2002/12/26
25 Dec (Christmas Day)
I sort of haven't figured out yet what things that I will try to put
into this blog and what things I'm going to attach to the letter. I
guess the idea was to firm up an idea of what are the daily things
that I figure out, these will go into the blog and the more regular
topics would be formalized in the letter.
Anyways, I was reading some of the entries from last time and already
in the 11 days that have intervened a couple of things became more
clear. I talked with a taxi driver the other day and it was clear
that he thought that a family needed about 3000 dollars a month to
survive. Thus the normal living arrangement of two parents earning
around 3000 a month gives you enough clearance to generate a
moderately convenient living style. That's I guess 72K per year. If
you take out the exchange difference between USD and SGD, the
difference isn't that much. I mean 1 Sing Dollar here buys more or
less what 1 US dollar buys back home in the US. And as such, those of
you who do get a chance to visit Singapore while the exchange rate is
still this similar will net quite a nice bargain in return. My salary
goes quite far here, but as I have a number of US loans to pay off,
the pay doesn't go as far in terms of paying back the loan.
I sort of haven't figured out yet what things that I will try to put
into this blog and what things I'm going to attach to the letter. I
guess the idea was to firm up an idea of what are the daily things
that I figure out, these will go into the blog and the more regular
topics would be formalized in the letter.
Anyways, I was reading some of the entries from last time and already
in the 11 days that have intervened a couple of things became more
clear. I talked with a taxi driver the other day and it was clear
that he thought that a family needed about 3000 dollars a month to
survive. Thus the normal living arrangement of two parents earning
around 3000 a month gives you enough clearance to generate a
moderately convenient living style. That's I guess 72K per year. If
you take out the exchange difference between USD and SGD, the
difference isn't that much. I mean 1 Sing Dollar here buys more or
less what 1 US dollar buys back home in the US. And as such, those of
you who do get a chance to visit Singapore while the exchange rate is
still this similar will net quite a nice bargain in return. My salary
goes quite far here, but as I have a number of US loans to pay off,
the pay doesn't go as far in terms of paying back the loan.
