Sometimes I feel like I’ve become the foreign talent in my own workplace. I’m a Singaporean, born and bred, but every day when I walk into the office in Jurong’s industrial belt, it hits me — 80% of my colleagues are foreigners, mostly Malaysians, some converted locals who speak in a mix of English and Malay slang. I’m surrounded by people who grew up in different cities, different schools, with different work habits, and suddenly I feel like I’m the outsider.
It’s subtle at first. The way jokes fly over my head, the casual references to things I’ve never experienced, the lunch orders that always default to food from back home. Sometimes I try to join in, to bond over small talk, but there’s a rhythm I just can’t catch. Everyone’s polite enough, but the camaraderie seems to exist in a space where I’m not fully invited.
Feeling Like a Stranger in My Own Land
The meetings are the worst. I’m sitting there, listening to conversations peppered with accents and idioms I don’t naturally use. My thoughts are in Singlish, my mindset shaped by local culture, but the words I hear don’t quite match the world I live in. I start questioning myself — am I too Singaporean? Too rigid? Or maybe it’s just the sheer number of colleagues from elsewhere that makes me feel like I’ve lost my footing.
Even simple things like eating at the canteen become a reminder. Everyone seems to know each other’s favourite dishes, their hometown specialties. I sit with my plate of chicken rice and suddenly feel like a stranger at my own table. Lunch becomes a quiet moment of isolation, rather than a break from work.
Coping With the Outsider Feeling
I’ve tried to adjust — picking up slang, asking questions about their experiences, even sharing bits about my own life here. It helps, but only slightly. There’s still a sense of distance, a subtle reminder that in this particular corner of Jurong, I’m a minority, even in my own country.
It’s a strange feeling, being a local yet feeling foreign, proud of my Singaporean identity but at the same time constantly reminded that I’m not part of the majority here. Sometimes it makes me reflect on how much our workplaces have changed, and how being Singaporean no longer guarantees a sense of belonging, even at home.
At the end of the day, I tell myself to focus on the work, build bridges where I can, and hold onto the small things that remind me who I am — a Singaporean in a sea of foreign talent, trying to navigate the waves without losing my footing.