Singapore Expats Forum
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Depends. Going regularly out to an ordinary coffee shop is a good idea but not necessarily you would be instantly swarmed by willing-to-make-friends localsaargon wrote:As they say, when in Rome, make friends with the Romans.
Can anyone share their experiences? is it easy making friends with local singaporeans or do expats pretty much just stick together like glue?
On the other hand If you will be socially proactive your chances I think may be higher than with your colleagues at work.
I hate seeing pure expat groups together. There are some regulars at Brewerkz every Friday night and never ever do they have any locals in their midst. What I do not understand is that if you were back home you maybe would never speak to each other but just because you are in a foreign place all the ang mos have a shared history or something? Weird. Plus people will be missing out on many great thoughts and fun with the locals. I personally wouldn't want to miss it for the world.aargon wrote:As they say, when in Rome, make friends with the Romans.
Can anyone share their experiences? is it easy making friends with local singaporeans or do expats pretty much just stick together like glue?
If it comes to any drinking gathering I found locals showing pretty much reserve in active participation - loosing face syndrome if they get drunk as per my guess. This may be a factor sometimes.econoMIC wrote:I hate seeing pure expat groups together. There are some regulars at Brewerkz every Friday night and never ever do they have any locals in their midst. What I do not understand is that if you were back home you maybe would never speak to each other but just because you are in a foreign place all the ang mos have a shared history or something? Weird. Plus people will be missing out on many great thoughts and fun with the locals. I personally wouldn't want to miss it for the world.
Correct! That is why I enjoy it. People do not end up drunk, vomiting all over the place and starting to talk rubbish unlike here in the UK. Go out with friends and past 10PM it is "uncool" to not be drunk and make yourself look like a total wally.x9200 wrote:If it comes to any drinking gathering I found locals showing pretty much reserve in active participation - loosing face syndrome if they get drunk as per my guess. This may be a factor sometimes.econoMIC wrote:I hate seeing pure expat groups together. There are some regulars at Brewerkz every Friday night and never ever do they have any locals in their midst. What I do not understand is that if you were back home you maybe would never speak to each other but just because you are in a foreign place all the ang mos have a shared history or something? Weird. Plus people will be missing out on many great thoughts and fun with the locals. I personally wouldn't want to miss it for the world.
You haven't seen our local gals at Zouk on Friday & Saturday's & Ladies nights then, have you!x9200 wrote:
If it comes to any drinking gathering I found locals showing pretty much reserve in active participation - loosing face syndrome if they get drunk as per my guess. This may be a factor sometimes.
C'mon, is it really like nothing at all or the full throttle? I do not remember a single time we ended up in the condition you mentioned above. Talking rubbish is a part of the process so nothing wrong with this.You can find the right balance and not get completely wasted. More importantly, as far as I can see the locals are more afraid of what may happen to them while drinking than what would happen to the others. This is also not too much fun if you are the only sober in such company regardless you are a local or an ang-moh.econoMIC wrote:Correct! That is why I enjoy it. People do not end up drunk, vomiting all over the place and starting to talk rubbish unlike here in the UK. Go out with friends and past 10PM it is "uncool" to not be drunk and make yourself look like a total wally.
I had many sessions at Brewerkz with my local mates and it was nice having funny, easy, non-drunk conversations with them.
- do not get me wrong, but the point is that both the locals and the expats like to go out and have few drinks but it looks like the locals are afraid to do it together with the expats. This is not like the locals are abstinents. The only spontaneous "mixed" drinking session I had so far during my 8y stay in SG was in a coffee shop with my motorbike mechanic. He was a simply guy acting naturally and was not obsessed with loosing face stigmas of all the sorts.Nope. Have not had that much luck so farsundaymorningstaple wrote:You haven't seen our local gals at Zouk on Friday & Saturday's & Ladies nights then, have you!x9200 wrote:
If it comes to any drinking gathering I found locals showing pretty much reserve in active participation - loosing face syndrome if they get drunk as per my guess. This may be a factor sometimes.
They lie around on the sidewalks in their own chunder & piss so much it made the newspapers a couple of months back!
Never seen this problem before. Take your NS mates out for an evening and you can get wasted with them. No problem at all. Got quite a few expat friends who regularly go on tour with their NS buds.x9200 wrote:... the point is that both the locals and the expats like to go out and have few drinks but it looks like the locals are afraid to do it together with the expats.
I am not really sure what do you mean by my NS (National Service?) mates but it looks like it can be a different social/working environment thing.econoMIC wrote:Never seen this problem before. Take your NS mates out for an evening and you can get wasted with them. No problem at all. Got quite a few expat friends who regularly go on tour with their NS buds.x9200 wrote:... the point is that both the locals and the expats like to go out and have few drinks but it looks like the locals are afraid to do it together with the expats.