The United States, it's it's time for a
celebration, and,
and and it's always time for a celebration.
You mean, like, now at this moment? Well,
at this time of the year, this this
podcast is coming out around Thanksgiving in the
United States, which is
is,
the 4th Thursday
in November Yes. Giving thanks. It's not an
uncommon thing in many cultures. Am I right
with that, Dean? I I think so because,
you know, it it is a cultural thing
to to do that, yes, in many places.
Right? Okay. And I know Canada has theirs,
a little earlier date in the year. And,
so,
happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian,
listeners.
And,
nevertheless,
we are gonna be talking about something that
you might think has nothing to do with
that, except one of the traditions in the
United States, anyway,
at Thanksgiving, is to eat enormous amounts of
food.
Even if you don't And how is that
different from any other day or day? I'm
already doing that right now. Not everybody does
that. I mean, yeah, I get that. But
but not everybody does that, but they they
somehow do. And I think if you don't
do it regularly and you do it on
Thanksgiving,
you're not gonna feel so well at some
point during that day. I should point out
in our I'm just thinking this in our
August episode. Remember we talked about the man
was it Frankfurt Dean eating a bowl of
whipped cream, Schlage?
That I saw. Yes. In Frankfurt. Right? Frankfurt.
Yes. So we had that in mind. And
so, actually, before we started taping this podcast,
we had a bowl of whipped cream and
some strawberries.
We added some and raspberries. Yes. And we
dipped them in the shlagan. It was very
good. And I tried to not eat too
much, but it's so hard. Oh, it's so
good. It was so good. It's a remarkable,
wonderful combination. Yes. But he ate good. A
fairly large bowl
As I remember.
Of schlager. No strawberries. Nothing else. He was
schlogging his way through it. That's it. I
mean, hey. It's good stuff. How did he
eat it? Did he have a spoon? Spoon.
Okay. Schlogg spoon. I could I could just
stick my face right in there. Your basic
schlogg spoon? Yeah. It's a certain kind. And
I agree. I could stick my face in
there too. Yeah. Yeah. Again, I almost did
here, but I tried to Yeah. You try
to keep it a little bit. Was again,
a past episode. Just enough. Absolutely. Not too
much. Not too little. There you go. Just
right. Yeah. And so far, no one is
sick. So So far, we haven't already eaten.
However, we need to go the hospital. Our
money is on you, Dean,
for reasons you're gonna make clear as we
go through this episode.
So we're gonna be talking about
being sick in other cultures
We are. Because of overeating?
Well, no. We're gonna talk about being sick
in other cultures regardless. Or maybe undereating or
or It could well be. Regardless. What happened
to you? The kind of thing that's eating?
Oh, because oh, that's happened to me. However,
let me let me pause for a moment
to just say that there we're going to
be checking out the fact that you're getting
ill in other cultures because,
oops,
your culture's showing.
Well, Dean Foster
is here to be ill for us. I'm
really sorry to say that I'm not feeling
very ill at all today. I feel pretty
good. Too. You know? I'm not sorry. I
don't want him to be ill while in
the room. Well, the podcast is young. Give
it a chance. I'm only thinking
I'm getting scared now. You know? I'm getting
scared. We should be sitting farther apart, I
think. Oh, yes. Well, usually should be. I
may go in the other room. Yeah. I
think I will. I've got outside.
I've been very fortunate, actually, given the fact
that I travel so much
not to really have gotten ill
too many times. But if you, you know,
you you spend a lot of time elsewhere,
you're gonna get sick somewhere else. Yeah. Sooner
or later. Sure. It's just a it's a
numbers game. Yeah. Right? Yeah. So So, yes,
I I guess I've had my share, but
nothing nothing spectacular,
you know, to be able to That's good.
I'm still here. Yeah. You're still here. Let's
let's kill the
Don't say kill.
Who are you killing?
Well, okay. Let's just, like, completely
drain the
the the podcast of energy by saying nothing
spectacular.
But that is If I were you, I'd
turn it off right now. Really? Well, no.
In the moment. This is the wrong podcast.
No. No. I have to say in the
moment,
it is spectacular. Oh, yeah. Right? Because you
don't know what's going on, and it's a
medical emergency.
It's it's very yeah. It's particularly
disturbing. Yeah. Yeah. Like the time that I
woke up in Shanghai. Yes. I'm in my
hotel room, and I didn't expect to wake
up with any problem. Mhmm. And I woke
up, and I realized that I could not
hear anything. What?
Could not hear a thing. Oh, okay.
Until I removed the pillow from one side
of the thing. And then it removed. Okay.
Next story.
And and, however Wow. That covers your hair.
Could not hear a thing out of one
ear.
Okay. Idea why this was happening. How come
you only had one ear? That's what I
don't understand.
You know, if these happen you know, you
travel. Yeah. Alright. You you gotta You travel.
Sometimes the air falls off. You know? It's
that Van Gogh syndrome, I believe. Oh, the
the Versus. Yes.
Oh, you've got a case of Versus. I
think penicillin might take care of that, but
we'll see. You never know. You know, when
you travel, give it one of the things
You might wanna keep that penicillin handy. Gotta
be ready for the fact that you may
wake up and suddenly you can't hear out
of one ear. Yeah. There you go. Yep.
Yep. Okay. So did that
suddenly you can't hear out of one ear.
Yeah. There you go. Yep. Yep. Okay. So
did that And the lesson the lesson is
No. He's he he passed away. Eventually. And
he's not here.
The lesson is don't panic. Is that what
the hell I was doing? Heed that
advice, or did you did you panic?
No. I tried to I tried to heed
it. Tried to say, but it's not gonna
be this is Can we blame you and
point fingers at you in this with this
pause? I'm already I'm always pointing at it.
Oh, okay. I see. That makes sense. Well,
it's I thought you were doing, like, the
Uncle Sam poster or something. I want you.
Do need to take responsibility for our condition
ultimately.
Okay. So, yes, I mean Speaking of taking
responsibility session all of a sudden. Since I
introduced you and you totally neglected to introduce
me, I will pass it off to the
fact that you're hearing, maybe. I think you
introduced yourself already, didn't you? I did not.
I think you did. I did not. I
think you did too. I introduced this guy.
In fact, I don't know that you introduced
him. I did introduce him. Did you introduce
me? No. Uh-huh. No. Neither of us. Yeah.
I didn't hear it. I didn't. Well, the
Maybe because I didn't know. Hear it. So
I I was I'm here I'm here today
with,
with with my co host, Tom Peterson.
Uh-huh. Did I do that right? There you
go. Now we're now we're right. Yes. Peterson.
And our producer, Torren. Hello. And we're all
here because
always just said that we already said it.
I think we all need to go go
to the hospital. I think there's I think
there's, you know, factors hanging on. There might
be some medical issues that seem to be
done with the brain. Ever since that day
in Shanghai.
Yeah. Ever since that Do you have a
brain eating worm inside your head? Anything? Unfortunately,
nothing like that. Are you running higher office?
Kind of a political comment in the United
States. Yeah. That's the election already happening. No.
No. No. I know I don't have a
brain eating weight worm because because I am
thinking about running for office, and they said,
you're disqualified. You don't have a brain eating
worm.
Certainly not as an independent candidate. There you
go. A reference point for those of you
around the world. You all know much more
than we do at this point. Yes. You
do. Happen. Yeah. Yeah. It's election. But anyway,
Shanghai. Yeah. So I, you know, I had
to resolve this. I had to figure out
what was going on. Yep. And I was
in the hotel, so
I said, I need a doctor. And they
said, no. You don't.
We can't send you a doctor. There's no
hotel doctor. Uh-huh. But there's a hospital, and
they pointed me to the way to go.
And I was told
that when I get to the hospital,
look for the sign that said
foreigners.
Ah, okay. Okay. And this is very common
all throughout the world. Mhmm. Right? Because for,
I guess, for any number of reasons, including
cultural reasons Mhmm. But also political reasons and
health health issues and and economic reasons. Mhmm.
Who takes responsibility
for the costs associated when foreigners get sick,
etcetera?
Oh, sure. No. This is all controlled to
some degree. Sure. And every country's got its
policies around this. Mhmm. In China,
I had the distinct feeling that part of
the reason it was being controlled
was cultural
in that they did not want the foreigner
to experience
what locals might experience
when they go for treatment
at the hospital. No looking behind the curtain,
so to speak. Exactly. Mhmm. Precisely.
Also, issue something as practical as as language.
Mhmm. There may not be English speaking staff
Right. For local Why would you need them
in a local situation? Exactly.
While I would need them
for the or or other languages as well.
Right.
So,
I I did panic a little bit. This
was my panic moment when I had to
get myself from the hotel to this hospital
that I knew nothing about. Right.
But as is the case Now did you
did you have assistance, or did you just
were you able to hear what they were
telling you when you were talking about the
enough. I turned my head and gave them
the good ear. To that side. Yeah. Sure.
Yep. Yep. The not bad one. The one
that simply
stopped working. Uh-huh. I mean, there was just
nothing. Nothing like that ever happened to you
before? No. Yeah. Okay. We've all had earrings.
Ringing ear, but not just earring. Or some
of us, you know, may have experienced, like,
ear wax buildup. Right. Right. Right. Go in
there and they, you know, suck it out
and then then you're fine. Yeah. This was
different. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So I was
a little panicked. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. But I
got myself to the Appropriately so. To the
hospital. And this is in, post Budong
Shanghai. This is quote unquote modern Shanghai now,
which is, you know, what you see in
the postcards, and when you go online, you
see this the sparkling skyscrapers and the and
and it looks like, you know, a big
modern world city. Shanghai being a coastal city
Mhmm. That is it's it's a it's a
tourist area. Yes.
Business area. Business.
Business area. Right. Okay. Right. Yeah. Okay. Anyway,
I just thought I'd throw that It's on
the river right near the coast. Right near
the coast. Okay. Yes. But access coming in
and out of there quite a bit. Right?
Into in and out of Shanghai. Absolutely. Off
of the ocean and off of, the river.
Right. So,
the
the city side,
was always the built up side,
and and across the river was this
basically farmland Mhmm. Called Pudong. Okay. And in
the course of the transformation that's gone on
there over the last 30 years or so,
Pudong is now what you see when you
look at the pictures of the images of
the big skyscrapers and the colored lights and
all that. Because this is now transformed.
Totally transformed. Yes. Which the Chinese have been
doing an amazing amount of That over the
last 30 years. Right. Right.
So so I'm on so I say post
Pudong, you know, modern Shanghai. Sure. And, so
I get myself over to the hospital, and
it looks
looks fine, you know, from my my civilian
assessment, nonmedical assessment.
And and I go in and I find
myself walking down these corridors which
I'm looking for the
foreigners sign. They said that it's gonna be
a sign for foreigners. Couldn't see it. Couldn't
find it.
Asked for some help. Got some English speaking
people. They turned me around.
Mhmm. And I remember distinctly getting the feeling
that they needed to turn me around and
not allow me to go any further than
the other people. Going because that was suspect.
Yeah. And very quickly, I mean, they saw
the Westerner. They they assessed my needs. Yes.
And
they directed me
to the entrance that I went in on,
but I made a left instead of a
right.
Okay. That was my error. So I go
back to where I started from. I make
the right Mhmm. And I'm in
I'm in Chicago.
Really?
I'm in Chicago.
I mean, everyone's speaking English. Yeah. There's no
waiting.
None. And, of course, on the other side
of that corridor
are just
People lined up.
Tens, 100
of people. Okay. Yeah. Right? Mhmm. And here,
I'm me and 5 others, 3 others, whatever.
Yeah. All Westerners. Okay. Yeah. Uh-huh. Right. Taken
in by an English speaking
doctor,
introduced me as it is British, I believe.
Mhmm.
Took care of me Mhmm. Assessed what was
going on. Are we going to get an
insight into what was going on? Or I
can't I can't disclose that. Okay. Because medical
privacy
issues. Sure. Sure. It makes perfect sense. Also,
I had to sign a form in China
which indicated that Did you? You could no
longer say longer say only on podcasts you're
restricted from saying any anything else. Right. That's
right. Sure. Yes. But, but
Makes perfect sense. Uh-huh. I guess one of
the the morals of the story here is
that, on one hand,
if you're in a big world city anywhere,
you're going to receive a very high level
of medical care, particularly
because you're a foreigner.
Sure.
Probably
more so than you would receive at home
in the case. Very likely. Very likely. Yeah.
Well yeah. Because it does go to the
point of and I have no idea what
happens to foreigners in this country when they
go. I think they get thrown into the
mix,
and I'm sure that's very frightening here
because our you know, in the United States,
I'm talking about.
Because it is it is a,
I mean, don't wanna you know, it's it's
not like let's kick the medical system here,
but but it's it's just I I can't
see. I don't know this. I have no
idea. Right. What what would happen if a
person from China,
had a problem and couldn't speak English and
came into a hospital here? I have no
idea what the Well, do we do our
hospitals have signs that indicate I have never
seen not that's right. So do you answer
that? Fair, I don't spend a lot of
time in emergencies. Right. I don't either. So
But there's your but there's your answer. I
think you I think here That's what I'm
saying. Because the US is so heterogeneous Yes.
Right. Right? Right. You get thrown in among
the others. And and there's something about that,
you know, which is kind of encouraging in
a way Mhmm. That we're all getting either
You're getting to see behind the curtain as
much as anybody does.
And and we're all getting the same level
of care more or less?
Well,
yeah. How much it's still stratified quite a
bit. How much money have you got? No.
Exactly.
Yeah. The great middle has been shrinking dramatically.
But it's not stratified in that specific way,
which is interesting. And it seems to me
that there would have to be a large
investment of resources to do something like what
you're describing. To distinguish that. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Whole is actually just for the foreigner. Yes.
Being the British doctor, that's really interesting. Yeah.
Now now, curiously But was the was the
gentleman was he British? Or I mean,
and he might have been of of of
Chinese background.
A gentleman who He was British. He was
a western man. He was brought in. Or
something like that. Yeah. And this is his
this was his work. And and in fact,
I remember the conversation I had with him
where he indicated he he's been there. He
was there for 20, 30 years. Fine. Okay.
Because we were talking about how Pudong has
changed, how Shanghai is Mhmm. Metamorphosized
into this, you know, international world city. Mhmm.
And
no. He's he was there through the changes.
Okay. Right. Okay. Then that this is where
he lived. You know? Yeah. I I think
that's very interesting. Fascinating. Yeah.
It's it's a
okay. So so that being said, what would
you say And he only treated foreigners, by
the way. Right. Right. Sure. Right. Yeah. That
was that was his job. So his but
but all of that being what it is,
and it's like you're saying, Toren, the the
the investment
that the obvious
feelings of need Mhmm. To do this Mhmm.
In in China Mhmm. Is a is kind
of interesting. And Well, to to that point,
yes. I mean, there is this distinction and
always has been in Asia of
Asian culture and western culture.
Sure. And But also keeping foreigners out
or at arm's length or in some form
of control. Being more insulated. Yes. And but
also, I think and we don't need to
go too deep into this because I don't
know that any of us can really speak
to this, but it's a the but the
medicine itself,
the way to treat things Ah, yeah. And
Of course. The whole tradition of Chinese medical
care and Chinese medicine. Sure. So someone coming
in who's from the area
who might come in looking for something might
be very happy to hear about a certain
level of acupuncture for whatever it is. Whereas
a person here might be suspect of that.
Could be. Or they might be very on
board with it. Right. But but nevertheless,
it's so a foreigner coming in much is
more likely not to be looking for those
types of things. So I can see that
in a very in almost a medical way
to do it. But we're not really here
to talk about medical ways. No. We're here
to talk about the cultural things behind those
decisions. Mhmm. So just kind of throwing it
out there. What do you think in this
particular instance? What do you think is for
China? What is the a driving cultural force
that would say, you go over there, we'll
go over here? No. I I I think,
you know, I alluded to it just a
moment ago. There is I'm sorry. I couldn't
hear you. Then
What? Not out of that ear anyway. Were
you? The there is a cultural element of
organizing people according to class, according to cast,
according to ethnicity, according to
in inside
as opposed to outside, according to same and
according to different. And this
is a very old tradition in China and
a lot
of Asian cultures. And many places around the
world. Yeah, many places around the world. Okay,
and so it's very hierarchical and these things,
distinguishing
people as to being,
whether or not they can receive certain kinds
of societal benefits
is something
that all societies have to make these decisions
about. Mhmm. But in China and in many
Asian cultures, it's been about, okay, where are
you in the social class? Right. And and
you're either in or you're out. Right. And
and ethnicity has been one of the one
of the, criteria. And again, we do that
here in the US, but that's We do.
Of course. When it's foreigners, not foreigners. Right?
Right. But but in but in a more
egalitarian culture like like the US, let's say,
if we do that,
it's almost like we need to justify it.
Mhmm. Mhmm. Because we don't really believe that
be hidden. Right? It needs to be we're
doing this, but it's not maybe it's Or
not promoted. It either has to be excused
or explained because it's because there's an implied
admission to the fact that we shouldn't be
doing this. Right. Right.
But in many other cultures,
there is no implied
assumption that we shouldn't be doing this. This
is how we do it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yes. Right. Okay. Interesting. Okay. And So you,
never got your hearing back?
What?
I did. Okay. Good. I did. It was
not a serious issue. I know. Good. Oh,
okay. No. But it was more than just
the the earwax
thing. Mhmm. Okay.
Now we did mention in there that this
is something that is not,
that that happens in many other areas around
the world. So in other areas around the
world, where did you get sick?
Tell us of your other ailments. Yes. Ay
ay ay. I'm now I'm gonna feel like
everybody's thinking I'm sort of like this walking
case. Uh-huh. Yes. But it wasn't anything like
that at all. Oh, sure. Uh-huh. Okay. Okay.
Yeah. You just you could believe that. Uh-huh.
It's it's it's just So where around the
world have you been sick?
Or where have you not been sick? Right.
Beyond beyond We'll speed up this. Yeah. Yeah.
Beyond the usual, you know, oh, I got
I got this bug, and now I've I've
been in I Yeah. I've been in jail
in my hotel room for 3 days. Yeah.
Hopefully.
Yeah. Yeah. I had terrible food poisoning in
Egypt.
Terrible. Not fun. I'd have to go out.
Redundant because true. It is very redundant. Terrible
food poisoning as opposed to good food poisoning.
But it was pretty much a 24 hour
thing of just It's miserable. Anyway Yeah. And
the golden rule, of course, when that stuff
happens is you don't talk about it. Yeah.
Well, I just but very briefly. You know,
you know, we'll see this. No one gets
that on their US Thanksgiving. I know nothing
of this firsthand. I'm just going to pass
this along, but but Don't pass anything. Yeah.
No. We don't pass anything here. I'm going
to the other room. Poor choice of words.
Yeah.
Bad wordplay.
When
I I but I I do understand that
there is that that like in Egypt, the,
the health
care on some levels again, I think this
is going to be to some degree, especially
for western people who wanna come in and
and make use of it, it can be
extraordinarily
good
and, in those areas. But, and that is
a marketplace for them, and especially with westerners.
Well, medical tourism.
Medical tourism, you know, you you can get
I think Egypt is one of those places
taking advantage of that. I did get some
high quality dental work in Jordan. Yeah. Oh,
there you go. I'm not surprised. Yeah. Absolutely.
Again, I think it's dependent on how much
money you're able to spend. If you present
as the privileged westerner Right. And to be
a privilege
into the sis into into the society Mhmm.
Yeah, you're gonna be you're gonna get the
best possible medical care the best medical care,
and it's going to be the best medical
care. Yeah. And I think that's the experience
that most
travelers from abroad have when they go somewhere.
Yeah. Now
if you're out in the the wilds of
a desert or in the in in the
center of the rainforest,
That's a completely different story. Right? Was that
ever the case for you, or you were
out somewhere more remote and got ill?
In the Amazon.
Oh, yes. Okay. In in fact, there was
a condition.
So we're out on on one of the
tributaries,
and I and I was
we were touring through,
the reason known as Amazonas,
and,
got on a little dugout canoe at one
point because we went from a fairly larger
boat to a slightly smaller boat to then
a dugout canoe because it was the only
way to get through the mangroves and the
growth Sure. Wow. Going it was
it was becoming very
Amazonia.
Yeah. Yeah.
And,
as we're going through at one point,
we're getting past this enormous,
the only way to describe it is just
thicket of butterflies.
Oh, wow. And we emerge on the other
side of the butterflies onto this lake Uh-huh.
And the
the lake becomes very silvery.
The water surface looked straight silvery. It wasn't
very light because you're in this rainforest canopy.
Mhmm. But there's light coming through Mhmm. And
the water's getting silvery, and I'm starting to
feel really sick.
As if something's coming over me. Mhmm. Uh-huh.
Like, I oh, I must have caught a
bug a few days ago, and now it's
manifesting. Sure. Right? And too bad I'm happened
to be out on the river when it
happens. Yeah.
But
but I, in that moment, couldn't manage the
difference. And within
minutes, I was flat on my back in
this dugout canoe.
I couldn't move. I feeling
extremely sick, but not just digestively.
I just completely out of sorts
and falling A fever?
Mhmm. Slightly feverish Okay. And a falling asleep.
I could not stay awake.
You could not stay awake. Wow.
Okay.
Completely listless. Wow.
Very, very weak.
So they got me back.
They they said Did they have any idea
what was going on with you? Well, I
found out later. Yes, they did. Okay. I'm
common. I they turned the canoe around. Uh-huh.
They were taking me back to base, which
wasn't gonna help very much because we're in
the middle of Right. Amazon
at a kind of like an eco base
Mhmm. Eco lodge places where we were staying.
Mhmm.
You know, was it the mosquito that bit
me the night before? Right. Was it a
bug that I picked up?
No. It was none of that,
and 24 hours later,
I was fine. Okay. And they said I
would be fine. Okay. Okay. Now they wanted
to be sure that their their
analysis of the disease was the correct The
prognosis is correct. But but they had seen
this enough
before to know what was going on. Sure.
Likely. Yeah. And they called it river sickness.
Okay. Okay. And that it happened not uncommon.
It is not the result of an infection
or a bite or any kind of parasite
or,
or virus or bacteria.
They're not quite sure with how it happens
or where it comes from,
but it overtakes
the person. It's a combination of heat. It
could be humidity.
It has to do with the light as
it plays on the water. Yeah. Yeah.
Oh. People do not get it. It will
trigger it. Unless you're on the water. I
was gonna say the silvery thing that you
had mentioned. Right. I wondered if you saw
that and others didn't see it
or if and it was something that was
triggering in your mind.
Because a lot of this is interpretation by
your brains.
I mean,
all of our senses are interpretations
of your brain by your brain. So if
it could be interpreting it and in your
particular wiring for whatever reason, along with probably
many others because they've seen it before,
it it happens to trigger, like, it could
flashing lights to some people. And they say
and they call they call it river sickness.
Uh-huh. And the symptoms were absolutely classic. Yeah.
And they said, you'll step off the boat.
You'll start to feel better. Mhmm. So I'm
wondering if it isn't a little of the
same thing that happens with Regular seasick. Regular
seasick. Yeah. Yeah. I get. Equal equilibrium
issues, except I I typically do not get
seasick. Right. Okay. I'm pretty good on being
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've been on you
on on on boats that you could easily
get seasick in. Right. Yeah. And and you
never showed any real signs of that. Maybe
this is more the refracting of the light
of the water. That's what I'm suspecting. Yeah.
Maybe a combination. Yeah. And we did get
we did see the the doctor associated with
the Ecolodge.
Eventually, he was able to come and He's
a PhD, but okay.
And
and within 24 hours, I recovered, but we
didn't know.
And
and I guess the the other point I'm
making here is that if you're outside of
that big world city anywhere in the world,
you're going to be faced with the same
issue of getting sick and having no help.
Right. Mhmm. Right. Except to depend on what
the locals tell you. Yeah.
And fortunately,
this
some of the locals that I was with
were very familiar with Western tourists. Yes. And
the fact that this was a condition that
they had seen before. Maybe. Yeah.
But then there were others there who were
also making all sorts of recommendations about how
to survive. Mhmm. Like
different and and they were showing me these
different plant concoctions that they had. Yeah. And
somebody wanted to rub in a,
like a pumice
on my on my chest and on my
forehead.
Uh-huh.
You didn't do those. I didn't do that.
Okay. No.
And because, I mean, also, those are the
kind of things they do that, and then
you feel really better the next day. And
then they attributed it. Okay. Yeah. They cause
it causal as opposed to. Right. Yeah. Just
coincidental.
Right. Were were you rehydrating? I'm I'm asking
that because I'm just I'm I'm thinking back
to my
my brief,
story I gave of getting food poisoning in
Egypt and how valuable it was for me
to have rehydration salts.
Because we were told and I was in
the Peace Corps at the time. We were
told
large cause of many illnesses is dehydration. So
it always happens on you. And when I
had food poisoning and things were coming out,
I really needed to be rehydrated. Hydrogen. Of
course. So I was really glad I had
those. Yeah. It may have been. No. Yeah.
That may have been a Sure. A more
scientific analysis
because I'm sweating I may have been part
of this. Amazon. Sure. Yeah. Constant. Yeah. Constantly.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Constantly.
Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. Sure. Now
it's the did you then have to go
back out on the river?
Yeah. We did. Yeah. And it never occurred
again. Never occurred again. Uh-huh. Okay.
Maybe it's just the area you were Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, you recognized it, and it
stuck with you that you were going you
came through the butterflies, which I'm sure was
a memorable thing to do anyway. That's incredible.
Yeah. But and you're coming out of that
into this particular environment,
and I'm just wondering was did the butterfly
effect
which is a different thing.
Not that butterfly. Not that butterfly effect. They
have caused it. I mean Maybe.
Something in Mexico happened, I reckon. Right. Exactly.
And and the fluttering of a million wings.
There you go. And I come through that,
and there I am, and I'm studying it.
Well, there is a metaphor in this also
in that Oh. You know, one of the
things we learned is We love metaphors. We
do. We love metaphors. We do. Bring me
a metaphor. We we haven't done grammar time
in a while. Should we do metaphor time?
Metaphor. Grammar time with
metaphor.
Interesting harmony. Yeah. We tried. We kinda
As we're going through the butterflies,
we're being told that the butterflies are mating,
and what they what these these particular butterflies
do is they go down into the mud
by the by the bank of the river.
Where are we going here? I don't know.
I'm I'm a little frightened. Okay. Let's let's
see what's happening. And they roll They may
be nauseous.
And they collect salt that crystallizes along the
shore of the river. Okay. And they roll
the salt into little salt balls. Okay. And
they the male butterflies give the salt balls
to the female butterflies Okay. As as gifts.
Yes. Right?
And I bet the so it Kinda romanticize
for the tourists, but the better sense of
what you've got,
the better female you might attract. The bigger
the salt ball you have Oh, my Now
we're going down a road. Confusion. Now we're
moving. The largest ball in the mud,
That's exactly it. How big a ball can
you make out of your mud? And then
you then you get the Boy, I wish
they had that in middle school. You know?
Some did.
Anyway So the metaphor Yeah. I recognize that.
Was
was the salt
and the hydration salt. Yes. Okay. And I
should have been taking my cue from the
butterflies. You needed a salt ball.
You were softball. Your salt ball. They took
the salt from you. That's what I'm thinking.
They absorbed
the salt butterfly. Or the female butterflies. That's
right. Selfish
butterflies.
Curse you butterflies. Oh, wow. We've we've opened
up an entire hole. A curse of butterfly
is just a literary
mistake.
I mean It's a literary what? It's a
mistake. Oh, sure. Butterflies need to be there
are just your intuitive response to a butterfly
is to celebrate. They're majestic. Yes.
And they are vicious, vicious. They're They're almost
caused. They almost caused my death on the
wall. They were sucking your life from me.
To kill you. Not death on the Nile,
but death on the Amazon. That's right, darling.
We
could make a movie.
I think we already have. They sucked his
life out. Audio movie. Will he live?
Yes. Opening next week. Because he's here talking
to us now. Never mind. The softball. On
the
salt balls on the river.
Salt balls on the river. Hey. That's the
song that we use. Yeah. Soft balls on
the river.
Uh-huh. And and yeah. My point and all
that Oh. Was And this is all sexual
based too, so big time.
Big time. Oh, this is rated XXX. Were
you wearing whatever the rating Were you wearing
clothes at the top? It was hot. Okay.
Fine. Oh, so nothing? Okay. Alrighty. No. No.
Again, getting slightly nauseous. Yeah.
It was hot and sweaty.
Oh. Okay.
Now yeah. Salt balls. Yeah. Hot and sweaty.
Salt balls. It's,
It's the score for the We've deteriorated
rapidly. That was as soon as we were
above where we are. It's true. Good point.
That if you're,
you know, far away from no matter where
you are, Uh-huh. If you're not in a
big international Keep your softballs I appreciate you're
trying to get us back to some semblance
of a purpose to this podcast.
It's just in general.
In general, this entire podcast.
Was there anything cultural we
learned about this? Absolutely. The culture is in
the United States, people doing podcasts are are
are juvenile
morons.
Mhmm. I think that's a very strong podcast,
cultural podcast. We're not. We're not juvenile, and
we're not morons. Yet we are making a
really concerted effort
to have everybody believe that we are. We
well
well,
I think it's a believe that we're not.
It's a momentary affliction. We're not talking constantly.
And that is that's a medical condition that
needs to be looked at. Oh, boy, does
it need to be looked at. Right? Currently
in the United States at this point, I
would say it's really in this room. One
of many that he's In this room, definitely.
Yes. Okay. So you lived.
We're moving on.
Do you have a story where you don't
live?
Or honestly, like any story where things really
took a dark turn I mean, you know,
hopefully, it wasn't too dark. Right on the
cusp there. It was a little Sorry. We're
going for the, you know, if it bleeds,
leads. It leads. You know? Yeah. Yeah. No.
Nothing like that. Okay. Good enough. We're done.
Great. Okay. You did podcast. Let's get it.
I'm basically a healthy specimen,
you know, and
Oh oh, okay. Phys physically. Yeah. You know,
I I know everybody know
I could defeat Are you making a distinction
between physical and
Mental?
Spiritual? Well, spiritual, definitely.
I think you're very healthy. He was more
definite about that than you're mental. I'm saying
I think you're very healthy spiritual. Oh.
Very healthy.
I'll back that one. I don't know about
the others. But It's me for anything else.
But that one's sure. We'll go with that.
Anyway But but I went I went out
to a tapas bar in Barcelona.
A tapas bar? A tapas bar. Well, oh,
okay. Yeah. Were you wearing clothes this time?
No.
Yes. Just just bottoms. Just bottoms. And I
was not seeking salt balls. Well Okay. Alright.
But did you get salt balls? Because you
weren't on the Amazon either. And And I
They they were. Turned them down. Clearly, you
had the moral of the story. The trouble
is you didn't have softballs, and that's why
you fell up to sleep and you were
you've been sucked dry of your softballs. Of
softballs. Actually, to the Amazon again with the
butterflies for sure. We're going to the Amazon
again. You could you could after they told
us about what was happening, you could see
the butterflies on the mud banks Uh-huh. Rolling
rolling these little crystals Cool. Of salt with
their with their feet. And were they gorgeous
butterflies? Oh, and the yes. I mean, in
the Amazon. Yeah. You know, I'm I'm looking
at this. Everything is iridescent.
Wow. Beautiful. Everything is full of color. Yeah.
One of the reasons being that
animals from a Darwinian perspective
don't have to worry about
hiding as much as they have to worry
about being seen.
Right. Oh, being separated out from everything else.
Right. So they're vibrant. So they're vibrant. So
the vibrant Very cool. The vibrant ones Oh,
very hot. Give you the give you the
advantage of,
you know, the protective advantage. For mating. Yeah.
Yeah.
That's that's really, really interesting. It's it's a
so you've got these
these these butterflies
who have gorgeous
wings and look fantastic,
and the females are going, no. Not enough.
But have you got a big salt ball?
Yeah. Exactly. Show me those show me those
salt balls. Yeah. For me. Yeah. It's like
the bling. You know? Yeah. Give me the
bling. If you don't have the bling, don't
come around. I think Drake did a song
about softball bling. Is that right? I'm pretty
pretty sure. Okay. Few years back. Anyway, Barcelona.
I'm sure there's a bar I'm sure there's
a Where are you going? We are topless
in Barcelona.
Bartholona.
I'm sure there is a mixologist
somewhere that's gonna make a salt ball martini
for it.
If you ask I'm on board. Yeah. It
sounds great. I'm on board. Makes a whole
bunch of dehydration salts. Maybe the salt ball
martini. Yeah. So we were hanging out of
this tapas bar and the suit you know,
looking back on this wearing just pants. Go
ahead. Looking back on this now, I knew
exactly
I should not be eating from this place.
Okay. We just walked in there,
but it was it was right off of
this big grand square, and it it all
looked good and smelled great.
Yeah. And tapas. People I love tapas. Yeah.
It's great. This was the end of, fairly
intensive week of, consulting and training. Okay. Uh-huh.
So this was night for celebration.
Yeah. Nice. So you were gonna indulge. And
we're all out with the group. Yep. And
the group is wanting to celebrate, and I'm
wanting to celebrate. And
and so
we're tasting everything that's put in front of
us. Mhmm. You know, and they've gotten As
you do. They bring these these little That's
tapas. Sure. These little plates out, one after
another after another.
And what is this? What is this? Oh,
this one's octopus.
Mhmm. Popa? Popa.
Exactly. Uh-huh. Yeah.
And,
so, you know, I have it. I taste
it. And the night goes on, and everything's
fine. And I go back to my hotel
room, and everything's fine. Okay. And woke up
the next morning, and this was now time
to get to the airport and get on
the plane and go home. Sure. I'm feeling
a little a little bit,
but I get on the plane. Oh, no.
Home. And Oh, okay. Make it all the
way home. And 6 hours later, I'm getting
off the plane, not feeling too terrible Okay.
But feeling like something's going on. Not right.
Okay. Yeah. And then I get home, and
it's wonderful. Cheryl meets me at the door.
You know? I'm back home. You're wife. There's
my wife, you know, and she reminds me
it's time to take out the garbage. You
know? Sure. You were you were a big
hit over there, but now No. Here, it's
like,
yeah, back home. Right. So okay. Fine. And
I'm just feeling like, you know what? I
think I'm gonna go to bed as soon
as I take out the garbage.
And I did, and the next day, I
was in serious pain, high fever.
Oh, wow.
This went on for 7 days. Oh, wow.
Made it to the doctor at one point,
and then he checked in with me about
the 5th day
and said, you know, we got your blood
work back,
and,
I think it was a capillobacter,
which is not a good one,
the infection.
Okay. Yeah. He said there isn't much that
we can do except keep you hydrated. And
if you can't keep hydrated, we're gonna take
you into the hospital. Yeah. They gotta hook
you up with an IV and keep you
alive that way. Yeah. Yeah. I remember he
called me one day. I mean, serious pain,
like, dramatic dramatic pain and then spikes and
fever and
everything else going on in between. Sure. And,
he called one day to check-in on me,
and I said,
I I said, please, you know, put me
at shoot me. Yes. Shoot me, please. Understandable.
And his his medical response was, that's not
a therapeutic alternative.
I did not appreciate his humor in the
moment. No. I'm sure you do. Do no
harm unless
you ask me to shoot you, in which
case, I will. It might Is that how
it goes? Yes. Okay. But the cat helicopter
is a serious one, and they said if
you do not resolve on your own, we're
gonna have to We'll have to put you
in. Yeah. And the 7th day when it
was,
you know, strike time, it was gonna be,
like, it's now or never. Yeah. Right. Woke
up fine. Okay. Nice.
Fine. Nice. Well, good.
Good.
Yeah. All because of that. But that wasn't
abroad, but it was does it qualify? Because
I got it. Well, it qualifies in the
sense that you did pick it up over
there, but the medical care was here.
But it also gives us a a kind
of a version of it here as opposed
to the version that you might have gotten,
in Shanghai
Yeah. Right. Which may have been just as
effective, maybe more so. I think the moral
of the story is is I'm endorsing the
medical care that one can receive in most
places where medical care is available. Yes. Okay.
As a foreigner. Yes.
Yeah. Alright. And don't don't
just because these things could happen, don't shy
away from engaging in experiences
like tapas in Barcelona and Barcelona. Right?
Absolutely. You wanna be able to indulge in
the
local culture and flavors and I would guess
you probably have had tapas
in other areas And never got sick. And
never got sick. Yeah. Exactly.
As as I have too and you have
also. Mhmm. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And when you're
offered that softball,
go for it. Softball. Okay. Sure. Softball or
softball? Well, I know it can be a
little soft. We've been we've been offering softballs
all Oh, damn. Over the last 45 minutes.
Yeah. So
well, that's enough.
Oh, okay.
Yes, sir. That wasn't the most subtle ending,
but,
but effective. Not at all. Not even close.
But effective. I know so.
I'm terrified, but
sure. I guess we're done. Yeah. Yeah. That's
I find no more cultural aspects. We're done.
Let's go live healthy lives. Yes. Or something.
And by the way, if when you're look
if you're looking if you're dating right now,
you might wanna roll a softball. That's that's
what I took out of this. That's what
I got out of it. Wear bright colors
and roll a softball in the mud. Yeah.
Uh-huh. Mhmm. Uh-huh. Yeah. Well, let's go,
yeah, let's go enjoy some schlaug
and berries some more. Absolutely. Thank you, Dean
Foster. Try not to eat too much. Thank
you, gentlemen, once again. Thank you. And and
here, you know, again, a moral of the
story is that I'm here to talk about
it.
So You are. Yes. Yes. You're you're here.
Yes. On and on and on over and
over again. With all your limbs and
and, you know Right. Well Sort of. Some
degree of health.
And some degree of mental capacity.
Yes. Well,
enough.
Just enough. Lagoon.
Well, once again, we we all enjoy talking
about this because
oops.
Your culture show.
Smell you.
Before you run off and disappear back into
your own cultures,
let me give you some information about something
we really want you to know, and that's
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Give us your questions, your comments, anything along
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Thanks.