We have been to a lot of places during this trip and they all have been pretty different. There have been different languages, coloring, climates, and things like that, obviously, but in many of the countries the people have had consistantly different personalities. For example, the Italians were a bit snooty, the Egyptians tried to scam us, and the Spanish are pretty nice. Of course, that is not true about everyone, only most of the people we met. Also, because of the different governments, the government workers (police, military, city council people, etc) have been different. In many of the countries the effort levels and behaviour of the government workers has been noticably different.
Singapore is a really noticable example of this. In Singapore the laws are actually inforced, which is something we haven´t really seen anywhere else. The government obviously puts a lot of effort into enforcing their many laws, posting undercover officers at traffic lights and sidewalks adn things like that. It deffinitley works, though, they hand out $50 fines for jaywalking all the time. Noelle has already been caught twice! She was actually stopped by a guy wearing normal clothes who pulled out a badge and wrote her up a ticket. She thought it was a joke at first, but unfortunately it was legit. This shows the extreme efficency of the Singaporian government. They make laws like not spitting, and no durians on subways, and are able to enforce them. They also make smoking, drinking, and gum really expensive (but not illegal, becuase that would have caused an open rebellion) so people don´t trash the streets with gum or kill themselves with too much poison. The government in Singapore are efficiantly running the place, and the people who work for them actually do things.
The exact opposite of that is true in Itally, where they don´t really work at all. When our laptop was stolen in Pisa and daddy called the police, the guy told him to go to the police station. That is really weird because usually if you call the police they come to you because you may not be able to drive all the way over to them. We drove around for a little while looking for it, and when we finally found it, we were told to go to a different station. When we finally got there we talked to a guy at a little window who didn´t even try to speak English, even though he could speak Spanish and French as well as Italian. We stood there in the cold for a really long time, and even filled out the little bit of paperwork standing up. He was really snooty and took his time copying our passports and we had to ask him to actually stamp the form. There was no pretense that they were actually going to try to find the laptop, and they didn´t even go look for clues or anything. It was really dumb. The only reason anyone would ever bother them would be so they could possibly get insurance for it. Italy´s police system was a typical lazy bureaucracy, and all the workers just did as little work as possible, passing on the work to the next guy.
Spain´s government is another example of a lazy bureaucracy. Today Daddy went to the city council to get a certifacate of residence, and, as you can imagine, that did not go well. He went in there at about 9 am and asked for the certificate. The guy, who wasn´t even going to try to speak English, told him to come back at
2 pm to pick it up. He did, and when he asked another guy about it, he was told to wait another half hour until 2:30. At 2:30, he was told he needed a utility bill to get one and that there was nothing to do now becuase they closed soon. It turns out that you actually need a certificate of residency to recieve a utility bill! The guy obviously didn´t think daddy was telling the truth about living here, and thought that he was just a tourist on vacation who was trying to get extra benefits. Daddy was pretty pissed off and probably would have punched they guy if someone hadn´t calmed him down. That would not have gone down well because the council building is next door to the police station. Not an accident, I think. On his way out daddy caught a gilmpse of the police station and observed that the police weren´t even letting the people talk to them. They were actually shooing them away! In Spain the government workers are pretty horrible, and lazy at work.
Egyptian government people were very keen on keeping the remenants of their tourists, so they helped them out as much as possible (in most cases). There were tourist police hanging out at every big attraction to help you out if any locals were bothering you, and the tour buses were moved around in military convoys. In fact, there was actually too much military presence. Armed guards every where and all that. There was also the fact that they guards at the temple and pyramids would try and take picture for you or with you and ask for money afterwards. That is really annoying, but pretty much all of the Egyptians do it. The Egyptian military tries to protect the tourists as much as possible so they aren´t scared away entirely by the violence.
India had a huge military and police presence. You would see tanks and armed guards everywhere, just hanging out in imposing groups with their big guns.The Republic Day parade (where they paraded around in colorful clothing playing music from the tops of camels and stuff like that) was pretty much just a big show of their size. They paraded all through the city tossing their swords and carrying their big guns and wearing their weird costumes. In Shimla there were military parades every single day, and they blocked off half the city for their marching. The military in India was huge, adn every one had manditory service, even the girls. There is a ton of emphasis put on the military in India, and the effect is almost threatening.
In many of the countries we have been to there has been a noticable difference in government workings. Italy and Spain are lazy idiots, Egypt and India flash their military, and Singapore is extra efficient and effective. Even though the government people are usually mean, the people in the countries have been quite different. We have met nice and rude people in every country, even thought the ratios of nice to rude have been a bit different everywhere. The Italians, Egyptians, and Indians have been mostly quite rude, while the rest have been, for the most part, very nice. Evey country has a mix of personalities, and you can´t really judge everyone on a lazy government worker or a grouchy old lady in a supermarket who yells at you for holding the cheese too long (true story!!).
Singapore is a really noticable example of this. In Singapore the laws are actually inforced, which is something we haven´t really seen anywhere else. The government obviously puts a lot of effort into enforcing their many laws, posting undercover officers at traffic lights and sidewalks adn things like that. It deffinitley works, though, they hand out $50 fines for jaywalking all the time. Noelle has already been caught twice! She was actually stopped by a guy wearing normal clothes who pulled out a badge and wrote her up a ticket. She thought it was a joke at first, but unfortunately it was legit. This shows the extreme efficency of the Singaporian government. They make laws like not spitting, and no durians on subways, and are able to enforce them. They also make smoking, drinking, and gum really expensive (but not illegal, becuase that would have caused an open rebellion) so people don´t trash the streets with gum or kill themselves with too much poison. The government in Singapore are efficiantly running the place, and the people who work for them actually do things.
The exact opposite of that is true in Itally, where they don´t really work at all. When our laptop was stolen in Pisa and daddy called the police, the guy told him to go to the police station. That is really weird because usually if you call the police they come to you because you may not be able to drive all the way over to them. We drove around for a little while looking for it, and when we finally found it, we were told to go to a different station. When we finally got there we talked to a guy at a little window who didn´t even try to speak English, even though he could speak Spanish and French as well as Italian. We stood there in the cold for a really long time, and even filled out the little bit of paperwork standing up. He was really snooty and took his time copying our passports and we had to ask him to actually stamp the form. There was no pretense that they were actually going to try to find the laptop, and they didn´t even go look for clues or anything. It was really dumb. The only reason anyone would ever bother them would be so they could possibly get insurance for it. Italy´s police system was a typical lazy bureaucracy, and all the workers just did as little work as possible, passing on the work to the next guy.
Spain´s government is another example of a lazy bureaucracy. Today Daddy went to the city council to get a certifacate of residence, and, as you can imagine, that did not go well. He went in there at about 9 am and asked for the certificate. The guy, who wasn´t even going to try to speak English, told him to come back at
2 pm to pick it up. He did, and when he asked another guy about it, he was told to wait another half hour until 2:30. At 2:30, he was told he needed a utility bill to get one and that there was nothing to do now becuase they closed soon. It turns out that you actually need a certificate of residency to recieve a utility bill! The guy obviously didn´t think daddy was telling the truth about living here, and thought that he was just a tourist on vacation who was trying to get extra benefits. Daddy was pretty pissed off and probably would have punched they guy if someone hadn´t calmed him down. That would not have gone down well because the council building is next door to the police station. Not an accident, I think. On his way out daddy caught a gilmpse of the police station and observed that the police weren´t even letting the people talk to them. They were actually shooing them away! In Spain the government workers are pretty horrible, and lazy at work.
Egyptian government people were very keen on keeping the remenants of their tourists, so they helped them out as much as possible (in most cases). There were tourist police hanging out at every big attraction to help you out if any locals were bothering you, and the tour buses were moved around in military convoys. In fact, there was actually too much military presence. Armed guards every where and all that. There was also the fact that they guards at the temple and pyramids would try and take picture for you or with you and ask for money afterwards. That is really annoying, but pretty much all of the Egyptians do it. The Egyptian military tries to protect the tourists as much as possible so they aren´t scared away entirely by the violence.
India had a huge military and police presence. You would see tanks and armed guards everywhere, just hanging out in imposing groups with their big guns.The Republic Day parade (where they paraded around in colorful clothing playing music from the tops of camels and stuff like that) was pretty much just a big show of their size. They paraded all through the city tossing their swords and carrying their big guns and wearing their weird costumes. In Shimla there were military parades every single day, and they blocked off half the city for their marching. The military in India was huge, adn every one had manditory service, even the girls. There is a ton of emphasis put on the military in India, and the effect is almost threatening.
In many of the countries we have been to there has been a noticable difference in government workings. Italy and Spain are lazy idiots, Egypt and India flash their military, and Singapore is extra efficient and effective. Even though the government people are usually mean, the people in the countries have been quite different. We have met nice and rude people in every country, even thought the ratios of nice to rude have been a bit different everywhere. The Italians, Egyptians, and Indians have been mostly quite rude, while the rest have been, for the most part, very nice. Evey country has a mix of personalities, and you can´t really judge everyone on a lazy government worker or a grouchy old lady in a supermarket who yells at you for holding the cheese too long (true story!!).
Mia--super essay.. Great topic! Very interesting content and excellent topic sentences. You are definitely the writing ace--at least until Kayley catches up with you. love, bippy
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