neighborhoods and race and ethnicity

[boardsurfer]

Gringa

I am now in the US, but lived on Bencoolen Rd, just down form Little India.

It has a wonderful mix of Indian and Chinese community as there are still quite a few HDB blocks around.

Race is not an issue, unless you are Malay, Chinese or Indian. You will be an expat and they are a whole group unto themselves.

Enjoy your time.

[Blue]

Hi Gringa,

 I'm a Japanese American expat
 living with my white American husband
 and I think neighborhoods in Singapore
 are different.   There's a tendency for
 locals (Singaporeans) to see expats as
 British, Australian, Canadian than American.
 There's also a stigma from the past that
 all expats are rich, white and snooty.

 I think I can relelate to you more than
 some other posters since I too am not
 a white American living in the states.

 If you head to the so called HEARTLAND
  of Singapore- Ang Mo Kio, WoodLands,
  Toa Payoh you'll find that it's very, very
  Chinese and alot of people will have a
 difficult time understanding your English
 since SINGAPORE English is a British
 based.   We American's call it a "Freeway",
 they call it an "ExpressWay"  etc..

  My advice is to choose the EAST COAST.
  That's where I live.  The people are very
   mellow and opened to foreigners since
   the history of the area is that of a variety
   of races living and working.   Besides;
   it's near the beach and the MRT and buses
   are practically everywhere.

   GOOD LUCK.

  Cheers.

[gringa]

Blue:
I appreciate your response and the acknowledgment. The repsonses in general were truly welcome and generous of spirit. But you are right, when someone says to me "if you want to make race a paramount issue in your life" as someone wrote, then more often than not they have not experienced living in a majority white country as a non white person. Funny also that some people thought I was asking what was a "good" neighborhood or a "bad" "neighborhood. I thought I had made it clear that I was looking for a culturally and racially diverse, as in mixed place to live, not a place where just white expats live. But these are always loaded conversations. I truly look forward to experiencing life in a different way, which I think Singapore will be. Thank you again-I will focus my search on the east coast.

To everyone: Thank you so much for all of your responses. I have found these expat *** so helpful-I am really addicted to reading everything now!