ReNe: traffic direction

At a BBQ last night, someone asked, "So what's the biggest culture shock so far?"

Both Mike and I were quick to think of the same thing -- the traffic direction. Vehicles in the US drive on the right-hand side of the road, while vehicles in Singapore follow the British system, which is the opposite. It was particularly notable for us since we used to ride back in Singapore and so it's rather disconcerting for us. For the first few days especially, whenever we sat in a vehicle and that vehicle made a turn, we kept having this nagging feeling that it was *wrong*, that the we should be turning into the *other* lane....

Oddly enough, right-hand driving aside, there wasn't a huge culture shock. Or maybe not yet. Or maybe I'm just numb myself because there are too many things new and happening, and the shockable part of my brain has already short-circuited.

Perhaps it's because the language is familiar. While the food here isn't our idea of comfort fare, it isn't terribly exotic either. In contrast, while we were in Japan, or Thailand, though the food and many customs were similar to what we are used to, continually hearing a foreign language constantly reinforces the fact that we're in a foreign country.

Or perhaps American culture has invaded the rest of the world to that extent.

So we're getting used to the vehicle direction and I'm still bracing for culture shock.