Sunspots

SINGAPORE--Went to my husband's family doctor because I had a raised mole that sprang up in just a couple weeks, on my arm. He took a look at it and asked, "Got any Irish ancestry?" I admitted to some. "Blue-eyed, lots of pigmentation..." He said it was sun damage and he cauterized that one and another one. Said I must use sunscreen and the best sunscreen is a long-sleeved shirt. If I sweat, it should be black. Good thing we're leaving Singapore soon. If I wear a black long-sleeved shirt here, I will die of heatstroke long before skin cancer becomes an issue. Luckily I was covering my sunburned neck with a scarf or I really would have got a scolding. (New short haircut.)

Went to a spa last month for a back treatment (still got acne problems, probably due to troubled skin--again the sun). They thought I was Chinese because of my name, so they gave me a Chinese therapist who didn't speak much English. Most Singaporean women don't take their husbands' names and my first name actually seems to be more common here than in the States. So you can see why they thought I'd be able to speak Hokkien or at least Mandarin. Now, the most common Chinese last name here is Tan. But that's my whole problem--I am not Tan! The therapist said, "Got a lot of pigmentation." I said, "I got a lot of sun growing up in California." She said, "Oh. How many son?"