S/O: If you've gone to another country other than the U.S. what

[Lily_Grace]

Seeing these in a 1st world country:

 

 

 

Those still throw me for a loop and in some areas are the only option.

[LostSurprise]

Japan~

 

How a country could have a western toilet that was so complicated I couldn't figure out how to flush it without turning on the shower AND have eastern toilets (pretty much a hole in the ground).

 

How many college age students want to try their English out on you. Most people would prefer you don't speak Japanese (from politeness or to keep you from massacring the language).

 

Compliments can be unexpected and sometimes overwhelming to people. They don't understand why you would do it. Physical compliments (girl to girl) would unnerve some girls or make them cry (something simple in the US like "you look pretty today").

 

I loved sleeping on a mat on the floor. It was very comfortable. I loved the efficiency of small Japanese homes. The train system was wonderful and I liked some of the streets just for pedestrians in the shopping districts.

 

Seeing 50 pairs of cheap orange slippers lined up in the entryway of a church.

Seeing a gigantic pile of shoes piled all over the floor (and no slippers) after we went in.

 

Public baths/nudity in public baths.

 

Corporate-friend culture.

 

Always having the feeling that you were 2 steps (or more) behind what people really thought about you or the situation.

 

People flying to Hong Kong because its cheaper to shop there.

 

Hong Kong (mid-90s before the changeover)~

 

Seeing hundreds of Filipino women standing in the square downtown because they are housekeepers/maids who have Sunday afternoon off and have no where else to go. Everyone standing/talking, no where to sit.

 

Immensely tall buildings next to rice paddies and shacks. Buildings being built everywhere..each covered with green netting (for climbing?).

 

The need to carry toilet paper everywhere with you. Ditto water. Even McDonald's does not have a clean toilet (or even necessarily a western toilet).

 

Limited trash pick up.

 

Tiny, tiny shops in small alley-like streets. People hanging around by their front doors.

 

If your order from that little restaurant without a sign they might kill a chicken right there...or you may have something from 2 days ago.

 

Philippines~

 

Everyone is so friendly. Great senses of humor. Talkative. Lots of singing. Invitations. Laughter.

 

Jeepneys (kind of a taxi that's open in the back). Being told girls can't ride off the back of them and doing that on my way to the airport.

 

Cockfights.

 

Open churches. The walls are more like shutters. Bats in the baptistery, dogs in the aisle, lizards on the wall.

 

People doing well often have servants who are their relatives. And they might live in the garage.

 

Being told, at 21, that I looked *exactly* like Meryl Streep (who was 50).

 

Being stared at to the point of being surrounded by a crowd we couldn't move through ("don't worry, they're from up in the mountains"), although I was walking with my best friend who is African-American. I'm not sure which of us they found more unusual.

 

Even if you have several college degrees, it might be difficult to find a job. Getting education is easy (for a certain class at least), getting a job is hard. Many of these educated Filipinos wanted to come to the US and spoke great English.

 

Elvis is alive and lives in Iloilo.

 

 

 

Most of all I learned how close great wealth and technology and great hunger and poverty can live. It was an eye-opening experience I will never forget. I did not know how to react to what I was seeing.

[mommaduck]

I went to Thessaloniki, Greece last summer. The thing that struck me (and I know it is stupid and I should have expected it) was that the graffiti used the Greek alphabet. It just looked so much more intellectual than graffiti around here.

 

Other things--not a lot of chain stores or restaurants, more specialty book stores, lots of small restaurants, lots of people smoking everywhere, people parking in crazy small parking places on the street, lots of people walking, seeing Orthodox Priests on the streets

I dream of visiting Greece. So many in our parish go every year or every other year! (of course many of them have family there; we don't since we aren't Greek) I hope my children at least get the opportunity. They've been learning the language (this year they had funny "tourist" quips they had to say at the Greek School program...one of my sons knows how to compliment a cute chick on a beach :lol: The girls were given lines on ordering a gyro and shopping). I tell them they have to learn Greek in case they ever have to write their MIL :D

[Jean in Newcastle]

 

Elvis is alive and lives in Iloilo.

 

 

:lol:

[Ibbygirl]

Seeing these in a 1st world country:

 

 

 

Those still throw me for a loop and in some areas are the only option.

 

:001_huh: Is that a bench on one end? Wha??? That would totally throw me too. I've never seen that before. lol

[Ibbygirl]

-we were once in a car accident where a car hit us and disintegrated; the police took a broom and dustpan out of the back of their police car and made the other driver sweep the car bits of the road

 

Okay I'm trying to picture this and i just can't. lol Can you elaborate Mrs. Mungo? I'm fascinated. How can a car disintegrate? How could a car capable of disintegration be road safe? Which country was this?

[LostSurprise]

I was always amused by the great traction/footholds they have on eastern toilets in Japan...sort of like blocks for a foot race.

 

I wasn't sure what level of activity they expected of me. ;)

[Ibbygirl]

I was always amused by the great traction/footholds they have on eastern toilets in Japan...sort of like blocks for a foot race.

 

I wasn't sure what level of activity they expected of me. ;)

 

:lol::lol::lol:

[sewingmama]

South Korea

 

Having to put the toilet paper in a little bin next to the toilet because the plumbing was so ancient it couldn't handle it.

 

The smog - I developed adult onset asthma after living there for a year

 

The lack of personal space - if you went to a poular shopping centre you couldn't actually take full steps - you had to shuffle along or bump into the people all around you. People were always pushing, bumping , touching us -it gets really annoying quickly.

 

The lack of English - for a country where everyone puts their child in English classes from the age of two they are pretty useless at speaking it. Korean is very hard to learn and even if you do they will not respond to you because they don't like white people to speak Korean for whatever reason. It makes it hard to get around, pay your bills etc etc.

 

The late bedtimes of the children - business/work/school usually ends around 10pm - that is when families then go out to eat - it was wierd to see little children eating out at 10pm or in the streets still.

 

The ajummas (older women) were pretty rude and bossy. They used to ram their shopping trolley into my heels to make me go faster at the checkout and then look away and pretend it was an accident (yeah an accident that happended 2-3 times every shopping trip) :glare: They also push in front of you if you are waiting in line - seniority you know)

 

No dairy for sale or it was very expensive -most Asians are lactose intolerant.

 

The cost of rice -I thought that seeing as it was a staple it would be cheaper but I guess they have to import or they are taking advantage and gouging because they can :lol:

 

The shops would close if they ran out of food. We went to Burger King once and were told we couldn't order a burger because they were sold out :001_huh: but we could still buy fries if we wanted :lol: DH and I still laugh about that - it has never crossed my mind in Australia that a burger place would run out of burgers -it just doesn't happen.

 

Spitting on the sidewalks -everyone does it - I would never wear my shoes in the house even if it wasn't a tradition.

 

Having to take my shoes off everywhere -even in the workplace you had to wear little paper slippers.

 

Horribly crowded subways.

 

People following you everywhere in the shops to see what you are buying.

 

Not being able to drink the tap water - too many heavy metals in it from the ancient plumbing and piping.

 

The terrible,terrible conditions of their zoos (Koreans are not animal lovers).

 

I think the most suprising thing was how terribly racist they can be. Some of the things they said about other cultures shocked me -I didn't know people thought like that any more. Their biggest targets seemed to be Africans, the Japanese and (less so) Americans. I guess it comes from being so insulated and not a multi-cultural country. Most people in Western countries would never dare say such things outloud even if they did privately think them . I guess I wasn't used to hearing that sort of thing so freely and in public and in front of other people.

 

Canada

I find Australia and Canada to be quite similar (well except for the weather). The only thing I found different is how talky everyone is :lol: My ears just about bled from all the chatter - Australians are a pretty quiet bunch in comparison.

 

Also I assumed since they spoke English they would be easy to understand. I didn't take into account that communication and language also involves context, culture and common terms LOL. So many times I would be listening to a person and I'd be thinking "I know all the words you are saying but I can't understand what you are talking about"

 

I guess that's what it means when people say being able to decode doesn't mean you understand what you are reading :lol:

[LibraryLover]

:001_huh: Is that a bench on one end? Wha??? That would totally throw me too. I've never seen that before. lol

 

 

My issue is the walls. Whose hands have touched what? You do need some leg/glute muscle. And then hot water and soap.

 

Squatting is better, biologically, but I love sitting. ;)

 

Who talked about the scant water in European toilets? That was interesting...also the shape of the bowls. There's a little ledge (for lack of a better word), so you can have a good look at your stool before you flush. You know, there is something you might want to see first.

Edited August 2, 2012 by LibraryLover

[Lily_Grace]

:001_huh: Is that a bench on one end? Wha??? That would totally throw me too. I've never seen that before. lol

 

Nope, no bench. The walls are about 4ft apart, and usually wet since the toilets just get hosed down when they get cleaned. We don't touch them. :lol:

 

It's called a Turkish toilet, and while they're better for you, they're not something I like to attempt. It's even worse traveling with little ones.

[Sparkle]

Bermuda - how polite and friendly all the locals were, and how "British" it was. Also, there were really strong winds while we were there, and I felt like I was in a hurricane...the locals were just like, "This? This is nothing!" :001_huh:

 

London - no trash cans anywhere in public (due to fear of bombs), so having to carry my trash with me until I got home. Visiting Tesco and expecting to buy ordinary things like potatoes or onions, and them not having any. They might have some tomorrow, or they might not. And seeing foods labeled as "California style --" or "Texas style --" that had absolutely no relation to those states :D Public transportation that was amazingly efficient and convenient. Oh, I wish we had that here.

 

Amsterdam - an aisle of sprinkles in the grocery store. I still don't get the whole sprinkles obsession, but obviously they are very popular there. The street urinals (little metal spiral cages for men to do their business in). No ice served in drinks. Buying things like toothpaste and shampoo, and hoping that's what I was getting since I couldn't read the labels! Also, one restaurant we went to had only a Dutch menu, and the waiter spoke no English, so we had to guess what the dishes were. But everything we ended up ordering was delicious.

 

Paris - guards with guns in front of some buildings (scary). No band-aids in the drugstores/pharmacies. Buying take-out food from a deli-type restaurant and realizing afterwards that it was cold. Luckily we had a microwave to warm it up. How beautiful it was, and that the light/atmosphere felt so different and romantic to me.

[Ibbygirl]

The shops would close if they ran out of food. We went to Burger King once and were told we couldn't order a burger because they were sold out :001_huh: but we could still buy fries if we wanted DH and I still laugh about that - it has never crossed my mind in Australia that a burger place would run out of burgers -it just doesn't happen.

Ah you reminded me with the hamburgers! When I was in Europe there were lines all around the building to get into McDonalds. :001_huh: I was like wha?? That really surprised me considering how good their own street food is. Pomme frittes sp? are yummy! I ate in McDonalds in Holland and also in Austria and both places had lines around the corner, but their hambugers tasted so weird! Nothing like the hamburgers here at home. The meat was totally different and very bland. The french fries were great though. They have really good potatoes in Europe. :p

 

Canada

I find Australia and Canada to be quite similar (well except for the weather). The only thing I found different is how talky everyone is :lol: My ears just about bled from all the chatter - Australians are a pretty quiet bunch in comparison.

:lol: I've never been to Canada and didn't realize they were so chatty. hehehe I'm Cuban/Spanish though and we can do some serious talking in my family too. I wonder what your reaction would be to one of our family dinners where 25-30 people are all talking at the same time and each one getting louder and louder so they can be heard and all the while switching continuously (sometimes in the middle of a sentence) between Spanish and English. :p

 

Also I assumed since they spoke English they would be easy to understand. I didn't take into account that communication and language also involves context, culture and common terms LOL. So many times I would be listening to a person and I'd be thinking "I know all the words you are saying but I can't understand what you are talking about"

 

I guess that's what it means when people say being able to decode doesn't mean you understand what you are reading

 

LOL I go through this with Rosie. She and I PM back and forth all the time and there have been quite a few times where I've said that very same thing to her. hehehehe I told her I need an Australian-American dictionary. :p

 

My issue is the walls. Whose hands have touched what? You do need some leg/glute muscle. And then hot water and soap.

I don't even want to think about it! No you can't make me. Thank God for Western toilets. :lol:

[Ibbygirl]

Nope, no bench. The walls are about 4ft apart, and usually wet since the toilets just get hosed down when they get cleaned. We don't touch them. :lol:

 

It's called a Turkish toilet, and while they're better for you, they're not something I like to attempt. It's even worse traveling with little ones.

 

:ohmy: I can imagine! I'm so glad I never encountered that where I was in Europe.

 

Oh, I thought of a couple more. I found out (the hard way) that a bathroom in Europe is literally a bath room. The hotel I stayed in in Amsterdam was more like a big house and the rooms were just for sleeping in. There were no toilets or showers or anything in there. I asked the owner where the bathroom was and he pointed out the room to me. When I got there the door was locked since someone was in there. I was outside doing my pee pee dance hoping I could hold it. I stood outside waiting for 10 minutes just dying and thinking about how nuclear it was going to be in there by the time that guy finally came out and when he finally opened the door a big cloud of steam comes out of the room with him and his hair was all wet. I walk in there and it's literally a bath room with a tub and a shower head. I ran back to the owner of the hotel and I was like, "where is the toilet." and he's like "oh the water closet? It's there." After that i was a pro about asking where the WC was. :lol:

 

The other things were some of the cars were teeny tiny. I have a picture of me somewhere standing next to this car I saw in Bavaria. It looked like a little toy. :p hehe

[Liz CA]

In Sicily, I came across toilets where there were two footprints on the floor and a hole in the ground, no toilet bowl, BUT paper if I recall correctly.

When I got home I told my grandma knowing I'd get a reaction out of her and she shook her head for the remainder of the day and later besieged my mother not to let me travel to such uncivilized places. :D

[Jean in Newcastle]

I thought of one more. Picking up some "American style corn bread" in Japan and finding that it is white bread with kernels of corn in it!

[Mrs Mungo]

Okay I'm trying to picture this and i just can't. lol Can you elaborate Mrs. Mungo? I'm fascinated. How can a car disintegrate? How could a car capable of disintegration be road safe? Which country was this?

 

"Disintigrated" is a bit of hyperbole, lol.

 

So, we were driving down a 2 lane road in Germany. It was raining. The speed limit was 80. There was a sudden traffic light in the middle of nowhere. The car in front of us managed to stop. We *barely* stopped. The guy behind us slammed into us, then we hit the car in front of us. The guy in front of us was in an Audi, his taillight cracked. We were in a Honda Accord, nothing really happened to our car. But, the guy behind us was in an older model little junker car. Bits of it were scattered all over the road. And the Polezei made him sweep up the broken headlights, bits of bumper, etc.

[Liz CA]

Depends on the country. Germany is kind of known for expecting kids to act like little adults.

 

Things have to be ueber-tidy and children are usually not known for keeping anything tidy for long. :D A friend of mine lived there while her kids were little and she got the evil eye a lot for letting them do things German kids couldn't do, i.e crossing the perfectly manicured green lawn of a public area.

When I lived there, it was in the country and things were far more relaxed.

[Lily_Grace]

I thought of one more. Picking up some "American style corn bread" in Japan and finding that it is white bread with kernels of corn in it!

 

American pizza in Portugal had fried eggs, carrots, peas, and french fries on top. :lol:

 

I'll have to write a blog post about my daily routines someday. Setting the dryer involves emptying the water cache and cleaning the two filters. Turning on the stove is a two step process.

[Ibbygirl]

I thought of one more. Picking up some "American style corn bread" in Japan and finding that it is white bread with kernels of corn in it!

:lol::lol:

"Disintigrated" is a bit of hyperbole, lol.

hehehehe I'm glad to hear it. I was trying to picture how a car could disintegrate and I kept getting a mental image of a car made of ash for some reason. :lol:

 

So, we were driving down a 2 lane road in Germany. It was raining. The speed limit was 80. There was a sudden traffic light in the middle of nowhere. The car in front of us managed to stop. We *barely* stopped. The guy behind us slammed into us, then we hit the car in front of us. The guy in front of us was in an Audi, his taillight cracked. We were in a Honda Accord, nothing really happened to our car. But, the guy behind us was in an older model little junker car. Bits of it were scattered all over the road. And the Polezei made him sweep up the broken headlights, bits of bumper, etc.

 

Oh no! hehehehe Was it one of those Communist bloq cars? I saw several of them when I was in Germany from Yugoslavia and especially when I was in Berlin. Man, I love Audis and driving on the Autobahn too. Fun! That road was awesome and so immaculately maintained. Germany has some really nice cars. :)

[Mrs Mungo]

Who talked about the scant water in European toilets? That was interesting...also the shape of the bowls. There's a little ledge (for lack of a better word), so you can have a good look at your stool before you flush. You know, there is something you might want to see first.

 

When we moved back to the US, my kids were constantly getting wet due to hanging their bottoms in the toilets! They were not accustomed to that much water in the toilet.

 

I thought of one more. Picking up some "American style corn bread" in Japan and finding that it is white bread with kernels of corn in it!

 

In Egypt we ordered a "Deluxe American Burger." It was two tiny hamburger patties with fried eggs and a slice of tomato on top. :confused:

[Ibbygirl]

Things have to be ueber-tidy and children are usually not known for keeping anything tidy for long. :D A friend of mine lived there while her kids were little and she got the evil eye a lot for letting them do things German kids couldn't do, i.e crossing the perfectly manicured green lawn of a public area.

When I lived there, it was in the country and things were far more relaxed.

 

West Germans were amazing to me at how quietly they can speak. When I was in Stuttgart I was eating in a restaurant there and the tables were a lot nearer the table next to it than they are in America. Maybe only 2 feet apart? The restaurant was full and yet I couldn't hear ANYONE's conversation. It was amazing! lol They were all talking, but they just had this ability to talk so softly you just couldn't hear them. I was trying to whisper, because I'm just naturally loud and can't speak softly and I was even whispering louder than they were talking, but I didn't know how to whisper any quieter. People kept giving me looks. They've got some skillz! :lol:

 

American pizza in Portugal had fried eggs, carrots, peas, and french fries on top. :lol:

 

 

:lol::lol:

[LibraryLover]

When we moved back to the US, my kids were constantly getting wet due to hanging their bottoms in the toilets! They were not accustomed to that much water in the toilet.

 

 

It's the yellowed 'ledge' that always has me wondering. What are people hoping to see before they flush?

Edited August 2, 2012 by LibraryLover

[Ibbygirl]

In Egypt we ordered a "Deluxe American Burger." It was two tiny hamburger patties with fried eggs and a slice of tomato on top. :confused:

 

:lol::lol: Oh my! hehe I give up on eating American food over seas. I was just curious about eating in the McDonalds because I just couldn't believe how people were so crazy for it. I was all like, "ewww. It's McDonalds" I wonder what they would do if they had a Hardees. :D

 

I thought of some other ones from my husband's country. In the Dominican Republic they call Burger King "King Burger" because the word "king" has a bigger font. lol They give you rum when you arrive in the Airport in Santo Domingo. They serve Barcelo on one side of the airport and Brugal on the other. I had both! :D :cheers2:

 

The food in the D.R. is sooooooooooooo goooooooood. Oh my gosh, it's so simple, but so delicious. I tell my father in law all the time that we need to go into business and open a Pica Pollo here in the States. We'd be millionaires! :p

[Mrs Mungo]

:lol::lol: Oh my! hehe I give up on eating American food over seas.

 

Well, my sister had been really sick the day before, so we thought it would help. The bunless fried egg burger did not do much for her appetite, lol!

[Ibbygirl]

Well, my sister had been really sick the day before, so we thought it would help. The bunless fried egg burger did not do much for her appetite, lol!

 

:lol::lol::lol: I imagine not! :p

[rieshy]

When we moved to Canada in 1979 I still remember the shock of buying our milk in plastic bags and being able to point at a crosswalk on a busy street and have all the traffic stop.

 

When we moved to Austria in the early 80's I was so charmed by the country that at first nothing shocked me. However eating freshly "hunted" mushrooms at friend's houses was certainly exotic. The only jarringly unpleasant shock was going to buy a bra (at age 15) and having an older woman suddenly step into my dressing room in order to measure my cupsize with her hands! I thought my mother would die laughing when she tried to relate to my father how surprised we had both been.

[Ibbygirl]

When we moved to Canada in 1979 I still remember the shock of buying our milk in plastic bags and being able to point at a crosswalk on a busy street and have all the traffic stop.

Oooooh I like that!! A person with my sense of humor could have serious fun with that kind of power! bwahahahahaha. :D

 

When we moved to Austria in the early 80's I was so charmed by the country that at first nothing shocked me. However eating freshly "hunted" mushrooms at friend's houses was certainly exotic. The only jarringly unpleasant shock was going to buy a bra (at age 15) and having an older woman suddenly step into my dressing room in order to measure my cupsize with her hands! I thought my mother would die laughing when she tried to relate to my father how surprised we had both been.

 

:ohmy: hehehehehehe That must have been jarring. Austria is a gorgeous country! I was surprised at how varied the landscape is there too considering it's size. I remember my friend's mom when she met me said that I was a good one because I had birthing hips. :lol:

 

I stayed with a family for 3 weeks there in Austria and I swear everything I ate over there gave me a stomach ache. I had never eaten that strong stinky cheese they have and it burned a hole in my stomach (or at least that's what it felt like). Pig fat spread on bread with slices of raw garlic?? Just. no.

 

They all kept telling me to drink Schnapps for the stomach ache. After every meal I had an upset tummy and they were all like, "drink Schnapps". Then I was just drunk with a belly ache. lol I did go out to eat one night to this pizza place and I swear it was probably one of the best pizzas I've ever had in my life! I don't know if it was just that I was so hungry because I just couldn't eat that other food or what, but it was really really good! hehehehe

[Amy1k]

I spent a month in England living in my father's rented cottage outside of Cambridge. I was shocked by how difficult it was for me to understand the language. I spent my time with locals and also at the hospital where I visited with people from all over the country...oh and a family from Wales...good golly. I was completely unprepared. I assumed we'd all be speaking the same language. ;)

 

I was also surprised by how difficult ordering a glass of water was...still, with ice...which was not always available. I once asked a woman if she would direct me to a drinking fountain and she laughed and commented that, "Americans are always so thirsty!" apparently drinking fountains are uncommon there. :laugh:

[Ibbygirl]

 

I was also surprised by how difficult ordering a glass of water was...still, with ice...which was not always available. I once asked a woman if she would direct me to a drinking fountain and she laughed and commented that, "Americans are always so thirsty!" apparently drinking fountains are uncommon there. :laugh:

 

:lol::lol::lol: That's so cute. I remember that too when I was in Austria. They used to laugh at me because I would always drink water. They drank beer or apple juice or Schnapps, but they never ever just drank a glass of water and they got a kick out of me always having a glass of water by me. :p

[lailasmum]

Prague

 

-was shocked at all the bullet holes in the buildings.

 

- shocked by the pizza restaurant that turned into a strip club at 6pm.

 

- There was obvious poverty. We were in a slightly run down hotel away from the centre of town and it was obvious how poor people were in the housing around the hotel. There was a supermarket near our hotel and I remember thinking how little of everything there was.

 

-Nice food and beer. Lots of nice restaurants but some things like orange juice were really expensive and we seemed to be given higher bills just for being tourists. Very good steaks.

 

-Very beautiful winding streets.

 

Sweden

 

-The younger people were really friendly but the older generation much less so.

 

-Everyone spoke really good English.

 

-The shops kept really odd hours and everything seemed to close really early, it was really hard to get what we needed.

 

- Stockholm seemed to close down really early and we struggled to find places to go in the evening.

 

-Everything was super clean and well designed.

 

- Bad food. Everything was either bland or wierd or highly processed.

 

Morocco

 

-Hole in the floor toilets in restaurants freaked me out. The nice toilets in the park seemed to be super precious kept for the tourists and locked when not in use.

 

- Most people were very friendly and very happy to see children. They couldn't do enough to entertain my dd.

 

- crazy busy streets, was scary to cross them with a toddler in my arms.

 

-The power in our hotel was erratic and kept tripping out.

 

-crazy but cheap taxis.

 

France (long time ago, can't remember much)

 

-People weren't super friendly and were quite suspicious of outsiders. My sister has since lived in France and found this to be true where she was.

 

-Nice fresh food.

Edited August 2, 2012 by lailasmum

[rieshy]

that's what it felt like). Pig fat spread on bread with slices of raw garlic?? Just. no.

 

Yummy on the best black bread imaginable. I thought that was about the best midnight snack ever at a weekend Guesthouse. I was it told was a snack that everyone in the house had to eat- or no one in the house could eat it because of how it made your breath smell.:001_smile:

 

My stomach loved Austria. My best friend comes to visit me in the States every few years. The first time she ate at my grandparents house (on a small ranch in West Texas) she laughed and said that the food was almost exactly what she eats at her grandparents house on their farm just minus the black bread.

[Dory]

When we moved to Canada in 1979 I still remember the shock of buying our milk in plastic bags and being able to point at a crosswalk on a busy street and have all the traffic stop.

 

I live in Canada and even i would find the milk in bags a little shocking. Although from what I've heard, that's pretty common in eastern Canada.

[SKL]

Oh yeah, another thing about India. (I could go on for days, but you guys keep talking about "American" food, so I can't resist this one.) I was in India for 3 weeks, and after 2 weeks of spicy food at every single meal, I just wanted to eat something bland. We were at a shopping mall and stopped at a little diner. It had what purported to be a Western menu. I ordered a plain grilled cheese sandwich. Sounds safe, no?

 

The cheese had hot chili peppers in it. :001_huh:

 

Thank goodness the last leg of our journey was in southwest India, where there is a lot more bland food. I ordered white rice, milk, and plain boiled veggies for several days. It's funny what one takes for granted at home.

[Heather in Neverland]

Oh yeah, another thing about India. (I could go on for days, but you guys keep talking about "American" food, so I can't resist this one.) I was in India for 3 weeks, and after 2 weeks of spicy food at every single meal, I just wanted to eat something bland. We were at a shopping mall and stopped at a little diner. It had what purported to be a Western menu. I ordered a plain grilled cheese sandwich. Sounds safe, no?

 

The cheese had hot chili peppers in it. :001_huh:

 

Thank goodness the last leg of our journey was in southwest India, where there is a lot more bland food. I ordered white rice, milk, and plain boiled veggies for several days. It's funny what one takes for granted at home.

 

Yep. No matter what I make for dinner, my amah adds hot chili peppers to it. My tastebuds are DEAD. :D

 

.

[Alice]

My favorite cultural misunderstanding story was in Nepal. I was on a medical missions trip and we were staying at the only hotel in a very small town/city. It was probably considered very good by the local standards but pretty basic. We came down for breakfast and the hot cereal had all these little tiny bugs crawling in it. We had all been served a bowl so we assumed the waiters had seen it and this was some kind of local custom. None of us wanted to eat it but we also didn’t want to offend them. So we all kind of pushed it to the side and ate some of the other food. Then our Nepalese interpreters came down, took one look at the bowls of cereal and started yelling at the waitstaff. Apparently, bugs in cereal is NOT a local delicacy. We kind of let cultural sensitivity get in the way of common sense. :)

 

Other things in Nepal:

*None of the kids wear any kind of diapers. I was working in the pediatrics area and the mothers would come up and plop the baby or toddler on my lap and then give the chief complaint as diarrhea. I took it as a sign that God was watching over our trip that I didn’t get pooped on once.

 

*Everyone eats with their hands, which I think is common in many countries. But it was hard to get dextrous at eating rice with your hands.

 

*The only safe drink for us was bottled soda. There was no good water supply and there was no bottled water cheaply available that was safe (still sealed). So we drank oodles of Coke and Sprite. I couldn’t help laughing at how I’m sure they saw us Westerners as being soda addicts.

 

* On the food theme, one night our translators convinced me to just try a “little pickle”. It was the hottest thing I have every tasted. I thought I was going to vomit and pass out at the same time. It was horrendous. They had been gobbling up spoonfuls of whatever it was all night.

 

*I got stopped several times so that the locals could take my picture. (I have red hair and very fair skin). We had a New Zealander on the trip also who was very tall with bright red curly hair and fair skin. He also got a lot of attention and no one would believe that we were not related.

 

I also went on a medical trip to El Salvador and we were working in a hospital in a smallish city. The most striking story was one day when a pickup truck drove up to the front door. The truck was the local ambulance and out of it hopped the patient, a young man with a machete still stuck in his head. Imagine a huge machete embedded in his skull and sticking straight out. They had him WALK into the ER.

 

The other thing that killed all the American doctors on that trip was that they routinely left the OR windows open as they didn’t have AC. Cooler but tougher to be sterile.

 

*On the flip side in both countries I learned a great deal about what can be done medically with very limited resources and it was often humbling. On the Nepalese trip we had an Indian doctor who we gave the nickname “I can do that” as everything we would bring to him he would say “Yah, no problem. I can do that.” The clinic we ran was outdoors in the middle of a field but somehow he managed to do amazing things.

[Bluegoat]

It's the yellowed 'ledge' that always has me wondering. What are people hoping to see before they flush?

 

I remember reading years ago in a book about the culture of medicine that German doctors (and patients I guess) were always very concerned with the state of heir bowels, and especially with their regularity. So maybe their toilet manufactures are coming from that kind of perspective?

[SKL]

We came down for breakfast and the hot cereal had all these little tiny bugs crawling in it. We had all been served a bowl so we assumed the waiters had seen it and this was some kind of local custom. None of us wanted to eat it but we also didn’t want to offend them. So we all kind of pushed it to the side and ate some of the other food. Then our Nepalese interpreters came down, took one look at the bowls of cereal and started yelling at the waitstaff. Apparently, bugs in cereal is NOT a local delicacy. We kind of let cultural sensitivity get in the way of common sense. :)

 

Other things in Nepal:

*None of the kids wear any kind of diapers. I was working in the pediatrics area and the mothers would come up and plop the baby or toddler on my lap and then give the chief complaint as diarrhea. I took it as a sign that God was watching over our trip that I didn’t get pooped on once.

 

...

 

* On the food theme, one night our translators convinced me to just try a “little pickleâ€. It was the hottest thing I have every tasted. I thought I was going to vomit and pass out at the same time. It was horrendous. They had been gobbling up spoonfuls of whatever it was all night.

 

...

 

I also went on a medical trip to El Salvador and we were working in a hospital in a smallish city. The most striking story was one day when a pickup truck drove up to the front door. The truck was the local ambulance and out of it hopped the patient, a young man with a machete still stuck in his head. Imagine a huge machete embedded in his skull and sticking straight out. They had him WALK into the ER.

 

 

:lol: Great memories!

 

I despise the smell of "pickle"! I had an Indian friend who used to bring her jar of pickle and open it *in my room* and leave it sitting there open for ages. That stuff is potent! I had to lay down the law about pickle jar etiquette. (I did taste it once - and yeah, once was definitely enough. :tongue_smilie: Then again, my Indian friend thinks peanut butter is disgusting, so . . . .)

[FaithManor]

I once spent a month in Jamaica doing volunteer work:

 

Boiled bananas - they were served to us every.single.day. There were a lot of things we were willing to sample to make the cook happy, but these....okay imagine that you peeled 13 bananas and put them in a pot of water to boil. They float...the water turns yellow/green/brown....think about what this looks like. No.we.could.not.eat.them.

 

Fried plantain is YUMMY! So are ginnips (spelling ? - it's this small, round, somewhat hard fruit that is just a smidge fleshy like a mango. I fell in love with these things but they can't be imported into the U.S. because of some fly that goes after the fruit that we do not have in America and apparently do not want. I LOVED that fruit. Also, having eaten mangos that are truly RIPE, I was unable to eat mangos here upon my return. The sad excuse for a mango that is picked green and supposed to ripen on the way here being trucked ridiculous distances from probably - I don't know maybe Cost Rica, Nicaragua, Guatamala...I can't remembr - DO NOT TASTE GOOD! Once the taste buds have experienced live, tree ripened mangos, it is not possible to go back...the buds never forget!

 

They may speak English, but if Jamaicans do not want you to understand what they are saying, look out for their local "pig-English", may as well be speaking Swahili.

 

Poverty - true, destitute poverty.

 

While there were some enforced traffic laws in the heavily touristy areas of Ocho Rios and Montego Bay, the rest of the country was....hmmm...shall we say relaxed about this. Driving in Kingston was a free-for-all. The general rule of thumb was that if you honk first, then if you hit it, you don't have to stop and that INCLUDED PEOPLE!!!!!

 

Goats, cows, ....livestock in the streets and very young children trying to herd them.

 

At that time the airport in Kingston did not have air conditioning. It was 107 degrees outside and we stood in line for nearly three hours to get all of us through customs.

 

Voodoo...it was my first introduction to voodoo. At one village where we were doing some hard labor to help build some much needed housing for homeless teens, the voodoo witch was VERY angry about us being there. She made little voodoo dolls and came around often sticking them with pins and waiting for us to react. Since we weren't of that culture and did not believe she had any power over us, we had no reaction which made her REALLY mad so her antics kept increasing until a local police officer took her to jail. I shudder to think what happened to her in there. My best guess is she was a very mentally unbalanced elderly lady and I don't think she could have lasted long in one of those local jails. They seemed like very harsh facilities.

 

The fact that there was no one really caring for the deaf, blind, or otherwise disabled and many begged on the streets. There was one boarding school for disabled children that was being started. I can't remember what town. It wasn't Christiana, maybe Mandeville. Anyway, the people that were trying to get the school up and running were looking for funds so that it would be tuition free since only rich Jamaicans would have been able to afford any kind of fees to place their children there.

 

Jamaicans thought of Americans as rich. By comparison we are. But, they also had no idea how much money it took to get to their country, much less to purchase supplies and do the work we were doing. Thousands, and thousands, and thousands of dollars. We tried to explain that we had to raise that money...that there were people that wanted to come and did not because they couldn't come up with the funds. This just didn't compute. We were Americans...of course we could come. All Americans are rich, right? Of course, many of the Jamaican people we were with had at one time or another worked temporary tourist season jobs in Ocho Rios or Montego Bay well to the north of Manchester area. Every American they had encountered was someone who could afford to fly there, stay in a nice hotel on the beach, and spend lots of money or were on the cruise ships. So, the idea that NOT ALL Americans live that lifestyle just didn't compute. Most of the time we were begged for money and sponsorship so they could come to America. I had one young man who ended up hating me intensely because I would not give him a job in America and money to get there. He could not understand that these were things I could not do for him.

 

I was nearly raped. I barely escaped and the police were not the least bit interested in doing anything about it. I could even identify the young man in question and had run to the local pastor's house...he and his wife took me in and his wife, daughter of a wealthy political family in Kingston - had a nursing degree from University of West Indies - she took care of a small knife wound I had received and some other cuts and contusions. They verified my story and the pastor told the police that the man in question had "done things like this before". They just laughed and said, "Woman get over it. This is normal here." So, they would haul away an elderly, probably harmless voodoo woman for annoying the work team and getting in our way, but a serial rapist that I'd barely escaped....nope....not going to do a thing about it. My guess is the perp was the Jamaican version of "Friday night poker buddy" or something. Hard to be an American woman in that instance because in my culture the sheriff or the state police would be taking statements, putting out bulletins to look out for X, etc. Some detective somewhere would be getting that report on his/her desk ASAP. While I didn't expect an "american" response, I did not expect to be totally blown off either.

 

Mostly the poverty. That was the thing that stood out heads and shoulders over the rest. The petty crime - theft was EVERYWHERE!

 

I think the other thing that stands out in my mind was that it was perfectly normal to really beat on children, kick them, etc. people did not interfere. Now, I'm not saying that every family did this. On the contrary, we met plenty of families that loved their children and treated them well. But, it was just an everyday occurence to see some small child in the street with some adult kicking them, spitting on them, slapping them on any part of the body the slapper could find, etc. and for people to walk past and say nothing, do nothing, and from the looks on their faces, think nothing. That was very hard to take. I wanted to rescue all of those children.

 

The country was oustandingly beautiful and the people amongst the friendliest I've every met in my life. I would love to go back. I could see myself staying.

 

Faith

[mommymilkies]

I was surprised while in Scotland that during a week in which the temp hit a high of 50 degrees that it was considered "warm" and people were walking around outside in shorts and tee shirts! I felt frozen!

 

I was also surprised at all the signs in shop and restaurant windows warning of bringing weapons inside. I have to add that we lived in Kansas for two years and I was shocked when we got there at all the No Gun signs everywhere - even my OB office and the library!

 

I live in zone 6 in the US and that's not uncommon here for many people to go around dressed like it's summer if it's over 50. :)

 

I wanted to move to Canada before, but now-definitely. Anyone want to adopt us in?

 

I am so jealous of everyone's experiences! I have never been able to afford to travel internationally. :( I have had many foreign friends, though. They had a lot to say about how wrong it is for us to have zoos, how fattening the food is, and how the accents are difficult to navigate. I agree there about US accents. I had a New Yorker stepfather, Ohio mother, and poor Appalachian maternal family from KY. Those I can "get". But I had a phone job answering Minnesota calls and I loved their accent. Kinda hard for me to understand, but cool. But when we moved to NC I had to have dh interpret for me. I literally could understand nothing anyone said for months! Dh could just barely.

[Ibbygirl]

Yummy on the best black bread imaginable. I thought that was about the best midnight snack ever at a weekend Guesthouse. I was it told was a snack that everyone in the house had to eat- or no one in the house could eat it because of how it made your breath smell.:001_smile:

 

My stomach loved Austria. My best friend comes to visit me in the States every few years. The first time she ate at my grandparents house (on a small ranch in West Texas) she laughed and said that the food was almost exactly what she eats at her grandparents house on their farm just minus the black bread.

Eeek! I wanted to, but I just couldn't do it. The flip side is I added a lot of amusement to the host family I was staying with. :p hehe

Oh yeah, another thing about India. (I could go on for days, but you guys keep talking about "American" food, so I can't resist this one.) I was in India for 3 weeks, and after 2 weeks of spicy food at every single meal, I just wanted to eat something bland. We were at a shopping mall and stopped at a little diner. It had what purported to be a Western menu. I ordered a plain grilled cheese sandwich. Sounds safe, no?

 

The cheese had hot chili peppers in it. :001_huh:

 

Thank goodness the last leg of our journey was in southwest India, where there is a lot more bland food. I ordered white rice, milk, and plain boiled veggies for several days. It's funny what one takes for granted at home.

 

Yep. No matter what I make for dinner, my amah adds hot chili peppers to it. My tastebuds are DEAD. :D

 

.

:lol::lol::lol: to both of these. :p I love chilies and cook with them A LOT, but I think even I would tire of having them on every meal. hehe

[Ibbygirl]

My favorite cultural misunderstanding story was in Nepal. I was on a medical missions trip and we were staying at the only hotel in a very small town/city. It was probably considered very good by the local standards but pretty basic. We came down for breakfast and the hot cereal had all these little tiny bugs crawling in it. We had all been served a bowl so we assumed the waiters had seen it and this was some kind of local custom. None of us wanted to eat it but we also didn’t want to offend them. So we all kind of pushed it to the side and ate some of the other food. Then our Nepalese interpreters came down, took one look at the bowls of cereal and started yelling at the waitstaff. Apparently, bugs in cereal is NOT a local delicacy. We kind of let cultural sensitivity get in the way of common sense. :)

 

Other things in Nepal:

*None of the kids wear any kind of diapers. I was working in the pediatrics area and the mothers would come up and plop the baby or toddler on my lap and then give the chief complaint as diarrhea. I took it as a sign that God was watching over our trip that I didn’t get pooped on once.

 

*Everyone eats with their hands, which I think is common in many countries. But it was hard to get dextrous at eating rice with your hands.

 

*The only safe drink for us was bottled soda. There was no good water supply and there was no bottled water cheaply available that was safe (still sealed). So we drank oodles of Coke and Sprite. I couldn’t help laughing at how I’m sure they saw us Westerners as being soda addicts.

 

* On the food theme, one night our translators convinced me to just try a “little pickle”. It was the hottest thing I have every tasted. I thought I was going to vomit and pass out at the same time. It was horrendous. They had been gobbling up spoonfuls of whatever it was all night.

 

*I got stopped several times so that the locals could take my picture. (I have red hair and very fair skin). We had a New Zealander on the trip also who was very tall with bright red curly hair and fair skin. He also got a lot of attention and no one would believe that we were not related.

 

I also went on a medical trip to El Salvador and we were working in a hospital in a smallish city. The most striking story was one day when a pickup truck drove up to the front door. The truck was the local ambulance and out of it hopped the patient, a young man with a machete still stuck in his head. Imagine a huge machete embedded in his skull and sticking straight out. They had him WALK into the ER.

 

The other thing that killed all the American doctors on that trip was that they routinely left the OR windows open as they didn’t have AC. Cooler but tougher to be sterile.

 

*On the flip side in both countries I learned a great deal about what can be done medically with very limited resources and it was often humbling. On the Nepalese trip we had an Indian doctor who we gave the nickname “I can do that” as everything we would bring to him he would say “Yah, no problem. I can do that.” The clinic we ran was outdoors in the middle of a field but somehow he managed to do amazing things.

 

:) I loved your stories. Thanks so much for sharing them. I can just picture Dr. "I Can Do That". :)

[the4Rs]

I spent 6 weeks in Papua New Guinea. Things that surprised me there:

 

1. The men have a man's house that they sit in ALL day long while the women work hard in the village from sun up to sun down.

 

2. Lived in a village with former cannibals. Gained a new perspective about what cannibalism is in their culture.

 

 

I spent 3 (almost 4) weeks in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Things that surprised me there:

 

1. Their music videos would put MTV to shame... seriously.

 

2. Don't even think about using the public bathrooms unless you want to stand in several inches of pee all over the floor and forget about toilet paper or running water to wash your hands.

 

3. How relational they are there. They want you to talk to them, to ask how their day is... it is very different than here where we pass so many people without acknowledging them in America.

 

4. How beautiful the country and people are despite the hardships they have had to endure and continue to endure.

[Hannah]

The first country outside of Southern Africa I travelled to was Russia. I went as an exchange student in Moscow in the winter of 1993/94 and I also spent a few weeks in St Petersburg.

 

Things that surprised me

 

 

• The people at the university and my host families and their friends were amazingly hospitable and friendly. This contrasts sharply to the 'street persona' that both Moscovites and St Petersburgians have which is quite gruff and rude.
   
  
• The public transport in Moscow. About 8 million people travel on the metro daily!
   
  
• Having to leave anywhere before 11pm or stay all night because the metro only started again at 5am. This made for some fun overnight student parties ;-).
   
  
• I loved the delicious breads the bakery on the corner of our building made. You really had to know it was there to know it was a store. It had no 'storefront', or advertising of any kind.
   
  
• People washed their dishes by rinsing them under the running hot water rather than using dish soap. And the dishes were stored in a drying cupboard (similar to the one Laura described for China).
   
  
• Tiny apartments in communist era buildings. If you had a two-room apartment, it meant that there were two small rooms, a kitchen and bathroom. The living room doubles as the parent's bedroom (with a sleeper coach) and the children are in the other room. Bedding is packed away in a cupboard during the day. The duvet covers have a diamond shaped hole on one side rather than opening at the bottom end like ours do.
   
  
• "Pre-fab" apartment buildings that were erected like constructions sets in a matter of weeks.
   
  
• People who had big dogs as pets in their small apartments.
   
  
• There were kiosks at every station selling alcohol (and vodka in particular). We could only buy alcohol at bottle stores at the time.
   
  
• It was a fairly mild winter and everyone was worried that the winter supplies that were buried in the snow on their balconies would thaw!
   
  
• There were very few 'western' shops at the time, so I had to get used to very tedious shopping or pay a fortune. If you went to a supermarket, you'd stand in a queue at the butchery counter, choose the meat you'd want, have them place it in a cubby and give you the price (in my case written on a piece of paper!), stand in a queue to pay for it at the cashier, and then queue again to hand in the till slip to receive the item. Next would be the vegetables..... and then the bread.... And if you happened to be queuing at the cashiers and it was her tea time, she'd pull closed the little window and you'd stay in the queue until she got back!
  

 

 

I would love to go back and see how much Russian life has changed in the last 18 year. I know they have shopping centres now!

[Colleen in NS]

And then hot water and soap.

 

or a bidet.

 

No ice served in drinks.

 

This is a Canadian (at least Eastern Canada) thing, too. Although, I have noticed that some places (like Subway) provide ice machines for when you dispense your drink.

 

:lol: I've never been to Canada and didn't realize they were so chatty. hehehe

 

Not everyone is. :D The culture varies widely from area to area.

 

I found out (the hard way) that a bathroom in Europe is literally a bath room.

 

It is in Canada, too. In public places, a room with a toilet is called a washroom. After 19 years of living here, I still have to remind myself to say "washroom" when I'm out somewhere and need to find one.

 

When we moved to Canada in 1979 I still remember the shock of buying our milk in plastic bags

 

I live in Canada and even i would find the milk in bags a little shocking. Although from what I've heard, that's pretty common in eastern Canada.

 

Hey, I forgot about those! (I use milk powder) Yes, bags of milk are a huge thing in Eastern Canada. I first encountered them when I moved to Ontario from the States. Although, I have seen milk jugs lately, too. Cartons, too. But maybe they've been around for awhile.

 

*The only safe drink for us was bottled soda. There was no good water supply and there was no bottled water cheaply available that was safe (still sealed). So we drank oodles of Coke and Sprite. I couldn’t help laughing at how I’m sure they saw us Westerners as being soda addicts.

 

I drank soda for a whole month while in Mexico. On the couple of occasions I had to get to a store, I could never find bottled water, and the little apple juice I found was expensive, so I couldn't buy much. I was SO thirsty when I got back to the States. I remember guzzling two tall paper cupfuls of water at Dunkin Donuts when I first crossed the border. :D And I've not liked soda ever since.

 

*On the flip side in both countries I learned a great deal about what can be done medically with very limited resources and it was often humbling. On the Nepalese trip we had an Indian doctor who we gave the nickname “I can do that†as everything we would bring to him he would say “Yah, no problem. I can do that.†The clinic we ran was outdoors in the middle of a field but somehow he managed to do amazing things.

 

I love stories like this. I know a doctor who does medical mission trips to her home country of Sri Lanka. She has some great stories about her clinics, too.

 

The first country outside of Southern Africa I travelled to was Russia. I went as an exchange student in Moscow in the winter of 1993/94 and I also spent a few weeks in St Petersburg.

 

[*]The public transport in Moscow. About 8 million people travel on the metro daily!

 

[*]I loved the delicious breads the bakery on the corner of our building made.

 

I would love to go back and see how much Russian life has changed in the last 18 year.

 

Hey, I was in Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1992! The public transportation in Moscow was amazing. So easy to get around. And such beautiful architecture and artwork in the stations. And the bread, yum! We had bread, cheese, pepperoni/salami, tomatoes, and cukes every morning for breakfast. I should have started my family on savoury breakfasts when they were little, instead of the cereal/pancakes/eggs routine. :D

 

I, too, would love to go back. I have friends who have lived in Ukraine since 1993, and they say that whole part of the world has changed so much.

[Hannah]

Hey, I was in Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1992!

 

Small world :001_smile:

[VeganCupcake]

I live in Canada and even i would find the milk in bags a little shocking. Although from what I've heard, that's pretty common in eastern Canada.

 

We had milk in bags when I was growing up in Canada!! Ahh, the memories! (I grew up in Central Canada.)

 

It is in Canada, too. In public places, a room with a toilet is called a washroom. After 19 years of living here, I still have to remind myself to say "washroom" when I'm out somewhere and need to find one.

 

Oh, and the looks I have gotten as a transplanted Canadian asking for a "washroom" in the U.S. I think people thought I was looking for a laundromat. For now, I have lost that particular language form, so I don't confuse people quite as much.

[DawnM]

Depends on the country.

 

Indonesia had a great way to shower. A bucket and a large tub of water with a drain in the middle of the floor. You just stand there, soap up, and then get your bucket of water and start pouring over yourself.

 

China: the thing that struck me the most were the split pants on the little kids. No underwear and the kids just squat when they need to go.

 

Nothing in the continent of Africa surprised me, but I grew up there so I was used to it all :lol: We had TWO kinds of breakfast cereal, weetabix and corn flakes. That was it. I can't tell you how hard it was for me when I came back to the USA and saw 100s of brands and kinds. I stood there for 20 minutes before I found the weetabix at the end of the isle and just got that! :tongue_smilie:

 

Singapore struck me because it was so clean. Ok, that and the Durian. I actually drank a Durian shake at McDonald's!

Edited August 2, 2012 by DawnM

[DawnM]

Oh, I would have loved it. My family teases me that I would put hot sauce on a PB&J sandwich if it were acceptable! :D

 

Oh yeah, another thing about India. (I could go on for days, but you guys keep talking about "American" food, so I can't resist this one.) I was in India for 3 weeks, and after 2 weeks of spicy food at every single meal, I just wanted to eat something bland. We were at a shopping mall and stopped at a little diner. It had what purported to be a Western menu. I ordered a plain grilled cheese sandwich. Sounds safe, no?

 

The cheese had hot chili peppers in it. :001_huh:

 

Thank goodness the last leg of our journey was in southwest India, where there is a lot more bland food. I ordered white rice, milk, and plain boiled veggies for several days. It's funny what one takes for granted at home.

[HejKatt]

Yep. No matter what I make for dinner, my amah adds hot chili peppers to it. My tastebuds are DEAD. :D

 

.

:iagree:

My Indian coworker and I went out for Chinese food in Bangalore, and I downed my corn-chicken soup because it was the only non-spicy item I had seen in days.

 

He, on the other hand, sat there glumly stirring his portion around until he saw the hot sauce on the table and added heaping spoonfuls. Problem solved!

 

ETA - Heather, you might want to bring back some belacan when you return from Penang. :)

Edited August 2, 2012 by leeyeewah