Category Archives: Expat in Singapore

9:00 pm - June 24, 2014 - sjcarlson

An Ode to Wisconsin: Driving on back country roads

(Taken on Highway 33 between Cashton and Hillsborough. Passed a few Amish buggies on the way, too)

I was digging through old pictures, looking at pictures of my hometown for the purposes of my new novel project Rafa and Rose and I found this picture. It made me miss driving, having the capacity to get in a car and go pretty much anywhere for as long and far as I want. My husband and me have no car here in Singapore. Average cost to purchase, say, a Nissan Versa–$100,000 in Singapore! That doesn’t include gas and insurance. While Singapore does have amazing public transportation, I miss being able to drive, listening to music and meditating on my writing or life in general. I mean look at that picture. What an awesome place to drive through, windows down on a beautiful summer day.

Categories: An ode to Wisconsin, Expat in Singapore Tags: expat, photography, Wisconsin

8:02 pm - June 18, 2014 - sjcarlson

Team USA beats Ghana in some game in Brazil. Is it the Olympics again or something? Wait, what’s the World Cup again?

JK I know what the World Cup is, mostly. And I even know it’s in Brazil, unlike 2/3 of other Americans lol. And I know this happened…

So we beat this tiny country in Africa. Yaaaay!!! I guess?

Irony…. I’m in a I forget what my British friends actually called it but I’ll call it a bracket but it’s wayyyyy simpler than that. Anyway, the teams I picked out of the hat were Germany (who are good, right?) and Ghana, who Murica just beat. Guess that ruins half my shot at winning fifty bucks. The bitter, bitter irony.

So obviously, the rest of the world is very excited. The US in general, meh. On my Facebook feed, I saw one mention of USA winning, and it was more like an ironic, go USA you managed to beat a developing country. Hope you’re proud. Way more posts about the Packers (obviously), Brewers, possibly even the Bucks basketball team (who are not very good, I guess). I kind of feel bad for our soccer/football team. All the rest of the teams, their home countries be all crazy about it. One stat I saw said that only 7% of the US planned to watch and cheer for Team USA. Though apparently there are plenty of excited people.

I’m contemplating being a total fairweather fan, buying a knock-off jersey while in Viet Nam (that would be the only thing with USA on it that I own), trying to find one of those scarf things like all the rest of the world’s fans appear to have, and start chanting USA all over the place. Everyone else in the world is excited, I guess I could be, too. It would help pass the time til football starts in the Fall, too. Go Pack Go! I will say soccer/football fans appear to have way more fun at their games with their songs and their chants and their scarf things. I wish the Packers had a song all the fans sang…..

Anyway….

Survey questions: should I care about the World Cup? American friends, do you care about the World Cup? Why don’t Americans care about it–is it not American enough, do we have enough of all our own sports, is it the sketchy penalty calling?

Categories: Expat in Singapore, On being the token Yank Tags: culture, expat, travel

10:41 pm - June 15, 2014 - sjcarlson

Being all touristy and stuff in Singapore.

So I have my very first guest from the United States staying with me in Singapore! My youngest sister 🙂 It’s giving me a chance to go and actually do stuff that I normally don’t bother with. Here’s a few pictures from our adventures!

The Neko Cat Cafe. Yes, exactly what it sounds like. A room full of cats to take pictures of and play with. Or, well, they’re cats, so maaaaybe they’ll play with you, but really they’ll probably just ignore you. Oh, and they do serve coffee, so it is a cafe. Don’t pull their tails or give them your mocha! Also take of your shoes and sanitize your hands lol.

Also my sister was just amazed by the sheer quantity of malls. We were in 5 (6?) today alone. Yeah….

Here’s a few night shots of Singapore.

What’s up Marina Bay Sands? Got some pretty sunset clouds back there….

Hey Singapore Flyer. How’s it going?

Ships waiting to dock in Singapore.

Find the Merlion! A mermaid lion shooting water out of its mouth.

A few shots of the Super Trees!

A night shot of the Singapore skyline at Marina Bay Sands, but not the BEST night shot. The choice was this: pay $25 to get the best shots at the edge of the viewing platform or…pay $23 for one drink and have to deal with sub-par shots with people in it. The choice was obvious lol.

Tomorrow we’re off to Viet Nam!!

Categories: Expat in Singapore, Photography, Samples of Southeast Asia Tags: expat, photography, travel

9:26 pm - June 4, 2014 - sjcarlson

You know you live in Singapore when…..

This is the major crime of concern in your neighborhood. The theft of A (singular) bicycle.

This gets posted in your condo. A few buglaries, EVERYONE install security cameras! DEFCON 1395708457!!!! Okay, really, you know it’s Singapore when can leave your windows and doors open all day and night period. But now everyone in my complex has everything shut up and curtains drawn except for a few evening hours.

This is your 7:00pm commute home on the MRT. And it’s actually more packed than it looks. Lots of arm rubbing. Good thing I’m not claustrophobic. Singapore’s public transportation is amazing on the whole, but crowded at peak times. But then sometimes things like this happen on the glorious MRT:

Also you know it’s Singapore when it is ILLEGAL to chew gum. Fact. Gum is not allowed. Funnier still… They sell things like Doublemint, but they’re not gum, they’re actually mints. Oh, and also death penalty if you’re caught bringing drugs in. DON’T DO IT!!! Oh, and sodomy is illegal.

But seriously, there are plenty of great things about Singapore. Low crime for suresies. And the Supertrees!

Please share any thoughts you have. I have no cheesy question to ask at the moment lol.

Category: Expat in Singapore Tags: expat, Humor, travel

7:37 pm - June 1, 2014 - sjcarlson

Talking Dirty: Porta-Potty or Porta-Loo…or something else entirely?

I ran a half marathon this weekend with a fellow American and two of my English friends. It was actually MORE than a half–my Map My Run app told me I ran 13.76 miles, so thanks thanks for that Sundown Singapore. I digress. Obviously at the race, they had plenty of these:

(By the way, this totally happens all the time in the U.S. :P)

I said to my English friends, “Hey, we’re going to meet Steph by the Porta-Potties.” They looked at me like a was a bit mad, then thought that was hilarious that I called it a Porta-Potty. I don’t think one of them believed that’s actually what I call it. “Why don’t you just call it a toilet?”Haha I don’t know, that’s just what we call it. My English friends were also surprised when I said ours don’t often have sinks in them. After that I was kind of like, eek maybe I’ll just call it a toilet then. I cannot say Porta-Loo, it sounds too funny when I say it lol.

Another side note: Singapore has nice Porta-Potties or Porta-Loos or Porta-Johns or toilets or whatever you want to call them.

What do you call a portable toilet made out of plastic, set up just for a special event?

Have you ever used a word that people from other cultures unexpectedly found hilarious?

Categories: Expat in Singapore, On being the token Yank Tags: culture, expat, Humor, travel

Sarah J. Carlson

Contemporary Young Adult Author