Interesting Singapore

Singapore has unique characteristics I have not seen in other countries (though, to be fair, I can only compare it to the US and Indonesia).

First, the pop culture. Perusing the local newspaper, I found an article celebrating the birth of a local celebrity's child. The local celebrity? The silver medalist in ping pong. Another local celebrity - at least someone I see doing a lot of endorsements and on TV a lot - is a strange man with a large growth protruding from his neck. He is over the top ridiculous, and omnipresent. Reminds me of the French infatuation with Jerry Lewis.


Second, the focus on education. Bookstores have entire sections dedicated to education and preparing children as young as four for standardized testing. Children introduce themselves as "Johnny, one smart boy". There are entire malls dedicated to nothing but childhood education - 6 floors, hundreds of stores, dedicated to clothing, entertaining, and educating children.

Third, browsing my favorite websites here is annoying. If I go to Yahoo, it brings up the Singapore edition, and I am unable to revert back to the US edition. I'm not interested in the Singapore financials, or local celebrities. I'm not sure why a country smaller than New York City should even qualify as having its own celebrities.


Separately....

All my life, I've been against cologne. I've always considered it a waste of money and a poor substitute for bathing. The French invented perfume and cologne to cover the stench of not bathing for months at a time. I prefer my people "odor free". Being on the subway (called the MRT here) and, especially, today at the US Embassy sitting in a full room of people, I now have a reason to wear cologne. It isn't to mask my smell - I showered. I may have to start wearing cologne so I can have a "pleasant odor bubble" that, I am hoping, will act as a prophylactic against the offensive odors of the certain ethnic group in SE Asia that refuses to bathe. Literally, I was lifting my arm an smelling the deodorant in my armpit to avoid having to smell the BO of the woman behind me. It was bad.

At least we now have all the paperwork filed for my son's passport, birth certificate, and SSN. We should have everything ready for the family to return to Jakarta on 20 November. I return on 02 November and will have to make one more commute back to Singapore the weekend of 13 November.