A few perceived cultural differences from a Los Angeleno InDia

Some perceived cultural differences from a Los Angeleno InDia and traveling there. First off I saw some smoking "fish tanks" in Frankfurt, Germany, in the airport,where smokers can close themselves in and puff away... the warnings from nation to nation obviously vary yet of the few I've seen the US has the least scary of all; The following are some offerings (partial credit: Wikipedia)

USA:
* SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide. (1985-)
Moderately scary if one isn't ignorant of the problems with Carbon Monoxide...

GERMANY:
My favorite:
o Raucher sterben früher - Smokers die sooner.
A bit more scary.

INDIA:


CIGARETTE SMOKING KILLS and SMOKING CAUSES CANCER with a picture of lungs with a red blob in one
Way to bottom line it!!!


Fucking odd that the "less developed" country has the most honest and clear smoking warning...

On to the next one: Shaking one's head yes and no.

I showed my ID to get into the office park, while InDia and the security guard kinda shook his head side to side (close to how we shake for no) but really he was just (quickly) tilting his head side to side, not so much turning it, so I asked the folks in the office and as they laughed they said that basically means yes, or it was a general acknowledgement (that's a no as a yes to me) so now I must check to see if the people I am teaching are saying that they understand me or not (they do find it funny too I think)... It took me about a week and a half to get that unconsciosly...

Next... Dogs.
InDia there are a lot of what we in the US might all stray dogs, and can be found in most all the streets (yes some people have dogs as pets and I am told they act like dogs all over the world... I just see the strays so we'll stick with them, plus it's fun)... Anyways the strays InDia could not care very much less for humans or human interaction; they nearly completely ignore people, cows, cars, etc. Squish... I saw one run into a bicyclist, both going a bit fast... and one run over by a taxi driver... doggy got up as far as I saw though...probably laying in that hole in the dirt street's cool surface...

Shit that's a change; dogs in the streets back home would try to force their demeanor, good or bad on everyone around them in many cases... Pretty nice of the street dogs here (India) to ignore us, since they probably don't hit the local Beverly Hills dog groomer too often.

More? OK: Fire Ants.
I live in LA and being a Chaparral ecology, bordering on desert one can find Fire Ants, especially in said deserts. If you have ever been near these critters you know they can search out any animal, even people and when they do there are usually nasty and painful (for a month) bites to follow... Well InDia has Fire Ants ALL THE FUCK OVER, yet they, like the street dogs, seem to not give a second thought to people., let alone want to climb on people and bite. Hmmm, can these be Ants looking for good Karma? If so they get my vote!!!