First Impressions

When meeting Singaporeans, the most common question I get is, "How is Singapore?" There are other common ones, such as "Where are you from?" (this is a fun one cuz most haven't heard of Iowa, and I love hearing their pronunciation), "Which university are you from?", etc. Without fail, I will be asked for my impressions on Singapore, so here are a few observations.

• It's pretty warm. It never really gets below 81 in my room. Maybe 76 outside at night. Daytime it's pretty common to reach the 90's. They say it's been fairly cool. One guy welcomed me to "Sweat-a-pour."
• It's very clean. It doesn't take long to see how it stays that way. There are a lot of foreign workers, mostly from India and China. They are daily sweeping streets, parking lots, and sidewalks. Removing litter, leaves, and everything else.
  
• Singapore is a garden city...meaning there's a lot of green stuff around. The foreign workers can be credited with this as well. They are constantly planting, watering, grooming, everything from flowers to trees. Singapore goes to great lengths on these things. I was told they'll "replant" 100 year old trees, rather than cut them down when they're in the way.
• Singapore seems VERY crowded to me. This is kinda relative however, as I generally prefer the wide-open spaces of rural Iowa. Once, in the mall over the Chinese New Year holiday, my friends kept commenting on how empty the place was. Picture Cross Roads Center Mall during Black Friday...
• There are harsh punishments for breaking the rules. Fines are large, e.g. S$5000 for fishing where you're not supposed to. For some crimes, the fine may be the last of your worries, depending on how many lashes of the cane the judge gives you. Yes, there is capital punishment.
• There's a lot of...interesting rules. A few I've heard include a limit on building heights, buildings are torn down when they reach a certain age (there's a lot of construction here), cars must pass a rigorous inspection to remain in the country (all the cars are quite nice), and of course the classic ban of chewing gum.
• The people are generally friendly, although many times to get to know someone, it's me that has to take the initiative. I suppose that's pretty natural.
• Everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere. Running to catch the bus when there's another one in 5 min. is the norm. They don't pack 'em in like Cyride, though...or taxi buses in Africa.
• People are very physically active. I think I can count the number of fat people I've seen since I've got here on one hand...probably two fingers. (I don't think they were even American!)
• Classes are competitive
• The people trust the government way more than we do in the US (I'm taking Gov't & Politics of Singapore...don't judge me)
• For it being a very multi- enthnic, racial, religious population, they get along quite well. Although I get a feeling there is a general distrust of the foreign workers here.
• Most people speak pretty good English. British English is what's taught. And then there's Singlish, which in almost like another language because they will often times not use it when speaking to me (at least not as much). Everyone is bilingual and you hear a lot of Mandarin, Tamil, and Malay even though English is everyone's common language.