Am I able to tell you about my home?

I am very fortunate to call the beautiful ‘garden city’, Singapore, home. There is low crime, immense wealth- perhaps utopia, Singapore is one of the most advanced cities in Asia, boasting countless skyscrapers and high standards of living. And yet, what does that say about my sense of belonging?

Undergoing constant and rapid change, the place I was born in and the place I look at from Vancouver, now, is so different. The park I used to play at is now the home of one of the largest luxury shopping malls in the world- not an uncommon occurrence in Singapore. To sum it up, Singapore has been gentrified over and over again in such a manner that it is hard to find much preserved architecture from our years as a British colony. This, of course excludes defined ‘tourist spots’ such as Chinatown and other postcard-worthy destinations.

It’s funny: Singapore has the 3rd highest GDP per capita in the world, higher than that of the United States, Canada and many other European countries, and yet, most of my peers think that I am from a city in China, based on my outward appearance, and probably the general assumption that China is so large it encompasses the entire Asia.

Every time I head back home for the holidays, a new skyscraper has popped up, another simple park has been converted into an intricate urban-use area. Perhaps there is little I can commit into my memory of what Singapore is, besides what I know it best to be- a constantly changing environment.

The day I go back to Singapore and not realize that something has changed will be the day that scares me the most. It means the economy is in trouble, and that the people- we will not be able to understand stagnation. Singapore’s success is strange to many: we have no natural resources typically attributed to affluence such as oil or minerals. We do not even possess our own water and have found a very unusual solution. However, our power lies in the only asset we have in abundance- our people! My sense of home is forged every time I pass by a student from the neighbouring countries of Malaysia and Indonesia, every time I hear the accents or my countrymen who are often misunderstood out of Asia.

My sense of home ultimately lies in my ability to call such a unique and vibrant place home. Having lived in Vancouver for the past four years, I’ve missed Chinese New Year and other important celebrations in relation to my culture due to school. However, I feel that my sense of home, as with most international students, would be forging a semblance in any given place, which I have managed to successfully as well. Come the time for festivities, I often host gatherings for my fellow Singaporeans and even have other international friends join in the fun as well!

Perhaps it is due to the constantly changing environment for which I grew up, that forging ‘home’ elsewhere is not a problem for me at all. Although I do admit that a vast majority of my friends in Vancouver are not Asian, they are a ‘home away from home’ which I appreciate thoroughly. To me I know that home is wherever one desires to make it- of course, I am fortunate enough to have my parents and siblings visiting me every two to three months a year, which definitely helps as well.

I feel that my peers within my generation would feel the same way, acknowledging our own sense of belonging and attributing it not to a single place, but simply places wherein familiarity can be established. That is what home is to me.

Thanks for reading! Here I leave you with a song penned by a locally famous Singaporean in honour of National Day.

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