But one of the ideas that came out of this discussion over fruity drinks and beers was for me to write down my experiences in the far east. See I have a sarcastic humor and most people say I'm as lovable as a shovel to the face. The sole reason I'm moving is that the one person in the world who can make my sarcasm alleviate just enough to make me nearly, kind of, sort of, almost seem like a human being is...
...the Singaporean I'm head over heels, crazy in love with.
About a month ago we both found ourselves victims of the recession, out of work, living in an expensive Manhattan apartment, with few job prospects and bills raining down on us like dollar bills on a bachelor party stripper. Worse yet, one of us was facing the end of a work visa that was to expire. Now as an international couple we face a problem most couples do not, one of us was only in this country on the grace and goodwill of the federal government, only as long as they could convince an American company they were worth being hired over a native-born citizen.
After weeks on the prowl like a diabetic in a cupcake store and a dwindling deadline we came to the final decision that the welcoming arms of the Statue of Liberty were not enough to keep us in our home, around our friends, a close but respectable distance from my parents. It came down to the moment where one of us would have to leave the country or become an illegal alien, subject to arrest and an immediate deportation by the INS with those stereotypical unmoved, scowling guards you see in those crappy rom-com movies.
That is until we came to the conclusion that while New York City and the good ole U.S of A could not provide for us, the welcoming, skyscrapers of sunny Singapore possibly could. Singapore, a mecca for immigrants, where one in three people living on this island city-state are foreign-born.
The decision to make a move 9531-miles (15,339- kilometers, damn I have to learn the metric-system!) was a lot easier then you think, the man I love is there which means I'm just a hop, skip and a 23-hour plane ride away! But after the decision was made, the worries started to set in...
Will the Singaporean parents like me?
Will I be able to comprehend Singlish?
Can I survive in a country where it is 86F every day of the year, being so fair that I am nearly transparent? (Seriously I'm so white, put me in front of a lamp and you can see my brain!)
As of yet, I can't answer a single one of those questions.
But over the course of this blog we can figure that out together, the sheltered American white guy in a hot, tropical island country in Southeast Asia.
Here we go!
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