Cultural stuff

In this country, no one uses dryers...so there is always laundry hanging everywhere...and I DO MEAN everywhere.

You can go to the store and beside the front door is the laundry of the person (or people) who spends all day there. In the beginning it was a little awkward seeing people's underwear and stuff all the time...now it doesn't phase me.

The thing that does catch my attention is when there is different underwear than what I am used to seeing. LOL. There is a man who's laundry balcony faces our living room. He often does his laundry in boxer shorts. I try not to look, but come on...he's there quite often and mostly covered.

This morning I noticed this special decoration in the window that signifies the household is a newly married household...and low and behold, FEMALE undergarments. Maybe she can get him to wear other clothes while he does laundry....wait...who am I kidding....SHE'LL be doing the laundry. GREAT! Modesty at last...I hope.

Another thing on another subject.

Recently a "fast train" has been put in and stops in our city. Similar to AMTRAK. It makes traveling to other cities so much better. But once you get off the train...because it's so new...there is no organized way of getting a taxi or bus to your destination. Many of the Fast Train Stations are on the outskirts of town. So it tends to be a free-for-all and mad rush to get a ride. If you are inexperienced you likely will pay an arm and a leg to get into the city. Crazy.

Let me tell you another thing...many of the people here have never traveled to other parts of their own city much less out of it! So...there tends to be some motion sickness going on. It's interesting. Many children are affected by it, but they are not the only ones. The thing is, getting sick in public is embarrassing apparently in any culture.

The other day we took a day trip north to visit some other Americans who have children about the age of the Princess. We had never taken the FT that way before. Talk about craziness. Our friends warned us that it would be crazy getting a ride into the city...but we were ready. We took off at a mad dash to get into the TWO public transportation vehicles that were there to transport a minimum of 50 people into to the city. Mercy. We got there fast...but not fast enough. They were full. So, we look around and try to get a taxi that we can bargain with (there is no way they will use the meter in situations like this.) and the King runs off to get one. He gets a guy and a fairly good deal. We crawl in and think, "Wow...that wasn't so bad" until we smell something rank. We begin looking around and the King discovers the culprit...someone has thrown up on his pants leg....probably while he was moving through the crowd. Ug. Now we have a 20-30 minute ride with it. Gross. I carry some portable wet wipes, but that doesn't help much in the heat.

Many things don't seem to phase us anymore...but that was a new one. LOL. The King handled it well...I'm not sure I would have. It's one thing to clean up vomit from a person you love (i.e your spouse or children) it's a totally different thing to do it for someone you never even saw, but he did...and without complaint.

Just wanted to share. ;)