More random stuff about life in the Philippines

I've got a little list of more random things I've learned and/or noticed that are much different than what I'm used to.

• Lighters are not childproof.  Guys ride in the open backs of pick-up trucks.  I even saw a dude on the back of a flatbed semi truck.  A lot of the safety things that we pay attention to in the U.S. are not given any thought here.
• They allow vendors to sell goods right in the middle of the highway (called E.D.S.A).  These people sell all kinds of stuff - bottles of water, snacks, handkerchiefs, even those backrest thingies you can put on your car seat.  I snapped a pic of this dude selling something (snacks?  I'm not sure)

I wonder how often these people are hit...

• I've learned that hiring based on height, weight, health, etc is normal practice here.  For example, receptionists need to be tall (?!) and many places have a height/weight requirement so that employees can fit into whatever uniform is required.  The military also has a height requirement of 5'6 (I think it was).
• Circumcision.  I know - really random.  I don't know why it popped in my head to ask about this, but it did...  Boys here are not circumcised as newborns.  Instead, it is like a right of passage for them as a young boy - from about 8 years old to 11 or so.  If it is discovered that they haven't had it done yet, a boy's friends and family will tease them about it.  They have summer clinics where they'll go and wait in line to have it done.  No drugs.  Just stand there and take it.  Yowza!  So if/when I see boys in that age range walking around in a skirt or big, loose basketball shorts, I'll know why.  Poor kids!
• Because of the poverty here, many Filipino women will find themselves an ex-pat husband.  You see a lot of very young looking women with icky old men.  Gross.