Living in Pasir Ris - Suburban Singapore Town

I grew up in Pasir Ris. It is home to close to 150,000 people in Singapore. When my parents bought their house here in 1993, it was a new town built at the eastern-most edge of the island. All the HDB flats were new, and so were the shopping malls, roads and schools. Over the years, new condominiums sprouted out on vacant forest land, new sidewalks and bicycle paths were built, and upgrades were made to the many parks dotting Pasir Ris. As I begin to recount and re-live these numerous changes, my childhood emotions and nostalgia begin to resurface. It is a feeling of comfort, a feeling of home.

For most Singaporeans, when I mentioned to them that I live in Pasir Ris, an immediate reaction would be something like - "Wah, it's so far away." The statement seems a little overdramatic considering it takes only two hours to get from one end of Singapore to the other. But there is some truth in that. For a very long time, even to this day, our town's train station remains the last train stop to the east of our country's ever-expanding metro line (also called the MRT aka the Mass Rapid Transit). It can be inconvenient if one has to travel to the western-most end of the country where most of the top universities are, but really it is only an hour's train ride to the country's city centre.

However, when one were to ask about people's impression of Pasir Ris if they were to live here, generally, people would gladly agree that it is a quiet and calm place with many greenery and a lot less bustle than other parts of Singapore. It is a welcome treat to life in busy urban Singapore. Our closest neighbouring town is Tampines. In comparison to Pasir Ris, Tampines has three shopping malls built around their main train station - Tampines (Green Line) - compared to Pasir Ris' one. In fact, Tampines now boasts three train stations catering to their town alone, so much it feels like a mini city within Singapore city. 

A large part of the suburban feeling of Pasir Ris lies in its proximity to a beach, and acres of forested and farm lands surrounding the town. My parent's home, a 5 room HDB apartment, faces a small forest which itself is surrounded by fish farms, a military camp, and Pasir Ris Beach. The forest land itself is restricted land and is owned by the military thus occasionally, one can hear the sounds of live firing when the soldiers conduct their drills, though they are uncommon and certainly taking place a far distance from the civilian population. With these natural elements in our area, it is no wonder that the area is teeming with rare wildlife.

Just a ten minutes walk away from my parents house is Sungai Api Api, a small river stream that runs from Pasir Ris Beach deep into Pasir Ris. The stream houses a nest of majestic hornbills, water birds and swallows that scurry and fleet past you, a rare sight in Singapore. A five minutes walk away, you will come across dozens of wild boars that will appear around sunset and remain late into the night before disappearing in the morning. The authorities had created a fence between the forested land and the rest of Pasir Ris Town, essentially enclosing the entire forested land and making it unlikely for a wild boar to find its way on our streets or vice versa, for someone to enter the forested land. And did I mention chickens? All around Pasir Ris Beach and the surrounding residential areas near the to the beach, including my area, you will find chickens everywhere. The chicken population was actually pretty small initially. They may not have been part of the natural eco-system and may have been introduced to the area by one of the owners of the landed properties that line Sungai Api Api. Over the years, devoid of natural predators that would otherwise have been shunned by human presence when Pasir Ris Town was created, the population of the chicken grew. Other than chickens, one can also find green sunbirds that fly in the hundreds around the Elias Mall area, one-metre long sea otters and an enormous crane that lives on Sungai Tampines, and the neighbourhood owl that lives at the entrance of Pasir Ris Beach. The wildlife in the Pasir Ris area is amazing.

New Towns

The creation of New Towns in Singapore was actually an initiative of the Singapore government and are strategically planned. Each New Town has all the required necessities that a family will need to raise their kids. Grocery stores, schools, shopping malls, entertainment, restaurants, gyms, library, cinemas, just to name a few. Everything that you could possibly need can be found in the neighbourhood. Generally, new families move into new New Towns. As such, usually the first few schools that are opened in the New Towns cater to younger kids. As these families mature, new schools catering to older kids are opened and the older schools catering to younger kids may merge to cater to the changing student population size. Everything is systematic and well-run in Singapore and that adds up to the convenience of living in one of such New Towns. Essentially, the New Towns that we live in are self-sustaining and incredibly convenient and as we speak now, new towns are being created in phases all over Singapore.

Growing Up In Pasir Ris

Having lived in Pasir Ris, my schools had also been in the area. My parents sent me to a PAP Nursery and then PAP Kindergarten when I was four or five. These early childhood centers were directly affiliated with the government, although over the years early childhood centers in Singapore have moved towards the private sector. My nursery and kindergarten took place at the void deck of a couple of HDB flats right next to West Plaza, a small shopping mall just a ten minutes walk away from my parent's house. I remember singing the 'Good Morning' and 'Good-Bye, Teacher' song everyday, attending painting and drawing classes and bringing toys to the kindergarten to show off to the other kids. My mum who is a housewife would cycle me and my brother to the nursery and kindergarten every weekday and then fetch us back after. After kindergarten, I went to a local neighbourhood school, Meridian Primary School, which was the school that my elder sister went to two years prior. Meridian Primary School back then was an entirely new school. It was so new that my principal, Mr Eric Lim, was the composer of our school song that is sang to this day twenty years later. Everything in the school was spick and span new and even then it was further renovated during my time as well. I spent six years in that school and for my mandatory co-curricular activity, I was in Green Club, essentially a gardening club or environmental-advocate sort of club. I did not really have much of a say in the clubs or activities that I take part in when I was younger. My parents were strict and have this huge influence over my choices and decisions in my early years, thus they when they asked me to join Green Club, I didn't object. Eventually when I was in Primary 5, I was elected to be an Environmental Champion and started giving talks and speeches to the school assembly. After Primary School, like other regular Singaporean kids, I had to apply for a Secondary School. I was doing alright academically, scoring straight As for my Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). My parent's strict discipline certainly helped for sure. Thus, I had the option to pick any school that I wanted. I eventually chose Dunman Secondary School, which was, during my time, the highest ranked neighbourhood school in the east, which also happens to be the school my elder sister went to.

Dunman Secondary School is not in Pasir Ris. It is actually in Tampines, the town right next to Pasir Ris. It is possible to cycle to my school from where I live and reach the school in twenty minutes, but there is also a direct bus that takes me there for around the same time. I spent four years in that school. During this time, I made lifelong friends along the way whom I still am in contact with. The school back then had such a homely environment. No bullying of any sorts, friendly and helpful friends and all sorts of characters. The class that I was in went on to break all kinds of academic records for our school for our O level examination. I did not get straight As, unfortunately. I had an L1R5 of 10 because I got a B3 for English and Biology. After Secondary School, I had the choice of going to a Junior College or a Polytechnic. My score did not qualify me for a prestigious junior college such as Victoria Junior College or Raffles Junior College, but I got in fairly easily into Meridian Junior College (MJC), a new junior college that was built in Pasir Ris right next to my former primary school, Meridian Primary School. 

I spent another two years in junior college. MJC was so new, it was still under construction when I was still studying in Meridian Primary School. It does not have the best reputation and its merger with Tampines Junior College a few years after I had left certainly did not help much. It is known as the school with out-going and lively culture and people, but with a lot of retainers (this means that the students are unable to move on to the next grade due to academic performance). I did not have the best of times there. I had depression around the middle of year 1. During that time, I broke up with my girlfriend (of sorts) whom I met and started dating towards the end of Secondary School, my parents and sister were fighting and shouting every single day late into the night at home for all kinds of trivial reasons, and I just could not bring myself to approach anyone else for support. At my low point, I met an incredible person, a classmate, a true brother, who came into my life and handed me the support that I needed to push me through this phase. I suppose his wisdom and kindness really did rub off on me and shaped me as a person. With his help, I graduated Junior College with decent results and qualified to study in a local university.

There are good and bad events and emotions attached to the Town that I grew up in. Thanks to the New Town policy that Singapore had, a lot of the activities of my childhood certainly revolved around Pasir Ris and its surrounding area. It is the place where I had my first girlfriend, the place where I hang out with friends after school at the local 711 and ordered tasty waffles, the place where I basked in the sun during my evening runs at the parks, and the place where I just go to buy my groceries or snacks or get a haircut at the barber. It is a typical suburban Singapore New Town life.

The fish farms are gradually moving out as the government is planning to lay new MRT lines and develop new towns in the area. There was an amusement park called Escape Theme Park that had closed and a shopping mall was built in its place. A water theme park called Wild Wild Wet opened a few years back with new rides being introduced every few years. A hawker centre and a public swimming pool finished construction near the Pasir Ris MRT station. Bicycle paths were created all over the town that helped to widen the walking surface for pedestrians and cyclists. No longer must a cyclist cycle on the grass to get around a pedestrian. Many condominiums were built around the area and the construction of the international school brought a lot of international students to the area as well. Even our old small bus interchange recently received a big upgrade and was expanded. There are always new faces you will see in the area and always something new to look forward to throughout the year, and it is really nice to see the changes and make the comparison of what the place was versus now.

Yes, it has been a little more noisy lately with more people around and a lot more activities and developments happening across town. But to me, Pasir Ris Town will still be the same in my memory. After Junior College, I spent a lot of my time away from Pasir Ris while serving my National Service and then spending more time away for the next four years while studying and living in a dormitory in NTU (Nanyang Technological University). If someone were to ask me what is Pasir Ris like, I still think I would give the same response as I did when I was much younger. I would tell them it is the place where I grew up in, and it is that 'far-away, quite ulu' place, very quite, very nice.

Why Did I? Invest in Singapore Savings Bond

 In this series of blogposts, I will be writing about the reasons why I had chosen to act upon certain decisions in the past, present or for the future. This series will help me to analyse my decisions on hindsight, reflect on the mistakes that I have made, and understand the reasons why I came to do certain things. My hope is to learn and immortalize my actions for my and my reader's benefits and perhaps be the subject of some social research in the future. Hmm...

Why I Invested in Singapore Savings Bond (SSB) in 2017.

In 2017 at the age of 22 years old I invested in SSB Bonds. It was my first time investing in any kind of financial instrument and from my limited reading and understanding of investments at that point in time, SSBs seemed to be the safest form of investment that I could do. For my very first investment, I invested a total of $2500 to buy Aug 2017's GX17090X at a transaction cost of $2.

A brief overview of SSB. It is short for Singapore Savings Bond. Singapore Savings Bond is a type of security issued by the Singapore government that anyone above the age of 18 years old with a CDP Securities account can purchase. The minimum investment amount is $500, there is a transaction cost of $2 for buying or selling, interest is paid every 6 months, the term of the bond is up to 10 years and the bond is redeemable at any given month with no penalty. The interest for each month's SSB (there are bonds issued every month) is reflected in the MAS website, and through the website you will be able to find the interest rates of past SSB as well. The security is also fully backed by the Singapore government.

With this brief overview of the bond alone that I could easily retrieve from the MAS website, on hindsight it is understandable why I had chosen SSB as my first foray into investment. Below, I shall list some of the rationales that I had delved before investing and up to the point I chose to invest.

1. Spare Cash

At the age of 22, I had just started my university life at NTU. For the average Singaporean male, that also meant that I have just completed my 2 years of National Service. Thus, for anyone that have saved their meagre pay every month during NS like I did, they should be sitting on some spare cash in their bank account at that point in time just like me.

However, I should also be grateful because my parents are paying for my university fees that amounted to around $6300 per year (for a 4 year program), university accommodation fees that amounted to around $2700 per year and pocket money of $80 per week. Thus, in my situation, I did not have to take up loans for my education and my NS savings should be untouched unless I had been financially irresponsible.

These factors meant that I have a reserve of cash that is just lying in my bank savings account earning a measly 0.05% interest. Rather than losing the money on inflation, which is around 1-2% per annum in Singapore, I should look investment opportunities to beat inflation.

2. Low Risk Investment

No one in my family engages in any sorts of investments before, thus I could not consult them on this matter. My main source for information thus is the internet. As it is the first time that I was investing I was overtly cautious on the types of investment products out there. To me, the stock market was too daunting and other than stocks and bonds, I don't know of any other kinds of investment products that there are out there at that point in time. It took me about 3 months before I solidified my intention and actually did something to start investing in SSB. 

In the end, the fact that the returns from SSB is practically guaranteed (as it is issued by the Singapore government, and as a Singaporean I have high trust in my government to not default on the bond repayment) and that I can cash out my money at any given month, I eventually chose to invest in SSB.

Essentially, in my rationale, I was just parking my unused cash somewhere else where I can get additional money.

3. Clear Information

This was another factor that eventually persuaded me to invest in SSB. I simply Googled Singapore Savings Bond and was brought to the MAS website that was very clear about what the security is and how I could buy this form of security.

Once I resolved to purchase the SSB, I simply followed the step-by-step guide provided (cautiously and carefully as I was afraid of missing or making a mistake) and by the end of it, I was able to purchase my first SSB. The most important step for a first-timer is to open a CDP Securities account, which is essentially an account to store all your securities in, including stocks and bonds. This step is actually mandatory for anyone wanting to invest in SSB or trade in the SGX and is a sort of safe for you to store your purchased bonds and stocks. Thus, after I opened my CDP Securities account, jumping to trading SGX stocks was a no-brainer.

I suppose the confluence of these three reasons lead me to eventually invest my first savings into SSB and I never regretted it since. Seeing that my first investment went well with no hitch, I then decided to invest another $500 in April 2018's GX18050E. And... that was when I made my first mistake in buying SSB. With a transaction cost of $2, it is not practical to invest in small amounts and thus if I had wanted to see the benefits of my investment, I should have invested $2000 or more like my first SSB.

On Hindsight

1. Spare Cash

As it turns out, I really had not needed that $2500 at all during my university years and that $2500 would have otherwise just sat in my bank account, or worse, given away by the temptation of online shopping sprees. The only difference that my decision had made was that extra few dollars every 6 months that get credited to my bank account.

2. Returns on Investment

The longer I hold my SSB, the higher the interest rate will be, as shown in the picture above. For the SSB bought for August 2017 you can see that the initial interest is 1.15% but the interest rate gets higher the longer I hold the SSB and it becomes 3.35% by the 10th year which is in 2027. For 'parking' my $2500 in SSB, I earned $28.75 during my first year, $33 on my second year, $38 on my third year and $43.25 on my fourth year. On the other hand if I had left the same $2500 in a normal savings account, I would get roughly $12.50 on each year.

Saving an extra $15-30 a year may not seem much, but it is definitely something!

I bought another $500 worth of SSB in April 2018 partly because the interest rate was higher for that month and partly after noticing the benefits of putting my money into SSB after I received my first interest payment in February 2018. Thus, from the $500 that I had put in since, I earned $8.25 during my first year, $9.75 on my second year, $10.70 on my third year and $11.40 on my fourth year. Otherwise, I would have earned around $2.50 per year in my regular savings account.

During the covid-19 pandemic period when the stock markets dipped, I saw my SGX shares lose 50% of its value. In my investment portfolio, it was only bonds that remained positive in paper value for a couple of months. Thus I can see why bonds are seen as low risk and relatively safe investments for anyone to consider. However, there are downsides to the returns being safe and locked-in. About 4 months after the worse of the pandemic has passed, the SGX shares that I had bought had recovered in value and the returns on investment from my trades in the SGX has returned around 11%. Thus, in comparison to the ~1.5% interest from SSB, SGX shares with it's higher risks also offers the potential of much higher returns. 

4 Investment Lessons after 1 Year of Dabbling in the SGX Stock Market (Singapore Edition)

It has been slightly more than a year since I first bought my first shares from the stock market on 22 March 2019. Prior to that, I have only invested in Singapore Savings Bonds. During this short 1 year of investing (passive investing for the most part of it), I learnt several important lessons that I am sure will prove to be very valuable for anyone looking to invest in stocks, primarily in the SGX.

In my portfolio now, I have DBS Bank (D05), Ascotts (HMN) and Food Empire (F03), having recently sold Bumitama Agri (P8Z) at a 17.5% profit and is now ready to reinvest my capital in other stocks. I have a clear objective in mind for each one of my stocks although these objectives are different and less vague than the objectives I had in mind when I first started.

Before I delve into the important lessons that I have learnt, it is important to highlight to my readers that the stock market should be seen as an opportunity first and foremost. Sure, the stock market is risky. There is a possibility that one lose a lot of money by investing heavily into the stock market but the same possibility applies if you put that same money into a bank or worse, lose it in a scam. As you will read in my points below, you will find out that it really is pretty hard to actually lose money in the stock market.

The 4 Golden Lessons

1.       Exit Strategy
When I first bought DBS stocks (D05) at $25.30/ share, I planned to cash in on the dividend payouts which was a generous ~5% per annum. That was definitely more than the 0.05% interest I was getting from the banks or around 2.5% from my SGS bonds! In the next few days, I saw D05 share prices drop below my buying price to around $24 and I found myself checking the share price every few hours or so. My heart sank every time the share price fell because I thought I actually lost money. However, D05’s share price eventually roared in the coming weeks ahead to reach a high of around $28. I was elated. A few months later, on the back of news about digital bank licenses, the stock plummet back down to around $24 and I thought to myself if I were to sell these stocks now, I would be making a loss. In reality, I would actually be making a profit of 4% as I was already paid the dividends for the year.

I decided to stick to my long term plan for D05, to earn dividends in the long term, but lo and behold, the covid-19 crisis struck in March 2020 and the D05 share price plummet to a record low of around $18/ share in April 2020. I was devastated as I would have lost thousands of dollars if I exit at that moment. I was filled with regret and kept telling myself, I should have sold and rebought the shares to make a tidy profit. Afterall, a stock market crash is an excellent opportunity for investment, and is where fortunes can be made! It was the same feeling that I had when the stock price fell from $28 to $24. The feeling of not having sold earlier, the continuous feeling of regret, was not a pleasant experience as a first-time investor.

Hence, I realise that what one needs to thrive in the stock market is an EXIT STRATEGY. With an exit strategy, you can never lose money unless, of course, you bought into a bad company with poor management and fundamentals. With the kind of transparency that is required for companies to be listed in the SGX, you just need a little bit of research and know-how to spot such companies. Thus, for each of the stocks that I buy or already possess, I make it a point to create a SELL order, one that is aligned with my financial goals that I set out for my money. For example, if I aim to get a 5% profit from my investments in a year, I will create a Sell order with at least 5% profits and the stock will automatically sell at the desired price point. If it does not sell, I will just keep the stock and continue earning the dividends. According to my investment exit strategy, two factors plays a role in my choice of stocks: dividend yield and how undervalued a stock is (thus, potential to go up given a long run).

The stock market, especially one like the SGX, will always go up and down and it is impossible to time the market. It does not really matter when you buy a stock, but it is absolutely crucial to exit at the right time.

I took this advice and bought and sold Bumitama Agri (P8Z) in a matter of weeks, helped by a sudden boost in share prices in the SGX when Phase 1 of the covid-19 phase moved into Phase 2. The day after I sold P8Z? It fell below my selling price. Lesson learnt.

2.     2. Buy Big, Save More

When investors first start, it is understandable that they would want to invest in smaller amounts. Less money equals lesser risk. But it is actually a bad investment strategy because you waste your money on commission fees. I started with $5000 invested in D05 and HMN. $5000 is okay, but anything less such as a transaction of $1000 or $2000 is really not worth your investment. Or to put it more accurately, not worth the time you spent to research on investment opportunities.

DBS Vickers, the investment platform that I use for investing charges a minimum $25 fee per transaction (Buy or Sell). If I bought $2000 worth of stocks, I would have to pay more than $50 just on transaction fees alone which amounts to 4% of my principal outlay. Thus, if I planned to earn a profit of 5% on my investment, I have to account for these mandatory fees. Hence, the larger the capital, the less I will lose on just transaction fees.

Also, DBS Vickers also has a Cash Upfront feature that only charges a minimum $10 per transaction for Buy transactions. Thus, this would also help reduce your transaction cost when trading in smaller volumes.

3.       3. Trust SimplyWallSt

I kind of forgot how I stumbled across this wonderful platform. Mind you, this is not a sponsored post so what I will be sharing with you, this website, is absolute gold. SimplyWallSt is a data-powered platform that analyses stocks from across the world and present their data in a really easy to digest format. They have teams of accountants who write write-ups about a company based on the company financials and they also write about investment opportunities on potentially undervalued stocks based on the data that they have and a comparison across the stock market.

What I like about the platform is the accurateness and clarity of their analysis, which translates to almost seer-like predictions of the market. Don’t get me wrong, SimplyWallSt did not anticipate the covid-19 crash. In fact, SimplyWallSt continuously revise their analysis daily for the popular stocks. In the pre-pandemic market, SimplyWallSt was accurate to the T. I bought D05 after SimplyWallSt valued the company at $30 and gave really great justifications as to why it should be $30. In a few weeks, it reached $28. It valued C09 at $12, back when it was priced at around $9. Soon enough, it reached the $12 mark. SimplyWallSt reveals hidden gems and highlight the risks that an investor should note when investing in any company.

When making my first stock purchase, I looked up several supposed investing guru platforms such as the Motley Fool. The problem with these other platforms is that they are often based on opinions and interpretations of the market, unlike SimplyWallSt that tells you a company’s performance based on available data and comparison with similar stocks or industry. In fact, I found a number of bad calls by some of the other investing guru platforms where some of the stocks which they ‘expected’ to do well but was badly valuated on SimplyWallSt turned out to do badly over the next months. So yes, this made me view SimplyWallSt as my go-to platform for investing decisions.

You can, of course, do your own research to understand the company that you are buying into, which you really should if you are planning to invest in them. Afterall, understanding the stock market and the stock that you are buying into is like understanding the economy and society itself. It is just good knowledge and responsibility everyone should have. SimplyWallSt is simply a tool that can make the process of understanding the world a lot easier.

4.   4.   Keep to Your Exit Strategy

With the tools in hand to choose a good stock to invest in and capital in place, the only thing that really should concern an investor now is the exit strategy. Which I have already mentioned in the first point, because it is very important!

Your money is there because you want it to work for you. Once it has done the work for you and benefited you, as you expected it to, don’t be greedy or emotional! Afterall, if you do not, the only profit that you have are all ‘paper profits’, profits on paper but you do not actually physically own these profits (like my $28 per share D05 stocks). Another pandemic or global crash might occur that you simply cannot time or know is happening and the stock price will plummet again, as it has done time and time again.

Unlike the US stock market which can show ludicrous amount of growth over the years with no sign of abating until something major happens, the SGX-listed companies are fairly stable in terms of growth (and decline). Hence, it is more likely that the share price will go up and down at whatever price point that you buy in especially for the blue cap companies (which most first-time investors should be looking to invest in, if they are afraid of risks). Bought at a high before a crash? Stay as the company will recover, although it will take time. The dividends alone should still be better than just saving in a bank. Bought at a low? Cash out once you profit because you will not know when the next crash will happen. To thrive in the SGX, you really just need some discipline and a good old exit strategy plan!

NTU Course Review: LMS Year 3 Semester 2

Nanyang Technological University
LMS Year 3 Student (Semester 2, Y2019)
Linguistics & Multilingual Studies GER-PE Courses: Forensic Linguistics, Language Evolution, Language, Culture & Society in South East Asia
Other Courses: Introduction to Entrepreneurship

Forensic Linguistics
Course name: Forensic Linguistics
Course Code: HG4022
Assessment: 

·         Two Written Assignments (Case Study Analysis & Authorship Analysis)

·         Group Presentation

·         Case Discussion

·         Class Participation

Course Review:
Forensic Linguistics is one of the more popular Level 4000 Linguistics mods. (For the uninitiated, Level 1000 and 2000 are the low-level mods considered to be at the foundation or basic level of a subject. Level 3000 is a step up where foundation knowledge of the subject is already assumed, hence a little more is expected of the students in these modules. Level 4000 is the highest level where the modules are usually a specialised topic that requires prior foundation knowledge in the subject area).

At first glance, unlike the other Level 4000 Linguistics mods, HG4022 seems like a niche subject with no related foundation level courses. There are also no pre-requisites required for anyone intending to take up this course. However, upon reassessment of the course at the end of the semester, I can say that this module actually broaches most of the concepts from low-level Linguistic courses such as in HG2002 Sociolinguistics and it is expected of you to apply some prior Linguistic knowledge in the discussions and presentations done in class.

In Forensic Linguistics you will learn about the law, court culture and the use of forensic linguistic analysis on evidences presented in court. Some interesting things you will learn includes finding out how flawed the legal world (or the world in general) can be, how difficult it actually is to forge someone else’s writing or signature and the different techniques forensic linguists use to analyse written evidences. Ever since an unfortunate incident in my pre-university days I have a fascination for the law. Hence, this module gave me an amazing opportunity to learn more in depth about some aspects of the judicial systems in Singapore and other parts of the world.

Like most of Stephanie’s classes, there will always be a lot of group discussions. For Forensic Linguistics, most of the discussions centred upon real life case studies. There is also a component in the module where we had to attend a Court Hearing session and later on present what we had learnt and experienced in class. While there are no tests, there are two assignments that constitute the bulk of the component weightages (65%) and group presentations (25%).

Language Evolution
Course name: Language Evolution
Course Code: HG3040
Assessment:

·         One Final MCQ and Essay Test

·         Group Wiki

·         Group Presentation

·         Group Report on Progress of Wiki page

Course Review:
By Year 3 Semester 2, the typical Linguistics student would have already taken their compulsory Core modules. Hence, the subjects that I took for this semester are the subjects that I was really interested in or is fascinated to learn about. Language Evolution is one subject that I thought would be really fascinating and perhaps important for any linguist to know.

Language Evolution is not to be confused with Historical Linguistics, another subject that I find equally interesting. Historical Linguistics deals with how language changes over time or within a time period and an example would be studying how Old English eventually evolved to become the Modern English that we now speak. Language Evolution however deals with how Language came into the prowess of human beings. 

The subject deals with the evolutionary development that is required for Language to emerge as well as the cultural forces that could have sparked its emergence. The problem with the study of Language Evolution is that languages do not fossilize hence we cannot find any direct evidence of the speech of our ancestors. Hence, evolutionary linguists have to contend with indirect evidences to hypothesize the possible emergence of language in humans. As a result, this module is innately loaded with theories.

One thing I like about Luca’s class is the amount of thought he puts in to try to maximise his student’s learning. For this module, he had devised a Group Wiki assignment to put the onus of understanding a particular topic on to his students. My group had chosen a particularly tricky topic which required some careful reading and understanding. This group project kept us on the toes and really made us understand our topic well because we also had to do a group presentation about it. At the end of the day, I felt satisfied because I have actually learnt and understood something fundamentally.

The bulk of the weightage will come from the in-class final test and essay on the last day of the module while the rest will come from your Group Wiki assignment.

Language, Culture and Societies in South East Asia
Course name:    Language, Culture and Societies in South East Asia
Course Code:     HG4062
Assessment:

·         Group Presentation

·         Two Essays

Course Review:
I actually spent the most of my studying time on this module. Compared to my other courses, HG4062 had an enormous amount of reading to be done (2-3 compulsory papers plus 2-3 additional papers highly recommended to read up on). As a practice since Year 1, I read all my readings regardless if it is compulsory or not so this mod was particularly challenging for me to keep up with.

Language, Culture and Societies in South East Asia deals with a broad spectrum of research on the language and language practices in South East Asia. One thing that became apparent from the first lesson was the breadth of knowledge and experience that Prof Benjamin had about South East Asian languages from his long career in anthropology and linguistics. He had a quality of curiosity about him and fascination for why things are as it is that is strangely inspiring.

In this course you will first learn about the linguistic landscape of South East Asia and where most of the major languages in the region came from before moving to analyse more in-depth each of the major language families. South East Asia is a melting pot of language families. To take into perspective, most of Europe forms one major language family, the Indo-European language family, but in South East Asia there are more than 4 major language families - Tai-Kadai, Austronesian, Tibeto-Burmese, Sinitic and Hmong-Mien language family - in a much smaller geographical area. Historical and Anthropological Linguistics play a large role in this course as it explains why the linguistic landscape is as such.

Expect to learn more than you probably anticipated from this course. While tackling one of the essay assignments, I discovered from my mum and maternal relatives that we are descendants of the old Riau-Lingga Sultanate, a relation that is preserved by inter-marriage practices and naming culture.

The bulk of the weightage of your grades will come from your two essays so you will have to work on them. Prof Benjamin is an old school professor so do your readings and follow his instructions to write your essays and you should do well.

Intro to Entrepreneurship 
Course name: Introduction to Entrepreneurship
Course Code: ET9121
Course Type: Unrestricted Elective
Assessment:

·         Final Presentation

·         Elevator Pitch

·         Class Participation

Course Review:
ET9121 is a gem of a course for the aspiring entrepreneurs. I have been interested in the prospects of being an entrepreneur for quite a while and had been mulling a couple of ideas that I do not quite know how to take off. ET9121 came with the critical steps that I have to take as well as the confidence to successfully launch a start-up.

I initially have no clue about how I could launch a start-up, but this course gives an almost step-by-step guideline on how to do so while also providing a recipe to ensure you do not blow up almost immediately before your idea could take off (Risk Management). I initially had 3 ideas for a start-up and went on to pitch and develop one them for this course. Through the course, Marilyn, our course professor, gave tips and offered her connections if we decide to really start our own start-up. I learnt that in Singapore, there are many ways to raise funds and build a business and the process is actually fairly simple, but a solid team and proper business plan is what it takes for your business to thrive.

The course only has five lessons throughout the semester, but they are done on Saturdays and during Recess Week and usually takes up the entire day. Due to this, there is a strict and really quick deadline to follow. Within one month from the start of the course, you will have to come up with a presentation and develop a business plan. Of course, this will be done in groups as the workload is really too much for one person. The good news is that once you are done with the course, you do not have to think about it and it is 3 AUs (Academic Units) done and dusted for the semester. As I still have 9 AUs of SU credits to spare and only one useable SU subject this semester, I decided to SU this course to mitigate the risk of dropping my cGPA.
Final Grade: SU

These are subjective opinions and interpretations of the course that I undertook during my semester year in NTU. Do note that the courses may change in its entirety over the coming semesters and years. Hope that it has been useful for you!

This course review is my view and take on the modules I took up this Semester which I hope may be of use to you who may have plans to take up these modules. Thanks for reading! Спасибо Большое!

Hidden Jewels in Moscow: VDNKh

Hidden Jewels in Moscow: VDNKh

Location: Prospekt Mira, 119, Moskva, Russia

Cost: Free
Additional costs for several pavilions.

VDNKh (ВДНХ)

Referred to by locals as vee-dee-an-ha, its full name being Vystavka Dostizheniy Narodnogo Khozyaystva which literally means ‘Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy’, this massive site is a permanent trade show and amusement park. Imagine the World Expo but this time filled only with pavilions related to Russia. With an illustrious history such as Russia, it is thus to no surprise that it would require a massive site such as this to display all her past achievements.

In this site you will find all sorts of pavilions; buildings with their own unique concepts and architecture dedicated to a certain theme related to Russia. Hence, you will find a mish mash of pavilions dedicated to cosmonauts, the military, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and even Russian football for example located side-by-side in this open-concept site. Walking through this site will make you feel like walking through a Disneyland with so much interesting sites to see and discover! Apart from the pavilions, you will also find open air museums featuring military vehicles and a space shuttle, museums such as the Illusion Museum and also the Moskvarium; a building featuring an aquarium, water show and pool for swimming with dolphins.

A large fountain is situated in the middle of this site, called the Fountain of Friendship, a fountain dedicated to the former Soviet Republic states, now the countries within the CIS. The fountain acts as a point of reference in the park so that one does not travel too far to the east or west as this place is indeed enormous and I am not too sure where the site actually ends. (See story below!)

The site has a few fast food restaurants near the entrance but also many other high-end restaurants within the grounds itself. If one wants more variety of food or more affordable food, one can also head to a nearby shopping mall next to the entrance of VDNKh called the VDNKh Shopping Mall. There, you can find a couple of other restaurants, fast food outlets and a food court.

Experience

Before arriving in Moscow, I have not heard of VDNKh. However, during my stay in Moscow when the subject of places to visit came up, VDNKh was often mentioned by both Russian and other exchange students. I eventually made plans with Marvin, a fellow exchange student from Hong Kong, to visit the site one day with Desirae, a Singaporean exchange student. Hence, after class with Marvin one afternoon, we went straight from our campus near Lubyanka Station to VDNKh, located along Prospekt Mira to the north, nearer to our dormitory which was also located in Prospekt Mira.

From Lubyanka Station, we took the red line to Christie Prudie and walked a little to transfer to the orange line from Turgenevskaya Station. After 5 stops, we reached the VDNKh Station, the nearest station to VDNKh. We walked out of the train station and was met with two famous buildings in Moscow, the Hotel Cosmos and the Museum of Cosmonautics; the former being the largest and most famous hotel in Russia with the most popular night club - a towering building built during the Soviet era - and the latter being one of the must-see museums if you were to visit Moscow. After all, the former Soviet Union constitutes one half of the space race and the massive technological advancements the world has seen! To get to VDNKh, one has to walk towards and past the Museum of Cosmonautics which was closed during the summer of 2018 due to renovations.

The entrance of VDNKh is hard to miss – a massive gateway arch greets visitors into the open space grounds. Passing the arch, we found ourselves in an open paved square with water features and some fast food restaurants to our right. As we were waiting for Desirae who was coming from a ballet class, we went to have a meal at the McDonalds first. After our friend came along, we headed to explore this lovely enchanting space.

Walking inwards, the first landmark we saw was a monument of Lenin, the Father of Soviet Russia, which was also under construction that day. (It became a running joke by then that wherever I went, the attractions would be closed due to some reason or another.) Walking past the statue and a building structure located behind the statue, we came across the Fountain of Friendship with its golden statues in the middle of a large manmade water feature. Flanked on every corner of the fountain are various pavilions with their unique architectural designs.

i.Zi App

I used the i.Zi App, a free app I was introduced to by some Russians when I went to visit the Banksy Exhibition, that gave me an English audio tour of most of the pavilions that are at VDNKh. As most of the signs are in Russian, the app allows me to at least understand what the purpose of the pavilion was. Slowly, we walked from one pavilion to another. We did not enter most of the pavilions as some of them were closed, some of them were restaurants while others simply did not interest all of us. Some pavilions that you can find here was a pavilion on Russian football for example where you had to pay, I think it was 50 roubles.

Pavilions & Pavilions

We walked along the water feature while admiring both the water features and the pavilions. All this while it is also possible for us to turn away from the water feature and venture outwards to other buildings or pavilions behind the pavilions flanking the water features, but assessing the size of the place from our initial impression, we thought we should follow the general route so that we would not get lost. After a while, we reached the end of the water feature and had to choose to take the path on the left or right. We picked the right and walked to an area with a lot less people and less frequent pavilions in sight. There are still pavilions, some of them unmanned, but after a little bit of walking, we reached a point where we could only see some workers and we were walking on gravel. There were still pavilions, however, which was reflected in the i.zi app. We thus turned a path and headed leftwards where we found ourselves in a sort of like an open air museum.

A rocket stood impressively in this area, as with other Russian military vehicles. After taking some pictures, we explored the nearby buildings. There were several museums such as the Illusion museum and Space Pavilion, although some of them were closed, and we did manage to find the Moskvarium which was a short walk away from the open air museum. The Moskvarium stood apart from the other pavilions with its flashing electronic billboards and signs. We entered and made some enquiries about ticket prices. Unfortunately, the water show was sold out for that hour and we did not really fancy going to the aquarium because there are attractions such as those in Singapore and Hong Kong, hence we left and made our way to the Space Pavilion.

Space Pavilion

A definite must-go place is the Space Pavilion. From the outside, you could catch a glimpse of what was inside and the place seems really huge. We were initially sceptical of this pavilion as there were hardly anybody entering the pavilion and the entrance too were hard to find (I thought it was a restricted area!). But we entered and asked a staff if we could enter and the staff inside said yes and led us to the ticketing counter. We bought our tickets, 250 roubles if you have an ISIC card or student pass (about 5 Singapore dollars) and entered this massive pavilion. We were instantly greeted by an enormous Earth model that was actually also a 4D theatre ride. Walking past the Earth model, you will come across the part-interactive-part-display Space museum that teaches and introduces visitors to complex things learnt about space. One of the interactive exhibits allows visitors to launch a rocket into space whereby failure to choose the correct components of the rocket will result in the rocket not being able to take off. In others, visitors could play games related to space on touch screen panels that also teaches stuff such as the speed of rockets and sustainability in space.

In this Pavilion, there were sufficient English translation provided in the exhibits, hence it was a really helped us enjoy the displays more. Here I learnt about the difficulties of space exploration, the space rocket models built by the Soviets and general facts about space that I was previously oblivious about. (For example, did you know that most of Space is covered in a tendril-like Dark Matter? Or that scientists figured out that the universe is expanding by observing and measuring the distance of light from objects in space?).

For about 5 dollars, it was a really worth experience and it made me wonder, “If this is just a Space Pavilion, what else would be in the Museum of Cosmonautics?!” For 5 dollars, this was a worth-it experience to enjoy. Coming from Singapore where there are no such museums here, it was a fascinating experience for me and, perhaps, if I had been immersed in this Space culture when I was growing up, I may have just had decided to build a career on this fascinating subject!

We made a mistake when we entered the pavilion. We were actually supposed to take the 4D simulation ride first before entering the museum, but we skipped past it. As we were leaving the museum, we remembered about it but the next timing was in 30 minutes. We were a little tired from all the walking, so we just hung around the museum and talked about life and stuff. There were a couple of comfortable bean bag seats or sofa near the entrance of the museum where we plopped down to just have a chat. After waiting the entire 30 minutes, we went into the Earth model for the ride, and enjoyed a 4D ride that turned out to be just about 5 minutes long!

Lost in VDNKh

Afterwards, we went out of the museum and headed to explore a little more of VDNKh. It was slowly growing darker by the minute by then. We walked to the area where we thought we were lost at the very beginning of our exploration and continued that path. We saw several really cute smaller pavilions such as the Pavilion dedicated to meat and the pavilion dedicated to rabbits. All this while the number of people around us thinned until it was just us. After a while we decided to head back and that was when we realised, we were lost.

We took a couple of turns when we explored this massive area and the path is not just one linear path, there are several paths heading to different directions. We initially thought we were tracing back our steps but the pavilions we encountered were different. I did not remember encountering a Pavilion dedicated to Smart City on the way down this path. Hence, we were essentially lost and it was getting dark. The lights in the site started to go on. Eventually, we simply used GPS to find our way back and to our horror, we were a good 15 minutes’ walk away from the centre of VDNKh (the fountains area). It was, however, a pleasant walk back as I had good company and lots of things to see.

After a while, we re-entered the fountain area and knew our paths back to the entrance of VDNKh. Walking past the McDonalds to our right and the fountain on the left, we exited the area and decided to have dinner at the VDNKh Shopping Mall to our right. In the mall, most of the shops had already closed but the food court at the top level of the mall was open. There, I bought a really delicious chicken shawarma meal which was huge and affordable. After the hearty meal, me and Marvin parted ways with Desirae while we went back to our dormitory near Prospekt Mira. (We took the wrong bus, going in the wrong direction and went into a suburb area of Moscow. But upon realising our mistake, we got off, crossed the road and took the right bus back. It was practically night, around 10pm when we finally reached our dormitory to call off an incredibly satisfying visit.)

First-timer's Guide to Investing in Singapore

This guide will cover the basic fundamentals about investing in Singapore for the average Singaporean. It includes the basic and popular forms of investment here which is the Singapore Savings Bond and the Stock Market, and give a good foundation as to how the investment instrument works. It will not include recommendations on what to invest in nor an in-depth analysis of the market. This is a purely layman's guide for the first-time investor.

1.       Singapore Savings Bond (SSB)

The Singapore Savings Bond is a type of government bond. A government bond is a way in which a government is able to raise cash quickly to be used for government related projects or investments. In a way, when you buy a government bond, you are essentially loaning your money to the government at an interest stipulated which is determined by the treasury issuing the bond. 

The Singapore government issues the Singapore Savings Bond (SSB) every month with differing interest rates depending on the conditions of the economy. SSBs form a better way to earn money compared to just saving in the bank. If you save in the bank, the interest rate is probably around 0.05%. That means when you save $1 000 in your bank, the bank pays you back just 50 cents every year.

But when you purchase SSBs, you will accrue higher interests. For example, the Bonds that you can buy in June 2019 has an interest rate of 1.93%. That means, when you put in $1 000 to buy the bonds, the government will pay you back an additional $19.30 every year. The interest also increases the longer you do not sell the bond back to the government. If you keep for 5 years for example, the interest increases to 2.09%.

The amazing thing about SSBs is that it is very liquid in the sense that you can get your money back anytime you want, you just have to write in some paper work. Hence, it is about the same thing as just saving your money in the bank. There is also almost no risk involved because the only risk that you lose your money is if the Singapore government defaults on the bond repayment for some reason. As the Singapore government is relatively stable with a healthy reserve, the risk would be relatively low compared to less stable government bonds elsewhere.

Buying Bonds compared to saving in the bank:

Year	If you save in Bank	If you buy Bond
1	$1000.50	$1019.30
2	$1001	$1038.60
3	$1001.50	$1057.90
4	$1002	$1078.00
5	$1002.50	$1098.90
6	$1003	$1120.40
7	$1003.50	$1143.10

To start buying SSBs, you will first have to create a Central Depository (CDP) Account and have a local bank account (DBS/POSB, OCBC or UOB) linked to your CDP account. The steps to do so can be easily followed online. Link: http://www.sgs.gov.sg/savingsbonds/Your-SSB/How-to-buy.aspx 
The minimum capital required to buy the bond is $500 and you can purchase in multiples of $500 but for each transaction (to buy or redeem), there is a standard fee of $2.

2.       Stock Market

If you think that the interest rate for SSBs is too low and you want to try a different investment instrument, then you can also look into the SGX or Singapore's stock market. When you invest in the stock market, there are higher risks involved but there are also more opportunities to earn more from your savings.

The Stock Market is a way for companies to raise a lot of capital or money for their own business needs. These companies offer stakes or shares of their company in return for your money hence in this agreement you get to 'own' part of the company. The company can then use your money for needs such as to buy more assets like properties or factory equipment or for research and development.

There are two ways you are able to earn money in the Stock Market. One: Dividends. Two: Share price.

Dividends are like interests. Companies reward people who invest in their company, or they could share part of their profits with their investors. They do that by paying dividends back to the people who invest in their company. For example: DBS bank pays 4.95% dividends to investors that invest in their company in 2018. That means if I own $1 000 worth of DBS shares, DBS reward me with $49.50 for the year 2018. Usually, the Dividend rates are greater than the interest rates from the Singapore Savings Bonds. Compare DBS Dividend rate of 4.95% to SSB interest rate of 1.93%.

This dividend rates depends on the companies and the type of companies issuing the shares. Some companies don’t pay Dividends at all while some pays low Dividends like 1% but some companies can pay up to 10% Dividends. It is your responsibility to research why companies fixed their Dividends rate as such because high dividends does not normally translate to higher returns as you will also have to take note of the Share Price of the shares that you bought too.

Share price is the price of the stock itself. When you buy stocks, you can buy according to the market value at the time you buy the stock. For example, the DBS share price as of 7 June 2019 is $24.15 for 1 share. This price will rise and fall as long as the market is open. If the market that the company is involved in and the company itself is doing financially well, the price can increase but vice versa, the opposite can happen to. If the price go up after you buy the stock, then you can sell and earn money straight away. However, do note that you will also need to pay a certain fee to your stock broker each time you buy or sell the stock. Stock brokers are the person or company that helps you buy and sell on the stock market and is a must for anyone interested in investing in the Singapore stock market.
Once you sell your share, you cannot earn their Dividends any longer.

There are many different types of companies that list their stocks or shares on the Stock Market. For example, there are Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), oil companies, retail companies, banks and many more, but they all work the same: Share Prices and Dividends. When the general economy goes bad, it does not necessarily mean that the market in which your company that you invested in will also see a downtrend. You will have to understand the market of the stocks in which you are buying in order and the potential news or situation in the world that could affect the share prices or dividends of the stocks.

To start buying shares in the SGX, you will have to own a Central Depository (CDP) account and accrue the services of a stock broker. The stock broker can be any company or persons that have the legal authority to deal in the Stock Market and they will help you to purchase the stocks that you want for a stipulated fee. After engaging a broker, you will have to open a brokerage account in which you will be able to put in the capital to start investing in the stock market. The minimum amount you can invest depends on the shares that you are investing in but in the SGX, you are only allowed to invest in Lots of 100 shares. Hence, if you intend to purchase 1 lot of DBS shares (Code: d05) which is $24.15/ share as of 7/6/2019, you will need to invest a minimum of $2 415 or have that amount in your brokerage account.

Hence, I have explained the fundamentals of the more common and popular investment instruments here in Singapore. I hope that it will be beneficial to all who reads them. Do follow my blog posts for more guides that you may be interested in and have a great time investing!