“Ketsana made landfall in the Philippines early on September 26, 2009.   The tropical storm brought Metro Manila its worst rainfall in record history on the morning of September 26, causing heavy flooding that left about 80 percent of the capital underwater.  Power and communication lines went down in many areas, many major roads and highways were rendered impassable, and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport suspended operations for several hours. According to Philippine weather bureau PAGASA, the metropolis received 42.4 cm of rain in just 12 hours, exceeding the 39.2 cm average for the entire month of September. The previous record was set on June 7, 1967, with 33.4 cm of rainfall over a 24-hour period.

A ‘state of calamity’ was declared in Metro Manila and 25 provinces affected by the storm. At least 72 people have been confirmed killed by flooding and landslides, and nearly 280,000 people displaced. – Wikipedia

To help…   Donations in kind to the Red Cross:

LOCAL
Please send in-kind local donations to The Philippine National Red Cross – National Headquarters in Manila. We could also arrange for donation pick-up.

INTERNATIONAL

1. Send a letter of intent to donate to the PNRC
2. A letter of acceptance from PNRC shall be sent back to the donor
3. Immediately after shipping the goods, please send the (a) original Deed of Donation, (b) copy of packing list and (c) original Airway Bill for air shipments or Bill of Lading for sea shipments to The Philippine National Red Cross–National Headquarters c/o Secretary General Corazon Alma de Leon, Bonifacio Drive, Port Area, Manila 2803, Philippines.

The PNRC does not accept rotten, damaged, expired or decayed goods. Though we appreciate your generosity, the PNRC also discourages donations of old clothes as we have more than enough to go around.

Woman, rolling her eyes – it must be all that Marijuana they have in this city!

- Overheard while checking out at the Sheraton Amsterdam Hotel

However, take note that we also should not expect everyone to understand English. And if you do find someone who could speak a bit of English, make sure that you modify the way you speak. Do not use slang words/expressions and avoid the common mistake of turning up the volume.

On your next trip to, say, Thailand, check out this handy guide on How to Communicate With a Non Native English Speaker. It may be exactly what you need to save yourself a lot of frustration.

As defined by wikipedia, a superstition is an irrational or invalid belief about the relation between certain actions. The superstitious individual erroneously believes that the future or the outcome of certain events can be caused or influenced by certain specified behaviours, despite the lack of a causal relationship in reality.

In Trinidad and Tobago, they believe that having sex with a virgin can cure AIDS. Stupid! Enough said.

In Switzerland, they say that drinking before a toast is made will lead you to seven years of bad sex. Errmm… that sounds a lot like a joke you make after drinking but, do you really want to risk it?!

Some old ones…

Apparently, to ward off storms at sea, women in Ancient Greece exposed their genitals. Methinks some crafty, dirty old man spent some time spreading that fake info around.

And according to the Kama Sutra, a man’s penis will stay constantly erect if you apply camel’s milk and honey. Errmm… wouldn’t that pre-Viagra solution render the penis useless if, say, the honey hardens?!

Would these help you in your travels? Well, not really. But it does give you the idea of where people from other culture base some of their decisions on. No matter how ridiculous it may sound, be careful how you react.

TIP: Wait for one of the locals to laugh before you do.

sources: Wikipedia, Caribbean Child, Aegis

Chopstick Etiquette #1 will focus on the Japanese way/culture.

Japanese chopsticks (called Ohashi) are normally made of wood. It has a pointed end and of medium length.

The DOs and DONTs of Chopstick use in Japan:

• It may look like the next logical thing to do but do NOT stick your chopsticks in your rice. It’s similar to offerings for the dead, which is understandably inappropriate for dining room tables.
• Yes, it is a stick but you are NOT supposed to use it like you do a BBQ stick.
• Do NOT pass food around, from one chopstick to another.
• “Do set pairs of ohashi at the front, next to the table’s edge, with the pointed ends towards the left: If you have ohashi-oki’s (chopstick holders), place them under the tapered ends.”
• “Do turn your ohashi around when using them to pick up food from a shared dish (family style eating): It’s polite. Your saliva doesn’t get all over the food other people will be eating. From experience I know this simple gesture can earn you major points at the table.”

Remember, when in doubt, ASK!

source: wandco

Your reaction and his/her reaction to your advances may NOT mean that sex is in the offing. Hmmmm… Come to think of it, this could happen back home, too.

Anyway… Do you have any idea how it was back in 1894 back in the old US of A?

To get an idea, here’s a reprint from The Madison Institute Newsletter, Fall Issue, 1894:

INSTRUCTION AND ADVICE FOR THE YOUNG BRIDE

On the Conduct and Procedure of the Intimate and Personal Relationships of the Marriage State for the Greater Spiritual Sanctity of this Blessed Sacrament and the Glory of God by Ruth Smythers. Spiritual Guidance Press New York City

To the sensitive young woman who has had the benefits of proper upbringing, the wedding day is, ironically, both the happiest and most terrifying day of her life. On the positive side, there is the wedding itself, in which the bride is the central attraction in a beautiful and inspiring ceremony, symbolizing her triumph in securing a male to provide for all her needs for the rest of her life. On the negative side, there is the wedding night, during which the bride must pay the piper, so to speak, by facing for the first time the terrible experience of sex.

At this point, dear reader, let me concede one shocking truth. Some young women actually anticipate the wedding night ordeal with curiosity and pleasure! Beware such an attitude! A selfish and sensual husband can easily take advantage of such a bride. One cardinal rule of marriage should never be forgotten: GIVE LITTLE, GIVE SELDOM, AND ABOVE ALL, GIVE GRUDGINGLY. Otherwise what could have been a proper marriage could become an orgy of sexual lust.

On the other hand, the bride’s terror need not be extreme. While sex is at best revolting and at worse rather painful, it has to be endured, and has been by women since the beginning of time, and is compensated for by the monogamous home and by the children produced through it.

It is useless, in most cases, for the bride to prevail upon the groom to forego the sexual initiation. While the ideal husband would be one who would approach his bride only at her request and only for the purpose of begetting offspring, such nobility and unselfishness cannot be expected from the average man.

Most men, if not denied, would demand sex almost every day. The wise bride will permit a maximum of two brief sexual experiences weekly during the first months of marriage. As time goes by she should make every effort to reduce this frequency. Feigned illness, sleepiness, and headaches are among the wife’s best friends in this matter. Arguments, nagging, scolding, and bickering also prove very effective, if used in the late evening about an hour before the husband would normally commence his seduction.

Clever wives are ever on the alert for new and better methods of denying and discouraging the amorous overtures of the husband. A good wife should expect to have reduced sexual contacts to once a week by the end of the first year of marriage and to once a month by the end of the fifth year of marriage.

By their tenth anniversary many wives have managed to complete their child bearing and have achieved the ultimate goal of terminating all sexual contacts with the husband. By this time she can depend upon his love for the children and social pressures to hold the husband in the home.

Just as she should be ever alert to keep the quantity of sex as low as possible, the wise bride will pay equal attention to limiting the kind and degree of sexual contacts. Most men are by nature rather perverted, and if given half a chance, would engage in quite a variety of the most revolting practices. These practices include among others performing the normal act in abnormal positions; mouthing the female body; and offering their own vile bodies to be mouthed in turn.

Nudity, talking about sex, reading stories about sex, viewing photographs and drawings depicting or suggesting sex are the obnoxious habits the male is likely to acquire if permitted. A wise bride will make it the goal never to allow her husband to see her unclothed body, and never allow him to display his unclothed body to her. Sex, when it cannot be prevented, should be practiced only in total darkness. Many women have found it useful to have thick cotton nightgowns for themselves and pajamas for their husbands. These should be donned in separate rooms. They need not be removed during the sex act. Thus, a minimum of flesh is exposed.

Once the bride has donned her gown and turned off all the lights, she should lie quietly upon the bed and await her groom. When he comes groping into the room she should make no sound to guide him in her direction, lest he take this as a sign of encouragement. She should let him grope in the dark. There is always the hope that he will stumble and incur some slight injury which she can use as an excuse to deny him sexual access.

When he finds her, the wife should lie as still as possible. Bodily motion on her part could be interpreted as sexual excitement by the optimistic husband.

If he attempts to kiss her on the lips she should turn her head slightly so that the kiss falls harmlessly on her cheek instead. If he attempts to kiss her hand, she should make a fist. If he lifts her gown and attempts to kiss her anyplace else she should quickly pull the gown back in place, spring from the bed, and announce that nature calls her to the toilet. This will generally dampen his desire to kiss in the forbidden territory.

If the husband attempts to seduce her with lascivious talk, the wise wife will suddenly remember some trivial non-sexual question to ask him. Once he answers she should keep the conversation going, no matter how frivolous it may seem at the time. Eventually, the husband will learn that if he insists on having sexual contact, he must get on with it without amorous embellishment.

The wise wife will allow him to pull the gown up no farther than the waist, and only permit him to open the front of his pajamas to thus make connection. She will be absolutely silent or babble about her housework while he’s huffing and puffing away. Above all, she will lie perfectly still and never under any circumstances grunt or groan while the act is in progress.

As soon as the husband has completed the act, the wise wife will start nagging him about various minor tasks she wishes him to perform on the morrow. Many men obtain a major portion of their sexual satisfaction from the peaceful exhaustion immediately after the act is over. Thus the wife must insure that there is no peace in this period for him to enjoy. Otherwise, he might be encouraged to soon try for more.

One heartening factor for which the wife can be grateful is the fact that the husband’s home, school, church, and social environment have been working together all through his life to instill in him a deep sense of guilt in regards to his sexual feelings, so that he comes to the marriage couch apologetically and filled with shame, already half cowed and subdued. The wise wife seizes upon this advantage and relentlessly pursues her goal first to limit, later to annihilate completely her husband’s desire for sexual expression.”

So when you are gallivanting in other countries, keep the above in mind. Other cultures may still have the same “rules”. Yes, even if it is already 2006.

Source: Dating Fun

Whether you only have a brief fling in mind or something which you might be open to “continuing” after the vacation, I guess I can safely assume that most would be open to some holiday romance.

So you pass the initial getting to know you stage with no cultural faux pas to speak of… ready to go hot and heavy (after all, isn’t that what holiday flings are really made of?) and then you discover that there are some differences in your culture and his, after all. A falter in your step, as you get the first sight of his uncircumcised (or circumcised, depends on who is looking) errmm, manhood.

The facts (girls, take note!):

Circumcision is performed for religious, medical or CULTURAL reasons. Some do and some don’t.

The majority of males are circumcised in the following countries, in most of which the predominant religion is Islam, which endorses circumcision: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, “Somaliland”, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

In other countries where circumcision predominates it is endorsed by religion (Israel) or by local custom or tradition: Philippines, Samoa, South Africa, South Korea, Togo, Tonga, The United States and Vanuatu.

And in most European countries, circumcision is NOT performed. Circumcision rate is generally estimated at 10-15% but this rate varies from country to country.

Be prepared for what you might encounter!

Take this advice from someone who married a European!

source: wikipedia

I feel that it is my obligation to try to write in detail what Paul started. Plus, yeah, it is good blog fodder.

I grew up switching loyalties when it comes to underarm care — shaving, waxing, plucking, etc. Everytime a new product came out, I tried it. As long as it promised to take underarm hair away. And as far as I know, almost everyone did the same. Someone even took the trouble of writing about the practice for women to remove these unwanted underarm hair.

In addition, female underarm hair has always been portrayed by media as scandalous. Heck, it even made the papers (not to mention, wikipedia) when Julia Roberts was caught unshaved.

When I went to Europe, I had to remind myself to close my mouth and not stare whenever I saw women raise their arms and see hair. Lots of hair. Grown freely. Wearing sleeveless shirts.

I cannot seem to find the real background WHY our society “demands” shaved armpits for women. And WHY most European (and Chinese, I found via google) women do not see the need to rid their underarm of hair.

Whatever the reasons are, Scrivs, be warned, there lies the difference… unshaved armpits in Women.

Heck, a paparazzi even had a stroke of luck when he caught Mischa Barton picking her nose. Poor girl.

Should you oft find your finger involuntarily going up your nose, beware. You’ll earn a reputation soon enough. You don’t want to be called Booger, do you? Best to clean your nose before you leave the house.

Or, you can move to Ethiopia where the sight of people picking their noses is akin to seeing someone yawn: “partially instinct, partly boredom”. You would fit right in. And if you do decide to move to Africa and continue your nose-picking frenzy, read this nifty guide and learn the fine art of nose-picking. You might as well do it right.

source: travel journals, Egotastic

In Amsterdam, the term coffeeshop is synonymous with a special kind of place. Yes, these coffeeshops do serve coffee but their main commodity is *blows out smoke* cannabis: hashish and marijuana. All are done legally, with license from the local council but is subjected to some regulations:

• Legally, you are only allowed to buy 5 grams at a time.
• Only those 18 and up are allowed to buy
• You are NOT allowed to bring it out of the Netherlands
• Absolutely NO Hard Drugs. There are tons of people selling ecstasy, etc. to tourists. Keep away from them!

Note that coffeeshops are NOT allowed to advertise the sale of cannabis. So, you need to go up to the bar and ask for the “menu”. In the menu, you will find different types and price ranges. In most shops, you can also order “space cakes”, Amsterdam’s version of hash brownies. Don’t expect it to taste good, the only reason one eats space cakes is to get that nice after glow     If you have the munchies, get something else.

Do sample the “goods” at the coffeeshop, if you must, but adhere to the regulations set by the local officials.