FDW

Here in Singapore people love to use abbreviations and initials. It took me a little while to get used to it: For example, CBD stands for Central Business District (downton), PIE means Pan-Island Expressway (A highway) and MOM is Ministry of Marriage. Since today is the last day of the year, we gave our FDW today and tomorrow as days off. But what is a FDW? A FDW is a Foreign Domestic Worker. Sometimes they are also called helpers or even Aunties. When she came to our house, Sarah Beth thought she was a servant but we corrected her, she is here to help us with the cleaning and cooking.

It is very common for families to have their own FDW and for most of the ex-pats (ex-patriates, or foreigners working outside of their native country) it is almost expected to have one. Most of the helpers are women from the Philippines or Indonesia. They usually come from poor families; our own helper mentioned her family made the equivalent of USD $40 per month. Thus coming to Singapore means a much better way of life so they can help their own family. The rules for employing a FDW are quite rigorous: The employer (me) has to pay taxes, she cannot work outside of our house, she cannot work part time with anybody else, she has to live in my house and the contract is for about 2 years.

At first we did not like to idea of hiring a person to live with us, it is simply something that we are not used to, specially in the USA. But our helper turned out to be very useful and smart and the kids like her, so we are quite happy with her. When I go to the kids’ activities (soccer, etc), it is very common to see western children being attended to by their helpers, most of them Philippinas.

Day trip to Batan City, Indonesia

Yesterday we visited Batan City, Indonesia. Me and the kids took a 1.5 hour ferry trip to this city. Upon arriving to the port the first indicatio that we were in a different country happened: There was a long line of travelers and just a few immigration officers. The one that attended us seemed to be in a bad mood and was hastily doing his job while reprimanding a person in front of us.

We finally left customs and went to the bus that was waiting us since we had arranged a tour from Singapore. Then for the next hour and half... nothing happened. We sat and sat while waiting for a customer that never materialized. A German tourist was so upset for the delay that she started screaming at the tour guide. I only said to Sarah Beth "Welcome to Indonesia"

Due to the delay we missed out first stop that happened to be our reason to go there: A visit to a water park. The kids were extremely disappointed but I told them to look at the positive when visiting a new place.


What a contrast between Singapore's relative wealth and the Indonesian misery! The city was poor, unkept and dirty despite the natural beauty around us. We saw countless shanty towns with dirt roads and houses built by squatters with garbage materials. We also saw trash everywhere (as seen in the picture.) I wanted Sarah Beth to see that reality and to realize that not everybody lives like us and she need to be cognizant and prudent about it. Beign poor is to lack alternatives: Most cannot escape that world and have no alternative but to survive the best they can.

We passed by a shanty town populated mostly by squatters from a place called Banda Aceh, a town decimated by the Tsunami. A large group moved to this town to rebuild their lives. They have their own unwritten rules: For example, only people of certain race can sell goods at the road. If somebody else tries to, he will be beaten and his place torched.

We were also warned about taking taxis. A large number of existing taxis are illegal and it is not uncommon for a driver to rob his passengers. Another warning we received was about piracy goods. Counterfeit goods are everywhere so we were reminded to be careful. I learned that every piece of cloth bearing the name Polo Ralph Lauren is counterfeit, only the Polo brand may be legitimate. The visit was a good opportunity for the kids to see for themselves how advanced Singapore is with respect to other places.

Zoo visit

Yesterday Sarah, Daniel and I visited the Singapore Zoo. It is well kept and large. I noticed a large number of foreign turist also visiting, the majority were European. Daniel favorite was the white tiger. We learned there are no white tigers in the wild, only at zoos. We also saw Oragutans on trees above walling areas, Lions, Zebras, hippos, etc.

For me, the most relevant (and poignant also), was the Outback zone: An australian area with kangaroos and other Australian animals. At the entrance there was a plaque remembering Steve Irwin (Crocodile Hunter) because he was the driving force to create that Australian sanctuary in Singapore. He indeed reached very far away from Australia,

Haircut

Sitting on the barber chair, I realized it was difficult to communicate with the hairdresser. She spoke English with a thick accent and at the end I ended up using signs to tell her what type of cut I wanted.

The haircut "process" seems different than in the US. What used to take about 20 minutes back in the US now took about 50 minutes. Two people worked on me: one cut the hair and the other shampooed it (and massage for at least 25 minutes). That remimded me of the division of labor principle, maybe each person specializes in a particular trade, I'm not sure. The whole cycle seems well rehersed and I liked the detailed process.

Today I also interviewed a candidate for admissions at Johnson School at Cornell. It always amazes me the quality of the applicants. That's in part why I like to interview candidates: I get to know very interesting and driven people and I learn lessons from them. I have forced myself to evaluate Asian candidates with a mixture of both "Western" and "Asian" lenses, since now I understand how different life experiences could be. The constant element I see (and I look for) is the drive to make a difference. I hope I get to interview more people

Sentosa (Singapore) trip

I am starting my new blog with today's story. I went to Sentosa Island with my 2 children (Sarah Beth, 9 and Daniel 4) My wife Nohemi is pregnant (with twins!)and thus she could not come with us. We took the cable car from Harbourfront and went to the underwater world and log ride. Very realistic indeed!

There are a few things about me that would be importat to know about:

1. I was born in Mexico City
2. I lived for 11 years in USA, in Champaign IL and Ithaca, NY before landing in Singapore
3. I have a degree in Actuarial Sciences, a Master in Finance (U of Illinois) and a MBA (Johnson Scholl, Cornell U)
4. I worked in banking and real estate
5. I am curretly working for Standard Chartered Bank in Credit Risk
6. Read this: http://www.cortlandstandard.net/articles/02242007n.html