Safety

From Brad.

One of the positive things about my new culture is the higher degree of safety we have here. I've heard this from many people (foreigners like me living here and the locals) that we live in a very safe place. Robberies and muggings are just not very common (although I don't have any 'hard facts' to provide you with). It probably is a result of strict gun laws (I don't think the common people have the right to bear arms...not that I'm making a political statement here) and harsh penalties for convicted criminals. Again, I'm not sure of all the details, but I know this country has more executions each year than any other country. Amy and I have felt very, very safe as we walk the streets, even sometimes late at night.

The most obvious difference between this country and America is the vast majority of stores do not have bars on the windows or high tech surveillance cameras. Also, except for the big 'wal-mart' type stores, almost every store puts its money in a simple money drawer/box (ie - no high tech cash register). So when I go to pay, they simply open a 'cigar box' or unlocked drawer and dig through the wad of cash to give me change. I think the majority of people here still use cash as credit cards are very rare (debit cards are more and more popular though). This means that sometimes the cash I see is a pretty good chunk of change. I have often thought how easy it would be to just grab the stash and disappear into the masses on the sidewalk. Well...maybe for some. I don't suppose a white guy like myself, usually lugging 3 kids around could disappear very easily. :) Yeah, I think I'll stick to acquiring my money the old fashioned way.