19 December 2008

looking for an apartment

when you are so used to a country (i.e. the US of A) that tries hard not to discriminate against you and give you "equal opportunity", it's a little strange now that you are back at home and you receive a slew of very personal questions from realtors:

"are you singaporean?"

"are you eurasian? or you are chinese?"

to which i usually retort, "does it matter?"

"uh, yes, the landlord wants to know."

"umm, it's getting a little personal don't you think?"

"izzit?"

or perhaps I grew up taking the national pledge a little too literally than most landlords...

We, the citizens of Singapore
Pledge ourselves as one united people
Regardless of race, language or religion
To build a democratic society
Based on justice and equality
So as to achieve happiness, prosperity & progress for our nation

4 comments:

Inspira said...

Aaah....yes. The never ending arguments re. the questions for potential rent. M gave them a bollocking once. Thankfully, my friend and her family came to our rescue with her apartment - bless them! :-)

You'll get yours soon! Just plough through.

Anonymous said...

they forgot to ask for IC number, mother's maiden name, religious affiliation..oh and a passport sized photo :)

ps. how's cinnamon doing? I want updates!

Inspira said...

Mini: they ask all that?! Eeek! That's almost like we're going to get charged under ISA or something. Tsk tsk tsk

exponent said...

hello mini!

we saw cinnamon again on saturday - she looked happy and all the handlers seemed to like her a lot :P pictures to come soon - promise :*