What is different...

I first came to Singapore in August 2008 for a short visit.  A lot has changed in Singapore as well as with me since that first visit so thought I'd reflect on a few of the changes...

~I have somehow become accustomed to the heat and humidity here.  Don't get me wrong...I still get super hot and sweaty when I'm out and about but not as quickly and not nearly as often.

~This city is always changing due to the massive amount of construction going on.  The enormous Marina Bay Sands was completed while I was here along with two major shopping centers just down from my house.  And just last week they tore down an old black and white row house across the street from my friend's house.  We'll see if whatever is going in there is done by the time I make my first return visit.

~I now know what 'real' Chinese food tastes like...and it is nothing like the Americanized version.

~I no longer think that a 5-6 hour flight is painfully long.

~I don't feel weird or out of place when I'm the only Westerner in a group of people.

~I can eat rice with chopsticks without making a huge mess.

~I am so much more familiar with non-Christian religions.  

~When crossing the road I am used to looking right for oncoming traffic instead of left.

~I now carry a camera just about everywhere I go because you never know what you are going to run across.

~I now know what a black spitting cobra looks like...and that they are poisonous.

~I can tell most Asian currencies just by looking at them.

~I am far more willing to try food that I no nothing about...is actually kind of fun...even if it tastes horrible.

Okay, so most of those things are about how I have changed and not Singapore.  I think it will be fun to come back for a visit in a year or so and see just how much has changed since I've been here.