xDD Oh god. The above convo sounds like almost every one I had when I went overseas. The only way for any one to vaguely recognise what a Singapore is if you somehow connect it to Australia/Indon. And even when they do, they seem to think it's a quaint island (instead of a concrete jungle with aircon everywhere) or still a pirate port ala Pirates of the Caribbean.

And your grandma's background kinda sounds like mine too. She was split up from her parents/siblings during the Japanese Occupation and was adopted by a Malay family even though she's Chinese. We managed to find her brother, actually, but she doesn't want to see him. ;_____;