A Singaporean In Australia

Foodie requested to remain anonymous and even gave me her preferred moniker, "Desperate Mum," if I ever felt like writing about her. I decided not to use it. There were too many mums floating about in this site. Mum M, Mum C, Mum D, Nervous Mum, Loving Mum, whatever mum. It can be confusing after a while.

There is no need to use a moniker really. Besides, there shouldn't be any shame to let the others know if you have an intention to move overseas. In fact, telling the others of your goal is a powerful form of affirmation. It also acts as the first form of acceptance. I once communicated with somebody who was unwilling to let a single person know of his migration intention. He had plenty of worries, such as reducing his chances of promotion at work if his boss knew, harsh criticisms from friends or family etc. Needless to say, he eventually changed his mind and extinguish the idea of moving out of Singapore ever, like how I saw it coming. Foodie should be proud of her intent and shouldn't feel shy to share it. Even if her move fails to happen eventually due to technicalities, she can be proud of her courageous attempt.

My friend Patrick shared his observations on Singaporean couples in Perth. He cited good examples of husbands who took to Perth like a fish to water. Their wives weren't so well adjusted and some took a long time before they felt it was a good idea to live in Australia. Patrick had statistics to back him so that remained legit for a while. As time goes by, I am not so sure anymore, after getting into contact with an increasing number of Singaporean mothers who want their families out of Singapore. What has changed, that drove our Singaporean daughters to put aside their shopping paradise and force their spouses to consider a daunting uprooting process? In my personal opinion, Singapore is one of the best country in the world to be a woman. That's a debate for the next time, if anyone is game. Thus it is interesting, to me at least, why I am seeing a changing trend of women taking up men's instinctive role as the scout, roamer and hunter? I guess I will never know.

Foodie loves Perth for some reasons unclear to me. You have to really like the place if you make several return trips to Boringville. Last month Foodie was nice enough to drop by our place with her husband and two young daughters, with pies. Her parting shot was, "I wish I can migrate here but till then, we can only make these trips," before disappearing into the night. She was yet another woman I met who convinced her husband of the ridiculous idea of moving to another country with her passion.

Neither of them could have come via the standard EOI because of mismatches of nominated occupations as well as age running against them. Still, Foodie will not give up and told me she will come to Perth sometime next year to take up a Baking Course, leaving her two young daughters behind with her husband in Singapore, and hopes that she will be able to find an employer sponsor upon her certification. That can be done, although chances are slim and much depends on her luck but Foodie knows that - and appears to be going ahead anyway. You can call her reckless, idealistic or even foolish. From a parent's perspective, if a mother is willing to part with her young children to pursue a goal for her family, it isn't some masak masak plan. She emphasized that moving to Australia is not a vanity project but a carefully considered long term vision for the future of her family.