00:00And I like how I can relate to people with just one word or one of the singlish expressions, like alamak, and we don't need to over-explain anything.
00:09Hi!
00:10Hello!
00:11Hello!
00:12Good morning!
00:13Hello!
00:14Hello!
00:15Hello!
00:16Hello!
00:17Hello!
00:18Hello!
00:19Hi!
00:20I'm Isabella.
00:21I'm 39 years old.
00:22And I'm from Hungary, Budapest.
00:23So I was born in Budapest, Hungary, and I have one brother who's one and a half.
00:28Hi!
00:29I'm Isabella.
00:30I'm 39 years old, and I'm from Hungary, Budapest.
00:34So I was born in Budapest, Hungary, and I have one brother who's one and a half years younger than me.
00:40We were very close to my mom.
00:42We usually walked with her to do her chores, cooking, shopping.
00:47At one point she bought that weekend house by that small lake in Hungary that we have.
00:52It's called the Venice Lake.
00:54We spent the summers in Gárdony, which was a very good thing out in nature, not just in the concrete jungle of Budapest.
01:02It was a peaceful life, more or less, laid back compared to Singapore.
01:08I first heard about Singapore when I went to Tokyo, Japan when I was 17 years old.
01:13For my first modeling trip, I had an Australian flatmate, and she told me about Singapore because she was here before.
01:21I remember I was telling her, Japan is so clean.
01:24And then she said, you should see Singapore.
01:27And she said, the people are nice.
01:29So based on her description, I already pre-fell in love with Singapore.
01:33I needed to find out for myself, and thank God I managed to come here.
01:38At the beginning, when I came to Singapore, I didn't plan to stay here very long.
01:43But when I started working as a model and at events, I realized that it's very easy to connect with people and network.
01:50And I met a lot of people who were very welcoming towards me and were willing to work with me.
01:56I got to meet different people from all walks of life.
01:59It's a connecting point where people can network with each other and open opportunity and an open door for me in Singapore.
02:06That's why I stayed here longer.
02:08In Hungary, I was living in kind of a safe bubble with my mother who looked after me and cooked for me.
02:13And I didn't really have to worry about a lot of things.
02:15And then when I came to Singapore, I fell in love with Singapore because it's so beautiful and inspiring and so different from Hungary.
02:22I love the luscious green, the trees, that it's always summer.
02:26It's never a gloomy winter.
02:28So I wanted to stay here to explore and see the adventures I can have here.
02:34Now I've been staying here for 15 years, which is not what I planned, but I'm not regretting anything.
02:40I'm still adapting because I'm a very slow person.
02:44It has given me a lot of challenges, but I believe I've become faster and I've become more disciplined.
02:51But yes, in Singapore you have to learn to organize your life better, to manage your time better, express yourself clearer because of the cultural differences.
03:07I wasn't raised speaking in English, so I had to learn it in secondary school than in university.
03:12And my two majors were philosophy and English.
03:15I was always very interested in English because I felt that it was like a gateway to the world.
03:21And I always find it very interesting to compare how the Singaporean English is different.
03:27And I think it's a very unique thing about Singapore and very interesting for me to share about it to my foreigner friends as well.
03:34Because they would have no idea the things we do here with the language and the things we say.
03:41I find English very cute and fun.
03:44At the beginning I was trying to resist, but over time I started to use it more and more.
03:50I think in English there are a lot of other things that are very practical and efficient.
03:54For example, can also can. I use that myself.
03:58Hungary we would say something like,
04:01Ez lehetséges? Hogy lehet ezt megoldani?
04:04So it's similar to the English version, how we would say,
04:08Is it possible? How can I do this? How can this be done?
04:11Instead of just one word.
04:13And it reflects also the fun and lighthearted side of the culture a lot of times.
04:18Especially those Singaporean terms that I still haven't managed to learn.
04:22The whore, the lore.
04:24I think when I hear people talk, it's very fun the way people express themselves in English.
04:30The language reflects the culture of a nation so much.
04:34And I reflected how my Hungarian language reflects my thinking and my culture.
04:40And how the Singaporean English reflects the Singaporean thinking and culture.
04:45How Singaporeans think.
04:47It shows the characteristics of the nation of Singapore.
04:51They are efficient, they are hardworking,
04:53but they are also having fun at the same time and express themselves in playful ways.
04:59One of the things that I really like about Singapore is the lush, rainforest-y nature.
05:05So I appreciate parks and one of my favorite places is the East Coast.
05:10And I also like the Botanic Gardens because it's very easy for me to go there from the place where I live.
05:16And it's a very fast, free place, picnic or playing badminton.
05:21I don't have to worry about what to do there, but I can just relax and take it easy and have an easy day there.
05:28Even though it's a busy city, but it somehow integrates the nature in a very beautiful way that I really admire.
05:36I like this place because it's nice to come to nature and connect and recharge.
05:42It's beautiful. I like walking around here and just unwind.
05:48Back in Hungary, I spent the summers in the weekend house closer to nature.
05:52So in Singapore, I also like to reconnect with nature every now and then.
05:57My favorite things about Botanic Gardens is to just walk around here,
06:01enjoying the quiet, peaceful environment.
06:04I usually just walk around and forget about everything.
06:07All those things that you usually think about, I think it helps you to recharge and give you a fresh start.
06:13Sometimes I think about how Singapore is only 60 years old.
06:17I look at Singapore as a baby country, but it still blows my mind how it can be so developed and so successful.
06:25I feel inspired.
06:26This is a story for me to always remember how things are possible
06:31because Singapore is the testimony that difficult things or almost impossible things can be done.
06:38Singapore has changed me and shaped me.
06:41I would still call myself a Hungarian at heart, but I did kind of grow up here mentally and emotionally.
06:50And what it means to be a Singaporean to me is that I can relate to the people in a way that I wasn't able to relate to when I was just a tourist.
07:00I understand the things they say and the things they don't say.
07:04Sometimes you can read the cues of people or even read their minds.
07:08And I like how I can relate to people with just one word or one of the Singlish expressions like alamak.
07:15And we don't need to over explain anything.
07:17Sometimes people say I sound Singaporean in text.
07:20I enjoy how I can connect with people through the language, the food and through our shared experiences here in Singapore.
07:26And that's what makes me a Singaporean I feel when I feel I belong here.
07:31I hope to grow more in my own individual journey.
07:36Get to know myself even better, grow as a person.
07:39I'm still figuring it out what I want to do next.
07:42Nevertheless, I'm in a good face now.
07:44And I think I'm just thankful for a lot of things that I have now.
07:49And I think I just need to continue what I've been doing.
07:52Yasmin, thank you for being here and meeting with a couple of our friends.
07:57My dear Singapore, thank you for doing this well.
08:02Thank you for doing this well.
08:03Thank you for your time and your happy feeling.
08:05Thank you for taking the whole life.
08:08Thank you for coming in.
08:10name, your love and how you do it.
08:13Thank you for giving me so much,
08:15I think I could speak more and more,
08:17but I would like to thank you for being able to speak more and more.
08:23And I would like to speak more and more,
08:25and I would like to speak more and more.
08:27There were some negative thoughts,
08:29which were the most important part of life,
08:31and I would like to develop a lot more good,
08:35and more, more important,
08:37and more important experiences.
08:39It was a different person,
08:41who I love,
08:42who I could learn,
08:44but the most important thing is that I have to meet with you on my own.
08:50I am proud to you, Shingapur, and I am proud to you,
08:54that you have such a unique relationship with you.
08:58Love you, Isabella.
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