I was eating at some outdoor food stalls the other day – you know, the kind I can never get enough of – and we saw it, right outside the food stalls, a dad holding his son’s hand as the young boy peed into the rain gutter. Honestly, I don’t see this nearly as much as I used to see it in Vietnam. It reminded us of something from our first couple of years living in Vietnam. A true way to view culture. It’s awesome. Here it is.

It comes from Mr. Uy. He was a very kind man who helped acclimate the foreign teachers at the Maritime University in Haiphong, Vietnam. This was back in 1994 and 1995. Things certainly were different back then.

The issue of peeing and culture first got my attention when we were on our way to Hanoi via school van, and about mid-way through, the van stopped, and all the guys got out to pee on the side of the road. Mr. Uy asked me if I wanted to join. I think I declined.

Anyways, another time, during one of our conversations with Mr. Uy, he said something very astute. He talked about the time he had spend in Europe – Bulgaria and a few other countries, I believe. One of the first things that caught him off guard was how Europeans kissed in public – something that a Vietnamese couple never would do. A Vietnamese husband and wife won’t even hold hands in public. It’s just not polite.

And so he came up with this axiom – quite profound, actually – which summed up east vs. west culture in just a couple of astute observations. It went something like this:

In the west, they kiss on the street and pee in the bushes.

In the east, they pee on the street and kiss in the bushes.

Wow. This is a wonderful starting point in trying to understand the differences of the east vs. west culture. If you can understand and accept these, you can understand and accept a lot about both cultures.

Thank you to the peeing youngster who brought this one back!