You Know You Are in Bhutan When: Part 3

You are sitting in clock tower square, soaking up sunshine, and eating delicious ice cream from the only ice cream parlor in Thimphu.

You have no water in your apartment for 48 hours

People throw the word “love” around very liberally because there is no Dzongkha word for “love”, and they haven’t quite gotten the hang of it.  There is also no word for “goodbye” or “cheers”.

Nobody is ashamed to tell you they need to go to the bathroom because they have diarrhea or a “runny tummy”.  If a kid has to go to the bathroom, they say, “I am very pissy” or, “I am very shitty”.

You are drinking whiskey with the Ambassador of Kuwait and he makes a joke that “Kuwait is not the country you are bombing”.  As the party goes on, everyone gets saucier, and he asks you to teach him the appropriate time to cheers and the appropriate time to drop an F bomb into conversation.

You buy a bag of eggs, only to find that they are all rotten.  (I will laugh very hard the next time I see someone return brown lettuce at Trader Joes.)

Giardia is to Bhutan as Chlamydia is to Isla Vista.  A quick round of antibiotics and you are all good.  You are not afraid.

You are having drinks at a bar after hours and the King’s brother walks in.  The weekend after, you have drinks with his cousin.

You see a kid taking a dump on the side of the road.

One of your students asks for your parents' contact information because her mother will be visiting CA and would like to meet up.  Why is the student so striking and familiar looking?  She is related to the Queen Mother.

You see a group of children playing and spinning each other around in an old cement mixer, as if it is a merry-go-round.  You imagine the lawsuit that would happen in the US.

You get excited when you come across Herbal Essence Shampoo and tampons with applicators.

Your are running up a mountain covered in prayer flags.