Stephy J Singapore: A year in Singapore...

Wow! I can't believe it...I am about to celebrate a year in Singapore. Where has the time gone? It feels just like yesterday that I moved to Asia!
But what an amazing year it has been! Incredible! Life changing! I know 30 years from now, I will still talk about this time I got to live in Singapore and what an amazing opportunity it was for me and my life!
Since I don't get a chance to spend as much time keeping up with everyone as I would like to, I thought I would recap the year with some highlights!

New job - I love it! Every day I am still learning but love the team I get to lead here. The best part of my day is getting a call or IM from the team asking a question or needing help. Working with people from so many cultures has been life changing for me...but getting to work with more great John Deere employees makes me even more proud to work at John Deere. No matter where you are in the world, John Deere employees and customers are all the same - they are great!
I am so lucky to have this opportunity. I hope I am working hard enough to have deserved this.

New countries - as you know I love traveling...but in this opportunity I have been to so many new countries and places trying new foods and meeting new people. I have been to 5 of the 7 continents this year already. I will hit the 6th in August. Just need to get to Antarctica before the end of the year!
Here are some highlights:
- Hiking the Great Wall in China. We learn about it in school but getting to see it and spend the day hiking it didn't seem real.
- Seeing the Taj Mahal - one of the 7 wonders of the world!
- Kayaking in Thailand with 7 of my peeps. How lucky am I to have had so many friends visit me already in Singapore. Some have been here twice and the rest are coming back in 2012 to hike to the Everest Base Camp with me :)
- Cycle Safari in Cape Town - one of the most beautiful places I have been to
- Skiing in Dubai at the indoor ski slope
- Cruising in Halong Bay -Vietnam is incredible!
- Spending the Christmas Holiday biking and snorkeling in Bali - will do this again next year. Too perfect! I have been to Bali 3 times already. So lucky to have such wonderful friends!
- Ringing in the New Year in Malaysia with her peeps
- Running a marathon in Taipei, Taiwan even though I couldn't read the mile markers!
- Seeing the wild elephants in Sri Lanka
- Quick stops in Japan, Korea, and Philippines to roundout some of the Asian countries
- Also got to spend a little time back in the USA. The Johnson Family Cruise was a blast! I loved getting to spend time with the family! Got to go skiing in the Alps with my big brother Brian - needs to be an annual trip! Also spent a week in Hawaii with her peeps - what a great trip. Think we need to make Hawaii the next family vacation!

New city - Singapore is amazing! It's a large city that tries hard to make everything perfect and easy. Which I enjoy. I love my apartment and my view of the downtown. city. Every night the laser light show starts and I think how lucky I am to be living in SouthEast Asia.

I do miss my family and friends - so please come visit me! I am looking forward to my visit back to the USA in July to see my NC peeps in the mountains, family, and weekend in Napa with my college peeps.
But I am have been lucky to have a great group of peeps here in Singapore to make the transition really easy! In fact I am going to have a hard time leaving. Having skype and facetime is great to keep in touch with the family and friends. Please skype with me anytime. I love to talk with everyone especially in English!

I will continue to enjoy my job and travel the Asia and Africa in the next year. Upcoming trips include the cheering on USA at the 2012 London Olympics, skiing in New Zealand, camping in the desert in Mongolia, hiking to the Base Camp of Everest, seeing the Ankor Wat in Cambodia, and running the Cape Town Marathon.

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures!

Singapore