Expat

I started working after school, my first job was a paper round. I used to have the local newspapers, they would be wrapped in plastic, and I had a crate on my bike full of the papers, and then I would deliver them to households on my bike. In Australia, yeah. That was my first job, I was thirteen. I would finish school and then go home, grab my bike, go do my paper round, which took about, maybe an hour and a half, which I think they used to cover about, hmm, maybe 10-15 kilometers on the bike, delivering papers, Monday to Friday.  And then I would go home after that and do my homework. That was really like, a long time ago (laughs), so it was probably, that was like 1984 and I was earning about seven dollars a week. (laughs) Back then for me, it was enough, yeah, and that’s where I started to learn to get a bit more creative, because I was doing the paper round on Monday to Friday, and then the opportunity came up to do a paper round on Sunday, so I did that as well, cause it was a Sunday newspaper, and then after a few weeks, myself and my friend who also did a paper round decided to get some extra papers and sell them. With the extra papers, we would go to a big set of traffic lights, and when the cars stopped in traffic, they used to call us over and buy papers. And we were a little bit crafty, because the paper they used to buy, back then I think the paper was 40 cent, but they were very generous, and they would give us a dollar and say, oh, keep the change. So that’s when we would make most of our money. So yeah, that was my first introduction to working outside of home. When we grew up in Australia at home, my dad worked for the fire brigade, and he used to do spare work, he was also a mechanic, and he used to work after hours and on weekends, and I learnt maybe my work ethic from him, cause I used to help him a lot. 

Now, yeah, it’s changed a lot. So I started a new business about, twelve… (starts counting in his head), bout fifteen months ago. I work from home, and it’s sort of intertwined with my old business, but I sort of design and build products that help people with storage, and help people handle heavy equipment. So it saves people having to physically having to handle equipment. We design and build tools that requires less manual handling of heavy equipment. So instead of someone having to pick something up, we’ve designed tools that will pick them up. 

Well my job scope’s quite broad, not only do I have some part in the design of the new products, but also, I’m sort of working with the fabricators, working with my business partners, working with the end user clients as well, so I’m also in sales, so it’s very broad. And then I’m also doing some of the administration work as well (laughs). So because we’re a small new business, I’m doing pretty much a lot of different things within the business, yeah, so, this business is a side business to what I’ve been doing for 30 years, so, I’m very familiar with managing people, managing clients, managing companies, I’ve done all that before, but I found that there was an area in that market that hasn’t been covered, and I thought, I got some ideas that might help. 

Starting it in covid was very hard because the idea was -- I’m a very face to face sort of person, with contacts and with the people in the industry that I sort of work with, and it’s very different over zoom, or those type of electronic communication. It’s difficult to get the message over to people. And also, a lot of our work is done in Australia, so the back-and-forth communication has taken up more time. So it’s taken some time to get a foothold, and to get momentum, but we’re starting to get momentum now finally, and yeah, so it’s good.

Well having a youngish sort of family, again (laughs), the working hours vary. So, I’m very flexible with my working hours at the moment, and I have to be, with a young child. so my working hours could be from six in the morning to eight, then I might have to take care of bubs (his son) for a couple of hours, and then I might start working again in the afternoon for a small period of time, and then I do some work again at night. So I fit into that category that I’m fairly flexible, I don’t have rigid hours, like I don’t start at eight and finish at five, which I’m pretty lucky to have, really. The difficulties I experience with work life balance is that when you’re sort of making or designing, or if you have an idea, and then you have to put that on paper, and then you gotta come up with the concept, and when you’re putting all that together, you need a lot of what I call clear air, and working from home now, it’s very hard to get that. Because when I say clear air, I mean sort of time we just sit down. So I’m used to sort of working in an office. So for 33 years I’ve worked in an office. So I was able to, if I wanted to, close the door, and I could you know just, work away. So now, working from home, although I’m quite lucky with the flexibility, I find it sometimes very difficult to work from home, because you know you with the work sometimes you just want time and space to just sit down. It’s a bit like when do your homework at home, you just want no noise, no interruptions, it’s difficult to try and get that balance at home, especially with a busy household. So it’s nice to work from home, but it’s not my ideal situation. Like, I’d much prefer to work in an office. So home life be home life, and go to the office and just do my work, even if its shorter hours at the office.

I think the only issue probably here in Singapore, is that maybe people sometimes find it hard to understand me (laugh) because of my accent. And here in Singapore the work culture is slightly different. Let’s say in Australia, there is very much a mandate, or a big focus on safety at work, minimizing areas where people can get injured, minimizing where people have to put a lot of physical effort into doing something. So the message behind the products that we’re sort of making and producing, in Australia, it’s a bit easier to get that message across. It’s a bit more in the culture to, especially in construction, to want the best for their workers. There it’s more like yes, they can see the benefit to their employees, and that’s harder here. As time goes on in Singapore, hopefully things will get better in that the worker might have more rights. Now it seems like it’s not a priority to make their day-to-day functionality better, so if there’s an option to spend some money to make their day-to-day workings a little bit better, maybe that’s not a priority, so it’s harder for us to get the product and the message across here in Singapore. Maybe it’s a cultural thing at the moment, especially with the workers that do a lot of physical labour. So yeah, we’re trying to get that message out to the industry here that we’ve got products which will help their workforce, which will save them from injuring themselves, or having to lift something very heavy, so the long-term benefits are better for the company and the worker. Over time I hope to break down a few barriers, so it might mean I might have to go the government, and approach the government, which is all part of the plan anyway. To approach the government, to let them see the benefit, and they might introduce it as a policy to companies, but that’s something I have to investigate.

Oh yeah definitely, that [moving over from Australia] was very hard. My parents are still there, my sisters are still there, and I’ve got children from my first marriage still there, but they’re in their twenties now, and I’ve got a small dog there too (laughs). So that’s very difficult. And then I still had my other business in Australia. I found the first twelve months especially difficult. So I went from working with a lot of people in a big company, and having that social structure in and outside of work, with sport, and with my family. Even shopping was different. You know: grocery shopping, walking the dog, that sort of thing.  Then going from that to Singapore, yeah, it took a lot of getting used to. Australia is very relaxed, especially in Western Australia, it’s a very relaxed lifestyle. So it’s very easygoing, a lot of working space. Singapore, (laughing) Singapore is just full on. Pre-covid I was just like getting used to how busy things are here, everything’s like rushed rushed rushed. It is a different lifestyle, and I found that it takes a bit of getting used to. 

Originally when I first moved, it was easier because I tried to get myself involved on a social level. I played cricket back in Australia, so the first thing I did here was I joined a cricket club. There were Australians, New Zealanders, English and Indians, so it was quite a multicultural club. So I sort of built a social network here in Singapore, and that was quite good. And I’m always interested in going to the gym and riding the bike, so filling in my time and building a good social network here was really important to start with. And then with the family, pre-covid I did have an office to separate the work life balance, so going to the office, having the normal eight to five type routine was quite good. I think the hardest thing was sort of when you work in an office with 20, 30, 40 people and having that social interaction, to then working in an office by yourself. That was the hardest for me. And although I could always call them, email them all that sort of stuff, that working by yourself in an office was quite difficult. But you know originally pre-covid, having built a bit of a social group and network and have that sort of connection, that was really important. And also, I guess then you were able to travel back and forth, so I think in that first year, I went back and forth about ten times. Perth’s not far from Singapore, so for me a four-and-a-half-hour flight, I could leave in the morning, get to the office in Perth in the afternoon. So pre-covid yes, it was a bit easier to deal with those things, but after covid came, not going to the office, not having the social interaction, that made things difficult. It took some time adjusting to the different work, and also with Singapore being quite a bit different.

Lots of differences. The main differences I think probably the sense of humor! Cause in Australia, the sense of humor is quite a self-deprecating sense of humor. Maybe also a little bit of a sarcasm in the humor? But here I would make a joke, and no one would get it (laughs)! And also just the communication differences. I would say or maybe my actions would sort of do something but then it’s taken out of context or differently. Like in Australia it would be taken one way, but then here it would be taken in a different way, cause of the cultural differences people don’t understand. Now that covid’s been around for awhile, we can’t play cricket, but when I used to go to training with my cricket friends, I would say I can let my guard down a little bit, and my actions or mannerisms or my jokes, are understood! (laughs) But with the family, with a different culture, sometimes that’s a little hard, and I have to be a little bit mindful of that.

The education system here. At first, I was really, I wouldn’t say shocked, but taken aback, by how different it was compared to back in Australia. And I guess it’s very… (thinking of the correct word) full-on (laughs). I mean it’s very much of a high importance, but I find it very onerous on the kids. Very stressful, I find it. But I sort of understand it because Singapore from a global perspective is a very small country, and it has to compete. And if I look at Australia, it has a big agricultural industry, big mining industry, big construction industry, and has really got all these natural resources, and all this space, and Singapore doesn’t have all that. So I understand the importance of education and why it’s so stressful and why it’s so full-on, because Singapore on a global scale has to compete in areas that are more human resource, they have to use their brain a lot more (laughs). There are opportunities to get a good job in something that’s more labour-intensive in Australia and get paid really well for labour-intensive sort of work. But I must admit the school system there is not as disciplined, maybe not as onerous. It’s definitely a much less stressful environment. And I had this discussion with my wife, with my family, which one is better, and we would say the one here is quite good, because it gives the kids a good grounding and good discipline, and the standards are a lot higher. But then with that comes a lot of stress, a lot of mental health issues, physical health issues, because it will take a toll on their physical health as well, and there could be a lot of family issues as well. Whereas in Australia, you don’t have that high level of stress with the education system. And the orientation is slightly different, more to, you know, sport in the culture, all that sort of stuff and more of that health and well-being environment point of view. So I can’t say one’s better than the other, they both have their good and bad points.

I guess all cultures have this interracial or an element of some form of racism amongst all cultures. When I was growing up in Australia, I was called everything! I would name at least thirty different things that all had racist overtones. Cause when I went to school at a young age, there wasn’t a lot of Indian kids, or semi looking Indian kids. I’ve got heritage from Dutch, Portuguese, Indian and English heritage. So I’ve got quite a mixed heritage. So in Australia growing up, there were quite a lot of racists. But I think then it was more accepted, in that, that was just the way things were. It was more accepted as part of the culture that there is racism. But definitely, now Australia is totally different. Now definitely with the indigenous cultures in Australia, it’s very much in people’s sight as far as racism there is concerned. In Singapore, there is still a little bit of an overtone with the different cultures. And I’m a little bit, I guess I’ll say fortunate. But once they hear me speak or they know I’m from Australia, I do get treated a bit differently. I don’t know, maybe a bit more accepted? Maybe there’s a bit of a complex there or something? I don’t know (laughs). But I sort of notice this because I’ve got Indian friends that play cricket, and they’re like full on Indian, like they speak very fast (laughs), and I can’t understand what they’re saying half the time. They’re fun to be around, but they also get treated a little bit differently. Like if we’re at a pub or we’re going out for dinner and we might be sitting down and if there’s me and a few Aussies, New Zealanders and a couple of Indian friends, there’s just this hint of them getting treated differently. There is a little bit of that. I wouldn’t say its racism, but I don’t know, maybe the cultural differences are still sort of there. But it’s mainly with the older generation. I might sound a little bit divisive there, but that’s just my perspective I suppose. 

Now that I’ve experienced both cultures, yes, I love Singapore, I really do, I mean it’s really so vibrant, pre-covid it’s just like everything is so busy, and its good! And you go to the city and its so packed, and things are open late here, it’s very social and I really enjoyed it, it was really good. And now it’s still quite good! Even with the current restrictions. But I find it a stressful environment to be in. And when you get to the age where you start thinking about retirement, you just wanna relax! (laughs) You wanna just relax and chill out. So in Australia, it really is a different lifestyle, I’m not saying that one’s better than the other, but in Australia when we go back for our summer holidays, we go to the beach a lot, we fish, we just relax. There’s no time schedule for everything. Some aspects of life are very easy, or easier. But yeah, there, there’s no helpers, so it’s a bit more on the home front that you might have to do, but the general demeanor, the attitude, the lifestyle, it’s a few levels down from Singapore, from you know having to get things done, racing around. And even say queuing here, people are used to queueing, they’ll queue for food, queue for this queue for that, queue for everything, and it took me a long time to get used to that! I’m not used to queuing! (laughs). 

I think it’s quite daunting going to a hawker centre for the first time (laughs). Very eye-opening. I mean I must admit I wasn’t used to it the first time, but now I love it! Now it’s just no big deal. When my family came to the hawker centre the first time they were like, what’s this? Because they’re not used to it! And the first time coming to Singapore and seeing the police with machine guns at the airport (laugh), and all these police walk around, and you go, what’s happening alright? (Laughs and puts hands up in the air as if surrendering). That was probably a bit daunting. And just the amount of people, like when you go to Orchard on a Saturday, and there’s so many people, traffic is just full-on, that can probably be a bit daunting too. I’m used to the traffic now, but even when I first came and moved across from Australia, just getting used to the traffic was also sort of daunting cause back home we don’t drive so fast (laughs). So just getting used to it.

We’ve been to Singapore quite a few times to visit, so my son was quite keen to come here, but after covid started, it just got a little bit too hard. He’ll come back here to visit, once things open up again, but I don’t know if he’ll wanna move here. I think maybe that time has passed now, because he’s also at a different stage in his life where he’s more career focused now. And he’s a little bit older, so I think it’s going to be a bit harder for him to come here now, sort of almost like having to start again, so I think for him it might be harder. My daughter, she’s never really wanted to come and live here.  And none of my other family wants to sort of live here in Singapore, and they’re not really from a financial banking sort of background, so the career prospects for them here are maybe not so good on that front. I guess the thing is, in Singapore, you have to work really hard (laughs)! So I mean here, the work ethic is very very strong, so yeah people are used to working from eight to six, or eight to seven, doing long hours, and if you scale the hours as opposed to what you’ll do in Australia, definitely the hours here are very much longer. And the reward is not as high (laughs).  Yeah, so it was a possibility, but those days are pretty much not on the cards anymore.

We (family in Singapore) spend long periods of time in Australia as well. It’s good for me, because I get to go back home, it’s a bit more relaxed. But some things you gotta do yourself, like the cleaning and the laundry. So my wife she’s a little bit, “oh, I’m a maid there, I’m the maid there!” (laughs), and I say like “what, what? We all have to do it”. You know, I do the cooking! She doesn’t cook! (laugh). So it’s like you have to be a bit more self-sustaining. And it can be a little bit trying, especially with the young one, and it’s a different sort of culture. So my family is a bit more spread out. In Australia, I’m sort of like a twenty-minute drive to my sister’s and to my parent’s house. Whereas here it’s very much in the culture that you might have three generations in the same house, and family is pretty close to each other, so there’s sort of that contact. There is contact in Australia, but you won’t find a lot of families living in the same house. The connection maybe is not as intertwined. But your day-to-day activities in Australia – there’s a bit more responsibility, in general things like housework and cooking, but in Australia that’s normal. People are generally fairly self-sufficient. And there, people pretty much cook everyday other than maybe once or a couple of times on a weekend. Whereas here, and that’s the good part of Singapore, I mean you can get good chicken rice for three dollars, so what’s the point of cooking when you can get some really good food very cheap. And the food is awesome!

I do go through times where I get quite homesick. Before, it was easy, cause I used to hop on a plane and get home. But now you can’t, but well yeah, I’m coping better, but I do miss my kids. And I miss my little dog. So keeping the communication up is very important. Video calls, I do that quite a lot. Texts, all that sort of stuff. But I do miss, even just the basics, like in the morning, get out of bed, and the air is very fresh, clean, and the sun shines differently. So I’m coping better than I was, but sometimes it’s like you’re sort of so far away from home, and especially my parents are a bit elderly now, so my dad’s eighty-four and mum’s late seventies, so you want to be sort of close as well, and I can’t just hop on a plane and go now in this crisis. And if we’re there, we stay for an extended period of time there, but then we’ve also got family back here, so we gotta just try and cope with it as best as we can.

I guess now, during the covid times, for me, I’m still trying to get used to it sometimes (laughs). the Singapore lifestyle is good, I’m still getting used to it. I mean pre-covid, there were so many things to do to keep you busy, even from a social perspective, social groups, sporting, you know, going to the gym, having that balance. But I guess once covid hit, it’s taking that social interaction out and I could see why people would find it really hard not having that interaction. That’s taking me time to deal with that and come to terms of trying to cope with it as well.

Singapore, 2020