Online Class Notes (Jesse) [30]

Cost of living: Half a million dollars is the new minimum amount for an expat family to live in the Asian city, with the group increasingly stuck between locals and the super rich,

In December, Australian Gaynor Reid and her husband Andrew decided it was no longer ‘‘ financially sensible’ ’ to stay in Singapore . So, after a decade away, they’ve packed up and moved back to Sydney.

A dramatic hike in rent was the trigger – but it wasn’t the only reason, says Reid, who runs her own public relations business with tourism and hospitality clients across the Asia-Pacific region.

When the lease on their apartment ran out at the end of last year, their landlord upped the rent from $S9500 ($10,300) to $S15,000 ($16,275) a month. The couple, whose daughter Kiara starts university in Sydney this month, simply couldn’t afford it. They were given three months’ notice and were willing to downsize and move a bit further out – but it wasn’t enough.

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Vocabulary

frosted glass 

Pronunciation

word – “werd”

client – cleye yent

business – biz nuhss

so the only reason