Pinoy in Singapore

This is a sequel to my previous entry about getting yourself condo cultured. It’s another really serious circular from our beloved estate managers that I find kinda funny because of the way it’s stated.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Estate has in recent times witnessed the growing presence of foreigners (students, blue-collar workers, ladies-of-leisure, etc.) Many of them have accidentally fouled the Estate Regulations, perhaps due to ignorance of local culture on the need to be tidy, quiet, and to preserve the vital community spirit in a strata-living environment.
There were a number of unhappy incidents were foreigners had monopolized the swimming pool, made loud noises in the middle of the night, littered the common areas with cigarette butts …

Our estate managers are obviously very serious and want to get their message through - who cares if they’re politically incorrect… or maybe they already are. I suppose ladies-of-leisure would be the PC way of calling low flying pigeons (if ya know what I mean ). I’ve never really heard that term used before and if you try saying it slowly with a modulated voice, it kinda has a smooth ring to it. Altogether now say: “ladies of leisure”.

One of my early observations when I came to live in Singapore is a somewhat derogatory connotation when locals say “foreigners”. When I read the newspapers and “foreigners” are mentioned, it usually means the blue-collar workers mostly from South Asia or those from China (aka Chinamen) (or maybe even the Philippines), otherwise they’d be called expats.

But the estate managers do have a point. It’s true and there’s really been a remarkable difference in our condo’s environment compared to less than 2 years ago when we first moved in. I used to feel safe being left alone in our unit or I didn’t really worry if I forgot to lock our door. But these days, I always make sure to keep the doors double locked. Especially since I heard that some of the units that are just the same as ours have as much as 30 people living in! I can’t even imagine how they live together. Do they do shifts or something? And as much as you don’t want to prejudge people by their lifestyle or their job, I’ve lived long enough in the Philippines to know that idle minds and lack of money can lead to very dangerous circumstances. Better safe than sorry.

But I didn’t realize that you had to treat the pool like a library. I guess the pool is really just for doing laps on your own in the morning. And even if there’s a common barbecue grill beside the pool area, how are you supposed to invite friends over for some barbecue and swimming if you can’t make noises.

As for me, whatever, I’m grateful I’m alive and doing well and that I don’t have to live in with 30 other strangers.