Culture Shock

 

Another Sunny Day in "Dry" Season

Culture shock!  

I've already written about how wet it is during "dry" season here, so I won't bore you by complaining about that again.  (Welcome to the jungle, Old Grump!)

Cash flow has been an unexpected problem.  I'm amazed, (and disgusted), with how difficult it is to transfer money to myself from MY OWN BANK ACCOUNTS, but I believe most of the troubles originate back in the USA.  Besides, this has been such a time consuming hassle that I should write a post dealing solely with this irritating topic.  (Hint: the long term solution may be to use cryptocurrency, bypassing the over-regulated U.S. banking system.)

The real culture shock for me has been drastic, (to me!), differences in what is considered proper hygiene.  For example:

Dodong and Kuya at the Swimming Pool

We recently went to another "spa", where anyone who wanted to could swim in the very cold water.  The kids liked it, and there were several separate pools with varying depths in each.  It was quite scenic.

A View of the Largest Pool at the Spa

I was enjoying myself too, and even ventured into the pool above up to my waist, when I noticed that there were lots and lots and lots of small fish swimming in the water.  Probably not a big deal to most people on this planet, but to this overprotected American it was kinda gross.

More seriously ..... we spend lots of time in Molave, the largest nearby town.  Molave is a pretty nice place, but as you would expect, there is a lot of poverty there.  And, unfortunately, a lot of unhygienic situations.  (Open sewers, anyone?  Okay, not necessarily "sewers", as I don't believe human waste flows into them, but they do get the runoff from all sorts of gross sources.)  Since we are in Asia, overcrowding is a way of life.  The markets are typically crowded and jammed with products.

A Slow Day at the Market

We were shopping at the market one day, and as I was checking out something on the shelves, I stepped on something.  I looked down at what I had stepped on, and saw .....

Old Grump and the Mouse

.... a mouse!  The poor little guy was twitching in his death throes due to my stomping.  (Which implies, of course, that the mouse was still alive and moving around before I stepped on him.  Ick!!)

I immediately informed several workers about what had happened, (as best I could, as I don't speak Bisaya), and this is how they responded:

Dead Mouse "Cleanup"

  
Dealing with the Carcass

1.  The mouse was kicked out of the aisle, so more people wouldn't step on it.  (The blood was NOT cleaned up.)

2.  A shopping cart was simply positioned over the dead body.  (In the second photo, you can barely see a tiny body under the shopping cart frame in the center of the photo.)


Needless to say, this is not how I would expect employees of a food store to react to the presence of a dead mouse.  

Makes me wonder what sort of sanitation they have in the restaurants.  




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