Vania Crystal Halim 林美秀 （28）103 My name is Vania Crystal Halim （林美秀）. Vania means God’s gracious gift, and originated from Israel. 美秀 means beautiful（美丽）and talented（优秀）. My mother’s name is Santi Kumala Dewi （杨芳芳）. Santi is an italian word for “saint”. The “芳” in her name means virtuous or beautiful. My father’s name is David Lim （林彰伟）. David was derived from a Hebrew name which means “beloved”. 彰伟 means clearly （彰明）extraordinary（伟大）. My brother’s name is Wilson Jasper Halim （林照胜）. Wilson comes from an english surname meaning “son of Will”. 照胜 means shining （照映）in victory （胜利）. All of us were born in Indonesia. My parents and I were born in the city of Surabaya, while my brother was born in the capital city, Jakarta. We moved to Singapore because of my father’s work in 2009. During the first few years in Singapore my parents had some experiences and difficulties. I would like to share some of these stories here… My Mother’s : 1. In Indonesia we used to have a domestic helper. However in Singapore, the living cost was high ( a significant difference compared to Indonesia ) and we could not afford to hire one. As a result, my mother had to take charge of all the household chores while taking care of 2 children single-handedly. That time I was 6 and my brother was 2. At such a young age it was quite a challenge to take care of us. I was also too young to help out with anything. My Father’s 1. My father experienced some difficulties at work. In Singapore, the workload was higher and there were longer working hours. This resulted in the work-life balance being not good. Everyday my father would be very exhausted from work. The demand in the work done in Singapore was also significantly higher in Singapore as compared to in Indonesia. My father had to struggle for a while on his work, but eventually he was used to it and managed to cope quite well. Family’s : 1. The first thing to do in Singapore was to get accomodation. We searched online, in websites and asked our friends in Indonesia. It was tough and it took quite a while to manage to find a place in Singapore. A family friend in Indonesia rented us his place, an old condominium. It was located in Newton. This was our first home before moving to another condominium in Queenstown. 2. The living cost in Singapore was extremely high ( if you compare it with Indonesia’s ). We felt that everything here was really expensive. At first, we could believe that normal items could cost that much and were reluctant to spend our money. But eventually, we adapted to it. 3. We did not really have any friends or contacts in Singapore to help us around. Therefore we had to be “ independant”. It was quite difficult at first but slowly we managed to do it. 4. We do not come from an English or Chinese-speaking background. We could still manage to communicate in english but for Chinese, it was very difficult. Chinese being the majority in Singapore, and shops (mostly in markets use Chinese), lead to an inconvenience in shopping. 5. We also could not afford a car. In Indonesia, my parents both drove cars to get around but in Singapore we had to use public transport. It was a good experience as Singapore’s transportation system is extremely orderly and convenient, and gradually we were used to it. We liked it not only because of the ease of getting around, but also because it was environmentally-friendly. 6. The food in Singapore was a little different from the food in Indonesia. In Singapore, food was more bland because of the lack of spices, or for my parent’s case, chilli. Generally most indonesians are addicted to chilli. They would put chilli in almost every dish to make it tastier. In Singapore, it was not the case. Sometimes we would find chilli but they were not spicy enough for my parents’ taste. In the first few weeks/months, my parents missed the food in Indonesia. However, as the days passed, they slowly started enjoyed the food in Singapore. These are some memorable experiences my family had in our first few months or years in Singapore. I would say that we all liked living in here, a multi-racial country. It is a clean and green, and also safer country. Writing these stories also helped me interact more with my parents. I feel that this is a meaningful activity and it was definitely enriching.