Common Ground

I can't find my identity you see. Its sounds strange but let me explain. A big part of it is being a citizen of 2 countries. I was born a citizen of the Republic of Singapore and the United States of America. I was born in Singapore and visit often, but I do schooling in the US. Why did my family move you might ask? Well, my parents owned a company which was very successful until a caniving company called Xerox which I'm sure many know of since they makes loads of paper and printers, decided to do a deal. Well lets just say they aren't the best of people. Trial never finished, company was broke, dad was expat from Ohio, so he took us back here. This happened all around late 1995, i was 1 1/2ish. Its amazing for me to think that an Ohio farm boy grew up to go to college payed all by himself then become a business man and work in Singapore 12,000 miles away only to get married and have a family. My mom is like 87% Chinese and 13% Malay since Singapore is a very multi-cultural society. She is a very smart lady who was always the top of her class. I have a bro who was just sent off to college.

You see, being a resident of two nations is a privelage, an honor, gives me great pride-but at the same time makes me feel torn and confused. When I'm 21, I have to pick only one country. It's not that easy. Everyday, every hour, I think of Singapore, I'm not joking. That's how homesick I am. My family, we have friends, an actual flat, the food, everything. Its instilled in me, I cry everytime I leave back for the US. But then again, in the US-I have friends that I would miss dearly if I left permanently and I've found myself attached to my home kinda. It's all soo confusing and I always feel like its unfair. But I have to deal with it.
Here's some info on Singapore:
-A tropical island city-state nation the size of Chicago.
-4.4 million people
-was a british colony, then indepent, then joined Malaysia, then gained independence on August 9, 1965.
-Singapore invented the idea of "satellite towns." Basically a different take on modern neighborhoods used around the world today.
-Has some of the best racial,cultural, and religious harmony in the world. Chinese, Malays, Indians, and so many other live together in everyday life perfectly. Its amazing. We know each others languages, eat others food. Its wonderful. Buddhists, Taoist, Muslims, Hindus, Christians come together. The english literacy rate is one of the highest in the world, its a common language for the races to communicate.
-Some one of the lowest crime and corruption rates in the world.
-The most urbanized country in the world yet also known as the garden city because of the flora. We were originally all rainforest, although their are preserved areas.
-About 1/10 of singapore is taken up by the Bukit Timah nature reserve. It has more species of plants than all of N.America!
-Singapore has the main island and 63 other ones, mostly uninhabited, a few used as resort islands.
-One of the cleanest contries in the world
-Set the international standards for service and innovation in commercial aviation. This is demonstrated through the world's most awarded airline and airport. Singapore Airlines will be the first to fly the world's largest plane the A380 in October from Singapore-Sydney. the tickets will be auctioned off and all proceeds go to charity.
-The PAP gov. party has been in power since independence and has been constantly voted back in by the majority of the population due to great prosperity and organization.
-The world's busiest sea port.
-The world's 2nd freest economy, next to Hong Kong.
-The highest standards of living in Asia, with good household income.
-Singapore has the 5th highest life expectancy in the world
-The inventor of the floppy disk.
-Revolutionzed public transportation infrastructure. We had the first driver-less subway trains
-One of the world's top convention and business cities. We held the 2005 International Olympic comittee meeting.
-Building the Singapore Sports hub center, an olympic-grade facility. Singapore will be bidding for the first youth olympics and may bid for the international summer olympics in the future.
-HIghest test scores among students in the world
-Created the night safari, unlike anything else in the world.
-Growing arts hub through Esplanade theatres and the largest art gallery in Asia being built
-Shopping paradise
-Commonly referred to as having the best food in the world from sources like Anthony Bourdain and the book "1000 places to see before you die." Awesome street food and fine-dining is abundant.
-Voted as having one of the world's most beautiful skylines
-A natural crossroads linking all of Asia, and europe with australia
-Malay is original race and national language. Common language is english. The majority of population is ethic Chinese. We speak something called Singlish-english, malay, different dialects of Chinese and other. Our natual chinese dialects are Hokkien, Teochew, and Hakka from the South but Mandarin is offered in all schools alongside Malay and Tamil. English is compulsory. Singapura means lion city in Malay, as lions were indigenous to Singapore.
-Singapore's mascot is the merlion as a Sumatran prince in the 14th century swore he saw a lion in the ocean.
-The modern-day founder of singapore is the brit Sir Stamford Raffles who started the colonization. the man who developed Singapore was our first prime minsiter Lee Kuan Yew, a brilliant man who currently resides as the MM, or Minister Mentor who helps the gov. make influential decisons.
-A Singaporean passport is the most sought after in the world since it grants more access to more countries without a visa than any other in the world due to Singapore's relations with many countries. China and Taiwan. India and Pakistan. Israel and Middle Eastern Nations. Australia, UK, US etc.
BUT OUR BIGGEST CLAIM TO FAME.....
-GOING FROM A 3RD WORLD COUNTRY TO FIRST IN ONLY ONE GENERATION. PEOPLE WERE IN AFRICA-LEVEL POVERTY IN 1965, NOW WE ARE AT LEVELS A BIT ABOVE THE USA. OUR ABILITY TO BECOME A NATION WAS QUESTIONED AND WE DID IT, WE BECAME THE STRONG SINGAPORE THAT WE ARE TODAY, ITS UNBELIEVABLE TO IMAGINE WHAT WE WERE BEFORE, IT WAS LIKE A GRAND MIRACLE. WE DONT EVEN HAVE ANY NATURAL RESOURCES, RESORTING TO GET WATER THROUGH RESERVOIRS, DESALINATION, AND REVERSE OSMOSIS! THERE ARE MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS LIKE A UNIVERSAL STUDIOS OPENING SOON AND WORLD'S LARGEST OCEANARIUM AS WELL AS THE WORLD'S LARGEST OBSERVATION WHEEL.

You can see why I'm a patriotic Singaporean, but I've lived in the US for a long time and I couldn't just leave her either. As most AP members are Americans they probably understand the US so I won't have to go into much detail. But I have a hard time expressing my identity. A singaporean-American who's race is eurasian? it's all so confusing, especially to people who ask me what am I. "Chinese and caucasian, but not from China directly, but citizen of 2 countries.." yeah, you get it. Every year the Singaporean gov. makes a song-video thing and I saw this year's one on youtube. I was crying in homesickness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ54nU3uPTE&mode=related&search=    2007 song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn5U5Uz_4qQ&mode=related&search=  this is the one from 2004

it gets a little cheezy but I get all mush watching it, i want to cry, i want to figure out what i am. So here's the poem that I decided to write since I was crying over missing one of my homes, my family, the food, the friends, the way of life. Majulah Singapura *onward Singapore-it's our national anthem, can be found in youtube*


The barrier between us
Standing ever so tall
Is nothing but a mind's illusion
Drifting through time

My heart lingers
As the word's of my tongue cannot tell-
Of the stories my soul contains
Sand slipping through my pleas

My identity
It is split oh so many ways,
with seeds of comfort receiving no light
But in the end
I am me

The one who walks for tomorrow
Lives for the spice of life
And feels for two places of oasis-
True serenity I call home


Singapore and the States will always stay in my heart. It just makes me so frustrated and confused sometimes. What am I? Its more than just the citizenship. I'm a hospitality industry freak who loves cars too and loves traveling and trying new foods. Good singer and research nut, but not nerdy, although sometimes people assume that. Likes writing, especially poetry of course, hates math and science. Not exactly techy kinda person. Likes to cook, loves bollywood flicks. Hates stereotypical jock people and drama queens. I support Darfur and other charities deeply, I care a lot about poverty. I like to help peole when they're down. Sometimes a bit selfish myself but who isn't sometimes? i'm also an LDS mormon. I'm just a bundling mess of confusion!
Oh well, I guess I just have to get into reality and realize finding what I am is just a game of patience, knowledge, and passion.