Pinoy in Singapore

I’ve known about Tekka Market for some years now but I’ve only come to check it out recently.  Now, I ask myself why I haven’t done so sooner.  I’ve found a lot of stuff I’ve been looking for at Tekka – like fresh beef!  Prior to Tekka market, I bought frozen beef at either Cold [...]

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On a survey done by an HSBC bank, Singapore came second to Australia on a survey of the best places to raise expat kids. What immediately comes to my mind is what is their definition of expat? If you look it up at www.businessdictionary.com, expat is defined as: A person who has citizenship in at [...]

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One thing I like about Singapore is the convenience of almost anything including calling a cab. There are 2 companies that are on my contact list to call whenever I need a cab especially when I can’t afford to wait during peak hours.  These are SMRT 6555888 and Comfort Delgro 65521111.  Comfort Delgro have newer [...]

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Though this bit of news was announced last year, I think it’s still relevant especially to those people who are thinking of moving to Singapore and bringing with them their families as cost of education would eat a significant chunk of their budget. In a move to further widen the gap between privileges enjoyed by [...]

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The Health Ministry is introducing more cuts to PR benefits like health subsidies to further distinguish citizens from non-citizens.

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Yesterday, we went to the Work Pass Services Centre to have our helper’s fingerprint scanned for her work permit.  When we got there, there were a lot of foreign workers.  Most of them, I noticed, were south Asians.  The office, though air-conditioned, looked something like what you would see in the Philippines except for the [...]

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In Part 1,  I enumerated the steps I did to bring my own helper to Singapore without availing the services of an employment agency. The steps in Part 1, I was able to do from home.  In the succeeding steps will take some of your time and effort.  Sphere: Related Content

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Unlike in western countries where only well-to-do families can afford domestic help, in the Philippines, it’s pretty common for households to have domestic helpers or maids.  They are the ones who help out with household chores and taking care of children.  Some of whom have been with the families they serve for ages that they [...]

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Dear receptionist at the Healthway clinic below our block, I went to your clinic with my maid for her initial medical check up for her work permit.  So being her employer, I approach you to make the inquiries on her behalf.  I then gave you her passport which is required to be presented so that [...]

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I saw this on yahoo news and got interested because the article said that no one helped the girl and instead some people preferred to play voyeurs and take videos. It’s unbelievable to me the reaction of the people interviewed in this video. Apparently it’s a good thing that Singapore has a low crime rate [...]

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Here’s an interesting read about Singapore: How did a sleepy little island transform into a high-tech powerhouse in one generation? It was all in the plan.

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Since we are still contemplating whether we would apply Permanent Residency for our newborn son (PR is, after all, a serious commitment), we decided to first apply for a Long Term Social Visit Pass for him that would allow him to stay in Singapore much longer than had he been a tourist which would have [...]

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Yesterday, hubby, baby and I went to the open fields not far from our block to watch hundreds of kites flying. The weather was perfect – cool and breezy and the sun wasn’t blazing anymore since it was 6pm already. It was a pretty awesome sight. I haven’t seen that many kites flying at the [...]

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With all the job cuts in the news, this is something to look forward to Career 2009 and Education 2009 Exhibition Date: 5th – 8th March

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Our landlord was nice enough though to extend our stay for another month.  So instead of having to move out last month, we still had an extra month to find a good place.  That made a lot of difference in rental prices in the market.  I personally feel that the market is still going down [...]

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Since we’ve moved to Singapore, this is our second time we’re going on a house hunt.  But it just might as well be the first because we were very lucky on our first one.  We never really got to see any other unit because during that time units were going like hot cakes. Two years [...]

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Our rental contract is expiring this year and we’re wishing so hard that we can still afford to stay in this unit we are renting.  Unfortunately, current market rates for our unit has more than doubled.  Which brought me to thinking… one of the podcasts I subscribe to explained that one of the reasons the [...]

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Today is Singapore’s National Day. Here is an article from Yahoo on Key notes of PM Lee’s speech.  One of which is the bumpy road ahead due to effects of the problems in the US economy. For me, it basically signals the end of my long extended sabbatical.  Huhu.  Back to corporate slavery. Sphere: Related [...]

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I’ve been tracking Singapore’s rank (versus Manila’s) in the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey done by Mercer since the start of this blog. In 2006,  Singapore ranked 17th in the world in the list of most expensive cities to live in, while Manila ranked 141st. In 2007, Singapore ranked 14th, while Manila ranked 137th. Now [...]

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Here’s a site I came across recently.  It’s a Guide to Working and Living in Singapore. 

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