment?

6. My dh would be travelling maybe 1/4 of the time and hopefully we would go with him once in a while. How is it travelling with a young child?

7. I've heard a lot of people have live-in maids. We would be looking into this just to help us out, not to solely take care of our child. What is the best way to go about this?

8. How are the condo.'s? We do cloth diaper so I'm wondering if they generally come with washers/dryers or if those are in a central location in the condo. Is it easy/difficult/expensive/cheap to find furniture, linens, appliances?

9. What kinds of things should be bring with us from the states because of difficulty or expense in getting them there?

10. What are the names of the organic food stores and cafes? I've been wondering about food and if you can find healthy items there.

11. What do you like the best and least about living there?


Thanks so much! :)

[nznavo]

1. Our condo is green. There's lots of open space and trees, a great pool and playground. It's close to the botanic gardens and in a leafy neighborhood but about 10 mins on the bus to Orchard Rd. I don't know about other condos but I think older ones tend to be much more spacious and greener. Singapore itself is pretty green but there aren't so many parks in the middle of the city. Singaporeans tend to prefer to hang out in a/c. I'm generalising, sure.

2. It's very friendly and very easy to meet people, particularly if you have a child. There are many SAHMs among the expat population (easier to afford to live on one income on an expat salary), not so many Singaporean SAHMs that I'c met.

3. Yes, very easy. I think they're probably more expensive than the US but I'm not from the US. Also, I never looked at baby stuff before arriving in Singapore pregnant, so am not sure how big the range etc is. Seems fine to me.

4. I'll think more about the $500 thing and post more detail later. We're just going back to S'pore today after 2 months in Thailand, so I just put that number out there without giving it too much thought.

More later.

[nznavo]

Ok, more.

Thinking further, I have no idea what I spend. Really, like anywhere, Singapore can be done on the cheap or you can spend a fortune.

5. Are you talking about entertainment with kids? We take walks in the gardens, swim a lot, do playgroups ... same as anywhere I guess. They also have Gymboree, Little Gym, Kindermusik etc if that's your bag.

6. I have found travelling with my son easy but it is getting more difficult. Now he has this routine that he loves (that he made) and he gets quite unsettled if we mess it up. That only lasts a couple of days though. It's definitely easier the younger they are, I think. I don't find flying to be any trouble. Asia generally is very child friendly in that everyone loves kids and they're widely welcomed in restaurants etc. You need to be a bit relaxed about everyone touching and being in your kid's face a lot, or you need to make your boundaries very clear.

7. We don't have a maid so I'm not sure of the process. If you do a google search for singapore maid agencies you'll find a bunch. Agencies or word of mouth are what people do.

8. We have a washer/dryer in our condo and I think this is standard. You can buy anything here but it's likely to be more expensive than the US. Things like sheets are a pain - bed dimensions here are smaller than US beds so Singapore queen sheets won't fit a US queen bed. Same width but shorter. Know that the voltage is different so your US appliances won't work here.

9. Not sure as I'm not from the States, but there's nothing really that we miss here. You can get pretty much everything as far as I'm aware. That said, we've been living in different countries a long time now and are just used to going with whatever's around. We did used to live in the US for a while and I can't think of anything much that you can't get here. Singapore is not the back of beyond at all and is a very consumerist country.

10. The store I go to is called Super Nature. There's another I don't like as much called Brown Rice Paradise. One cafe I know is called Whatever. Maybe you can google?

11. Best: very easy place to live, we have a nice life, I have the luxury of staying at home with my baby, weather.
Worst: very materialistic, very sexist (not work, so much, but everything else), not much diversity.

Hope that helps!

[TudoBem]

Thanks so much for answering my questions. You helped me a lot in getting an idea of what life is like there.
....Unfortunately, we just found out that the position he was offered was filled by someone else! Quite disappointing as we were getting excited by the prospect of moving there. Oh, well. Maybe in the future something else will come up!

[zicki]

Us too -- and I was really starting to look forward to going. Sigh!

Thanks hugely for all the info!

Nicki

[melissa17s]

Zicki- does your dh have a job already lined up? Many of the expat jobs offer housing. You should check into it. My dh is from S'pore. I have only visited, but lived there.

You can live relatively inexpensive if you do not have to pay for housing. Limited land leads to expensive property. Food is not that expensive if you cook for yourself or go to hawker centers. But if you go to clubs and restaurants, then it can get really pricey.

You can get American organic food at a grocery store in the Tanglin shopping center. If I remember correct, it was expensive. If you shop at Cold Storage, then the food is more or less local and I think it was inexpensive.

They have a good train system, but sometimes you have to take a bus or taxi to the station. Taxis are expensive. Cars are ridiculous- better to do public transport. You have to pay tolls for many roads- maybe all of them.

You can bargin at many of the stores, so some things are less expensive. This is particularly true on Arab St. and in Little India, but many department stores do not bargin. Much of the stuff that is sold in US passes through S'pores ports, so there is lots of selection and it is less expensive.

Shopping and eating (makan) are pass times, and it can be very overwhelming. There are websites that rate food. No one would take me to the museum or the bird park, but I had no prob finding friends or family willing to go shopping.

Changi has public beaches and also East Coast Park. The Jurong Bird park is a large aviary. There are parks all over, hence the nick name the Garden City. They have an unusual zoo.

Something to think about is education. It is very competitive there. Dh says homeschooling is not allowed. Most private schools are expensive.

It really is neat place, and the food is soooo good. Oh, and when you go, if you do, fly on SIA because it is a much more comfortable ride than the other possibilities. We are planning a trip back Dec. 2006.