Can’t you find all the news sources you could ever want on that unlimited internet?
The Them, I completely disagree with you about smoking limitations! God, I can’t wait until I’m back in the US and I can go to a cafe or restaurant or…pretty much anywhere without leaving smelling like an ashtray. I’ve actually had people start smoking in my house without asking me! Talk about culture shock. Once, the guy fixing a broken pipe in my bathroom started smoking. I was in another room and smelled it.
Me: What’s that smell?
Him: Oh, I’m smoking a cigarette.
Me: [growling internally that I can’t tell him to put it out because he’s fixing my bathroom and it would be rude.]
I have an electric teapot ( an earlier incarnation of this particular one.) I have to say that this thing is worth every penny spent as I have somehow transfered an mild OCD of hand washing over to just tapping the button on my teapot to boil water. I must do it 7-8 times a day. After 8 years, it is like new.
I was only in England for a week 8 years ago and I have to tell you that I miss the Vinager on the fries.
Anyone have a really good family recipe for fish and chips?
I’ve never understood this American perception that only the US acts this way. The Thais are even worse than Americans at seeing their country as the center of the world. They generally piss off all of the neighbors on a continuous basis due to real and perceived arrogance. Especially Cambodia, where infrequent riots against both real and imagined slights are not uncommon. A few years ago, they even burned down the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh along with any Thai-owned businesses they could find. I’ve met few regular Thais who know anything at all about the world outside these borders, even right across the border.
Other countries over on this side of Asia, too. There are still some Japanese who think Japan is unique and special just because it has four seasons; it always comes as a shock to learn that other countries have them, too. And don’t EVEN get me started about China.
Do Thais have the perception that only Thailand acts this way? Because, if not, I think we remain worse (i.e., better) at seeing ourselves the center of the world. We’re number 1! We’re number 1!
No, because that would entail actually thinking about other countries, which is not a local trait. But I don’t see how that makes Americans worse at viewing themselves as on top. Or is it better? I didn’t quite understand your point.
It was just a silly little joke: Americans view themselves as the only country in the world, so much so that they can’t even fathom that other countries also have the trait of viewing themselves as the only country in the world, but rather taking this to be a uniquely American practice. You see? The beautiful self-reflecting irony of the American perspective?
Thais have a reputation for being peace-loving, but there sure is a LOT of violence here. The thing is, though, it’s rarely random. It’s all family feuds or crime gangs hitting each other. But there are some pretty godawful happenings that do occur to people who have crossed a Thai the wrong way. Like the guy on the upper peninsula who was owed some money and cut off the heads of the debtor and his entire family and hung them from the roof of their house over the front porch, or the soldiers who would routinely burn Communist insurgents to death in garbage barrels for sport.
Fortunately, it’s usually very easy to get along with Thais, and the streets are very safe to walk at night and in the wee hours. So much so that a short-term resident is usually unaware of anything untoward going on around them. But never cross one!
I’d always thought it was related to Hurst-Euless-Bedford somehow, but apparently in 1905 it was originally the C.C. Butt Grocery, and son was named Howard E, so H.E. Butt it became later on.
You can listen to BBC World Service on the internet. And I think if you have some satellite services you can get BBC News and Al Jazeera and whatever.
Bulgarians are even worse about travelling outside of their country than Americans, and it’s way more bizarre because Bulgaria is not a very big place. And yet I know plenty of adults that have never left Bulgaria in their life. They aren’t very geocentric, though, they know that they’re pretty far down on the list of heavyweight countries.
When I first moved to Australia, there were a number of things from NZ that were difficult, if not impossible, to obtain here- things like Griffin’s Chocolate Chippies, Cookie Time biscuits, Moro bars, Pixie Caramels, and Rashuns.
Funnily enough, people have started bringing all those in and I can often find them at IGA-type supermarkets and so on without too much trouble.
The only thing from NZ that I can’t get here now are Jelly Tips. I used to love those as a kid. They felt like the size of tennis racquets when I was a lad, and they were great on a hot summer’s day. The last time I was in a part of NZ that wasn’t the Auckland International Airport International Transit/Departures lounge, I raced down to the nearest Dairy and bought one, and it was depressingly small. In fact, I’d even go so far as to describe it as “Tiny”.
The list of stuff from the US that I like that I can’t get here is very long indeed, starting with a Thompson M1928A1 SMG and going all the way through IHOP Philly Cheese Steak Super Stackers, coffee that is good, cheap, and bottomless, and ending up somewhere with 24 hour shopping and Satellite TV…
I spent one month each in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and India. My girlfriend met me for 2 weeks in Bangkok and we went down to Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. I still maintain she’s never been to Asia.
