A Singaporean In Australia

"The whole place looks like Disneyland, come see, you won't be disappointed!" Stephen declared.

While there is a huge lack of Christmas atmosphere in the streets or malls of Perth as compared to Singapore, the magic lies in the suburbs. Or what Singaporeans like to term as the heartland, ironically in a heartless society. I guess this synchronizes with why shops in Perth notoriously closes too early for tourists' liking and the "whole town is dead". The Aussies put huge emphasize on their family and homes more than the malls and streets. Why hang out in the malls if the homes here are way more comfortable? It is also right that malls close early so that retailers get to spend time with their families as well. It makes perfect sense to me. Singaporeans expect the world from their retailers. They have to work long working hours to cater to our irrational thirst to consume. Then we ourselves shun retail jobs because they are too tough to handle. The same goes for the FNB, construction and many other industries. What assholes we are.

Enough about Singaporeans. The post is about how some locals celebrate their year end festival. According to what I observe so far, more of them are doing it in style. 

When I took Albany to this house (left) a few minutes drive from my place, she was delighted and was began to climb stairs and inspect every element that caught her attention, forgetting the fact that it was actually somebody's house. However, it was the time of the year where trespassing was welcomed. The owner of the house were wishing every curious visitor, 'Merry Christmas' and even offered little Albany a candy. 

I knew Albany would enjoy such an experience for sure. During one of the evening when I was taking her home from the hospital visit after Jen gave birth, she wailed throughout the ride because her mummy was not going home that night. The only time she stopped crying was when I drove through the tiny street along Subiaco where there were lightnings coiled around the street trees around there. She got quiet all of a sudden and commented, "Look daddy, lights!" It was then I realised my daughter had never been in the city at night before, since her bed time is 7.30 pm. She would be considered a "suaku" back home. I found it quite cute that she was amused by simple things such as a street tree with lightning and was convinced that there was no hurry to introduce her to the world so quickly. I had met "worldly" kids who behaved like they had seen it all and knew it all. It isn't my business how other parents wish to bring up their kids but I am not interested of having an annoying specimen like those in my household. Myself is one too many.

After trying to take some pictures, I gave up. Perhaps I have terrible photography skills or lack the patience. When I realised I could not capture the beautiful feel and essence of the atmosphere, I gave up. It would be wiser to soak in and enjoy it instead of wasting my time on taking the perfect picture. The only regret was my eyes were not a video camera and my memories could not be stored in a retrievable hard disk. If I had spent excessive time taking meaningless pictures, I would have missed out the delightful scenes of my daughter thoroughly enjoying herself. No perfect photograph is worth losing a moment like that.

I would take her to the recommended "Disneyland" tonight, where a full street of consecutive households actually took the effort to decorate their houses with lights. I would not be taking any pictures, using what Stephen shared with me instead. I want to live the moments with my family instead.

When I was young, we had the pleasure of sending cheap Christmas cards to our friends. Printed on those cards would always be something related to snow, be it house with a arched roof embedded with a thick layer of snow, a white Christmas tree or a magnified design of a snowflake. I asked my mother, "When is it going to snow?" Of course, she laughed and told me it would unlikely in her lifetime. 

Still, I was still contented that we got to celebrate Christmas in Singapore, although it was a westernized thing. The next best thing to spending time with the family and the dead turkey on the table in a cosy warm house on a snowing evening was perhaps walking along Orchard Road admiring lights and sweating like hell by the time we reached City Hall. No matter, street walking had never felt that good in any part of the year than Christmas session. The decorations were rich and generous and loud Christmas songs were played to drive up the atmosphere. The weather was usually good, by Singapore's standard, around that time of the year. There was almost a hint of romanticism in the air along those streets. Life was good.

Until the very first Christmas Eve when I had to work. I was only 16 years old back then and took up a holiday job in Takashimaya to earn a few bucks. That Christmas probably gave me a rude awakening to commercialism and melted any romanticism left in my mind for Christmas. I almost missed the last night train home that night. It wasn't quite my idea of "Silent night, holy night" for me. Quite the opposite, in fact. Since then, Christmas represented a time for me to "slack" at home and hide from the world.

If Christmas was to celebrate the birth of Christ with nice cold weather, songs and log cakes then Australia, Perth in particular, must be where Satan normally resides. For it gives us damn good weather throughout the year except and especially on fucking Christmas day, just to prove a point I guess. 

In fact Perth has been the hottest capital city in the world on Christmas so often that even bookies are offering bets for that this year. Just imagine what kind of Christmas spirit you can experience here. Dead spirits from animals, insects and humans who died of heat stroke perhaps.

A good majority of the companies in Perth closes (termed: shutdown) from the 21st Dec onward. Some reopen for business only on the end of the first week of the New Year. It was supposed to be a year end holiday/celebration for the Aussies, though I suspect it is also for them to get away from the heat by driving south, flying North to Bali or simply hiding at home with reverse cycle activated. I thought the shutdown thing is a good idea, though I will prefer them to call it the Bunking Fortnight. It is a mystery to me why Perth houses do not come with a basement. That'll come in handy for our bunking needs when Satan visits during Christmas.

I've been asked for the 4th time by a colleague today about my plans for Christmas. I should have realise by now I am supposed to have one but I do not have the mood to make any. If there was actually any traces romanticism of Christmas left in me, it will be fully melted and drained after this one. I do, however, miss my family in Singapore when I was doing a big grocery run last weekend. My daughter must be wondering why I gave her extra hugs lately.

Hi,

Anyone can get a tourist visa, fly over to Australia and seek for a job. The employer will then sponsor the candidate for a working visa so that he will be legally able to work and live in Australia, usually for 3 years. An employer who wishes to sponsor a foreigner will have to apply for approval as a standard business sponsor. There is a limit to the number of employees who can be sponsored within the period. Also, there are stringent criteria to be eligible as a sponsor. Thus, many employers are either ineligible or cannot be bothered to go through the hassle, unless it is a critical position in your company.

For farm owners, they will rather go to labour hire or self-made agents for manpower. The reasons are simple. First, they do not need to micro manage their temporary workers. That saves them cumbersome payroll or fire/hire issues because they have only 1 person to deal with instead of a group. Second, the liabilities will be fully on the agent should there be problems such as injuries or illegal workers being caught etc.

While the farm owners are willing to pay around $20-22 per hour for fruit picking to the agents, there is usually a big cut because a (law abiding) agent will have to factor in insurance/public liability costs, superannuation (CPF), GST and your tax deductions (should you make over $18,000 an annum) So a fruit picker will expect only about $13-15 per hour (after all deductions, including agent's cut) to take home. 

Since there is no working/holiday visa for Singaporeans and no employer will be sponsoring a fruit picker for subclass 457, you will be an illegal fruit picker if you come on tourist visa and manage to find an agent to take you in for work. There are chances of being caught and there are consequences to face. Thus in this case, I will not advise you to go ahead with what you have in mind. If you learn the lessons from your fellow Singaporeans, if you want to do something illegal, make sure you make it worthwhile, i.e pocketing millions in the background, such as being a church pastor, being a director of a state land authority or a politician.

The rains have come. The Todd "River", bone dry for 99 percent of the year, is filling up again.

And as people unused to seeing water, the denizens of Alice Springs find a novelty in muddy puddles. It's awesome seeing children (and the odd adult) letting go and diving into the muddy mess.

Living in the outback almost isolates an individual from everywhere else. I remember being unused to city traffic, cursing, swearing and the rest, but instantly changing my mind about city life after I had some roast duck...

You won't find Bondi beach here (closest one is about a casual 13 hour drive away) nor swanky Cafes or shopping malls.

What you'll find, are the outdoors. Many own a dirt bike, and the wilderness is but a few minutes drive away. Bushwalking, trail running and mountain biking are popular too.

Town is 5 minutes by car. You won't find queues and you won't have 2-hour long commutes by bus and train. Less time travelling equals more time for family or leisure.

No I'm not sponsored by Tourism Australia. This town is better to live in than to visit. Sometimes, the kampung life is the antidote for the numerous maladies of life we face.

Cheers,

M from Alice Springs

Hi,

Unless the native language you spoke of referred to Arrernte or Kala Lagaw Ya, I estimate at least 80% of the people here speak English, the de-facto national language of Australia. I would imagine there must be a job somewhere here for you, since the vast majority of the population use English.

You have to change your mentality.

First, how does it sound if a foreigner asked you what are his chances of getting employed as an English teacher in Singapore, reminding you he can neither speak Malay nor Singlish? If immigrants worry about such things, there will not be swarms of them in Singapore today. Few of them will even attempt if they are held back by irrelevant assumptions. If there is a vacancy and you are the best candidate who turns up, you get the job. 

Second, if you suspect you will be discriminate in this country due to your skin colour, why even consider moving in the first place or take the trouble to be assessed?

Third, if you think working in a place with an Asian majority is a good idea, choose Canningvale as your first suburb (if Perth), shop only at oriental joints and watch Mediacorp through the Internet for entertainment, my advise is stay and Stand up for Singapore. If you are still going ahead and the Asian fetish is an issue, you may want to look around learning centres that offer English or IELTS courses to Asians.

I have absolutely no idea how working and living in Sydney is. You may want to buddy up with the lady earning $120k per annum in my previous post and see what information she has already gathered about the place, since she mentioned something about suburbs (prob the kind of place you may like, many Asians etc.) All I can think of at the mention of Sydney is an image of this in my mind:

Hi,

Unfortunately in Australia, casual workers work so casually (thus the term and their good life) that executive workers such as yourself will be doing most of the work. I hate to break the bad news to you: After getting a 15% pay cut, your $120k/annum salary in Sydney is going to buy you nothing, since a mere sandwich will cost you $12 there. That effectively brings down your purchasing power to 10,000 sandwiches a year. If you stay put in Singapore, where sandwiches are widely available for $2, your $140k salary will see you much better off with 70,000 sandwiches a year, nearly 8 sandwiches an hour. That, you will not disagree, is good life. You can even afford to go to church! No one says 'No' to 7 times more sandwiches. So don't be the first fool.

The car is 12 years old but it doesn't look like it. The first comment my colleague gave when he borrowed the car to buy lunch was, "Wow!"

The exterior and interior (good) condition of this car may be the previous owner's credit, but the manufacturer can be proud of the quiet engine, smooth gear shift and reliable performance (so far) that their 12 year old model managed to maintain.

Fuel consumption

I don't expect my fuel consumption to be great, since at least 75% of my distance will be covered under 100-110km/h due to the route I choose. That forced the modest 1.3L gli engine to operate at or slightly over 3000 rpm most of the time, hardly the most fuel saving configuration. However, I do not relish the thought of driving 80km/h on ROE highway. This car feels optimal for city driving (60-80km/h) rather than for 'cheong highway.'

When Duchess M told me her 1.5L VTi Bluey Blue (or something) had yielded her 600-700km on a single fill of the tank before, I wonder if I could achieve the same, despite driving above the optimal setting. So I kept driving after the light came on. I managed to hit about 627km before I went for a fill. The fuel consumption reader actually claimed I was averaging a 5.2L/100km but Pat warned me over the weekend that that reading might not be accurate and he was right. The fill had me pump 37L of petrol for my 627km. So it works out to be

Fake car reading: 5.2L/100km or 19.2km/L

Real fuel consumption: 5.9L/100km or 16.9km/L

Quite a lot of difference, if we do the calculations ourselves. No idea why the reading from the car varied by that much though. The big question is:  Can I ever hit 700km on a single tank? If the manufacturer's specifications are accurate, my fuel tank capacity should be 42L. So I was supposed to have around 5L of fuel left in my tank, although it didn't feel that way. If the specs are correct, with my more dependable Real fuel consumption reading, it should yield me another 84.5km and take me just over 700km. Perhaps a try next time, when the kids are not around and I happen to have a few litres of spare fuel in the boot.

All in all, I cannot complain about the fuel consumption of this car, be it real or fake reading.

Handling

I managed to negotiate the transition ramp between Kwinana and ROE freeway at 90km/h once. It felt stable enough. The steering wheel felt much lighter than the CRV, I could virtually steer with a hand all the time if I wanted to. However and rightfully so, it felt heavy enough to feel the wheels and vehicle at a perfect loading. It shouldn't feel that light like the crappy Great Wall ute my company bought.

Visibility

The rear side panel of the Honda Jazz is way too small for my comfort when I need to watch out for traffic waiting at the central divider during a right turn. I would imagine how a shortie driver will need to stretch his or her neck like a giraffe to get a clear view. I guess they don't even bother to check and tikam tikam sometimes. You'll know why when you see a Jazz cutting into your lane from the right once in a while. It wouldn't be me though.

Interior

My modest 2003 model would not be anything to shout about when it comes to trinkets and treasures. I've seen Missy Jo's brand new Jazz recently and wow, it has plenty of buttons to play around and a fancy dashboard with beautiful hue. However, Honda did their due diligence when it comes down to the simplest things such as a notch at the right height for the arm to rest during the drive, a crevice for the water bottle at the right place and service buttons that do not look like they are falling apart anytime after 12 years. Though my "magic seats" are not as magical as the newest model, they can still grant me that big cubic space at the back when I need it.

Albany has taken a liking to daddy's car because it is "fast." Hmm.

Comfort

Like my colleague said, this car gives a pleasant and quiet drive. It may feel just a bit rougher at 100km/h but I cannot decide if it was due to the bad roads, suspension or (light) weight of the car. So far, I have not felt the car overwhelmed by high speed wind like I did at times driving Goldilocks (RIP) The sound proofing is rather good. It feels like a private space the moment I start driving. I am not sure if it feels roomy enough for long legged humans at the back, since there have been 2 baby seats at the back since day 1 and I have never took a ride behind before to try.

Overall

Good car. Just don't expect to do wheelies or cartswheels with this 1.3L car. Keeping in mind I will be moving further from my company next year, the decent fuel consumption will help in reducing the cost. That was what I had in mind when I decided to buy the car. So far, it appears that I will have little regrets with this purchase, though $3,900 for this car is way above my comfort zone. Long may it continues.

Hello Nix, 

Just want to say I really enjoy your writing. 

Apologies for cold-emailing and the wall of text, but I've gotten very interested in listening to different people's migration stories, and I'd like to share my experience too. 

I did my tertiary studies in Perth so I can relate to many of the things you've spoken about. 

Met the wife in Uni, then we graduated and went back to Singapore for 5 years. I was constantly unhappy with the state of affairs in SG - politics, crowds etc. My job as a writer wasn't flash either. Pay was bad, work hours are long (no overtime) and you end up becoming a page-filler for pages when there're no advertisements allotted. 

Fortunately, the wife (whose skill was on the SOL during that time) obtained her PR as a student. So I came over on a spouse visa. 

It was a big move and I'm thankful we did it. It's now our 5th year in Australia. We ended up living in Alice Springs - the veritable arsehole of Australia according to some, even the Aussies. Yes, crime is somewhat rampant here - break-ins, assaults, domestic violence, stabbings, murders, rape, drug smuggling. Weather is extreme too - I remembered one day being 46 degrees max and 37 min a couple summer's back. 

But, we don't mind it here. Jobs are easy to find, and they have heaps of overtime. My first job was a salesman in Dick Smith as a casual worker. I had never used a cash register in my life. But it wasn't difficult - to be a good worker, all you have to do is rock up for work. A good work ethic goes a long way. Too many people in Alice chuck sickies just because they don't feel like coming in. 

In my first job I made around $700 a week on average. Once I hit $1,000 a week, as we had commission (tip: don't get those extended warranties). Not bad for casual. That was an average of 30 hours a week, $19/hr. I was the highest paid casual worker due to my age (30 at the time). 

But get this: My first day working casual Down Under netted me a pay roughly equal to (sometimes less, sometimes more) my job in SG after 5 years! What's more I received increments in the SG job 4 years out of 5. My pay at the end of 5 years was SGD3,000 a month.

Singaporeans complain about high taxes in Australia, but in reality, the take home is usually higher. I'm no accountant and I'm terrible with numbers, but you can take it from me.

Now I work in law enforcement (one good thing about serving National Service - job experience!). Might as well cash in on the crime spree or what? With overtime, we hit 100k pretty easy. My colleague hit $175,000 by working every day last financial year. That's a paycheck of $5,000 and above a fortnight, insane. 

Alice is a place to make money and get ahead. But obviously not many stay for the long-term because of the climate and the isolation of the place. I'm not showing off by mentioning these numbers - anyone with half a brain can work here. As mentioned, all you need to do, is rock up for work :) 

It's just remarkable (and very joyous) to me that normal everyday jobs can pay well. Like how my dad remarked when he visited: "Eh how come the construction workers are all angmoh?"

Also, it's good to see that Australia isn't homogeneous like Singapore. Can't find a good job in the city, there's always remote locales where you can ply your trade - and they probably pay better too. Hate academia? Study and work as a carpenter, or do checkout in Woolies or Coles and work your way up to a manager's position. Everyone can afford rent, a car, and eventually a mortgage in Australia - you just have to wise about where you put your dollars. 

And you have absolute freedom to decide just where each cent goes. Just look at superannuation: You can decide down to the finest detail where (and in which fund, there's countless superannuation funds) you invest your retirement funds, and in what ratio. This was a little overwhelming to me because CPF doesn't give you a choice. 

And don't get me started on the unions in Australia - what you mean workers can negotiate with management? How absurd! In SG where the best bit of the unions are the grocery discount vouchers!

We've got a little 2.5 year old as well, so I relate to your sharing about Albany :) 

If you ever decide to visit the Red Centre, hit us up! 

Cheers,

Hello M*,

I salute you for moving to the "middle of nowhere." I would like to know how you ended up there, if you have the time. I would have done it for a job if I have to, in the past or the future. Though I have a job now and the searing heat in Alice Spring is a daunting prospect, I cannot count out the possibility of ending up there one day. Who knows? 

I'm glad you get paid well for the trouble. Thank you for generously sharing the figures of your previous jobs. I hope more people will share these with me so that I (as well as any interested) will know the place better. A higher remuneration for working at certain locations is new to most Singaporeans. It is hard to imagine a scenario where jobs in Clementi pay more than those in Tampines. However, this is very common in Australia. Many Singaporeans, including myself, cannot imagine how big this country is and how greatly places differ be it weather, lifestyle, geographical properties, the way people work and play. Therefore, it is possible to find a good paying job in a place transient town. Darwin is one such place, although the Australian government is trying to grow the it into a vibrant city. Alice Spring though, is definitely a place to make money and leave for now.

Please relay the message to your Malay friend who is living and working in a remote town in WA. I hope I can hear from Singaporeans who is living in unusual places or working unconventional jobs. It is very encouraging to know that there are adventurous Singaporeans out there who have the balls as big as their comfort zone. Hope we will get to read yours stories from "Middle Earth" again.

asingaporeanson

I've met Singaporean parents who were contemplating or had sent their children back to Singapore so that they would receive world class education. By world class, I meant the opportunity to expose their kids in robust teaching methods that rocketed some of our finest to top OECD rankings in mathematics and science. Even if ours kids are nowhere among the very, very few at the top, the rationale is that our kids will be able to strive further under such an environment than a more laid-back one. 

Going by the same logic as my logical Singaporean acquaintances, I should be moving back to Singapore if I want to get rich, since there are a lot of rich people there and the working environment is competitive. By that logic, I will end up richer than I am, somehow. Nonsensical. All of us knows that the world doesn't owe us a living. Living in a country full of rich people (studies revealed there will be 1 millionaire in 30 people in Singapore by 2020) does not entitle us wealth. Chances are I will be one of the 29 poor fucks who have none of the necessary attributes, acquirable or not, to be that 1 in 30. Who is to say that our kids will have the necessary attributes to do well academically in Singapore then? 

"Reach out for the skies." Remember? How about one of those popular quotes that people have used on me, "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you'll land among the stars." I dislike dumb quotes and wish people will think it through before using one. Never mind it is harder to reach a star than the moon. Education, to me, is not about achieving goals. It must be all about learning to learn, gaining good values, habits and learning to practice them until it becomes second nature. 

The most important habit is lifelong learning. I realised the importance of this habit too late in life but I am trying my best to do catch up. I was one of the "return to teacher" brigade in Singapore. By that, I meant burning midnight oil, scoring decent marks in examinations. Don't even bet on applying what I learn to help myself in life. I would be lucky if I did not cleanly forget whatever I studied by the time I walked out from the examination hall. I found it amusing to reminisce an incident when one of my friends barked at me when I asked him for help in my revision, "Don't ask how this formula works! Just apply the fucking thing and you'll pass!"  I did and I did. Today I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. If I had pursued my studies in the same field, I would be a Civil Engineer today, designing and building the HDB flats you live in, the shopping centres you go after work with that same mindset. (Trust me, I've worked in the industry long enough to see engineers who worked like that)

How many of us are in the "return to teacher" brigade, a motto we actually used proudly without any remorse? Accordingly to my experiences in my schooling days, we were the majority. Have that traditional attitude changed among the Singaporean young today? I doubt so. Due to the results orientated system, that approach would be the line of least resistance to survival because it is the most feasible and logical one. Foreigners have so often commented that Singaporeans are stupid. They are only half right. We are a group with good brains but our education system has molded us to be 'do-ers' instead of 'thinkers'. That wasn't intended to be bad. The problem is that years of conditioning our minds to operate that way redefined our work ethics in the working world. During my working life in Singapore, this was what I saw. Work smart actually meant 'chao keng.' Delegation became 'shoot arrow', thus when one is being tasked, it meant the unfortunate one 'kena arrowed.' The #1 motto for every department in most work environment there is 'Always cover backside,' because once that is faithfully performed then it 'isn't my problem.' Remember the path of least resistance? That is how we operate and why we worship the lightning. Granted the cited are arguably ethics of workers with attitude problem, it is unlikely that a whole work culture is formed by the mentality of the minority. How is it not obvious enough that is correlated with the way we are educated?

I had the opportunity to sit down with M the other day. She just completed her Masters in Teaching (or something) after years of struggle. I have been following her program. It seemed intensive and very hands on. She was a teacher with the MOE years ago. There was no better person to get a qualified, objective view on education in both countries. What caught my interest was her explanation why the pace of teaching seems a lot slower in Australia. Some schools here practice informal streaming in class but not according to general total scores the way we do in Singapore, where the strong gets stronger and the weak gets weaker. Instead, these 'streamings' were done for down to any meaningful sub-division of skills not limited to only subjects but to personal skills as well. Pupils are rotated all the time according to their strengths and weaknesses so that every one has a chance to catch up. Under the 'no one gets left behind' mentality, kids are naturally encouraged to help one another and because classes are not officially streamed, it is less prone to the (perhaps subconscious) practice of assigning a better teacher to a better class in Singapore. We had teachers coming into our class (I was in a "bad" class), declaring, "This is a hopeless class, I will save my breath for 4B." We love to measure our best against the world. How about pitting our worst and see where we really stand?

A few years ago, I wrote a post I titled, "Learning to learn." To my amazement, I had not forgotten about it. It goes to show, once again, the importance of blogging. The message has not been since. To learn to learn is one of the most important thing I would like my kids to achieve from the education system here. One of the key factor to acquiring this habit is to have an interest during early learning. A child should learn out of curiosity, out of thirst to improve and empower. It should not be for putting the correct answers in exam papers to gain recognition from parents, teachers, peers and society. I have made the mistake and learnt from it thus I will not subject my child to the same.

It really does not matter if a kid learnt his or her algebra at age 4 or age 10, unless your toilet door at home is digitally locked with an algebraic equation that changes once every hour or something. Otherwise what is the real benefit of learning a lot, very early? To return to the teacher?

During Jen's nesting week, we went to the shop to stock up on disposable diapers. We did not plan to buy any "formula milk" for the baby since Jen was to breastfeed the new baby until he can feed on solids just like how we handled Albany in the past. Still, I couldn't help but notice the empty shelves at the formula milk section. Woolworths was such a big organisation here and you would almost never see a regular day of slow replenishing of goods in any of their joints. Even so, they struggled to keep up with the frantic buyers (rumored to be the PRCs) of milk powder.

On the shelf was a pinned newspaper article explaining their empty shelves. It was old news and people were generally aware of PRCs exporting milk powder in large amounts for personal use or profit. That irked the locals because they felt that the practice was artificially driving supply low and causing prices to increase.

That reminded me of my own stupidity. I used to think that HDB prices were driven up by an artificial demand caused by an influx of migrants into Singapore in a very short time. The stupid part of me was that I believed it was artificial. There was nothing artificial about that. It was in fact, more real than my worst nightmares as I had to go through every single day jostling with crowds, wonder if there was any future left for me there. That wasn't a trend or a one-off phenomenon. Escalating population figures will not stop. This kind of reality is probably something the locals here have not come to terms with. As long as Australia continues to take in PRCs and the power milk quality continues to be dire in their home country, the shelves here are going to be empty until price goes up so much that it isn't feasible to export them off the racks anymore. None of the options seem possible in the near future. It remains to be seen if they will take the risk to increase supply dramatically as a solution.

Just how much the milk powder is here? Is it really worth the effort of exporting them that way? I am not really sure. I have never shopped for formula milks in Singapore or Perth and have no feel of the pricing difference. I remember a friend in Singapore asking me about it before. Why don't you tell me if there is a significant difference? I can't even tell the differences among brands.

Jen went through some obvious behavioral change during her third trimester. Before that, she was sleeping most of the time outside her daily needs. Many women swore that their pregnancy was the worst experiences of their lives but Jen had been lucky. She did not experience morning sickness, special cravings or having her stomached turned at specific food. Of course, it wouldn't be comfortable at all living with a huge belly at the late stages but other than that, all she needed was extra sleep.

Since Jen was sleeping most of the free time, I gradually took over the duties of bathing little Albany, as well as making her sleep at night. She didn't take it too well at first. Not at all. Every bath was stressful for both Albany and me because she wanted her mummy to do it and she wouldn't cooperate with me. The initial few baths ended up in bloodshed and tears. After two weeks, she got used to the new regime and our baths went smooth without much fuss. Bed time was a nightmare because Albany would find any excuse possible to get Jen to resume her previous duty. For nights, she cried but gradually had to accept that she was going to share her room with me and not her mummy. It was quite a challenge having to juggle preparing meals and Albany because of a few restrictions I set. 

1) Albany's bedtime is 1930 hrs. No negotiation

2) Dinner is to be finished before 1800 hrs

3) We cook every meal and do not eat out (except for friends invite)

These are made possible by knocking off at 14.30 hrs. By reaching home around 15.00ish, I had little time to rest but to start preparing for dinner soon after I spent some time playing with Albany. Since Jen was sleeping a lot around that period, we cut down the plays lest Albany's excited shrieks would had awaken Jen up. So I left Albany to watch her favourite television program from 1530 hrs to 1640 hrs, a rare treat for her because Jen does not allow her to watch much television usually.

Even my Mother-in-law was slightly taken aback when dinner started at 1700 hrs, early even for her standards. But why not? I will never forget having my dinners at 9pm, 10pm or even 11pm during my working days in Singapore. I am sure I wasn't alone. Many Singaporeans take dinner late, some by choice, some not. No matter, no one can dispute the fact doing so put unnecessary stress to our bodies. We do not relish our bosses giving us half the time to do our jobs, so why are we giving our system much lesser time to process the food we consume? Being able to put food on the table at 1700 hrs, and having every meal with my family, is a rare privilege. 

That two weeks before baby was born was interesting to observe. Jen suddenly woke from her slumber and seemed to be full of energy. Every day, she transformed the house a little, by cleaning or shifting things around. I was told to put things away in the store every few days. Her attitude shifted from gloomy to upbeat. She was smiling a lot, as if she knew her pregnancy was going to be over soon. I suspected it wasn't the expected due date. I felt that she could feel it coming. The house was ready and I, having taken over Albany's night duties, was ready.