Singapore

It is 5:17 am and sitting in the Singapore airport for at least another 5 hours. I am definitely in Asia. It feels weird standing out like a sore thumb in a country that is predominately Asian. The countries I have been to: Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, at least I don’t stick out until I open up my mouth. Here, everywhere I walk, I stick out. Welcome to Asia! I would actually love to come back to this place and visit it. It looks beautiful, hot, and tropical. Plus, there is a universal studios here—my kind of place! First thing I do when I roll into Asia for the first time, get McDonald’s. Typical American. We saw the big yellow arches—a universal symbol that no matter where you are, when you see that sign, it feels like home. So I get McDonalds and go to sit down in a row of seats. I’m sitting down sipping on my iced latte when this lady directly in front of me (facing me) starts to fall down. At first, I thought she was just asleep and doing the whole head bob shindig, but then I saw her twitch and I knew that she was definitely not just sleeping. This lady was having a mini seizure/heart attack (whatever it was) in front of me and for the first time in my life I got this whole “oh shit, what do I do” feeling. I am in a foreign country, I do not have a cell phone, and even if I did have a cell phone, what is the number for 911 in Singapore!? (Side note, there should be a universal 911 number! In NZ it is 111 and in AU it is 000. And now for a life lesson: every new place you go, make sure you know the emergency number!) The people the lady was with called medical and we went to go find medical. No one really reacted around this lady because I don’t think anyone knew what to do. Security called for backup meanwhile, we got her to sit up and be conscious. Medical did not come for another 10 minutes. I am definitely not in America anymore. First experience of hardcore culture shock and I am not even in Thailand yet, I am  just in the airport. If this is any indication of how the rest of this trip is going to be, I am definitely in for an interesting ride.