One of the primary differences between the lifestyle in Singapore and the U.S. is the common practice of employing a "foreign domestic helper" or amah. Amahs are full-time live-in maids generally from the Phillipines, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. About one in seven households in Singapore employ an amah, although I would estimate this percentage to be much higher (at least one-half to two-thirds) among expatriate families. These women come to Singapore to support their families in their home country. Many have husbands and children back home as well as extended family they are supporting. Part of their appeal in Singapore is their affordability by our standards, yet they earn much more here than they could at home. It is not uncommon to hear that someone's amah has a college degree or was a teacher in the Phillipines, but earns more money here as a maid.
As these jobs are undesirable to Singaporeans, the Singapore government allows these women to work in Singapore under very strict guidelines. They are only allowed to work for their employer, may not marry a Singaporean, are subject to periodic pregnancy tests and may not get pregnant while in Singapore (if they do they are immediately deported), and must leave Singapore as soon as their employment is terminated. Their employer is held responsible if they break any laws and must post a $5000 deposit (or buy insurance) that is lost if the maid goes missing. As such, most helpers are given strict curfews by their employers.
It is also not uncommon to hear of maid abuse. And while most expatriate families give their maids every Sunday off, the law doesn't require this and I have read that many Singaporean families give their maids no time off whatsoever, which is hard for me to imagine. You also hear of employers not giving them enough to eat. There was even a rumor recently of an American family in the neighborhood who allegedly locked their amah in their house after she broke curfew. Asia is much more a "class" society than the US, so I am still getting used to the attitude toward foreign workers here as second class citizens. It still seems strange to see a woman dressed to the nines shopping downtown while trailing behind her is a poorly dressed Phillipino girl with long hair and flip flops pushing her baby in a stroller.
For our first 5 months in Singapore, I resisted hiring an amah. While affordable, they are not free. (About $600USD per month - the govt gets 1/3). There are also privacy issues. Wouldn't it be strange to have someone in my home 24/7? I wasn't sure I would like this. However, with Christmas behind us, we started to plan for our home leave back to the U.S. this summer. As you know, we chose to bring our golden retriever, Chance, with us here to Singapore. I also let the girls adopt a kitten back in October. To board both of them at the local kennel costs about $35USD per day. For five weeks, this would be quite a bill when we got back. Also, I really don't want to subject them to a kennel for 5+ weeks and it would be nice for someone to watch over/take care of the house while we're gone. So I seriously started thinking about hiring a "dog sitter"/maid and watching the ads.
Unfortunately, the failing economy has forced many expats to leave Singapore and return back to the US. It is incredibly expensive for companies to pay for families to live here, so families seem to be leaving our neighborhood in droves. One such family recently posted an ad for their helper, Julieta. She has 18 years experience and loves kids and dogs, so I decided to interview her. Julieta is a very sweet and mature 50 year-old Phillipino lady who is friendly and outgoing. Some people have their maids on strict schedules regarding what chores they should be doing when. But when I asked Julieta if she was on a schedule, she assured me that "I know what to do, ma'am." (They all call us "ma'am" and "sir".) Her employer also assured me that Julieta needed no instruction and my house would reach "a whole new level of clean." Julieta also didn't seem intimidated of our crazy dog, Chance, who was trying to jump all over her. We all liked her very much, so I decided that we would hire her and see how it goes.
Julieta officially moved in 2 weeks ago. As our maids' quarters are tiny and Julieta already had her own furniture that wouldn't fit in the maids' quarters, we decided to put her in one of our extra bedrooms (remember that we have 7 not including the maids' quarters). Although this is in our house, unlike the maids quarters, which are off of the back of the house, she is very good about keeping to herself and staying out of our space and it hasn't affected our privacy. And since Julieta has moved in, I must say that my life has gotten much easier. It is truly a wonderful feeling to have been out all day running around and to walk in the door into a spotless home. In the past, I would come running in the door and be confronted by the mess that I had left behind me all day and now had to tackle. I do not feel like I am carrying around a big to-do list in my head anymore. My laundry is always done (and ironed!), the dishes are always done, my dog is walked, the plants are watered, the porch is swept, the cars are clean, Anna's lunch is made, etc. In addition, if I need for her to pick up Anna from school, she can. If I need for her to go to the store, she can. If I want her to make dinner, she can. If I need her to make muffins for the daisy meeting, she can. If we want to go out to eat without the kids, we can! If I want to read my book, I can! We definitely are more relaxed and have more free time to play with the kids, explore Singapore on the weekends, etc. I am looking forward to actually organizing my photos and to volunteering more here. And I realize that this is not reality and will not last forever, but it is definitely a nice perk to make up for some of the sacrifices associated with moving so far from home.
On Wednesday, we were very excited to have our first visitor in Singapore! My cousin Beth's son Dougal stopped in Singapore for a day on his way to study for a semester in Nepal. He is currently a sophomore at Swarthmore College in PA. Since he was only here for one day, we weren't sure exactly what we should show him. Singapore doesn't really have any major architectural/historical "must-see" places since so much of it is relatively new. Singapore in general believes in tearing down the 
old (or even the 10-15 years old) and building new government apartment buildings and shopping malls.
After Dougal (and Darrell b/c he got up so early to pick him up at the airport!) took a much needed nap, we took him to the American Club for his last "American" meal for a few months. We then drove him around a little bit before the girls got out of school. After picking up the girls, we headed downtown for a boat ride down the Singapore river on a traditional Singapore bumboat and got a good view of Singapore's historical buildings as well as the new skyscrapers and the merlion. And then for dinner, we went to a revolving restaurant with great views of the city and in particular the huge shipyard it overlooked. We also had a very nice Chinese meal there, which I considered an absolute success since the girls actually ate quite a bit without complaining. Since none of us had done
either of these things before, we felt like tourists instead of residents.
st year in Rhode Island. Both girls, but especially Anna, took a liking to him and have been waiting anxiously for his visit ever since we found out he was coming about a month ago. Anna was sad he couldn't stay longer and even got up early to accompany him to the airport before school started yesterday morning. 
We very much enjoyed his visit and wish him the best during his adventures in Nepal!
