Singapore vs Malaysia, what I think?

This was the latest email I sent to Emily, and I felt compelled to add it into my blog, cos It really accurately describes what I feel about Singapore right now.

Hi,

Yeah, I'm pretty much settled, only that i have to start job application soon.

Which is quite stressful, sucky. But it seems that SIM students are not really highly regarded in Singapore.

In fact, we are treated or looked at as leftovers in society. It seems that if u cant get into NUS, u drop down to NTU and then SMU, then when choiceless, provided your parents cant afford to send you overseas, You come to SIM.

However, I dare say SIM students are not the kind of 'quality' students you would find in NUS o NTU but I dare say they are of quite diverse background, some quite talented actually. Usually they are the smart slacker kind. They dun seem stupid or anything, just lazy lor.

People can't seem to tell I'm not local, in fact they get quite shocked when I say I'm Malaysian. Apparently i dont have a MALAYSIAN accent. What is the MALAYSIAN accent? go figure? i think its supposed to be a cina accent since 80% of chinese in malaysia dont speak english as their first and i figured if you're malaysian and you come to singapore to study and you chose to study in SIM, chances are you are not from KL, prolly JB or some other part of Malaysia, and chances are, cos you couldn't get into NTU or NUS and chances are your English won't be superb? I dunno these are just meaningless assumptions. 

It seems we are the only KLrians at SIM (SIngapore Institute of Management). When it comes to alien and foreign things, and i dare say we PJ or KL english speaking kids speak better english and mandarin than the Singaporeans. It's not that their vocab or grammar sucks, its the pronunciation. They really Singlish everything lor. 

Its like they cut their tongue short or something, like they have a LAZY tongue. I am starting to pick it up and that sucks cos I think I usually speak quite audibly and clearly, like my enunciation is quite good. Now i dunno.

But, really everything is really organised here. One person make a complain to any authority, immediately it is RECTIFIED. I can really feel the difference in the efficiency here. There isn't the tidak apa-ness u often just take for granted in malaysia. ONe thing is for sure, Singaporeans are way more punctual, cos their lives run around the public transport system, so every minute counts, u late one minute, wait next bus, which could jeopardize your whole journey plan. Cos we have those online checkers and SMS thingies to check the exact minute your particular bus will arrive at your particular stop. Its all very techie and gizmo-ish here. EVERYONE has the latest nintendo, or PSP or ipod or Iphone or whatever not la.

Its normal to go for bible study and not see bibles cos people use electronic ones. Almost every tom dick and harry here owns a PDA.

Wifi is really almost everywhere near important, malls, cafes, libraries etc. The best is the national library board (NLB) i mean i think singaporeans are so spoiled, they get FREE access to so much info and content, reading materials and most ppl don't use this access. They take for-granted. Like i PAY 50 bucks for a one year membership. Of course there are tons of libraries islandwide, with diff wide selections of books, audio, visuals, CDs etc. And you can borrow one book from Library A and drop it off 3 weeks later at Library B. Can renew online also for a small fee. But like i said, everything is pretty very predictable here, so it gets kinda boring, like nothing could ever really go very wrong u noe what i mean? u cant like get lost like in KL, driving around.....

Ok i typed too much rubbish about singapore but this is what i feel la of this place. But ppl here are generally very sheltered, hence, very nice and concerned. Helpful lor... of cos where I live is quite up class la. I think if u go west to the industrial side its a diff story. 

Keep in touch my dear emily.

I really miss u guys so so much.

Hope to see u soon!