Wednesday, October 17

Public Urination

The one thing I CANNOT get used to over here is men urinating in public! It's disgusting! They unzip their fly & do their business... in the bushes, on the cement, in a drainage hole, against a tree trunk, anywhere! They even have little structures on the side of the highway the resemble a circular phone booth. Except that it is only covered from about your knees up. So, when you see a man's feet standing in there, facing away from the road, you still know what they are doing. And, every time I see it, it turns my stomach. Disgusting! I can't even imagine what it must smell like for all the people walking the streets every day. Which must be why they carry washcloths to cover their noses & mouths. I was always told it was to help alleviate the amount of smog & pollution they breathe in. But, I am convinced it is to keep from having to smell the urine soaked sidewalk they are forced to walk on! UGH! I'm feeling queasy just thinking about it...

7 comments:

Dara said...

Oh that sounds so bad! Yuck!

Unknown said...

You know, I saw a news story with those public stalls on the streets - weird! That would bug me too!

Supermom-In-Training said...

There seemed to be a lot of spitting when I was over in Asia. People just spit out whatever they didn't want to eat out in the street while they were walking. I also noticed some babies and toddlers would wear pants with no crotch so they could just do their business on the street too.

Thank goodness I never saw adults relieving themselves though! Yuck!

Unknown said...

Wow- how funny that people feel comfortable peeing in public there. It just shows you how wide the range is in every culture when it comes to what is socially acceptable. And even within cultures there are disagreements. For instance, many people here think breastfeeding in public is disgusting, rude, unacceptable. But, I happen to think it is completely fine and actually necessary sometimes. I could walk around topless in parts of Africa. How do we form these social norms I wonder- where does it all begin and why is it so different everywhere?

Christy said...

That makes me queasy to think about, please tell me you don't let the kids touch anything that could be peed on. OMG, that is so disgusting!

Stephanie said...

Oh, how gross!

Amberly said...

Christy, there is just really no telling. Anything & everything could have been peed on & you know kids... they don't care! They love to run around poles, holding on to the pole until they get dizzy. No telling what else is on that pole. It's just something I can't worry about. When you see the conditions that most Filipino children grow up in, you realize that a little possible urine (or whatever) on a pole, wall or tree is really not that big of a deal after all.