Above is a sign we saw up in Little India—services that they will provide for Indian passport holders. Some of these things I can see needing to be changed—say your wife needs to be added to your passport (apparently in India you do not need to be an individual—you can just be part of your husband), or changing your address—or even deleting your spouse (hopefully she has her own passport so that she does not end up being a non-entity), getting an extension of its validity… But, do you really think all of these are legal? Changing the name of your parents? Changing your birth date?
I have some clue as to why taxi drivers are so bad here—we get the “I’m new driver” all the time. Apparently the taxi license is given to men over 30 with families first. Then, if they decide (that is, if the Government decides) that there are still more taxi drivers needed they may allow women to do it as long as they are of a mature age and have families to help support. There is nominally a test, which I believe has to do with English, but this cannot be verified by anecdotal evidence. There is certainly no exam for how to drive a car—meaning when one goes from a lower gear to a higher one and there is no “where in Singapore is...” kind of test. The “new driver” thing is a bit scary because presumably these people had other jobs before (as they are at least 30) and I can’t figure out what it could have been. It was not in customer relations or map reading I think.
The other day our cab driver was having some (not too unusual) difficulty understanding that the road that I wanted was called Orchard Boulevard and the place was “at the end of the Road, almost to Grange Road, opposite Camden Medical Center.” Siena told me, “You don’t speak his language.” Which I was pretty sure was true. Siena then told him—in Singlish, not Mandarin, “Go now. This side. It car left. Go. Go. Here. Here” (or something very similar to that) The driver followed her instructions and got us there.
Do you think it is time for me to give up or to rush her from the country immediately?
A couple weeks ago a man who was visiting from Holland jumped in the river to save a woman who had tried to kill herself. He was a hero and was treated at the hospital for some cuts on his feet and then he was charged $90 for the treatment. The newspaper ran a story about him and how he was surprised that he had been given a bill. But, he had paid it. Basically the person at the hospital—all those involved said something like, “Well, we have to follow the rules.” Who will pay if we don’t bill him. We just follow the rules.” It was so perfectly Singapore. On the other hand, it was also Singapore that the next day about 30 people had called the paper and said that they would pay the bill for the hero and that he should not have been charged.
Apparently Singapore has one of the highest rates of lightening activity in the world. I know I have been amazed over the last year at how violent the rain storms are here. I love to watch them come in over the water from our apartment. Last Saturday the Merlion was even hit by lightning (see his bald spot on the back). By Sunday they had the scaffolding up to repair him, of course. But, then there was another huge storm so the work was delayed.
I hope everyone is having a lovely sunny day like we are!!! HA!
Faith
I have some clue as to why taxi drivers are so bad here—we get the “I’m new driver” all the time. Apparently the taxi license is given to men over 30 with families first. Then, if they decide (that is, if the Government decides) that there are still more taxi drivers needed they may allow women to do it as long as they are of a mature age and have families to help support. There is nominally a test, which I believe has to do with English, but this cannot be verified by anecdotal evidence. There is certainly no exam for how to drive a car—meaning when one goes from a lower gear to a higher one and there is no “where in Singapore is...” kind of test. The “new driver” thing is a bit scary because presumably these people had other jobs before (as they are at least 30) and I can’t figure out what it could have been. It was not in customer relations or map reading I think.
The other day our cab driver was having some (not too unusual) difficulty understanding that the road that I wanted was called Orchard Boulevard and the place was “at the end of the Road, almost to Grange Road, opposite Camden Medical Center.” Siena told me, “You don’t speak his language.” Which I was pretty sure was true. Siena then told him—in Singlish, not Mandarin, “Go now. This side. It car left. Go. Go. Here. Here” (or something very similar to that) The driver followed her instructions and got us there.
Do you think it is time for me to give up or to rush her from the country immediately?
A couple weeks ago a man who was visiting from Holland jumped in the river to save a woman who had tried to kill herself. He was a hero and was treated at the hospital for some cuts on his feet and then he was charged $90 for the treatment. The newspaper ran a story about him and how he was surprised that he had been given a bill. But, he had paid it. Basically the person at the hospital—all those involved said something like, “Well, we have to follow the rules.” Who will pay if we don’t bill him. We just follow the rules.” It was so perfectly Singapore. On the other hand, it was also Singapore that the next day about 30 people had called the paper and said that they would pay the bill for the hero and that he should not have been charged.
Apparently Singapore has one of the highest rates of lightening activity in the world. I know I have been amazed over the last year at how violent the rain storms are here. I love to watch them come in over the water from our apartment. Last Saturday the Merlion was even hit by lightning (see his bald spot on the back). By Sunday they had the scaffolding up to repair him, of course. But, then there was another huge storm so the work was delayed.
I hope everyone is having a lovely sunny day like we are!!! HA!
Faith
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