I mentioned that I used to walk with my dog in the woods when I was little. My teacher asked me if that was to protect me from dangerous animals. He was rather surprised to find that there really isn’t anything dangerous in the Virginia woods (outside of a rabid raccoon or something). I then went on to explain the common English phrase “Man’s best friend.” He flatly rejected that, citing some personal experience of a dog biting a man he knew. I admitted that dogs can be dangerous, but that most of them are not. He then told me that if a dog licks his clothes, he has to wash them 7 times, once with sand, before he will be allowed to pray in them again. That’s the level of disgust people have for dogs here…
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