How To Find A Perfect Maid

 When you live in Singapore and earn comfortable living, it is very common to get a full-time live-in maid. As I wrote earlier, most condos are equipped with a small maid's room at the back of the kitchen, usually next to laundry. At first I was a bit shocked at these rooms as they are really tiny, normally without windows or air-conditioning. However, I was assured by many locals that this is pretty standard and maids have some privacy and even their own bathroom. In some homes, though, maids share a room with a child or an elderly person.

 It is obvious that Singapore, like a few other Asian countries, has a big industry of FDW - foreign domestic workers (=maids, =domestic helpers). The local government - the Ministry of Manpower - supports the industry and issues laws and regulations protecting the maids from abuse, etc. As a first time employer of a maid, you need to attend a 3hour course and get a certificate which proves that you are familiar with what is expected of you in an employer-employee relationship. After emloying a maid you also pay a monthly government levy - around 270sing dollars a month ( abit over 200AUD) on top of the maid's salary, which ranges from 350 to 700sing dollars a month. Apart from salary, you have to provide free accomodation, meals and toiletries for your maid. What is more, after every contract completion ( 2 years) you  must pay for a return ticket to her home country (usually Indonesia or Phillipines) or a money equivalent in case she does not want to go back for a visit.

 Most families look for a maid through the maid agencies. If you google maid agencies in Singapore, you will find numerous options. It is very hard to decide which agency to go to. Maybe a friend recommended you a good one, or you read good reviews on the internet. In any case, you should check that the agency's licence is valid. The laws are very strict here, and you don't want to get into trouble dealing with dodgy business.

From my experience I can say that finding a good maid is a matter of luck, it doesn't really depend on the agency. Also, the maid who is perfect for somebody else may not be so good for you for different reasons. A lot depends on the family where the maid was working before. They say here that local Chinese families are very strict with the maids and some expat families spoil their maids so much that these maids would expect an afternoon nap every day and going on all holidays with you. So, if you want a hardworking maid who is good value for money, it is worth it to look at the ones who stayed with a local Chinese family before. However, there will probably be some complications as well - these maids are not familiar with Western culture and cuisine, it might be too much to expect her to cook anything rather than Asian noodles, rice, etc... Again, you can teach her, but not everyone learns well. You will be surprised, but some maids are not able to follow your instructions properly, let alone following a recipe in a cook book. Sometimes the problem is poor English, other times it is a very low level of intelligence or just simple lazyness. I had 15 interviews with different girls before I found the one I am comfortable with. She will live in your home and probably will help you with your kids, so being comfortable with this person is a must. There is always a trust issue at first but I guess you should just listen to your gut feeling, and it also takes time to get to know somebody and grow trust. We found Lili, a lovely lady from Phillipines in her late thirties, who worked for one local family for almost 12 years! She started a week ago, and we hope it will work out for everybody. I am quite happy with her so far, she keeps our apartment clean and tidy, cooks dinners and plays with Sophie. We need some time for adjustment, but she definitely helps me out a lot and it makes a big difference to me!

I can write about this topic for hours, I did a major reasearch before we employed a maid. There are so many things to consider, but one thing is for certain - there are no perfect maids as there are no perfect people, but if you find a good maid, you are very lucky and your life will get much easier. Having considered all pros and cons, I decided to go for a live-in maid and I haven't looked back!

House Hunting Saga - part 2

  After 2 tiring weeks of daily inspections, we finally got a place! I wouldn't call it a palace but very decent 3-bedroom apartment in a very convenient central location. We had an agent who contacted landlords' agents and arranged inspections for us. As a common practice, there are 2 agents here, the landlord pays them 1-month rent commision which is normally split 50/50. The tenants do not have to pay the agents though I heard some stories about naive expats who paid quite a big dollar to the agent just for showing them around!

  A wide range of housing options is available in Singapore, depending on your budget and preferences.
  Though a tiny island, Singapore is home to about five million people.
  Singapore boasts of one of the best public housing schemes in the world, with almost 80 per cent of the country's population living in affordable and quality public Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats within safe and self-contained estates. Many public flats have been given face-lifts with landscaped gardens and quality finishings and are comparable to private condominiums. Expats can rent but cannot buy HDB flats. It's a good option for those who have limited budget, want to experience living among locals and do not mind remote locations.

 

  A popular choice among foreigners, private housing can either be in the form of private apartments or condominiums as there are no restrictions on foreign ownership.

 

   Most private condominiums (condos) come with facilities such as swimming pools, tennis courts, gyms and allocated parking spaces. Well-located, many private residences are within reach of several modes of public transport. The Management usually takes good care of the building and facilities and there is 24-hour security. All condos have a small room at the back of the kitchen behind the laundry - this is a maid's room, as live-in maids are very common in Singapore. The maid usually has her own small bathroom with a shower next to her room and sometimes a separate back door.

 

  Another choice available to foreigners is the renting of landed properties in Singapore.  The regulations governing such properties do not allow foreigners to buy landed properties in land-scarce Singapore. However, Permanent Residents can seek state approval  to be allowed to buy bungalows, semi-detached and terrace houses.

   Depending on your budget, you can rent private landed properties in many areas in Singapore, from the swanky shopping district of Orchard Road, to trendy places such as Holland Village and other quaint locales such as Mount Sophia, Little India, Chinatown. Many private residential estates from Pasir Panjang in the west to Katong in the east also offer a good variety of private residential properties outside the city.

 

  After comparing different options, we went for a private condominium in central location just 5 minites off Orchard Road. This is the most expensive area in Singapore and we had to go for an older building to save costs. Our condo was completed 9 years ago which is considered quite old in hot and humid climate of Singapore. However, the condo is well maintained and the apartment has been thoroughly renovated. Brand new condos are also widely available in most locations. The problem with most new condos is that I didn't find them child- friendly. They are high-rise building with 30-40 storeys and have fragile glass balconies and doors from floor to ceiling. I guess it makes the place look lighter and more spacious but one look down made me extremely dizzy and uncomfortable and I refused to consider such apartments. Infinity pool on level 4 also looked nice but I couldnt imagine Sophie playing there - there is only a narrow flower bed protecting anyone from falling 10 meters down on the concrete! Might look modern and fancy, but no, thanks! Would be a good option for singles and couples, though..

  Anyway, hopefully we will sign a standard 2-year lease this week and can relax a bit then!

House Hunting Saga - part1

Hello, my friends, time flies, and we need to start looking for a permanent place now. Treetops Serviced Residences are superb, and I am very happy with everything here. Still, it's more like a hotel and it's time to look for an apartment where we can stay for a few years. We have already been to 3 inspections and I have a fair idea about rental market in Singapore. Well, if you want something nice, new and central, it's ridiculuously expensive, I mean, really exxy!!!
To illustrate what I mean, I will post 3 pictures of bathrooms.
The first one, it's a government-owned building, quite cheap, but you can decide yourself if you want to have a shower in a bathroom like that. Location is very remote, too!

Well, there are middle range options which look decent. Something like this:

And there is pure luxury. Don't even ask me how much, the prices start from 15-20 thousand dollars a month!!!

Anyway, our house hunting continues! It's very hard and exhausting, and the prices are higher than we expected! Wish me luck, I am off for another inspection now! I will tell you more about rental property in Singapore in my next post! xx

First Impressions

Well, its been nearly a week since we arrived in Singapore, so I guess its time to share my first impressions. My impressions are somewhat limited as I am a mum of a young baby and have to arrange my life around it. So, no reviews of fancy bars/nightclubs, etc. for now (one day I hope to find a babysitter I can trust and then I will have my usual life back - at least partially). At this stage we just go for short walks around our resort - Sophie sits quietly for 10min in a stroller, then starts complaining about the heat by screaming and arching - not the best companion for sightseeing! I yet have to try a cab - we need to buy a light stroller first, which I can fold/unfold with one hand as there are no child seats and the logistics are a bit complicated with a baby in one arm and a massive pram plus shopping. Speaking about the weather, it's actually not as bad as I thought. Middle of the day is pretty hot and humid, especially if the sun is out, but after 6 pm it's quite pleasant and you can even get a nice breeze. At the moment it rains every day, but only for short periods and usually in the morning. In the afternoon the sun is out for a few hours. Being above the equator, Singapore is coming into winter now, although there is not much difference between the seasons here. I was surprised to see lots of sweaters, jumpers and high boots in the shops - how would you ever wear it here?! the answer was that it is autumn-winter collection, I guess they just follow European seasons in fashion.
Singapore is famous for its multiple shopping malls and shopping centers. We are staying just 5min off Orchard Road - the main shopping street in Singapore. I have already been to 3-4 malls, and it's a bit overwhelming. In Sydney we had Westfield across the road and I used to go there for anything - from groceries to restaurants, movies and clothing. Here it is very spread out, shopping centers are quite different from each other, they specialise in various things, some have mostly kids stuff, others sell mainly electric goods or homeware. I still haven't found the shops I really like. I was going to buy some summer clothes for myself and Sophie, but haven't seen any familiar brands. I am heading to Paragon shopping centre later today as I heard there are lots of shops for children there.
Another thing I was going to comment on is food. All travel guides praise the variety of food in Singapore. Definitely, there are food joints on every corner. We haven't been to any fine dining places yet, so their reviews are pending. However, we have been to a nice steak house. Well, a small cut of eye fillet is around 50 AUD. Very tasty, though... Good quality food western style is very pricy, as everything for European people here - they must be thinking all expatriots are loaded here and don't care how much things cost! However, if you are happy with local Asian dishes, aka greasy and spicy fried noodles or rice, you can eat very cheap, 5-10AUD for a big meal. I actually tried the food court food yesterday. I decided to play it safe with teriaki salmon bento and was very disappointed but what did I expect for 5 bucks? Will try to stay away from most food courts from now on unless I am very hungry and in a hurry.
All in all, I still can't help thinking we are tourists on holiday here, guess it will take a while to settle in and think like a local resident:) But in general, I like Singapore, it's definitely a good place to be and we are lucky to be able to have such an experience!

Treetops Executive Residences

Photos of Treetops as promised, these are serviced apartments in the central area of Singapore, next to Orchard Road, highly convenient location and resort-style facilities, highly recommend! Sorry, no time for stories today, just some photos from our first couple of days here.

That's our apartment, very spacious and cosy, beats any small hotel room:

Our flight to Singapore

We have arrived in Singapore. Feeling a bit tired and jetlagged still but really excited! Our flight is finally over, we had a long day yesterday, starting with driving from Newcastle and then hanging around Sydney Airport for 3 hours. The worst part was the luggage scan where I had to unpack all my baby staff for inspection. I had Sophie's staff packed in 3 different bags, so I couldn't remember where what things were and they kept stopping my luggage! In the end, we found 4 pairs of scissors in our carry on bags! ( I had no idea we had so many, now we definitely don't have any left, so we'll all grow nails)))- Sophie will only be happy, though, that I can leave her alone and stop bothering with trying to cut her nails!!!) Anyway, we finally got on the plane and it was great that the plane was on time after all Qantas strikes and groundings... Sophie was ready to move on the floor, however, the flight attendants told us babies are not allowed to crawl on the floor for safety reasons! Must be some new regulation or a Qantas thing as I am pretty sure most of my friends had their babies crawling and running around on the plane. On the plus side, the Premium Economy cabin was nearly empty and Sophie had a seat next to us all to herself! Was quite challenging to keep her still, she wouldn't sleep in the bassinet, either, so we didn't get any sleep ourselves. Sophie slept half an hour in my arms and then another hour in Dave's, that was it. I am really happy we went with Premium Economy, we had plenty of leg room, the service was excellent, I felt like I was in Business Class. I guess that's the way to go from now on! We landed at about midnight. The Changi Airport in Singapore is very nice, clean, big and well organised, no annoying taxi drivers or self-made porters asking for a tip. Unfortunately, we had no time or energy for duty free shopping, so found the driver and went straight to Treetops Executive Residences. Singapore at night is very impressive, lots of city lights. We had a child's seat in the car as I personally requested it, but the driver said most cabs don't have child seats and it's ok just to have your child on your lap. I think it's good as we are not planning to have a car and will be using cabs quite a lot. Anyway, it's enough for today. We didn't sleep very well as Sophie is very confused with all the moving and she actually got her first two bottom teeth yesterday! We used to joke that her teeth would come through on the plane and it happened! So, she was a good girl considering all the discomfort she was going through! Just to finish it off - I am really pleased with our serviced accomodation. I need to take some pictures so that you can all see what I mean. My next entry will be about Treetops.

It's official: we are moving to Singapore!

Who could have thought? I have lived in Sydney for nearly 4 years and I have always loved it! Australia has a great lifestyle - warm weather, ocean and beaches, friendly multicultural society - what else could you wish for? Well, anyway, it happened - we are relocating! My husband got a great job and it's based in Singapore. Considering that I'd never been to Singapore, it got a bit scary and, of course, I started googling about it . The first impressions I got were very positive. Apparently, it's a very clean and safe place with lots of beautiful parks and futuristic architecture. Shopping is great there (mmm, nice))) and it's close to island resorts in Thailand and Malasia. Also, it's much closer to my home country - Russia, and visa requirements are simplified compared to Australia. Sounds great so far... On the downside, the climate is really hot and humid all year round, some expats find it crowded but boring. Seriously, that's about it - not many negative comments! We'll see what we think. The job contract is minimum for 12 months, but expect to stay there for at least 2-3 years. I hope we'll enjoy the whole experience! I will keep you posted, guys!