Singapore American • September 2014
T h e A m e r i c a n A s s o c i a t i o n o f S i n g a p o r e ’s
www.aasingapore.com
MCI (P) 178/01/2014
September 2014
Since 1958
A Very Good Year in Singapore NEWCOMERS TO SINGAPORE
Ambassador & Mrs. Wagar on America, family and life in the Lion City By Glenn van Zutphen
U interview with the wagars 1 & 8
travel
16-17
nited States Ambassador Kirk Wagar and his wife Crystal have had quite a first year in Singapore. With their open, genuine style, the two Miami, Florida-based attorneys have made friends across many communities, American, Singaporean and other nationalities while representing the United States in one of the most vibrant cities in Asia. A naturalized United States citizen, Ambassador Wagar was born in Ottawa, Canada, and has lived in the United States since 1987. Crystal is originally from Des Moines, Iowa, and continues to work for her Miami law firm in addition to caring for their eight-month old daughter, Rhys. Though well-traveled, Kirk and Crystal had spent little time in Asia prior to arriving in Singapore. Over the past year, however, they’ve been to Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia, with many more travel adventures now on their horizon. In the living room of the Ambassador’s Residence on a warm July afternoon, they talked openly about their first year in Singapore and what they hope to accomplish in the future. The Ambassador and his family at home in Singapore.
SAN: What has been most memorable about being in Singapore?
newcomers to singapore
18-23
American Association
2-3
CRCE & Business
4-5
Community News
6-9
Living in Singapore
10-14
Travel
16-17
Newcomers to Singapore
18-23
Health & Wellness
24-25
Food & Dining
27-28
Arts & Culture
30
Whats Happening
31
Members Discounts
31
KW: What we have, and what I hope we will continue to have until the day we walk out of this job, is a child-like awe and wonder about what it is to be an American. What has been surprising, in a good way, is how receptive the region is and how many people seem to agree with the universal values that we celebrate in America. Singapore is very well in line with the things that we hold dear: equality of opportunity, second chances; you can come from anywhere to be anything and we have many examples of that in government here. It’s nice to look at the options that we have as partners and amplify that across the region. I think that, personally, it’s the interesting people that we’ve gotten to meet and know. CW: It’s been very interesting to see people here from around the world and the varying cultures that exist in Singapore and how they
all come together and make it work. SAN: You come from a very diverse city and state. How has the environment in Miami been different or the same as that of Singapore? KW: I think the similarities in the conflux of cultures have been pretty surprising. There are different cultures, but it’s the same merging and hybrid of languages, of food, of fashion, of culture and the arts. We feel very much at home and yet very stimulated because they’re cultures that we haven’t really interacted with. CW: We wouldn't do anything differently. Because in Miami we interact with our community; here we are excited to interact with all the communities. SAN: Is being out in the community, as you both have been, a conscious decision because of your position or is that just who you are? KW: It’s who we are. We get to do this job for three and a half years, God willing; the
greatest job I could ever imagine. It would be ridiculous to just sit in my office or in the house and just have people come to us. That’s not why we go overseas. And I’m sure the American community feels the same way. There are a lot of smart people here and they come from different places. A friend of mine in Dubai is a West Point graduate, professor at University of Chicago and he said: ‘When I was living in DC, we’d go out for dinner, have smart people, talk about current events, we'd talk about politics, and about issues of the day. The difference in Dubai is that we do the exact same thing but there’s someone from Africa, Asia and Europe at the table.’ I didn’t realize how prophetic that was until we got here; we experience that all the time. We have friends that, even though they might be from Florida or Chicago, they’ve lived seven other places. We get to soak up that perspective and that knowledge. Continued on page 8
American Association of Singapore Strategic Partners