Yo soy americana, sue me: Sexual and scented dolls for children

Here's a new one to add to the "Yo soy americana, sue me" list:

Yes, you read that correctly in whatever language you read it.  Muñeco sexuado.  Doll wiht sexual organs.  (And yes, they really do have sex organs.  I checked the validity of label.)

I highly doubt that this doll is actually Spanish; however, I couldn't imagine it being sold in US stores.  If it was, I'm not sure that the sex organs would provoke a lawsuit but rather a complaint which would end in a recall.

The fact that they are scented according to skin color, on the other hand, would.  What I didn't capture in the picture was the label advertising that the white dolls are vanilla-scented, and the black dolls are chocolate-scented.

I thought it was a bit shocking.  Sue me.

Yo soy americana, sue me: Bicycle death paths

This is a new segment of Guiri Guia that I want to start now.  It's called Yo soy americana, sue me.

Coming from a lawsuit-happy society, I often walk through Spain (and other places of Europe) saying to myself or whoever is around me, "Surely that's not legal!  Is it??"  As is the case most time in Murcia, the answer is usually, "No it's not legal, but people get away with it."

After living abroad as an American, you start to realize how much civil lawsuits influence our daily activity.  They affect the way we drive and park our cars, buy basic allergy medicine, purchase raw food products, walk down uneven sidewalks.  And of course, they affect the temperature of our coffee from McDonalds.  But there are so many details of life that you don't even realize are impacted by some lawsuit in the past until you live in another country.

Suing is a part of our culture.  So it's hard for me not to pause every once in a while in Spain and say, "That's a lawsuit waiting to happen."

It's just the way my American mind works.

So here is one "lawsuit waiting to happen" for this week.  I cycle on a bike path to campus when the weather is good.  But unlike in many US cities, it's not illegal or frowned upon to stroll, stand, or empty your dog's bladder in the middle of the path.  Nor is it illegal to park, apparently.

My advice to a guiri:  If you use bike paths (with an actual bici), watch out for large obstructions like cars and trucks.