Singapore Expats

Hi, I'm moving to Auckland early next year to join my hubby. Anyone moving there too? Do share with me.

What exactly do you need to know? There are a few of Kiwis around here there (including me)....if you have any questions, just feel free to ask!


Enjoy your time in Auckland....i'm home sick!

Hi Bonbon, thanks for ya reply.

Am worried that I will have difficulties adapting to the new cultural and environment unlike my hubby.

Hubby worked in MNC while in SIN before joining the present company in Auckland. So he has friends (ex-colleagues) from England, New Zealand , Germany, Japan, Korea, China, blah blah blah etc.. His spoken and written English is good too as he is a graduate. His previous boss is from England (if I am not wrong) so I believed he will have no problem in communication. He has better PR skill than me and he is quite out-spoken. Though till now, he has lived in Auckland for barely a year, he has commented how he enjoy the lifestyle there compared to SIN!

While as for me, I am totally different from him. I am just a typical SIN female who works in an Asian environment. I am shy by nature. My spoken and written English is what you called “half-a-bucket-of-water”

hahha girl you worry too much!

enjoy...people back there are friendly! beside there are soooooooo many asian people around nowadays if you walk on the streets or shopping centres, you'll feel like you're in Singapore :p

And there are 00000s of people who probably couldn't even speak English!!! Even with your Singlish is 0000 times far better!

Beside Singlish is not THAT bad (hahaah whom am I kidding nah!!!) just speak slower, and ask people to speak slower in return ...you'll get use to the accent eventually. Like any other country, it takes a while to settle down, and to get use to the accent!

There are also a lot of M'sians and Singaporeans around (Big community!!! especially at uni!!!) restaurants everywhere, you won't be feeling foreign whatsoever!

As for music school! Nah you won't find in the web (we aren't that advanced I don't think heheh). But try the local newspapers, and of course NZ herald.

Also go to local communities, and libraries, and the music instruments shop, put an ad there, you'll soon find people calling!

Or simply just get involved in the local community centre, where they teach music. Even back at college, I remember we always have those teachers all over the place to come to teach kids who are into guitar, singing, piano , trumpet etc....during lunch time...should'nt be a problem

Be brave

You'll ad just FINE ....

Yo, thanks Angel!

Think I am really to face the world.. I mean Auckland in the near future!

Ha! Never say Die!

There is a website on Kiwi 'slang' that might help

...no worries you'll get in fine just don't venture up the boohay for too long eh.

Windflower, I had the same concern as you when I came to USA to study. Luckily I had my sister and mom with me, so I was not alone. However, it was still very scary as they could not accompany me to classes, lectures and uni where I was surrounded by foreigners, overwhelmingly whites (no offense here as I was narrating my experience). However, there was 17 years ago and with globalization, many western countries are no longer dominated by whites. So your experience would be quite different from mine when I first ventured into the unknown.

I am not going to paint a rosy picture and tell you "don't worry and everything will work out fine". The first five years was very hard for me. I constantly had thoughts of going back to Singapore. I could not get use to the life in suburb USA. I prefer noisy and bustlely environment. Just like any challenge in life, I'll say learn to deal with it. And if you feel like you can't cope anymore, the best thing is to share your feelings with your hubby. Trying to bottle it all up will just make it worse.

Good luck to you and try to treat it like an adventure .

Hi tiki and earthfriendly, thanks!

[quote="windflower"]


I remember this incident where I went to visit my hubby last Dec. He was speaking to a Kiwi over the counter. I was trying to understand their conversations. If my hubby were to look at my expression at that moment, he would be able to see a face with a lot of question marks. “Alamak! What is he saying?”

Hey earthfriendly, that's a great idea! Thanks!

Hello Windflower,

Just to let you know that I am in Auckland a fair bit (at least once a month) and love it there. Don't worry about the transition, most people are very friendly and accepting. I have never encountered any racism - to the contrary, in fact! And I have met many asians including ex-Malaysians and ex-Singaporeans who are gainfully employed across the board in a wide variety of professions and vocations in Auckland. To be honest, I found the manner of most people I dealt with there gentle, cordial and pleasant. I have also found a good set of pals of Maori descent - warm lovely people aye!

You may be interested to know there are at least 4 Singaporean style food courts in the centre of Auckland alone, along Customs and Queen's Street and lower Albert Street Area. You may also wish to give the Stamford Plaza Auckland a visit whilst there as this is in fact owned by a Singaporean Company and they serve Singapore fare on their menu.

What I do find a tad difficult to bear is the unpredictable Auckland winter that can last and last and last ...but we had a lovely summer with one long stretch of about 5 weeks of clear blue skies and 28 degree temperatures in late February/March this year. That is my biggest challenge usually - adjusting to the Auckland Winter - its wet, windy and grubby for days and on good days you may get a glimpse of sun for about an hour. But then, I have found (after 10 years of hard UK winters) the best thing to do is not to keep wrapping up and keeping the heater on 30 degrees all day indoors but to accept the cold and learn to embrace its crisp freshness. Learn to enjoy it and it makes it easier.

Good luck!

Auckland is a very nice place to live.

I have worked and live there a number of times and found it and the people good value. Enjoy.


BTW if you like fast paced lifestyle maybe its not your best choice.