-^-for posterity-^-

people are all different but, deep down, we’re all the same. there are some things that people do here that really confuse me though.

one: people in pictures don’t smile. well, there’s a few pictures of ho chi minh where he’s smiling. there’s a great one at the post office where he is grinning and very tan. looks like he took to laying out on the beach after the revolution. this is an exception to the rule though. ms. ha showed me the pictures of her family and they were all straight faced. pictures were taken of them standing in and around their home and they all looked blankly into the camera as if trying to preserve their faces in their natural state. there were other pictures with her friends at the beach. some of them were standing on rocks staring directly into the camera. no smile. just a blank face. it’s not like their staring off into the distance contemplating something. there eyes pierce yours. they make me uncomfortable.

two: people blow their noses into their hands and pick their noses out in the open. there’s nothing like seeing a beautiful girl ride on her bicycle and pick her nose to make you furrow your brow in confusion. that just shouldn’t happen, should it? there’s nothing like watching people walk down the street and casually press a finger over one nostril and blow all of the other’s contents onto whatever might be in the way. the nose here is not a taboo region of the body that must never be touched in public. it definitely runs counter to what society has told me ever since i was a child. i wonder who’s stranger, us for cringing or them for picking.

three: men allow mole hair to grow. for me, hair that comes out of a brown molt on ones body should be removed. the thought of allowing a stray mole hair to sprout out make me kind of queasy. moles were created to remind us that we are human and that we have blemishes. (my opinion, obviously) moles are not designed for excessive hair growth and any hair growing from a mole should be routinely removed. (my opinion again) men allow the moles on their faces and necks to grow long sprouts of hair. the sprouts usually consist of five or ten hairs in a small, fertile cluster. the hairs then usually decide to venture out in very different directions creating a kind of mole hair bouquet. my initial reaction is to tell them that, hey, they’ve got a hair growing out of their mole. my thinking is based on the fact that moles are not meant to be the basis for hair growth. moles are the basis for skin cancer and maybe some reminder of original sin.

just some cultural differences. who is to say which is right and which is wrong.