chingapoo lah

dah..am in singapore now..not new to singapore..but new to working in singapore...not new but yet so new.. and this has caused a few misconceptions to be blown to bits..

Misconception 1: I know the place.

well until i arrived here and started searching for a house that is...last I knew, Boonlay was the western most stop of the east-west line..

imagine my confusion when i see trains running to Pasir Ris and Joo Koon. had me reaching for my wife's bag. ( she picked up an MRT map before, i brushed her off).

Misconception 2 : I understand Singlish (local english)

Prior to this stint, I always breezed through Singapore.
I flew through Singapore. Used to visit my brother & bhabi..or gizmo shopping when ships stop by for fuelling..so on. a Tourist. that's what I can categorise myself until now.

Tourist's get to see the usual places, deal with the usual crowd who are used to dealing with tourists, shop at places where usually tourists go and get on taxis driven by drivers who speak tourist english.

Never before had i worked here and involved so closely with the local public. Now, i have to deal with a wide variety of people every day. people with a wide variety of schooling background. people who speak english, which a tourist will struggle understanding even the drift of the conversation.

phew.

the other day i was talking to a sales rep. and somewhere during the conversation, i asked her a question to which she replied something which sounded like " na-yeigh".
Me: can you get the new quote for me Tara?
Tara: am sorry...." na-yeigh"..but I will get it by the end of is week...

I didn't understand the "-" part of it..but my mind filed it away and worked on the rest of the sentence that Tara said. and that was sufficient data for me. so I just let it go.

I hung up the phone and closed my eyes and just went over the whole conversation again.
"nah-yeigh" was gnawing on my mind. I had to figure this out before I resume my work failing which, I knew, my mind would be working on it..ponder ponder..

examined the various possibilities of what "nah-yeigh" could be.

finally after a few minutes, it dawned on me: not yet.

Singlish is unique.
It is possible for some one to survive on Can, Cannot, maybe lah.

Misconception 3: the country is very neat through out.

My answer : "nah-yeigh". you just need to visit Little India and the by streets bordering the famous Mustafa mall to understand the truth.
Little India has its own rules that the government has to comply with. Here the citizen cannot be fined for littering. Jay walking is a norm rather than the exception. Open rubbish can be left in front of your shops. The list goes on.

Perhaps the only rule that the government enforces heartily is the parking zone rule. the government is only bothered because it is bothered about the open top tourist coach buses that ply these single file roads need to keep running. If they get stuck bcz some desi parks his toyota on the road, tourists will complain and the source of income is disturbed.

may be there will be a day when Little India looks like a part of Singapore. but for now - "na-yeigh"