Getting there: Another job search
When I first started thinking about working in international schools overseas, I had Singapore pencilled in as an ideal destination. Modern, clean, efficient, diverse and somehow exciting.
However, my research told me that for a teacher inexperienced in international schools, getting a job in Singapore would be difficult. The Philippines therefore became a stepping stone. Singapore was the goal. Or so I thought.
The international teaching world is all about firstly the next destination, then it becomes all about the country that you’re currently in and then it soon becomes again about the next destination. Employment contracts vary from school to school, but my experience has mostly been that teachers start on a two-year contract and then are given renewal options part way through the final year. This can be as early as October which is only a few months into the final year.
So by October 2003, I was already planning my next move. I loved the time spent in the Philippines. But I wanted to explore more places and live somewhere different again. I was looking for a more developed country and a place that has greater access to closer travel options. Singapore really did seem like the place for me.
But how should I go about searching for jobs now that I was already on this international teaching circuit? I had heard a little about job fairs. These were akin to speed dating experiences where a whole lot of schools were invited to a location where a whole lot of teachers would attend and everyone would hopefully all find their ‘perfect match’. It sounded interesting and even a little bit exciting.
But before I considered signing up for a job fair, I thought I’d start by just searching the job vacancies on all of Singapore’s international school websites. To my surprise, in my first week of searching, there was a job as an Economics teacher at a school in Singapore that sounded just perfect.
I crafted an email to the Principal, attached my resume and waited for a response. I received a reply a few days later and read the email with excitement. I was invited to attend a job fair where I would be added to the school’s interview list. In London in December.
Mmm, now this seemed a little weird to me. I was living in the Philippines, a short flight from Singapore (4 hours), but I was expected to fly all the way to London (17 hours) for an interview, where I would compete with everyone else who had shown interest in the job. And this would be in two months.
I had a better plan. I responded that I was extremely interested in the position and that I would happily fly to Singapore within the next two weeks to attend an interview at the school if this was convenient.
And this is exactly what I did. The interview went well and I was offered the job a week later. This international job search thing was a breeze. At least this time around. My next adventure was ready to begin. Well, at least it would begin soon. In July of next year. I still had seven months of the Philippines to enjoy. But I was really looking forward to my next destination.
Singapore: The Place And The People
Singapore is an interesting place. It’s known for its cleanliness, its strict laws and lots of fines for minor misdemeanours. It’s also known for its small size and its efficiency in everything that it does. And it has a reputation for being just a little ‘sterile’ compared to other Asian countries.
I had heard it described as ‘Asia for beginners’. Now, I found this a little insulting. To me every part of Asia was fascinating and I didn’t see Singapore being any different. Sure, it will be more efficient than the Philippines and things may be a little easier in terms of getting around and living standards may be generally higher. But I knew that there would be challenges too.
My first challenge would be understanding Singlish. After arriving at one of the very best airports in the world I jumped into a taxi and headed for my pre-arranged high-rise condo accommodation on the East Coast not far from the airport.
After explaining to the driver where I was going I found myself in a conversation whereby I could not understand anything that was being spoken. I think he was speaking to me. Or was he talking to someone on the phone through his headphones? Whatever was said, I wasn’t understanding. I assumed he was speaking Mandarin. Or maybe it was Malay.
Then slowly, as if my ears were being tuned in or somehow being reprogrammed, it dawned on me. He had been speaking English all along. Or should I say Singlish? A language that I would become quite familiar with. Just like I had learnt ‘Taglish’ in the Philippines.
This rather uneventful story in a way sums up a few of my thoughts on Singapore. Singapore is a melting pot. The population is dominated by people with Chinese ancestry but it is also very much influenced by its Malay roots as well as those influences from India. In the same way, Singlish is a merging of English with elements of Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Malay, Tamil and I’m sure other dialects to create a colloquial form of national communication that is uniquely Singaporean.
Though lacking in diversity of climate (constant high temperatures and humidity throughout the year) and geography (mostly flat) it certainly possesses a great diversity of people. I would often sit at a coffee shop or bar on Orchard Road and just watch people passing by. By just looking at a person or group of people there is never any possible way of even guessing if they were tourists just passing by on the way to somewhere else. Or if they were Singaporean. Or if they were long-term residents who hailed from anywhere else in the world. I grew to truly love the diversity of Singapore and this was no more evident than in my own classroom.
Settling In
The first few months of living and working in Singapore were not as easy as I had expected. Where everything was done for me in the Philippines such as accommodation provided for free along with free meals and no bills to pay and no commuting to work, I was in a way thrown back into the real world of looking after myself.
I was for the first time in my life living in an enormous condominium complex. I’d never even used the term ‘condo’ before then. It was a little odd for me to be 25 floors up and surrounded by so many people.
The condo facilities were amazing and the location, close to the beach (I use that term lightly) was in some ways perfect. But it was a long way from where I was working. And I was to find that getting to and from work would not always be fun as it could take up to an hour on crowded public transport.
Another early challenge was that the school was a little different in some pretty important ways. As a for-profit school, class sizes were larger and some resources weren’t always as readily available. I would years later often use this as a case for only considering non-profit schools in my job searches.
The change from cool, friendly welcoming Baguio to hot, serious and slightly less welcoming Singapore was noticeable. I was trying to see the positives, such as my luxury condo with three pools, a gym and tennis courts. I was looking for the personality of the people, but I was not quite seeing the same smiling faces that made the Philippines so special.
Making Friends
As a foreign worker, it can sometimes be hard to make friends with the local residents of the country that you are trying to make your home. This seemed easier in the Philippines as many of my colleagues were Filipino. Perhaps Singapore’s faster pace also contributed to this.
Luckily though, I was working with a much larger teaching community, mainly from the UK. I would soon find myself socialising, drinking and playing football with a great group of new colleagues. I was to also find out that Singapore was actually a great place for all things drinking-related. As a rather expensive place, knowing where and when ‘happy hour’ happens became an important piece of knowledge.
I started to enjoy living in Singapore more as my circle of friends grew and my early onset of homesickness began to fade. The only negative of going out, eating and drinking in Singapore is that it tends to get a little expensive. I found myself not saving much at all and pretty much living paycheck to paycheck.
I was probably going out too much, drinking a little too much and not quite sucking in the true culture of the place that I was living. I was enjoying the obsession with football (soccer) that made watching games really enjoyable as every single Premier League game could be watched at a bar. I was enjoying the amazing food and the community of expats that I was becoming a part of. But I wasn’t quite experiencing Singapore as I thought I would.
The Real Singapore
When I eased back a little and started to really get to know Singapore, I did find a fascinating place that isn’t all that it seems. There are parts of the small island nation that appear worlds away from the shopping and glitz of Orchard Road, the bar areas of Holland Village, Boat Quay and Clarke Quay or the high-rise condos of East Coast Park.
I found areas of Singapore where little English was spoken. I found places that were very much Malay in culture. I explored Little India and Arab Street. And I met foreign workers from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. I found that the average Singaporean lived on far less than I had imagined and that the income disparity was large. I also discovered that clean, sterile, law-abiding Singapore has a slightly dark side. This is most evident when shopping malls full of electronics stores by day turn into seedy go-go bars by night.
I’m Here To Travel
I also used Singapore as the gateway to other parts of SE Asia. I made several trips to Malaysia, with the highlights being Tioman Island and of course KL. I took weekend trips to the beautiful Indonesian Island of Bintan, which was a short ferry ride away. Technically in Indonesia, it was almost as if it were a part of Singapore as it’s so close and Singapore Dollars are the most used currency.
I visited Thailand twice and also went to the Philippines. Singapore really was a great base from which to travel. I even took day trips across the border into Malaysia just for some cheap shopping. This is a journey that thousands of Malaysian workers make each day.
Though initially I found my job challenging, I also developed great bonds with my students. They were from such diverse backgrounds and were just so friendly. Indonesian, Thai, Filipino, Korean, Japanese and Chinese students merged with British, European, American and Australian students. It was probably the most diverse group of students that I have ever taught, and I loved it.
Meeting My Wife And Moving On
I think it’s fair to say that I enjoyed my time in Singapore, By the time I left it would be four years. I think this is mostly the right amount of time to stay in a country. Two years is often not really enough.
In terms of work, the first year is treading water, finding your feet or just pure survival. The second year is when you make your job really your own, things are more comfortable and you feel ‘experienced’ in terms of living in a new country. Year three is when you start to fell that you can really have an impact on the school. Perhaps you get a promotion, you start doing things the way that you want and you have the respect that comes with being around for this long.
Year three is also when you may start thinking about staying for the long haul. Maybe even settling down and staying forever, like many of my British friends have done in Singapore. Good weather, great food and travel, excellent British pubs. I can see why they never leave. But year three is often when its time to move on. That was the case for me. But there was a twist.
In year two I met my wife. And in year three I had an invitation to interview for a job in of all places, China.
My wife Miko, is from the Philippines. We met when she was holidaying in Singapore and she soon decided to move there with me. Miko has two daughters and at that time both were still living in the Philippines. We decided that if we left Singapore we would try to take at least one of her daughters with us. But thats for another article.
Singapore conclusion
In a nutshell: An easy, efficient and organised place to live that can be great fun and provide a great quality of life.
Key lesson learnt: Don’t judge a book by its cover.
My wife says ‘It’s nice for relaxing, dining and shopping, but too expensive to be a shopaholics dream. And it’s really hot all year long’