http://www.straitstimes.com/
In the middle of this rainstorm, I had my appointment at the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) Employment Pass Service Center (EPSC) for registering and fingerprinting for my Employment Pass (EP). The cool efficiency that surrounds the work visa process here is, I guess, a must in a country that employs foreigners for over 1/3 of its workforce. In fact, the least efficient part of the process was the 3rd party vendor that runs interference between me, HR and MOM. I applied for my appointment online and printed a sheet of paper, which had a barcode to be scanned by kiosks upon arrival at MOM. My name was immediately placed on top of a LED signboard and I was called up for immediate servicing by a well-mannered bureaucrat. The whole thing lasted 5-10 minutes (not including the 5 minutes spent at a photo booth in the conveniently placed photo lab next door to the MOM EPSC).
Still, with all the rain and my daughter in tow for her Dependant's Pass (DP) and my mother to help with my daughter, I ended up being quite late for work and did a brunch together with them at HarbourFront/Vivocity mall(s) where I was trying to also help register my daughter for a Gymboree class. Most places are closed until 11am, so ended up in another Kopitiam food court, where we had Pig's Organs Congee (rice porridge), and a helping of steamed rice with 3 vegetables. The rice + stuff stalls basically have barrels of meat, fish and veggie toppings and the menu reads something like: rice + 1 meat $2.00, rice + 1 meat/1 veg $2.50, rice + 1 fish/1 veg $2.50, etc... I ordered from a surly lady the rice + 3 veg choice ($2.90) and pointed at 3 green-looking heaps - I think bok choy, water crest (sort of), and long beans (Chinese cousin of green beans). Rice was plopped down on the plate from some measuring utensil that looked like a towel...
The rice porridge ($4) contained mostly bits of liver, and had a good congee consistency. But it was wanting for more variety of organs, so I was slightly disappointed. Also the porridge didn't reek of intestines as I had hoped... The green beans were delicious - when done right, these are salty and crunchy and sometimes tangy when fried with good preserved veggies and pork bits, and once you start you can't stop popping them in. The leafy greens were less appetizing but went down well with the rice and a good helping of a spicy satay sauce that was surprisingly bitter and reminiscent of middle-eastern s'chug.
We were approached by some high school kids who wanted to survey us about the "problem" of customers leaving trays of food behind in food courts for the cleaners to take care of, and how this creates a problem with turnover of available seats. Apparently this system did not seem efficient enough for these kids, and they had some crazy suggestions about LED signaling systems, advertisements to change cultural mindsets, and deposits-returned-upon-tray-
Connie was meanwhile guided to a legendary hawker stall serving Wonton Mee by one of her new colleagues and points us to this blog entry for a 3rd-party review, should you be inclined:
http://ieatishootipost.sg/
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