Clearly, you've never been to Singapore...

We arrived safely in Singapore last Thursday night around midnight our time. I had already forced my body to stay awak for most of the flights, so my body must have thought it was in pure "survival" mode when I finally allowed myself to rest. The next morning, we rode around with our guide to get SIM cards for our cell phones, bank accounts, bus passes and just to see the sights. It is a beautiful city - lots of friendly people, appetizing restaurants, and shopping that is fit for Rodeo Drive. While I am not interested in this type of shopping, (I like bargaining prices) it is still comforting to see brands of stores I know.

Notice how muggy it is at 12am!

All of the street signs are in English, the buses and MRT (subway) are pretty easy to use, and taxis are everywhere you look. I do miss my car - I hate paying to go to work and back, or go to run errands, but I do walk as much as I possibly can. It is very humid...and I am trying to be more Singaporean in my walking style. Us Americans power walk - and I am the queen of power walking - but when you powerwalk, you perspire very rapidly in this humidity. I actually talked to someone who lived in Houston and said that it was worse than here (most Texans know what I mean!), but all I know is now an expectation of mine to sweat whenever I go outside.

Busy street in Singapore - I love the tropical jungle beside the road!

The air conditioning in stores and in public transportation is very good, but it makes it hard to dress for the "weather" when there are only two seasons - inside (cold) and outside (hot)! I have to bring a sweater with me to work, but I get a good workout just walking 8 minutes to the bus each morning.

I have also successfully worn blisters into my feet in all of the necessary places in the first 3 days! I didn't realize that closed toe shoes are near impractical when it comes to walking ouside all day. I knew my feet would expand, but in the States, I spend enough time in the air conditioning and in cooler weather that my feet shrink back down. I didn't realize how pampered my feet were in tennis shoes until I started trying to look more like the locals (no one wears tennis shoes) and then found out the hard way that I had lost my old calouses. My feet have now successfully healed, but that was definitely a lesson learned the hard way!

Overall, Singapore is a vibrant city with lots of great dining and shopping options and lots of beautiful outdoor nature areas to explore. I am enjoying my time here so far and look forward to the next 6 months! I will put pictures up later to show the place where I live and the cool sights around the city!

My apartment kitchen & living room

To see more pictures on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2380195&id=11832762&l=adfd265daf