Overseas

Talking to Curtis really slaps you back to reality sometimes... Just the other night, I met up with him for a beer and for some reason, our conversations always takes on a very serious note whenever we are just the two of us.

Well, so I told him about my plans to migrate to Melbourne, and what he said makes me almost want to try of live out my life here.

One of the main points being that we become the problem in Melbourne that we are having in Singapore. Foreigners. Becoming the hot topic every time elections roll about. Hear about every politicians' plan to further restrict foreigner rights, your rights. Competing with fellow foreigners for the certain percentage that the government would allocate for foreigners, housing, jobs, vehicle registrations. The next time you step into town, count the number of times you notice the pinoys, the banglas, the tiongs, the *insert misc race here*, more importantly, take note of your own disdain for them. Now, imagine every other Australian looking at you the very same way. You are now the foreigner problem remember?

Infrastructure? Few countries have it better than Singapore. Oh look, train breakdowns. When was the last time the North South line broke down? 20 years ago? Look at the people on your **insert social networking site here** feed who happen to be overseas right now, aren't they annoyed by our complaints? Because of one very simple fact, it's worse in almost every other country.

You see, the only reason why you loved your short stay in **insert country here** was because you are the expats, selected for the talents that locals don't have, or the student, spending money that the locals don't spend. You are treated like gods because you are welcomed. To get a true living condition map, ask the locals. Then divide that by two because you are a foreigner.

I'm not saying that I don't hate Singapore anymore, I still do. It's just that even if we move to a better country, we'll be facing tougher conditions just because we are not native.

That being said, I still hold this childish belief that it won't affect me because I'm different. I still want to move to Melbourne the first chance I get.

Just for fun:

The Economist's World's Most Liveable Cities 2011 (Top 10)[7]
	City	Country	Rating
1	Melbourne	Australia	97.5
2	Vienna	Austria	97.4
3	Vancouver	Canada	97.3
4	Toronto	Canada	97.2
5	Calgary	Canada	96.6
6	Sydney	Australia	96.1
7	Helsinki	Finland	96.0
8	Perth	Australia	95.9
9	Adelaide	Australia	95.9
10	Auckland	New Zealand	95.7