Culture Shock – 1
I never expected not to have a cultural shock when I hit Singapore. It was quite inevitable. I am going to document some of the major shocks I had in my series Culture Shock.
Before we left Houston we set the ball rolling for finding an apartment. We narrowed down neighborhoods, got a referral for an agent and started the hunt. The internet being our best friend, we spend hours searching for properties.
A few great properties in the neighborhood we wanted did not make it to the agent’s list. Quite obviously we raised the question why they were not there. Her answer was our first cultural shock – race restrictions.
Yes – they exist. And it took us by surprise.
pooh
December 12, 2011 at 4:53 am@Merlyn – I have heard multiple stories about why Indians are not preferred as renters but some of the common ones are the cooking smells, too many people staying and ofcourse not paying rent on time
@Shruti – yes exactly – landlords prefer renters of a particular race – no locals, no Indians, no expats are all common in the classified ads.
Shruti
December 12, 2011 at 2:33 amohhhhh.. u mean ppl of certain races are not allowed in certain home communities?
Merlyn Fraga
December 11, 2011 at 7:08 pmThat seems hideous… especially didn’t expect it from S’pore.. Anyways what were their intentions? Btw…interesting chronicles of your move from Houston to S’pore 🙂