June 1st, 2009Do you know your neighbour?
My neighbour just rang the doorbell to ask me if I need anything from downstairs. It was a pleasant surprise. I hope that he couldn’t tell from the look on my face that I was very surprised. Maybe it’s a very common thing to do in Singapore. I had just run into him a few hours ago when I was on my way back from grocery shopping. We both took the same lift and we made some small talk. I didn’t know who our neighbours were when we were still living at Hillivew. If our new neighbour wasn’t our agent (real estate), maybe we wouldn’t ‘know’ him either.
Back in Mauritius, I know who my neighbours are and I won’t hesitate to smile at them or even make some small talk. I used to go over to one of my neighbour’s house to play when I was a kid. 
In Shanghai, when I was living in the international students dorm, I’d often run into people living on the same floor when I take the lift and sometimes we talked but it wasn’t the case with everyone. Sometimes we just smile at each other but at least, I always knew who lived on my floor.
I’ve never took the SG-Dubai-Mru...
I’m so glad that I went home.
I’m trying to find time to go back to...
hmmm does the neighbour appear to be a vieux sadik?
Quote?I can recognise my neighbours but we rarely meet up anywhere except when we are invited somewhere. Our houses are so far apart that we rarely see our neighbours when we are at home.
Quote?@Bruno,
Quote?lol. no. Not some old perverted guy. He’s my age. Well at least I know that I have a nice neighbour.
@morinn,
In Singapore, houses are expensive. Most people live in HDBS flats which are kinda like the flats in Mauritius but way bigger.
Quote?I guess it depends on where you live and if you have a garden etc. In Mauritius, my house was right next to my neighbour’s and another neighbour’s house was right behind my house.
He’s your age? hahah. Maybe that is why he wants to appear nice to you guys huh lol. And you are saying that he’s also your house agent?
I know my current neighbours (3 different families) staying on the same side as us. They invited us to their houses before we even moved in! It was a nice surprise. They aren’t our age… they are more like uncles and aunties and grandparents who kinda are the gossiping type of people!!
I seldom see them but if I do I will just say hello to them and smile.
Quote?looks like love is in the air - lol
Quote?@Carine,
Anyway it was the first and only place we visited. We liked the place so we just took it. There are only 2 units on my floor so he & his family are our only neighbours.
Yes, he’s my age. He happens to be a house agent and his neighbours were moving out and looking for people to rent the place.
When I was in Shanghai, I was talking with some friends (students from other countries) one day about this. (I think it was during class discussion or maybe just some random subject brought up by someone in our group.) Some of them were telling me that back home in their own country, they only know their neighbours by sight but they will probably never go out of their way to get to know them. For some, it’s because they don’t like people knowing about their situation at home & asking questions, for others it’s simply because they are too busy with work,school etc. When they are alone in a new country without their family, then they try to get to know everyone.
Quote?@ David,
Quote?I was only saying that I have a nice neighbour. =_=
@ Aline
Ic. Back at home in Mauritius I had many neighbours and I knew almost everyone, those around my age. It was fun to play with the neighbours.
Quote?fishy, nowadays singaporeans pretty snoobish, u seldom get a neighbour coming knocking to know you or to assist you. if ur neighbour’s a good guy, lucky you, hopefully, the neighbour hi get to know each other improves much more in singapore!
Quote?ok aline ok !
- lol
no he is probably doing that because he knows you are
Quote?new and might need some help.
Oh dear! here in Mauritius probably your neighbours know more about you than you know about them
Quote?Yeah in developed countries it’s more like you live on an island. You rarely see your neighbours and don’t want you or them to mess into their/your affairs.
I know most of my neighbors and I would smile at them and say hello when I meet them on the street. But then again, there’s this old lady living across the street and she knows everything about everyone. Veille zafer dimoune ek faire palabs!
Sometimes I would see her sitting on her balcony and watching everyone as if waiting for something to happen. I remember she used to scare me when I was a kid. My friend said she was crazy. Lol
Quote?i prefer not getting too personal with my neighbours…
Quote?i’m more than happy to smile @ them and offer a hand when help is needed…but when it comes to chitchat and them starting to ask about personal stuff, i usually back off or i simply evade their questions! i think that’s y i like being overseas - you are nobody! as clive said: back in Mauritius, everybody seems to be gossiping about everybody and everybody seems to know about everybody else! mind you, there is still some situations where i get to be very open and i’m more than happy to talk about anything…but these are getting less!
Aline
this is for you
http://www100.hdb.gov.sg/GoodNeighbour/index.html
Quote?i know my neighbours and they are very strange :roll:! Even my collegues told me that my neighbours are “bizarres” hahaha…i think it’s because i come back home late in a car having a big logo on it
and am not a good neighbour hahaha because of my dogs hihihi who never stop barking 
my neighbours don’t like them 
Quote?@clive, I couldn’t help laughing when I read the part about Mauritius. I forgot about that..
Quote?@ waz, yeah . one thing I like about being overseas is that I ‘can blend in the crowd’. Mauritius is too small, esp the sino-Mauritian community. Everyone knows each other.
Quote?