Mood: Happy 
Drinking: Perrier Carbonated Mineral Water
Weather: 30°C, Clear
Location: Mont Fleuri, Mahe, Seychelles
I just got back from my mother’s place. I realize I actually visit my mother quite a bit and it’s priceless isn’t it, to not only have my mother still around when I’m 41 and she’s turning 68 soon, but to be able to actually visit her, talk to her, hang out with her. She went to town earlier this week to Sham Peng Tong Plaza to see if the vegan biscuits that I like were in stock, but unfortunately they were out. My mother is trying to cut down on food as well because she said people have been calling her “fat” so I told her to jump into the intermittent bandwagon but she said she keeps trying to skip breakfast but it’s been really difficult.
I like to ask my mother for things, anything that doesn’t cost much so that she understands that she is still very much needed and still very important in my life. I air fried some chips at her place. There is yet another superyacht that has docked at the marina, called “Anna” which is apparently the billionaire owner’s daughter.
I also ask my mother to run errands for me sometimes so today I asked her to help me submit a condo application form to the Ministry of Lands and Housing.
Housing
I have never applied for land nor housing here in Seychelles before. Now that I’m just a little more financially capable of financial commitment, I figure I’ll just give it a go. My mother will deliver the application form early next week. This was something she told me to do last year but I was hesitant, so I pushed it until this year.
There are 2 types of housing available for “graduates/professionals”: If you earn a salary between SCR 12,000 (US$ 860) to SCR 20,000 (US$ 1430) per month and nothing more, then you will qualify for a “mid-range” condo. The government-subsidized cost of a 2 bedroom mid-range condo is SCR 750k (US$ 53,571) while the 3 bedroom is SCR 850,000 (US$ 60,714). Prices may change in the future.
If your monthly salary is above SCR 20,000 (US$ 1430) per month you will qualify for the “condominium”. I expect this is the premium option. The current going rate for a government-subsidized 2 bedroom condominium is SCR 1.2 million (US$ 85,714) while the 3 bedroom is at SCR 1.5 million (US$ 107,142). Don’t be fooled by the USD equivalent, this amount is really not easy to pay off for your average Seychellois earning an “average” graduate salary level income. A fresh graduate in Seychelles will still typically earn about SCR 16,000 (US$ 1,142) – SCR 18,000 (US$1,285) and after 10 years of work they might not even earn SCR 30,000 (US$ 2,142) especially if they are working in the public sector. Doctors and lawyers will earn more of course, as well as employees in the banking and finance sectors (private companies). Earning a salary of SCR 40,000 (US$2,857) in Seychelles is already considered well above average.
The application also considers joint salaries for couples who are applying together, so if one person is earning SCR 10k and their partner is earning SCR 11k, their combined salary will be SCR 21k and I expect their application will be considered. Now, that is not the only requirement however, the applicant will have to provide proof of income through pay slips if requested, as well as proof of savings. What I’m worried about though is that the application form was obviously designed with the employee in mind. As a self-employed individual, my monthly income is that of my current business. Yes, I do give myself a salary, but this is internal, as my business is a partnership / firm and not a company. So it is not separate entity as a company would be. This means what I earn in a month is what my business earns in a month. That could be a good thing or a bad thing: the good is that I earn well above SCR 20k a month so I would most likely be able to afford paying off the condo. The bad is that I earn well above SCR 20k a month so they might feel as though I don’t deserve government-subsidized housing. There is also the matter of 1 person applying for a 3 bedroom, their perspective might be “why house 1 person who can afford to rent, when we can house a family of 4 still living with their parents and who are in a more desperate situation?”
Another requirement for applicants is that we have to commit to monthly contributions to the Home Savings Scheme. Basically, when they receive our application and they believe that we earn what we say we do, we have to commit to a monthly contribution to the Home Savings Scheme. You get to decide how much you want to pay every month, so in my application I set the amount to SCR 5000 (US$ 357) per month. I have to pay that amount every single month even if I am not actually living in the condo. To my knowledge, I have to pay that amount every month for as many years as I need to, and when they eventually give me the keys to my condo, will have to put in the amount I stated in my savings which I set to SCR 100,000 (US$ 7,142) to clear a portion of the total amount. They will then set a certain number of years in which I will have to complete payment of the entire condo, so let’s say 20 years, and that’s how we will get to the amount that I will be expected to pay per month until it’s paid off.
So let’s say I am paying SCR 5000 per month for 3 years and I finally get my condo keys after 3 years, I will then have to pay SCR 100,000 to clear a portion of the SCR 1.5m cost of the 3 bedroom condo. If they agree to give me 20 years to pay of the rest, then the amount I will have to pay per month for 20 years would be SCR 5,083.33 minimum.
This condo that I’m applying for is actually my backup plan. I would obviously prefer to live in a house with my pets running around freely in their spacious garden. The condo will usually not permit pets which doesn’t really work with me. But unfortunately, I’m already in my 40s and I am already getting to this point in my life where my backup plans need to be set in place just in case I need to use one of my lifelines. Applying for government-subsidized land or housing is an opportunity available to every single Seychellois, and you can only be assisted once. I don’t really ever plan on applying for land here because the ones that are available are sh*t at this point and will cost a lot to flatten + build on, not to mention how much time it will take for all that to happen correctly. So if I can ever afford land, it will have to be purchased from someone (privately-owned).
Here are a few links related to what I’m talking about:
- Why not a condominium? – Seychelles Nation, 07 May 2020
- Habitat Week New scheme launched to fill housing ‘gap’ – Seychelles Nation 04 October 2022
South Korea
My bff Christine who moved to Mauritius wants to go to South Korea around spring time next year and wants me to tag along. She’s estimated that she will need to save 5000 Euros for the 2-week trip, including the cost of the plane ticket. I was actually planning a trip with my twin sister to the US, but if I’m going to visit US of A, I will definitely want to go to New York and it seems as though it will still be freezing cold over there around April / May. Well, I’m checking the weather today and it says 15°C but they do have daily lows of 7°C. That’s the horrible thing about vacations – you plan your trip and if it just happens to be at a time when the weather is really bad, you will assume – possibly for the rest of your existence – that the weather in that area is always terrible. I really do feel bad for tourists who visit Seychelles when we’re having a rainy week. They will miss out on the proper island weather that they were expecting. So anyway, I will unfortunately have to prioritize the US trip because my sister and I planned it first. If that doesn’t fall through then South Korea it is! Although to be quite honest I’ve never really had an interest in visiting S.Korea. I’ve lived in Shanghai for so many years, which is practically neighbouring S.Korea and I did consider visiting Japan (for all the food) but not South Korea. I expect we will encounter language barriers, which is never pleasant. I told Christine that she better start learning Korean. She is obsessed about K drama, so I hope this obsession inspires her to learn a new language.
TIN
My sister called SRC for an update. They confirmed that they haven’t actually processed my application yet!
What do skinny people ACTUALLY eat every day??
I saw a post on Reddit where the OP asked “What do skinny people ACTUALLY eat every day??” and the responses reminded me of myself when I was in my 20s. I could eat anything and everything I wanted but I was still considered skinny, with a BMI of 18.6 for most of the decade. But my eating habits were definitely not the same as they were when I was chubby. Back then I remember people telling me that I was “lucky” because I was skinny and I didn’t have to worry about weight loss issues. But here’s the thing – I actually did watch my weight. I had a weight balance at my place and I would step on it daily. I had to make sure that I was 44Kgs. When people see a skinny person, they assume that the person is just lucky, without understanding the person’s lifestyle choices or efforts.
When I was in teens and 20s, I had a serious Coca Cola addiction. This was the only thing I needed for me to function normally. I didn’t care about food, as long as I had my fill of Coke. I think I only drank 2-3 cans a day, which would already be about 700 calories. I remember eating pre-packed meals from the nearby convenience store. I wouldn’t even be able to finish it because I wasn’t particularly interested in food. But I did eat chocolates, and they are about 200-300 calories per bar. So my daily caloric consumption was easily over 1000 calories a day on a typical day, and on days that I would order McDonalds or pizza, they would easily exceed 1500 calories. I remember the deal I made to myself was that if I exceed 44Kgs, I wasn’t allowed to eat until my weight went back down to 44Kgs.
As we age, our metabolism do slow down, so I can no longer eat the way I used to. The gratification that food provides to me is also much greater now as an older adult than when I was much younger. As I am on a journey to get back to “skinny”, here is what I had for lunch (and I also had the small portion of chips at my mother’s place):
For me, this change is definitely a sacrifice I make for both my health and to look better. When you look better, you feel better and there are also benefits to your mental health and general well-being. How can people say that skinny people are “lucky” when it is a daily sacrifice to be skinny, at least for many with the age-compromised metabolism rate? One person on that Reddit post made a comment that they wouldn’t even be able to eat just 2 cookies. I literally allow myself a maximum of 2 cookies. Portion control is learned behaviour, anyone with a sweet-tooth can literally keep eating cookies until the whole pack is done.
I’ve been watching Will & Grace and there are only 2 episodes left until I’m done. I’m about to go prepare dinner, which will be boiled edamame.