On Money
I am still betwixt worlds as to whether to open an account with the local "POSB" or "DBS" banks, or do what most expats do and get a Citibank or other such global giant account. A tin under the mattress is looking tempting at the minute.

The size of the coins in Singapore seems to be in proportion with the stature of the locals. My three year old (Cody) would struggle to dole out the tiny coins in his fingers. You know that irritating 5c coin that Australia is a about to phase out? The largest coin here ($1) is about the same size ... everything else is smaller!

So I have this strange little pile of coins building on my desk that I cannot figure out what I'm going to do with.

And More On Heat.
A dear colleague and his lovely wife (hello Willem & Simone!) were kind enough to give me a Lonely Planet Guide. In it refers to how Singaporeans do not seem to have the recylcling or green thing going on yet. To be fair, everything has to be airconditioned to get any business done. So the Lonely Guide refers to the cool sea breeze that you can get instead of turning on the air conditioner. This is a load of crap. There ain't no cool breezes here in Sing Sing. Those in Adelaide will know what I refer to when I describe that hot north wind you guys sometimes get - that's our sea breeze.

So I am going to have to break Crusty's Law #7. (Never own a hanky.) I am trying to justify this to myself, as I always said there were only 2 types of people that own hankies (old folks, and pompous gits that wear matching ones in their top left jacket pockets). Well the sweating thing that happens when you ove anything more than 5 metres here in Singapore has forced me to choose between carrying a sweat towel or a hankie. I am going to buy a hanky, and draw a Nike Swoosh on it, so I feel like it is somewhat a sporting tool.

On Spring Rain
The heat here is amazing. But the rain is even more impressive. Apparently nothing happens by halves around these parts. The other day I just made it into the office before it began to rain. It was amazing, and gorgeous sunny morning turned into full rainfull in seconds. Now, I ain't talking about the light, or constant, drizzle you might expect in a tropical locale. No, this was a sudden eruption of the skies. The sort of thundeous downpour that makes you reach for the ruler with the Cubits on it, and start to think about which animals to take onto your ark. By the way, I ain't taking 2 cats. Sorry to the pussy lovers.

The result of the rainfalls can be amusing. The office hours here are 8:45 to 5:45, but most people in Singapore seem to be 9:30 - 6:30 workers. The rain seems to happen at 9am or 3:30pm. So it is very amusing as the bedraggled workers, that got caught out in the rain, arrive at work. They spend the first 20 minutes of the work day in the John, drying their socks under the hair dryer. Gold.

On Culture
So I have been to 3 or 4 "Cultural Sensitivity" training courses. Apparently my boss and my dear colleagues in HR don't believe that the transfer of knowledge is sticking to me. I have told my boss to save the money, because he may as well throw the money at a wall rather than send me again. I digress. I learned (!) in one of these courses that staring into the eyes for several Asian culures is a no-no. So I am dutifully avoiding long eye contact. Yet most of the locals are staring at me. In fact if their eyes were lasers, I'd be full of holes.

After a few days of the locals staring, even a feller with a healthy ego and a bit full of himself like me, starts to questions what is up. I had to make sure my fly was up, and that I didn't have a thumping great zit on my nose. You start to feel like an alien that just landed from Mars. Maybe I shouldn't wear that leather hat...

I have donned the 1979 silver, reflecting aviators to tack back the advantage. ($10 at the Narrabeen markets, if anyone is interested - the 3rd Sunday of each month.)