4th of July and Being American

I realize this post is a little late, but oh well.

For the 4th of July, there is a group of Americans in Singapore that hold a big event each year. There is lots of BBQ, live music and fireworks. We went to it and had a lot of fun. The one scary thing was the fireworks. They were really really close to us and pieces of fireworks kept falling on us. I don't just means ashes either. Pieces about 1 square inch fell on people, including myself.

Overall, there has not been much reaction to us being American. Especially outside of Singapore, nobody over guesses we are American. People generally assume we are either British or Australian. I think I have met more Canadians than Americans while traveling. It really puts into perspective how little world traveling most Americans do. I know that after this trip I definitely have the travel bug and want to do a lot more (though I am also looking forward to eventually going home). It's now going to be my mission to convince all of my friends and family to do more world traveling with me ;-) The good thing about Asia is that other than the plane ticket here, everything is cheap!

The one place there was some reaction to us being American was in Bangkok. A few times after telling people we were from the US, they would say "Obama!!" and it was very clear they were big fans. You all know my personal feelings on this, but I figured that in the name of international diplomacy, I would not say anything.

For one of the taxi rides, it was myself, a guy whose parents are from Taiwan, and a guy whose father is from Nigeria. The driver was very very confused on how we all knew each other and could all be from the US. It made me realize that while we may not get out much, America really is still the melting pot of the world.