Somehow, I get asked this question in various forms.
"Now that you're here (in the US), what are your plans?"
"Work on getting your Green Card/Citizenship."
"Do you intend to stay for the long term?"
The idea that people come to the US to seek a better life.
And probably many people have come here for exactly such an objective.
And so people tend to think, "Well, now that you're here, what are your plans?"
Kind with the idea that, "Ok you're lucky enough to make your way here, so it's time to find a way to stay for long term."
Of course I don't tell them that I have no interest to stay in the US.
So I just say we haven't planned yet, my wife is on a contract so we've only come to make some money and go back to SG.
There really isn't anything for me in the US. I've no love for it.
Now, that's not to say that US is a bad country. Relative to many other countries, it's a country of great opportunity. And many people have come here to seek a better life and have successfully done so.
But for me, I feel that I have a better life in SG.
No doubt, SG has it's issues, for me, I think it's manageable. As in, I'm ok with those issues. I just have to work around it. Maybe I'm just used to handling those issues.
Whereas in the US, I don't want to have to handle the issues here.
I don't feel safe going out at night, I don't feel safe driving around in certain areas.
There are shooting on a daily basis. There is racism on a regular basis.
People get shot during road rage incidents.
Police regularly discriminate against Blacks.
These are the things I take for granted in SG. Safety.
Are things super expensive in SG? Yes.
Does the Government have issues? Probably yes.
Do I feel that much of the SG population are like sheep? Yes...
BUT, I am safe in SG. And that's all that matters for me.
For me, US has nothing to keep me here.
So I find this perspective very new.
Cos when I talk to people, they think it's such a great opportunity that I'm already here.
It's like their parents, who could have come from China or Philippines or Vietnam or Mexico, they went through so much difficulty to get themselves to the US to eke out a better life for their future generations. So it's normal for people to want to stay.
They expect people who come to the US to want to stay, to grow roots and not want to leave.
And yet... for me... no thanks.
Singapore is still home.
Now of course, I'm saying this from a position of privilege.
We all have different options, where we start from, what we feel would be better for our future, etc...
For me, SG is great for my purposes.
US is also great for some others, just probably not for me.
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