Moving From The First World To The Third

Moving From The First World To The Third

Moving From The First World To The Third

Having now spent three+ years as an American living in the Philippines I've come up against more than a few 'cultural challenges'. The fact is, in many respects, 'they' don't think like us and 'we' don't think like them. As time goes on you learn (hopefully) how to make adjustments and just go with the accepted flow. Hopefully.

My new place is in the Philippines, which is considered a 'third world' country by many. Average income here is low by most Western standards (only a dollar or two a day) but, for someone receiving a foreign pension for their retirement, it can be quite comfortable financially. The cost of living here is relatively low and yet everything you want or need is probably available. We still have our McDonalds and Burger Kings, big malls and fancy resorts... they're just not affordable to the dollar a day crowd.

We went to the Ace Hardware Store at one of the local malls yesterday to look over their selection of colored toilet seats. When you live in a tropical island climate such as this, things seem to wear out fairly quickly. Something in the air here makes things rust, degrade and otherwise break or fall apart more quickly than you might expect and our upstairs toilet seat has just broken apart.

The seat selection was dismal, but I should have known it would be. Toilet seats aren't something generally used here, at least not by the locals. The culture here is to stand up when relieving oneself (even females) and, thus, a seat is more of a hindrance than help.

For me, a foreigner, a functional toilet seat is desirable, if not required. I carry a supply a tissue just in case I get caught needing to go when away from home, but carrying a seat would be a bit inconvenient. I usually just wait until I return to the house but that's not always practical.

We found an adequate toilet seat and, best of all it only cost about five dollars worth of Pesos. As we were exiting there was a display offering the latest in seat belt covers. I wondered if people even use their seat belts here in the Philippines. I don't think there's a law.

Physical safety doesn't seem like a primary concern in this culture. I've seen as many as seven people being transported on a small 100 cc motorbike here. Anything to save a Peso! Seat belt comfort probably isn't real high on the priority list.

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