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cazzy3
Joined: 07 May 2008
Location: kangwon-do
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 Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 1:45 am Post subject: Anyone lived in Singapore? |
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I have a job interview for a school in Singapore and was wondering if anyone had any insight.
a. Cost of living- compared to Korea, is it feasible to live on a teacher's salary with a wife and kid?
b. Housing- are the apartments similar to Korea in size and accommodations?
c. Quality of life- are there plenty of things to do for expats (sports, bars, etc.)
Thanks for any info.
Cheers. |
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kpjf
Joined: 07 Oct 2012
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| Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 8:27 am Post subject: Re: Anyone lived in Singapore? |
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a. Cost of living- compared to Korea, is it feasible to live on a teacher's salary with a wife and kid?
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As far as I know Singapore isn't such a good destination for EFL teachers. Is it just a run-of-the-mill language school? If so, I think it could be quite difficult supporting a family.
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b. Housing- are the apartments similar to Korea in size and accommodations?
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Accommodation is very very expensive and the population density is very high so I'd expect small apartments, though from what I hear food is quite cheap. Alcohol in bars, if I'm not mistaken, on the other hand is very expensive.
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=South+Korea&country2=Singapore&city1=Seoul&city2=Singapore
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c. Quality of life- are there plenty of things to do for expats (sports, bars, etc.)
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As you can see it's a very very small country and although I've never been there you'd imagine that there would surely be less things to do compared to South Korea. You can travel from one extreme to the other (say east to west) in under one hour - going from one end of the country to another: in one hour! However, in saying that Tripadvisor comes up with 300 attractions which is quite a lot given its size!!
Why not go onto the Singapore forum itself? |
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wishfullthinkng
Joined: 05 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 6:09 pm Post subject: Re: Anyone lived in Singapore? |
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| cazzy3 wrote: |
I have a job interview for a school in Singapore and was wondering if anyone had any insight.
a. Cost of living- compared to Korea, is it feasible to live on a teacher's salary with a wife and kid?
b. Housing- are the apartments similar to Korea in size and accommodations?
c. Quality of life- are there plenty of things to do for expats (sports, bars, etc.)
Thanks for any info.
Cheers. |
out of all my travels in the world singapore is the only country i can say i dislike. it's too clean, there's very little culture in the city itself, it's populated by awful fat expat bankers and after you've done the few things the tiny city has to offer there's nothing left.
not to mention if you want to whet your whistle the price of alcohol (as well as everything in general) is exorbitant and things close way too early. |
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cazzy3
Joined: 07 May 2008
Location: kangwon-do
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| Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the replies. From what you say and what I've read, it seems that although the job pays well, the cost of a 2-3 bedroom place would be WAY too expensive.
The Singapore forum isn't very up-to-date and I was looking for comparisons to life in Korea. |
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michaelfehon
Joined: 13 Dec 2010
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| Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 10:02 pm Post subject: Cost of Singapore |
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Its a great place to live but not to visit in my opinion. You can get reasonable prices accommodation but you might want to investigate how far it is from your workplace. With changing line, buses etc, the commute might be up to 90 minutes a day despite the size of the country.
Food is cheap, booze is expensive if you drink at expat bars. Very central to everywhere in Asia and some nice weekend trips to Malaysia and Indonesia are dead easy. |
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nate1983
Joined: 30 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 8:28 pm Post subject: Re: Anyone lived in Singapore? |
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| cazzy3 wrote: |
I have a job interview for a school in Singapore and was wondering if anyone had any insight.
a. Cost of living- compared to Korea, is it feasible to live on a teacher's salary with a wife and kid?
b. Housing- are the apartments similar to Korea in size and accommodations?
c. Quality of life- are there plenty of things to do for expats (sports, bars, etc.)
Thanks for any info.
Cheers. |
I lived there for a little while. It's developed, pleasant enough, and very safe.
It's also much, much more expensive than Korea, especially for housing. $4000+ SGD for a 2-bedroom is pretty standard, although if you get further out from the main expat areas I imagine it can get a lot cheaper (but I think most locals live in subsidized housing that non-PR foreigners aren't eligible for). But you usually get nice amenities like a swimming pool that you can basically use all year round.
Food can be pretty cheap especially if you like local food, but alcohol is crazy expensive even in 7-11 because of the sin tax. Income tax is pretty low though (I think capped at 15% and generally a good bit lower if you spend most of a whole year there).
It's really hot, and a bit boring. You can get really cheap getaways to the neighboring Indonesian islands (quick ferry ride, massage, lodging + breakfast specials for like $129/couple), but there's not much to do in Singapore itself. It's a great location to be based for traveling around SE Asia. |
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crazylemongirl
Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Location: almost there...
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| Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 5:09 am Post subject: |
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I've lived in Korea and have just moved to Singapore
I teach but I'm credentialed so I'm at an international school.
Singapore the big cost really is accommodation. You could look into flatsharing but some have live-in landlords.
Also despite being geographically small it takes some time to get around the island. |
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crazylemongirl
Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Location: almost there...
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| Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 5:10 am Post subject: |
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I've lived in Korea and have just moved to Singapore
I teach but I'm credentialed so I'm at an international school.
Singapore the big cost really is accommodation. You could look into flatsharing but some have live-in landlords.
Also despite being geographically small it takes some time to get around the island. |
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kpjf
Joined: 07 Oct 2012
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| Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:14 am Post subject: |
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| crazylemongirl wrote: |
I've lived in Korea and have just moved to Singapore
I teach but I'm credentialed so I'm at an international school.
Singapore the big cost really is accommodation. You could look into flatsharing but some have live-in landlords.
Also despite being geographically small it takes some time to get around the island. |
If you don't mind me asking what are you credentialed in? I am going to become a certified teacher in Spanish/French next year and wondered what the possibilities are for a certified teacher in Singapore. Thanks! |
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Brooks
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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I knew a person who said he would prefer to live just outside near the border with Malaysia, in order to commute and save money on rent.
I guess it depends on how far the commute would be. |
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cj1976
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 5:56 pm Post subject: |
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| crazylemongirl wrote: |
I've lived in Korea and have just moved to Singapore
I teach but I'm credentialed so I'm at an international school.
Singapore the big cost really is accommodation. You could look into flatsharing but some have live-in landlords.
Also despite being geographically small it takes some time to get around the island. |
I have a lot of family over there, and they always tell me how expensive it is. My uncle is one of those live-in landlords you speak of. He rents his spare room to two IT workers, who make fairly decent coin but still can't afford to get their own place. Other than the expense of living there, another aspect to consider is the culture. Singaporeans are quite conservative and generally very different to Koreans. While they are seemingly more open-minded to foreigners and are generally more well-behaved, they aren't always as much fun.
The food is much better than here though. |
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Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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| Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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| crazylemongirl wrote: |
I've lived in Korea and have just moved to Singapore
I teach but I'm credentialed so I'm at an international school.
Singapore the big cost really is accommodation. You could look into flatsharing but some have live-in landlords.
Also despite being geographically small it takes some time to get around the island. |
wow it's crazylemongirl
| cj1976 wrote: |
While they are seemingly more open-minded to foreigners and are generally more well-behaved, they aren't always as much fun.
The food is much better than here though. |
This.
I've never lived in Singapore but I did spend about a month there some years ago. I got to meet a lot of locals during my time there and everyone was quite warm and welcoming, but things do seem very uniform. The food can also be fantastic - although I would say it helps to know people who can recommend good eats.
I was considering relocating there at one point and started looking into it. But the combination of required credentials and unremarkable salary turned me off to the idea, so I ended up remaining in Korea.
If the topic creator is looking to get out of Korea, with a family, and has the credentials to find work in Singapore, I would suggest looking into Hong Kong as well. Either way, accommodation will be taking a bite. |
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I'm With You
Joined: 01 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 1:25 am Post subject: |
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I've worked with a couple of people who lived and taught in Singapore. They got tired of it because there's only one season. Okay, two seasons - dry and rainy.
One of my colleagues was a prof. from West Virginia. Yeah, the type that grew up hunting and fishing. However, his wife was from Singapore and so they went back and taught at SNU. He couldn't wait to get the hell out of Singapore after a few years of being there.
SO I guess it depends on where you're from, if you like Fall and what your interests are. For example, since Australia is in Asia, teachers from Australia would probably do much better in Singapore than those from the U.S. or Canada where people look forward to fall and spring seasons. |
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Stan Rogers
Joined: 20 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 4:11 am Post subject: |
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Austrailia is in Oceania.
Calling them Asian could get your butt kicked. |
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I'm With You
Joined: 01 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 4:16 am Post subject: |
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| Stan Rogers wrote: |
Austrailia is in Oceania.
Calling them Asian could get your butt kicked. |
You're just racist. And so are they, Australians are Asian. |
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