game on!
the book sounds good, thanks I've never heard of the phrase or book before.
my Chinese friend is occasionally harassed or disrespected for looking/sounding asian around all of the states, so your concern doesn't sound paranoid to me.
i find this very satisfying: gently disagreeing with them via a short single positive message like "gay people do deserve respect", then letting them throw a very lengthy, time-invested tantrum before gently and completely disagreeing with their comment with another short sentence, over and over until they get tired.
i find that both very funny and I'm putting out positive messages that negate their bigotry without too much time or effort.
that's just if you have the time and inclination to engage, you aren't morally obligated to subject yourself to abusive behavior.
if it's real bad, they're probably violating a rule, and reporting them will get them banned
hated that work culture so i left as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
went to teach ESL. half the hours for better pay
i travel constantly, and every time I'm flying in a plane i am re-amazed.
i think about how easy and quick it is to fly anywhere in the world and I'm sitting in a bit metal tube floating in the air.
it's bananas.
I see what you mean now.
I thought you were mainly concerned about shipping things from the US, which neither I nor anyone I've known has had intercepted or interfered with en route to dozens of countries, frequently containing valuables. It must happen, but it seems very rare.
The other way though, if you're sending packages to the US from other countries, you could have that problem occasionally, which I have experienced twice and heard of from other travelers shipping things to the US.
As far as I know, that's a one-way problem, US-tagged packages seem to slip through sticky fingers.
Kino's Journey(2003) - great fix for philosophy and drifty, travel vibes.
I make my own DIY huaraches like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1FrEgeP9jI
extremely comfortable, you can make it with any old slipper lying around and some paracord, lasts for 6 months to a year, depending on the quality of the sandal base.
adjust it to exactly your size that fits perfectly and then you can sew the knots so that all the dimensions stay the same.
takes me maybe 5 minutes to make each pair, and then 5 minutes for the sewing of the knots so I never have to readjust them, costs nearly nothing.
false hope for a handful of shrimp boats while destroying over a millioon US jobs and decreasing food for Aamericans:
“Tariffs will raise the cost of seafood, making the healthiest animal protein on the planet less available and more expensive,” National Fisheries Institute President and CEO Lisa Wallenda Picard said soon after the tariffs were announced. “Meanwhile, the tariffs could threaten many of the 1.6 million American jobs that, according to the federal government, U.S. commercial seafood companies support.”
https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/supply-trade/trump-s-latest-tariff-order-hits-billions-in-us-seafood-imports-from-top-source-countries