Matchmaker, matchmaker, find me a man...

Now that my time here in Singapore is rapidly approaching its end, I'm finding that a number of S'poreans and expats alike are asking me whether I'd consider moving back once I'm done with my degree. And while it's very easy for me to say that I love living here and am not excited to leave, I wouldn't be totally honest if I said I had no qualms about returning in the future.

Why this hesitation? Well, call it the biological clock or whatever you want but, the impression I get (from my own experience and that of other expats I've spoken with) is that it's very difficult to meet someone here. And if you ask fifty people, you'll probably get fifty different answers why it's a challenge. (Admittedly, I have not tried to do as much so it's merely an untested theory.) I've certainly heard answers ranging from, "Asian guys are too little" to "all the [male] expats suffer from yellow fever" (harkens back to MIT days) and then of course "everyone works too much and no one has the time" (again, MIT deja vu).

Well, apparently, it's not just the expat population that thinks this whole meeting people thing is a problem. The government of Singapore is very concerned that Singaporeans are not getting married and increasing the population of the country as quickly as they would like. Therefore, they have their own government-sponsored match-making service called the Social Development Unit. It was pointed out to me by one of my cab drivers and I definitely thought it was a joke but alas he was not kidding (of course, then it made me wonder, did I look like I needed help in that department?) and to add further amusement to this whole concept, next month Singapore will start offering matchmaking training programs for matchmaking companies.

It would seem that the government really wants their citizens to get it on, and pronto! I maintain, if it's kids they're looking for, just spike the water with some Spanish fly (and then follow up with some shot-gun weddings b/c of course they don't want a bunch of unwed mothers running around this little island - they're way too conservative for that).