Singapore?
Mar. 6th, 2008 10:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fleaIn theorizing ahead of my data news, I have spent some more time looking up Singapore. (I did this for Cincinnati and Aarhus and Athens GA, too - it's just those were a lot less out of the realm of my experience than Singapore!)
It's at the equator - nearly always 80 degrees, 90% humidity in the am, 60% humidity in the pm. Historical recorded high: 100, low: 65. So, I would not be growing English peas in Singapore.
It sounds remarkably clean and non-corrupt and safe for a large city anywhere, and has excellent public transport. We'd probably sell our car and not get one there. As for the rest of our stuff, I guess we'd offload a lot and store a lot? I am sure, somehow, that they have Ikea in Singapore. (Yup, they do: http://www.ikea.com.sg/homepage/home_shoot.asp)
English is the primary language of education, and most children speak it starting in pre-school. There are public schools, including pre-schools for ages 3-6, and many international private schools. The big American one costs about $20,000 a year for kindergarten, though; Wikipedia notes that the corporations employing foreign nationals in Singapore tend to pay for private school for their employees' children. Somehow I doubt that extends to post-doc positions at MIT, though.
Casper and Dillo could learn Chinese! (I am almost certainly too old and stupid.)
Plane tickets roundtrip Singapore to Boston seem to start at about $1800 and take 24 hours. And it seems like we live far away from family NOW!
There's a lot to think about. The opportunities for overseas adventure don't come along all that often; on the other hand there is a lot of hassle and expense and sacrifice in overseas adventure. And we do have a strong yearning to settle down...
It's at the equator - nearly always 80 degrees, 90% humidity in the am, 60% humidity in the pm. Historical recorded high: 100, low: 65. So, I would not be growing English peas in Singapore.
It sounds remarkably clean and non-corrupt and safe for a large city anywhere, and has excellent public transport. We'd probably sell our car and not get one there. As for the rest of our stuff, I guess we'd offload a lot and store a lot? I am sure, somehow, that they have Ikea in Singapore. (Yup, they do: http://www.ikea.com.sg/homepage/home_shoot.asp)
English is the primary language of education, and most children speak it starting in pre-school. There are public schools, including pre-schools for ages 3-6, and many international private schools. The big American one costs about $20,000 a year for kindergarten, though; Wikipedia notes that the corporations employing foreign nationals in Singapore tend to pay for private school for their employees' children. Somehow I doubt that extends to post-doc positions at MIT, though.
Casper and Dillo could learn Chinese! (I am almost certainly too old and stupid.)
Plane tickets roundtrip Singapore to Boston seem to start at about $1800 and take 24 hours. And it seems like we live far away from family NOW!
There's a lot to think about. The opportunities for overseas adventure don't come along all that often; on the other hand there is a lot of hassle and expense and sacrifice in overseas adventure. And we do have a strong yearning to settle down...