So, I've gotten a request for an explanation about the masks. I was surprised when I first got here by how prevalent the mask-wearing is. On any given day probably a good tenth of the people you see will be masked. You might think that this is because they are afraid of the dirty infection abroad in the air. You would be half right. The people here are generally pretty nervous about germs. They try to keep things as clean as possible.
However, they also are pretty judgmental of laziness. Even if you're feeling ill, as long as you're capable of walking, you're expected to be up and about and getting things done. How to reconcile these two things? Enter the face mask!
See, people are wearing face masks not to protect themselves from illness but to protect OTHER people from their own germs. If you wake up with a cough, you're supposed to slip on a face mask to shield the world from you disgusting disease. It's probably no better or worse than our habit of covering our coughs with our elbows, though it certainly lends a certain jaunty air to the ill that you just don't get in ye old U.S. of A.
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