Security

From purely anecdotal evidence, I think the security industry may be one of the biggest employers of young men in this country. You see guys dressed in sharp uniforms walking around with large guns all the time. They sit outside supermarkets, hotels, banks and offices--even schools employ armed guards. Most houses are surrounded by very high brick walls with broken glass or large spikes cemented in at the top to deter thieves and I’m getting used to driving up to large metal gates and honking the horn so a guard can let the vehicle in. You have to take security seriously around here.

We don’t have armed guards, but we do have two dogs that bark a fair bit and jump up at the front gate when someone arrives. They’re great for security because they can’t be bribed to look the other way while someone breaks in, and many people here are afraid of dogs. The ones we have are part German Shepherd and part Rhodesian Ridgeback (a type that was originally bred for hunting lions!) Sounds vicious, right? We’re pretty sure that if there were some kind of serious threat, their tough instincts would kick in. However, most of the time, they look like this:

We’re in good hands!