Coming home to Singapore provided some reverse culture shock. As quickly as my skin grew more accustomed to the Singapore sun, my ears also gradually got used to the Singlish permeating public space. Which is to say, not very quickly.

It’s not so much that people occasionally speak loudly to me because they think that in doing so I’ll understand them better. It’s more that they don’t understand that even if I didn’t know a word of English, the volume of their voice makes zero impact on my comprehension.

The undertone of my skin is yellow, and always has been. I have not been a person to look deeper, to let my natural skin color speak. It wasn’t until later in life that I learned to understand, to look on other levels. I grew up in a suburban Southern state in America.