Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Kam Sia, Terima kasih and 谢谢!

Ever since the birth of this brain child was announced through this blog and linked to Uncle Phil's, we have been inundated with emails pledging supports and questions on how to become a little red dot member. If you have not received a reply to your enquiry, please bear with this old Singaporean uncle who has under estimated the speed of the cyber highway and obviously still cruising along at 60 km instead of the 110 km. I better pull to the side before I’m charged with road hogging and for not answering those pressing emails in time. Anyway, thanks for your support and emails. As mentioned in the first posting, we are a group of Singaporeans who came together and started this blog with an aim of helping those who have just arrived in Sydney as migrants or students who are expecting to live and study in Australia for an extended period. Since we too have been through the same journey with our own family we understand only too well what difficulties they need to overcome. 
Please give me some time to organise this blog, so that this website is designed to provide any red dot interested in migrating or currently living in Australia an information meeting point. Hopefully, it will come with many forums to discuss all things to do with migrating and also a great place to share your migrant tales and knowledge with other red dots about Australia especially to those who are recently approved Australian migrants, or those who have applied to immigrate to Australia.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Hospitality Begins At Home

I am just thinking aloud so that you can hear me. Isn’t it nice that one day every Singaporean can go anywhere in the world knowing that someone will receive him or her  like a family member coming home rather than a tourist or visitor. Better still, we are thousands of friendly red dots members (Singaporeans) worldwide who offer each other free accommodation exchange when travelling.  
Of course, the idea of hospitality and accommodation exchange is not new and has been around for a long time. I am just cutting and copying Veit Kühne, who founded a network for members of the largest student exchange organization AFS in 1997, based on the model of volunteer country coordinators that had been used by Mensa's hospitality network SIGHT.
Many other people have founded similar hospitality network organizations, and a lot of special interest groups too have developed - hospitality exchange networks for bikers, for women, for backpackers and student exchange. If you think that Singaporeans at home and abroad will travel in a different way, meet each other and build friendship and understanding through personal contact – we would love you to come onbroad and help us to share this dream.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Win Free Makan at Singapore Takeout Ship docking at Sydney on the 12-14th March!!!

According to Good Living in the Sydney Morning Herald today, a shipping container has been fitted out with a kitchen and a 30- seat restaurant has been touring the world, stopping in Paris, New York, Moscow and Delhi and it will docked at Sydney from 12-14 March.

Called the The Singapore Takeout, and designed to promote the city state's food, it will be fire up up its burners by Iggy's restaurant in Singapore for a free five course dinner for 30 lucky diner on the 14th. See the Singapore Takeout Facebook page for details for a public ballot for tickets. Good Luck!

This is not an Invitation but an Expectation!

We are a small social group of Singaporeans living in Sydney and our network was started in response to the isolation of new Singaporean migrants and students, living in a new environment, away from the comfort and familiarity of home and the difficulties new migrants face; from finding employment related to their overseas qualifications and experience to the school’s enrollments for their children. The aim of the group is to provide and enhance community spirit among Singaporeans and their families by providing a platform for networking and socialising.

Through your participation, we hope to cultivate new friendship, network, exchange ideas and enjoy hearing Singlish and of course, regular makan sessions that guarantees to drive homesickness away!

You do not need an invitation to visit your family; likewise we do not ask you to fill up any form here to join us. This is an open invitation to all Singaporeans and their friends to take up the empty seats at our next makan session and to share the food at the table and most importantly, to rekindle our kampong spirit that we have left behind in our island home.