Nothing makes you feel like an Amazon like a short mop

I'm settling in to the beautiful Singapore quite well and am of late rarely reminded of the fact that I am truly a foreigner here. Then, suddenly, I get a nice big slap in the face. Today, that came in the form of a mop.

A mop, you ask? Surely you must be kidding Stephanie - how can a silly little mop make you feel like a newbie all over again in your new home? Well, let me assure you that you heard it right - I did indeed say  mop. And here's how it went down...

I got up early this gorgeous Saturday morning and instead of heading to the pool like my recent Saturdays, I decided I was going to do a thorough spring cleaning of my apartment.  Sounds simple enough, right? So I head over to the little grocery store across the street, buy new cleaning supplies and a mop. I beebop my butt back home, turn on some jams and get to cleaning.

All started well. I have figured out what the Windex and Clorox cleaning equivalents are here, so no bumps in my cleaning routine so far.  I'm bobbing my head to Black and Yellow (I do enjoy a good thug moment in my day) and suddenly - BAM - I'm confronted yet again by the fact that I am an American living in a completely different country.  All because of my new mop.

Now, this mop looks like a normal mop. It's got the mop head, the squeezie arm thing and a long handle. Just like what I'm used to. Except this mop is very clearly not made for someone standing 5'9" in flip flops.  I'm scrubbing my floor bent over like the hag in Hansel and Gretel, pissed and saying silly things like "Oh, my aching back" like I'm 80 years old.  What the hell?? Then it hits me - I'm in Singapore. A country made up of 80% Asian people. And, in general, (just stating generalities here so don't get your panties in a wad) Asian people are shorter than Americans.  So of course it makes sense that mops are shorter, chairs make me look like I'm 7 feet tall with 5 foot legs, and people wear 5 inch heels on a regular basis.

Right, I get that intellectually. I really do. But, I still feel like a silly, tall American trying to mop my floor with a kid's toy.