by the sea side

Totally agree. You need mega bucks to live in the better parts of Sydney. Anyone ever been to the south western suburbs?Now we are talking cesspit.People in Britain go on about the sink estates there they want to see some of the ones here,

Jensen Healey

That's not good. Not that it should make any difference, but are your mates non-white Singaporeans? (i.e. was the fat Aussie kid and his mates racist or colouredist?) (Probably both...)

Englishmum

JH: Singaporeans are made up of:

Chinese - approx 77%, Malays - approx 14%, Indians - approx 7% and the rest are made of up Arabs, Eurasians (half white Westerners/half Asian) Jewish Singaporeans are a tiny minority and others who have taken Singaporean citizenship (dual nationality isn't allowed).

I only ever met one white Singaporean - a blue-eyed blonde; she was a flight attendant for Singapore airlines and certainly spoke the distinctive 'Singlish'. Her surname was Simon and I imagine she was a Jewish Singaporean.

We lived in Singapore for a few years and there is racism amongst the locals. My husband was recruiting a new secretary and after interviewing candidates, he informed HR whom he wanted to hire; an Indian Singaporean. The Chinese HR manager told him very sternly that "you don't want to have an Indian....they smell". He was appalled but it is the prevailing attitude there. He recruited Mina anyway and she was a fine secretary.

The Chinese generally see themselves as superior to the Malays (whom they deem to be lazy) and in turn the Indians are deemed to be bottom of the heap. I had Indian Singaporean friends and they found it much harder to get jobs than the Chinese....for example jobs would be and still are advertised as 'must speak Mandarin' and this was seen as a code to keep non-Chinese from applying. They also had other anecdotes as to how they were at a disadvantage when applying for jobs but as it is hearsay I can't back it up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore

All Singaporean boys have to enlist for National Service so it would be interesting to know if the people Jad nRich know are going to send them back to do their NS or if they'll be taking up Aussie citizenship instead? I know that you have to take them out of Singapore before the age of 11 to avoid paying a huge bond, but they still can't escape their NS obligations unless they renounce Singaporean citizenship (at age 21 I believe).

it_hooker

Where are these "lovely happy friendly Australians' of which you speak?? I seem to come across so many that are racist, bigoted, surly and so far up themselves they can't see then sun!

lizajeanoz

Thanks all of you for all your insights into the pluses and minuses of life in the U.K. I feel, overall, it sounds positive. I also agree with many of your expereinces in Australia. I'm originally from San Francisco, Cal, and found it very hard to adjust here for many reasons. Sydney is wonderful around the harbor, but venture much further south or west, and watch out -- the bloom quickly comes off the rose. Even in wonderful Woollahra, where we lived for a year, graffitti is prevalent, and the streets are littered with garbage. Not to mention the attitude of people in the eastern suburbs, which I have found shockingly arrogant, self obsessed, and rude. Oh, and did I mention how bad they drive!! Also, I think racisim is everywhere. If you don't think so, just listen to 2GB radio -- and listen to every other caller talk about "real Australians"! It's an ear opener.
For now, though, it looks very likely that I am back to San Francisco for a year or two, and will be looking at the UK after that.

decca

I Totally agree with you, I haven't met many friendly Australians, they are very racist and so far up themselves, they hate the Brits and most of them have British ancestors, and if it wasn't for the Brits there would be no Australia

arnie2oz

Each Australian city & suburb seems to have its own 'character' much like other places around the world.

I think we were lucky to have found a place that feels 'right' for us first time.

We visited Sydney during the summer holidays last year and although we didn't get to visit every suburb, and the centre was crowded with tourists, I was glad we live near Brisbane and happy to get home. The locals are friendly enough here for me

Good luck with your move (OP) wherever you end up.

by the sea side

yep were are they?unless your tugging your forelock and telling them how great they are and how rubbish the country that you come from is you don't stand a chance.

jad n rich

Chinese singaporeans, they speak mandarin chinese and english, very well educated people. They look chinese and that is why the kids have been picked on. The grade 5 boy has had it the worst, not all kids, hes been well accepted by several kids, our son included and I have to say we are devastated another lot of close overseas friends will be leaving.

They have 3 boys and one girl, they are going back for the boys national service, older one is due back next year, the father said there was chance of defering it for a year but thats now not possible, rules have changed or proposed laws did not get approved, not sure exactly.

Lovely people, kind, respectful and very hard working, it does anger me some people could not look beyond their skin colour and see what lovely people they are.

Jensen Healey

I guess there are racist, bigoted ar5eholes everywhere. I must say all of the Aussies we met in our 2 one-month stays were as right as rain, but then we were really doing touristy things rather than living there amongst the great unwashed.

arnie2oz

This isn't my experience - but then I don't have much to do with riff-raff.

zoe13

you must be mixing with the wrong bunch. i've never met any aussies like this

ladylisa

I remember one poster on the Oz forum telling about the time they first went through Oz immigration at the airport on moving there permanently, they said the immigration official picked up their passport and proceeded to cross out the Great on the Great Britain. Words cannot describe what I would have done if someone had done that to my passport!

Eric Hitchmo

Boy is that ever true. Right on the money.

by the sea side

All depends on what you mean by riff raff. But when a boy walked home from school in this town and was dragged into a car coming home from the library in broad daylight and then taken to a toilet block and raped.There was hardley a whisper about it no outrage and when I said something to a local school teacher you would have thought I had done the deed!There is alot of of the same stuff going on here as in the UK the difference is they shout about it.Australia doesn't. It would tarnish the image perhaps?