There's no need to mention the importance of a good network of contacts when it comes to looking for job opportunities. One of my student jobs I got through a friend (for his father's company), as he knew a bit about what I was doing as a part time job then, and they required someone to help them in that area.

Another job at SAP I got through my former flatmate. He did some Java programming there, and as he was going to Australia for an internship for a few months, they needed a replacement. I just came back from my internship in Singapore and was looking for a new student job, thus it was a perfect timing, and I took over from him.

These are cases where a network of people that I had close contact with in "real life" helped me. However, I also have two examples (my two most recent jobs) that show that it's also possible to find a job through one of the social networking websites. I'm sure that there are people who found a job through, for example, facebook or studiVZ, but the more important networks for these 'business-related' activities are LinkedIn and XING. LinkedIn has a lot more people on it, whereas the XING interface is a lot more usable in my opinion.

As for the job before my current one, I got it through XING. I contacted some people in Singapore through it, as I wanted to find an internship/thesis job here. One of the people I messaged replied saying that there might be an opportunity for me. As it turned out, I asked just at the right time, as they were looking for someone to help them with an IT project, and were considering hiring an intern for it.

As for my current job, which I started recently,  I was contacted by a headhunter through LinkedIn. As I always keep my profiles as much up-to-date as possible, the headhunter saw my SharePoint experience, and as it matched the requirements nearly 100%, he contacted me and asked if I was looking for a job (which I actually also was at that time).

After nearly 2 years and 4 months with my current company, I will start working for another one here in Singapore from mid-January onwards.

I definitely learned a lot during my employment here at my current company, and gained a lot of experience in different fields. It was a great work environment, with great colleagues and a very interesting job scope.

My new job will be very similar to my the old one, but with some more responsibilities. I'm already very excited about the opportunities this brings with it, and I'm looking forward to applying my knowledge and experience which I gained during the past nearly 2.5 years in a new environment.

Right now, there's a book warehouse sale organised by Penguin Books at the Singapore Expo.

I was hoping to get some good business books (I didn't....), but didn't even think about any IT books (which I got!). They had several very good books on various topics (Cisco related, Adobe related, Microsoft related, some Unix/Linux books, PHP, Ruby, ...), and to my surprise even three SharePoint books, which I bought:

If I had bought these three books on amazon.com, I would've paid a bit more than $110 (USD, that is). At the sale, I paid $10(SGD) each! At the current exchange rate, that's about $21.72(USD).

Last weekend, I bought a 0.38x converter lens for just $5 at the 'Thieves Market' (you could say it's a flea market). Naturally, it isn't worth much more than those $5....

Today, I bought a step-down ring to be able to add it onto my existing 14-45mm lens, and went towards the Boat Quay area to take some first pictures with it. The results:

This is how much I see with the 14-45mm lens at 14mm regularly:

Once I add the converter, I get this at 14mm:

Already a lot more to see! But clearly, I can also see the inside of the lens....

If I zoom in a bit until I don't see any black corners of the inside of the lens anymore, I get this angle (24mm):
Still a lot more than at the regular 14mm.

Of course, you get what you pay for, so the quality is not really good if I use this lens. But given the extremly cheap price, it's a nice toy!

One great thing about Christmas time in Germany is the abundance of Christmas choclates and other sweet stuff. It just isn't the same in Singapore, Germany's got a huge variety.

After I was buying some new pants for myself with my girlfriend, we were briefly walking around in that mall and went inside a Cold Storage (a supermarket chain here in Singapore). Unlike other supermarkets here, like e.g. NTUC, going to a Cold Storage is a bit different as it caters more for the needs of foreigners ("ang moh supermarket", as my girlfriend said today jokingly). So just after a few meters, I spotted something that made my heart jump:

Those are "Lebkuchen umhüllt mit Schokolade", or "chocolate coated spiced cakes" (ginger bread).A true Christmas "delicacy"

Living in Singapore now for quite some time, I started to think about things that I found a bit strange and/or confusing at first, as I didn't know about them, or because they just were totally different from 'back home in Germany'.  Over time, I got used to them, and I'd even go as far as saying that they're 'part of my everyday life' now.

1. The Yellow Line
   In the MRT stations, there's always a yellow line close to the edge of the platform. The yellow line indicates which distance passengers should keep from the tracks and thus the train in order to avoid any accidents.
   
   (Picture taken by and copyright by siriuslim/Mervyn Lim)
   And it works! People respect that line, you can rarely see anyone crossing it, even when there is no train arriving.
   
2. Bubble Tea
   Some years agoin the 80s, Bubble Tea (or also: Pearl Tea) has become very popular in Taiwan and has then spread to many parts of the world, including Singapore. Basically, what you get is some tea (usually milk tea) with some 'pearls' (seen here at the bottom of the drink):
   
   While I didn't like the 'pearls' at the beginning (it's a bit weird to drink something through a straw and suddenly have some small ball in your mouth), I started to like it more and more over time
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_tea
   
3. Takeaway Drink in a Plastic Bag
   One thing that I thought of as "dangerous", "risky", and "doesn't really make sense??!!" is putting a drink into a plastic bag with a straw:
   
   This is actually quite common practice if you buy a drink at a hawker centre for takeaway. And yes, I got used to it and don't mind buying it this way, though I still think that cups are way more practical (this is the cheaper solution, that's why it's in use)
   
4. Love for Escalators
   This is a very common situation that I see nearly everyday inside the MRT stations:
   A lot of people crowd around the 'entrance point' of an escalator, but ignore the stairs right next to it (or nearby). It looks approximately like this:
   
   People here prefer to wait for a short while and take the escalator instead of walking up- or downstairs. Not all, of course Especially in the evenings, when people are on their way home, there are a lot more who take the stairs and walk downstairs.
   
5. Multi-lingual announcements in the MRT stations and trains
   Being a multi-cultural society, Singapore has got 4 different languages in use: Chinese (Mandarin), Malay, Tamil (Indian dialect), and English (to make communication between people of different races easier; basically everyone speaks it). Thus, while on the MRT, announcements can be heard in all 4 of them.
   For example, the following announcement about the Yellow Line can be heard in the stations:
   

   For your safety, please stand behind the yellow line.　Thank You (English)
   各位搭客请注意，为了您的安全，请站在黄线后面。 (Chinese)
   Sila ambil perhatian. Demi keselamatan anda, harap berdiri di belakang garisan kuning. (Malay)
   அன்பு கூர்ந்து பயணிகள் கவனிக்கவும் உங்கலின் பாதுகாபை முன்னிட்டு அன்பு மஞல் கோட்டுக்கு பின்னால் நிலுஙள். (Tamil)

   
   More examples:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_on_the_Mass_Rapid_Transit_(Singapore)#Safety_announcements_and_the_yellow_line
   
6. Food Centre of the World
   Chicken Rice. Mee Goreng. Nasi Lemak. Laksa. Roti Prata. Murtabak. Hokkien Mee. Mee Soto. Nasi Briyani. Fish Bee Hoon. Wanton Mee. Yong Tau Fu. Satay. Carrot Cake. Kaya Toast. Fish Head Curry. Kuih. Black Pepper Crab. Curry Puff. Chilli Crab.
   Those are just some of the dishes you can get here. Singapore basically hosts all kinds of cuisines: Chinese (even there are some differences, e.g. Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, ...), Malay, Indian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Western (generally speaking), German, Italian, French, American (well, there's Botak Jones!), Spanish, Arabian, Turkish, Argentinian, ....
   And if there's one thing that every Singaporean enjoys, then it's eating. Where else in the world would that many people drive half-way over the island in the middle of the night to get the best [insert food name from above]
   
7. Reclaimed Land
   Singapore has grown a lot, not just in terms of people, GDP, or others, but also when it comes to its actual land size. This is due to 'land reclamation', meaning that new land has been created at what was previously sea.
   The following image gives an idea what has been reclaimed during the last decades:
   
   (Note: Image taken from http://www.collate.org/collected/?p=136)
8. NEWater
   Purified wastewater (sewage....). Yes, you can drink it.
   While this may not sound very good initially, the water reclaimed through this way is actually of very high quality. The majority of the water reclaimed this way is used for industrial purposes, but a small percentage is meant for drinking.
   The reasons why Singapore started to 'recycle' water is that most of the water here in Singapore is actually brought in from Malaysia (there are giant pipelines coming in from Malaysia to Singapore) for a extremely cheap price (negotiated many decades ago), however the contract will not run forever, and new sources had to be investigated.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEWater
   
9. Karang Guni
   Living in a HDB, one sound that you hear very regularly (daily sometimes, even on Sunday mornings.....) is a man walking around outside with a horn, shouting something that you as a Westerner can't understand (it's usually a mix of Malay & Hokkien, as far as I know).
   What they do is collect old newspapers and other unwanted items, and sell them elsewhere and/or recycle them.
   
10. HDBs
    HDB stands for Housing Development Board, the local governmental institution that governs the public housing market. HDB also refers to the type of public housing that they manage. Whereas in other countries such housing is usually meant for people who need social support, this is a slightly different case in Singapore. Around 80% of the population live in such buildings:
    

Looking at my life, I have to say that I can't be much more happy with it than right now, and I am really thankful for a lot of things and thankful to a lot of people.

I have a very interesting job role and great colleagues, my company has provided me with a great opportunity here. My work has allowed me to see many parts of Asia, something that I am really thankful for. Personally and professionally, I learned a lot during the past two years, and definitely grew in many ways.

And last but not least, I have a very lovely girlfriend, who does a lot of things for me (which I appreciate a lot), dotes on me, and supports me in whichever way she can.

During dinner with friends, shortly after we (mixed group, guys & girls) talked about a woman and her physique (among the words to describe her was "flat-chested").

C: There's actually also another meaning for 'boobies'

[[confusion]]

L: ...like in... 'booby-trap'?

C: no, not as in 'booby-trap'

J: I'm not going to go to google and search for 'boobies', so please tell us the meaning

[[laughter]]

C: ok, there's actually a bird called a 'booby', they're famous for their dancing...

me: ooohhhh, now I remember! I saw some on Christmas Island, I think

C: so you went to Christmas Island to watch 'boobies'?

me: not only watch, I also took pictures!

Birds of Christmas Island (including the boobies)

It's definitely no secret that Singapore has become my primary home and that I plan to stay here (or rather, as I usually say: I don't plan to leave). I am currently "only" on an Employment Pass here, which has the small uncertainty that if I get retrenched, I usually would have to leave Singapore within a few weeks unless I find other employment or get some long-term pass. Thus, end of July, I applied for Permanent Residence (PR) here in Singapore.

Being a PR has got several benefits:

• You are allowed to stay in Singapore even if you're unemployed (though PR gets granted for 5 years only at the beginning, and would not be renewed if you don't work most of the time)
• Switching jobs becomes easier, as the new company does not have to apply for a new work permit
• You contribute to the Central Provident Fund (CPF), Singapore's social security savings plan. Both you and the employer contribute a certain percentage of your salary, rates can be found on that website.
• For many things (e.g. health insurance, credit cards), you are (nearly) on the same level as a citizen. E.g., some credit cards require a minimum income of $60,000 for foreigners, but only $30,000 for citizens and PRs
• You are allowed to buy a HDB flat

One "drawback", that should be mentioned, is that if you are a PR and you have sons who are also PRs, they have to do the National Service (NS) here in Singapore. Though in my opinion this is not a real drawback, rather one way to contribute to Singapore's development.

Sometime in June, I registered an appointment to submit my PR application (this should be done around 2-3 months before, though it's also possible with some luck to get an appointment within a few weeks). The actual submission date was the 25th of July, when I went to the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA). I was warned before that it could take a while, but I was lucky and only spend around 20 mins inside the building.

For the application, a form has to be filled out (can be found on the ICA website), and several other documents have to be presented in their original and handed in as copied versions (e.g. birth certificated, passport, employment pass, degree certificate, tax assessment, payslips).

The average processing time is around 3 months, but depending on the case it can also take longer. For me, it was shorter, after 2 months I received my letter from ICA. Sadly, I was rejected.

The reason? I have no idea, but there are some speculations what could've played a factor:

• due to the crisis, a lot more people than usual applied for PR as they're afraid that they'll get retrenched
• the goverment has decided to raise the bar and accept less applications
• I haven't been here long enough in a continuous stay. Right now, I've been here for a bit more than 2 years, but the longer you are here, the more likely it is that you'll get accepted
• I don't have a high enough "financial stability", as I am a relatively fresh graduate and not working for too long

In the end, it's not really something that I have to see as a setback. Getting PR would've been a great thing, but not getting it doesn't mean that I'm worse off than before. I will probably re-apply in a few months time, depending on my (probably) new situation (maybe new job, different salary, memberships in local organisations, etc.).

Since the past entry, I went to Haikou (China), Taiwan, and Guangzhou (China again) on holiday:

On a volcanic crater in Haikou, China

Working hard at Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan

 Experiencing the bad weather at Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan

 Posing in front of Taipei 101, Taiwan

In Guangzhou with my girlfriend (middle) and a local friend (left)

I updated my iPhone yesterday to OS 3.0, no problems so far, the whole process went very smooth. First I had to update iTunes to 8.2, afterwards it asked me immediately if I want to update the iPhone. The download took a short while (my internet connection at home has been a bit slow sometimes in the past few weeks), the updating itself was done within a few minutes.

 All settings were kept, all programs that I started so far are running without any problem, and even my open tabs in Safari were still open

I haven't tested most of the new features yet, saw no need to send a MMS yet, e.g.

Since last night 1AM Singapore time, Apple's 3.0 update for the iPhone OS is available. While I haven't updated it yet (I was asleep, and after waking up went to work ), others already tried it successfully.

An overview of the newest features and a guide on how to install the update can be found on Apple's website.

Also, there's an interesting article that explains "How To Use The Best 40 Features of iPhone 3.0".

As it can be seen in the Tripit info-box on the left-hand side, I plan to travel quite a lot in the next few months, all possible thanks to budget airlines, and the financial crisis (which resulted in a drop in passenger numbers for most airlines, so that they offer some relatively cheap flights).

The first trip will be 4 days to Haikou (海口) in the Hainan province in Southern China, I'll travel alone. Flight is operated by Tiger Airways.

One month later, in August, I'll go to Taiwan for 10 days, flight in and out will be to/from Taipei (台北) with Singapore Airlines. This time, I'll most likely travel with a few people, definite number not confirmed yet. The current plan is to travel around more or less the whole of Taiwan via car.

The last trip in September is to Guangzhou (广州) in the Guangdong province. Yes, that's the Guangzhou I've already been to in January 2008. The one where I saw my first real panda(s) and hugged the white tiger!
I'll go there with my company's intern. Initially we planned to go for 2 days only, but after we booked the flights with Tiger Airways, they changed the return flight shortly after, so that we will now come back to Singapore on Monday instead of Sunday.

One other trip might still come up, however not for holiday, but for work. That will be to Bangkok, Thailand, but the date isn't confirmed yet.

Today, I received the letter from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) with my tax assessment. However, I wasn't expecting them to state that I don't have to pay any tax, they stated for tax payable $0.00

I checked with our HR manager, and we found out that she had transmitted my salary information to IRS under my old Foreign Identification Number (FIN), whereas I filed my taxes under my new (current) one. So basically, IRAS was not aware of any income for my new FIN, only for my old one.

I called IRAS, and luckily the officer was able to help me immediately, they're going to merge my 2 accounts and send me a new letter with the (hopefully) correct tax I have to pay.

The swine flu has reached Singapore, as just reported:

 SINGAPORE has confirmed its first case of Influenza A (H1N1), the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
The patient is a 22 year-old Singaporean woman who was in New York from May 14 to 24. She arrived back in Singapore from New York on SQ25 on Tuesday at 6.30 am.

She began to develop a cough while onboard. She passed the thermal scanner uneventfully as she did not have fever then. Later in the morning, she consulted a GP who decided to send her to TTSH via a 993 ambulance, given her travel history. She was immediately admitted for testing.

Laboratory confirmation of her infection was made at midnight on Tuesday. The patient is currently being treated at the Communicable Disease Centre at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and is in stable condition.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_382278.html