You've gotta respect the customs of other countries *sigh*

So I was in Lithuania recently and, I don't mean to offend any Lithuanians, but I felt a bit uneasy when it comes to toilets. I mean, there was this big restaurant. The place was really huge and the food was big as well, but the place had only two toilets - one for men, and one for women. Normal, you say... Well, not if each of those bathrooms can have maximum one person in it! I'm glad I'm a guy, since the line to the ladies room was lo-oooong! To make matters worse, there were holes in the ground instead of regular seats, which was really uncomfortable since they served BIG portions... :eep: And there's one more thing, which I noticed they do everywhere in Lithuania. Well, instead of flushing their stinky toilet paper along with the poop they throw it into a bin next to it, which makes it hard to last in the restroom for more than five minutes...

The topic! What customs of countries you've visited were the hardest for you to understand?

It's almost as if that ONLY happens in Lithuania.

In Spain there were signs about toilet paper, and it not being allowed to be flushed. I ignored it a few times, and forgot sometimes.

I've yet to experience other peoples customs but I will.

My dad says in Bahrain that in the traditional resturants all food is served on big leaves and you eat with your hands. He had said something about waving too but I don't remember what it was, it was something about showing the palm of your hand being a bad thing.

At home, we're on a septic tank (two or more of them :O one of which is under my parents bedroom apparently) so we have bins for paper waste by both toilets. I've never noticed any smell from that. A bad smelling bathroom session will linger in the air regardless of whether you flush the paper or not.

Well, if the bins have lids, then it's acceptable. If they don't, however (and they mostly did NOT), then the stench from the remains on the toilet paper is present...

rubah, you can flush paper into septic tanks. I've never heard of this not flushing toilet paper. Interesting. I do assume it would be pretty stinky, though.

I'm Lithuanian! But I've never been there. :choc:

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Originally Posted by Fire Breath Bowser

I'm Lithuanian! But I've never been there. :choc:

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Well, that means I've been to a sucky part of Lithuania... :mad:

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Originally Posted by The_White_Wizard_of_Fynn

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Originally Posted by Fire Breath Bowser

I'm Lithuanian! But I've never been there. :choc:

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Well, that means I've been to a sucky part of Lithuania... :mad:

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I think he may have meant he was Lithuanian, but part Lithuanian, not actually born and raised there all his life, hence he said he's never been there.

You seemed to have had a really bad time over there dude. xD I mean I'm willing to wear a scarf when I go to the middle east just to respect culture's and I have no complaints. :(

Just be glad you HAD toilet paper. In Peru, even in the big cities people have to carry their own or do without!

Oh, the joy of squat toilets. They had a lot of those in China too, I hate them.

In Japan, there are almost no paper towels or manual urinals. Everything is clean and automatic. They even have motion sensor soap dispensers. No matter how much time I spend there, I'll never get used to that.

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Originally Posted by The Unknown Guru

In Japan, there are almost no paper towels or manual urinals. Everything is clean and automatic. They even have motion sensor soap dispensers. No matter how much time I spend there, I'll never get used to that.

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They're just being sterile and I believe they could teach Lithuanians (no offence, please!) a lesson or two...

*shrugs* it's just how I was brought up foa!

No there are no lids. Dry cow poop does not stink and neither does dry human poop. It's just one of those things. (and if your poop is watery enough to stay wet and invite bacteria, perhaps you should get checked out for dysentery :D?)

I don't like automated things. They don't work a lot of times, or they work too well, and I reckon if we had more germs we wouldn't be worrying so much about super germs after we fail to kill all the weaker ones :p

There are squat toilets in some areas of Pakistan too (at least in Karachi), but fortunately it never got to the point where I absolutely had to use one :p

Driving is really strange out there. There are lane lines painted on roads, but nobody stays in them. Like you'll have one car halfway in one lane and halfway in another, sometimes blocking traffic in both. Instead of using turn signals, people will honk to let others know that they're moving to a certain area. It's almost as if drivers, not pedestrians, have the right of way - it's common for drivers to honk at pedestrians to get out of the drivers' way while they're crossing the road (while there are hardly any intersections to safely cross with) -_-. Finally, when traffic is light, people will drive slow and take their time with everything, but when traffic is heavier, people will want to go fast, cutting each other off, squeezing into empty spaces, etc.

I guess this isn't so much of a custom, but a political corruption issue, but the power goes out there almost every day, often multiple times and for longer periods of time in poorer areas. Even with a backup generator running, the heat and humidity make power outages difficult to deal with.

In most places, you have to haggle while shopping. The people selling things often try to rip you off if you seem like a foreigner, and will sometimes outright lie to you about certain products while acting as if they're being completely honest and helpful. Once, my brother wanted to buy a video game. Even though there were obvious issues with the game (the box said "Game Foy Advence" instead of Game Boy Advance, had other grammatical and spelling errors, and the box art was washed out), the guy working told us repeatedly in a smarmy voice that he had tested it himself and it worked fine, and that it was a legitimate game. My brother decided to buy the game anyways, but that's a different story -_-

People there sometimes just jump into large bodies of water without thinking about the quality of that water. It rained heavily for a couple of days, and during that time the lower areas accumulated a lot of water mixed with the dirt and garbage from the streets. People sometimes swam in it. Similarly, sewage drains out to the ocean, yet if you go to the beach you'll see tons of families going into the water. It would feel nice after having to put up with the weather out there, but I would think having all that nasty stuff in the water would deter more people from going in.

I doubt most of these are unique to Pakistan, but they're probably different from what most EoFF members are used to :Oo:

Here we require the sacrifice of a goat or preferably a small child through an axe and a paper clip before any meal.

Well, I havnt ever stumbled acroos anything uncomfortable, but I usually made sure that the countries im travelling too wouldnt prove TOO difficult to handle :D

I once had to use the loo in a squat in Glasgow, im not gonna even begin to describe that!! Good party though!

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Oh, the joy of squat toilets. They had a lot of those in China too, I hate them.

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It's actually like that in many countries around the world.

Did you get any splashback?

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Originally Posted by Bart's Friend Milhouse

Did you get any splashback?

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SiCKO :o

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Originally Posted by Bart's Friend Milhouse

Did you get any splashback?

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Splashback is key. If you build enough force, you can successfully get enough watter to splash back and cleanse the area. Preventing any frivolous wiping and/or the potential to accidentally brown-finger.

Nobody likes brown-finger. Nobody.

Or rusty hook.

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Originally Posted by bipper

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Originally Posted by Bart's Friend Milhouse

Did you get any splashback?

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Splashback is key. If you build enough force, you can successfully get enough watter to splash back and cleanse the area. Preventing any frivolous wiping and/or the potential to accidentally brown-finger.

Nobody likes brown-finger. Nobody.

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Thank goodness, I thought I was the only one.

The best foreign experience I had was in California. We were in a house in Newport beach for a couple of weeks and A lovely elderly couple came to the door and welcomed us to the neighbourhood and told us lots about the surrounding towns and attractions.

I've never been welcomed to a holiday home by anyone who wasn't the actual owner of the house before. It was sweet.

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Originally Posted by Avarice-ness

You seemed to have had a really bad time over there dude. xD I mean I'm willing to wear a scarf when I go to the middle east just to respect culture's and I have no complaints. :(

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You don't have to wear a scarf in all parts of the middle east.

Dude, Eastern Europe and the Baltics SUCK. Really, I've been to many countries there, and while there are worse places on Earth, those countries rank top.

Lovely looking women, though.

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Originally Posted by War Angel

Dude, Eastern Europe and the Baltics SUCK. Really, I've been to many countries there, and while there are worse places on Earth, those countries rank top.

Lovely looking women, though.

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Let's hope you classify Poland as Central Europe, or you shall feel my wrath :mad2:

Just kidding. If that's your opinion, it's OK. I partly agree. I've also been to Latvia and Estonia. It's not as bad as in Lithuania, but I still don't feel quite comfortable. Finnland, on the other hand, is a totally diferent story...

In other words, Cultural relativism means that despotism is as good or bad as direct democracy?

All I'm saying is that you can respect the customs of other countries, but that doesn't mean you have to attempt to understand them in context and go 'yeah squat toilets this makes sense -_-` '

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Let's hope you classify Poland as Central Europe, or you shall feel my wrath

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Nope, Poland sucks as well, though the people are admittedly a lot nicer than those in the Baltics.

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Finnland, on the other hand, is a totally diferent story...

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I personally consider it to be Scandinavian in nature.

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Originally Posted by War Angel

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Let's hope you classify Poland as Central Europe, or you shall feel my wrath

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Nope, Poland sucks as well, though the people are admittedly a lot nicer than those in the Baltics.

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Finnland, on the other hand, is a totally diferent story...

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I personally consider it to be Scandinavian in nature.

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Are they really? I always considered my people to be rude... Well, whatever...

I mentioned Finnland because it was the last point of our trip along Via Baltica. I'm just inclining, how much of a diference it is.

When I went to Canada, they handed me these coins and told me it was dollars. I laughed haughtily and questioned their sanity, but they pressed the matter, swearing it was true. They told me they were called Loonie and Toonie coins and I thought the were making fun of me. I whipped out my very hip street knife and entered combat with four of them at once. Naturally, I won, because Sylvester Stallone movies have taught me a thing or two about such business.

To make a long story not short anymore at all, Canadian currency took me by surprise. American schools didn't teach me anything about anybody except ourselves, so needless to say it took much adapation to understand their primitive ways of trade. Also, Roto mention because he's Canadian.

You didnt know Canadians use dollars??
Wait, am I missing a joke here? ???

I've always relied on my parents during family holidays to fill me in on different currencies. Something I know pretty much nothing about.

I just take it for granted that Dollars, no matter where they are from, are half the value of a pound. Goodness knows if that is true.