US Embassy Tour

Yesterday morning I took a tour of the US Embassy organized by the American Women's Association. I went into the tour not knowing about the inner workings of an embassy, other than issuing passports and visas.

As expected, there's plenty of security there. We had to provide our passport information one week prior to the tour and bring them with us to enter. We had our cell phones and cameras confiscated upon arrival, along with my car key because I guess it's considered electronic now.

Our tour guide from the community liaison office showed us around the building. It's an imposing structure completed in 1996 that was designed to portray the strength of the US. In reality, it looks a bit more like a prison. All the building materials -- mostly granite and marble -- were brought piece by piece from the United States. Clearly it was not for cost reasons since anyone living in Singapore knows that marble is plentiful here. No, they brought it all from the homeland so they would not have to worry about listening devices being embedded in the building. I was surprised to learn that there currently is no US ambassador to Singapore. I guess it's not high on the list of appointments these days and I doubt the job would be a tough sell since it's such a nice place to live!

Once you get past the fact that you're technically standing on US soil in the middle of Singapore with pictures of President Obama and Hillary Clinton on the wall above you, it feels like a well-appointed government building. The tour was informative but I must admit that the workings of the US embassy remain mysterious to me even after a tour. There are about 100 officers working in the building and while they provide some assistance to expats, they also assist American companies who wish to do business in Singapore and seem to focus on supporting government employees stationed in Singapore.

The only office of interest to an expat like myself would be the Citizen Service Office that could help if I get into a precarious position over here. They can help find legal counsel, they will visit you if you end up in prison (and yes, there are Americans currently there). The guide insisted that in an emergency situation, we should contact the Singapore police initially and that they would know when to contact the embassy. It's nice they have faith in the locals, but I'd probably still be frantically yelling, "Take me to the US Embassy!"

At the conclusion of the tour, we visited the embassy gift shop where I purchased chewing gum for Megan and a coozy for Brian. While he generally feels that displaying anything American is a terrorist target, I figured his beer wouldn't mind. I was a little disappointed in the tour because there were no Marines in dress uniform standing outside and I didn't find any Fritos there :)

After the tour I registered our family with the embassy so now I'll receive travel alerts for the region and they have our contact information in case of an emergency. For international travelers out there, I learned that it's simple to register your travel with the State Dept by visiting http://www.travel.state.gov/. I wonder what advisories they would give about Singapore (leave your illegal drugs and chewing gum at home?)

I'm glad I toured the embassy and it's comforting to know it's there, just in case.