Tobias Rettig

I have been in Singapore since 2004 (my first brief visa renewing visit was in 1995 when, deeply impressed by people in the MRT, I thought I could never live here) and now it’s already five years and running. I first briefly worked at the Asia-Europe Foundation, then completed and defended my Ph.D., followed by freelancing for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and eventually starting out at SMU: first as an Adjunct Faculty, then as a Practice Track, and now as a Tenure Track Faculty.

Among the most happy/moving/joyful moments in Singapore were my wedding (in the old Parliament) and the birth of our son Thomas Kai-Ren, and among the most scary ones were earthquake tremors swaying our building and the three or four taxi drivers who briefly dozed off while driving at 80km on the ECP.

In my free time, I enjoy the semi-stray cats on my estate, the wonderfully swift and agile swallows that come on visit twice per year, playing with my son, gossiping about the news with my wife, studying the organizational and spiritual spaces that taxi drivers create within their cars, attending church services on Sundays, getting a good work-out at least once per week in the conveniently located SMU gym, following sports (e.g. NBA, swimming; doping, corruption) and celebrating or suffering with my home team, Bayern Munich.