The part where we see the light at the end of the tunnel

Last Saturday we were out running errands and simultaneously tuned in to hear the live address from Singapore's Prime Minister. With more than 83% of the country fully vaccinated against Covid-19, we had hopes that he would announce--finally--some lightening of restrictions. I held my iphone, plugged into our car's stereo system, as Trent navigated the busy streets near Orchard Road, finally pulling into a parking lot as we felt we couldn't even run our errands any more, so keenly we wanted and hoped for some semblance of good news.

I'll long remember the feeling of our hopes being dashed with every word he spoke. Lillian continued to gasp in the back seat. Trent, always stalwart and optimistic, put his face in his hands and rubbed his eyebrows. I, whose patience and tolerance has most obviously waned in the past several months, muttered mean things under my breath. All in all, it was pretty much the most depressing speech we've heard with no changes announced but rather a further tightening of restrictions and the advice to hold on as the next 3-6 months would be the hardest yet.

Sheesh. I think of all we've been through in the last two years with this pandemic, that was definitely a low point.

But then something really unusual happened. The Prime Minister closed his talk and a news conference began. The covid task force members giving the news conference began announcing things that we hadn't dared dream of; specifically, the opening of Singapore's borders through what they call a Virtual Travel Lane. Under this arrangement, Singapore will allow us to leave and return without having to quarantine. We have been hoping for this news for several months now. This news, happily, means that we can go home for Christmas. 

There was more hope promised in that news conference than I dared dream. Loosening of restrictions not in the way I would have expected but in a way that makes sense and works for Singaporeans. Writing that--it just makes sense, right? But honestly, it took me some time to come to that epiphany. 

I realized that I had one again made the mistake of hearing the speech with my American ears. We have learned that the things we value culturally aren't valued in the same way in Singapore, and the same is true in reverse: the things that Singaporeans value culturally aren't what we as Americans and Westerners value. I felt humbled and even a little chagrined that once again I had misunderstood. The Prime Minister spoke to the values of Singaporeans, particularly, their value on safety and something they call kiasu.

Kiasu is a Hokkien term that is difficult to translate. It's akin to "fear of losing out" but that definition makes it sound similar to the American concept of FOMO, and the concept is far more than that. In many ways, kiasu embodies Singapore culture and explains to me the extreme caution Singapore has demonstrated with regard to this pandemic. As a people, they don't want to lose--and that means lose the battle with the pandemic, or lose a life, or lose an opportunity that could have been theirs had they just been more careful or cautious. This value explains why Singapore is culturally quite risk averse. This "being the best" mentality also has translated to "being the best" at mask wearing and enforcement, at getting people vaccinated, at preventing transmission of the virus. 

In pandemic times, kiasu translates into a lot of rules and restrictions that have been hard for most if not all of the expatriates I know. And so, when the announcement came in on Saturday that the United States was once again accessible via a travel lane, and our dreams of a Christmas eve in Western New York became not just a far off wish but a tangible reality, our sadness turned to elation.

I really feel like this part of our overseas journey--the part where we (quite unexpectedly) lived through a global pandemic and experienced a near 18 month long lock down-- is coming to a close. There's a lot of good that came from all of this, and I think in the coming months and maybe years that will all become clearer to me. For now, it's just a huge relief to continue on this journey where we finally at long last see a light flickering at the end, signaling that it's going to get better.