- Exploring- I gotta get the lay of the land, and while that usually means walking great distances without a map, here that becomes a little tricky thanks to the sweaty sweaty weather, so I'm going neighborhood by neighborhood.
- Lodging- finding a place that fits once the relo runs out. It's gotta be reasonably priced, a short commute to the office, near cool stuff, and have space for an extra bed/futon for guests
- Networking- meeting and building relationships with my professional contacts. A lot of my contacts here are from a different generation, so the lunches are a bit more advisory in nature, but this has been really helpful in my job so far.
- Makin friends (can't actually be systematic here, but it's important to do if I'm gonna live here for a while)- I had a couple friends out here already, but during those first few weeks you get invited around a lot and you actually have a pretty short period to make friends to get the regular invites and start the transition from the FOAF to acquaintance to friend. The last step often takes at least a year, but can be accelerated with other expats because they're in the same boat socially.
- Logistics and routine- So there are the basics of dry cleaner, grocery store, barber etc., but when you move to a different country your habits have to change too. Okay, in SG there are enough westerners that they don't really have to change, but they should a little if you really want to get the full experience. Also it'll be a nice change to head back to an urban environment. I love where I was in LA, but it's nice to be in a higher density place again since I don't have kids.
I'm still in the temp housing with a limited kitchen, so most of the time I feel like I'm on an extended business trip. Aside from starting to make new friends the rest of the stuff here hasn't really come into full effect.
1 comment:
Is there a Yelp equivalent there?
Post a Comment