Asia 101

It has now been a week since I left America for Singapore, and even though I have not been in this country for too long I have already learned a ton about the culture.

I have discovered that:

1. Hello Kitty is supreme In Asia you can find Hello Kitty stuff EVERYWHERE. I bought a box of Fruit Loops and a Hello Kitty figurine fell out with the cereal.

2. Asian deodorant HAS to be a different breed than the American stuff. Singapore is literally a sauna, and my wimpy American deodorant is not combating the heat very well-and I'm from Texas!

3. Asians do not use a fork and a knife, instead they use a fork and a spoon. They use the fork to put the food on the spoon, so the spoon is the main feeding utensil. I forget this every time I eat and only use the fork, my bad.

 4. Cross walks here are called Zebra crossings due to the white stripes on the black pavement.

5. You cannot wear your shoes inside the houses here. All shoes are left on shelves outside the front door. I have made the mistake of taking shoes out of my suitcase, putting them on, and walking down the stairs with them-awkward.

6. Most of the citizens of Singapore live in public housing. Only about 20% of the population lives in private estates. The family I am staying with falls into the private housing sector.

7. Taylor Swift appeals to everyone. I sing her songs with the girls at school and they know the lyrics  better than I do.

8. Cars drive on the opposite side of the road here, and the steering wheel is on the opposite side as well.

9. Asian sitcoms are super awkward, consisting of really bad lighting and even worse acting.

10. Wasting food is a huge "no-no". Leaving food on your plate is highly frowned upon, in fact, at the school where I work all of the girls must show their empty bowls to the teachers before being excused from the table. If there is only one grain of rice left the bowl is not considered empty. This little rule has been my worst enemy since I am not loving the food here.

I am sure I will continue to learn more as time goes on, as for now, I am about to go to bed. Tonight I went out with the students from the program and we swapped stories about our jobs/host families/experiences and it was a lot of fun. I managed to get to dinner and home without any problems. I did ask a few people for help and they were more than willing to assist me!