Retiring to Costa Rica, making a killing in Hong Kong, hanging out with other anime nerds in Japan—the reasons for moving abroad are legion and frequently awesome. It’s estimated that 2.2 million to 6.8 million Americans are currently enjoying the expat lifestyle, and most of them probably wouldn’t have it any other way.

But living abroad isn’t all sunshine and lollipops and guilt-free sex with hot locals. Plenty of the world’s most popular expat destinations have a darker, hidden side to them. Have a bad experience in one of these countries, and your dream life abroad could turn into a screaming nightmare.

10 Japan’s Justice System Is Built On False Confessions

Japan is a country so safe that it makes Canada look like Somalia. Its intentional homicide rate is around 0.3 per 100,000 people, far less than America’s 4.7. It has barely any terrorism. In 2013, only 12 people were shot to death, and even that paltry number was a massive increase. In 2012, the total number of shooting deaths was three.

There are many complex reasons why Japan is a nonviolent society. One is that its police force is utterly terrifying.

If you’re going to have a run-in with the law, pray it isn’t in Japan. Police have the right to hold you without charge for 23 days, and they’ll spend most of that time torturing you. Suspects have tables rammed into them, their feet stomped on, and threats bellowed into their ears. Sleep deprivation is common, and choosing to remain silent is taken as admission of guilt.

The only way to stop this onslaught is to sign a confession, and good luck retracting it later. Courts assume that a confession is an admission of guilt and will sentence you accordingly. People frequently go down for decades for crimes they clearly didn’t commit. It’s estimated that one-tenth of all Japanese prisoners are in jail due to false confessions, and the government has no interest in reopening their cases.

9 Thailand Will Jail You For Insulting The King’s Dog

Thailand is often portrayed as an east Asian paradise—a country where the girls are beautiful, the cost of living is low, and the weather is great. All of this is true. It’s also a country where you can be thrown in jail for over a decade for insulting the king’s dog.

The love the Thais have for their king makes the British seem like a nation of royalty-hating republicans. Strict lese-majeste laws hand down substantial penalties to anyone who criticizes or insults the royal family. Since the 2014 coup, the military junta has extended these laws to even cover the king’s pets. In December 2015, Thanakorn Siripaiboon was charged before a military court for making a “sarcastic” Internet post about Copper, the king’s dog. It’s expected that he will receive several years in prison.

You better believe these laws apply to foreigners. In 2007, a Swiss expat was jailed for 10 years after he spray-painted over a picture of the king. The current US ambassador, Glyn Davies, is being investigated for criticizing the mere existence of these dumb laws.

8 Vietnam’s Drug Laws Are Utterly Brutal

Compared to many of its neighbors, where drug possession can lead to execution, Vietnam has a pretty relaxed drugs policy. Users are sent to rehabilitation centers instead of jails, where they cure their addictions through work. Sounds pretty progressive, right? Maybe in theory. In practice, the “rehabilitation centers” are brutal forced labor camps.

Those who’ve been through the system have reported beatings, torture, and being forced to work extremely long hours, making products for private companies. Missing a work quota can get you beaten. Complaining can get you beaten. Basically, just showing your face can result in some random guard deciding to put his fist into it, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

In some ways, the centers are even worse than prison, where at least you have a release date. Some in Vietnam’s rehabilitation program have been held for years without due process or any end in sight. Perhaps it’s no surprise that inmates frequently stage violent mass breakouts from these facilities.

7 Italy’s Taxes Are Staggeringly High

With its endless sun, world-class culture, and relaxed lifestyle, Italy might seem like the perfect country. So it may come as a shock to realize that it frequently features in polls about the worst countries for expats. The reason for this is likely financial. Any foreigner who moves to Italy can expect to be hammered with crippling taxes.

Tax rates in general are high in Italy. By some estimates, they’re the highest of all the G20 nations. A high wage earner can expect to take home only slightly more than half their salary, compared to around 60 percent in the US. This isn’t even the worst aspect. Thanks to its byzantine bureaucracy, filing tax returns in Italy is filled with hidden charges seemingly designed to catch foreigners out.

Since 2013, expats have had to declare all overseas assets. This includes the $14 floating around in your old US bank account. Forget to declare that spare change, and you can get slapped with a hefty fine. Same deal with foreign earnings. If you make $13.68 selling a T-shirt on eBay while living in Italy, the government will take a chunk of that sweet pocket change off you. Forget to tell them about it, and you’ll find yourself facing legal action.

6 India Has A Terrifying Number Of Traffic Accidents

The 2011 film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opened people’s eyes to the idea of retiring to India. The story revolves around a bunch of British pensioners who move to the subcontinent and have heartwarming adventures. In real life, those adventures would more likely come with the appellation “death-defying.” India is the top destination on Earth for deadly traffic accidents.

According to data collected by the World Health Organization (WHO), more people die on Indian roads than anywhere else in the world. In 2009, the country recorded 105,725 fatal traffic accidents, with the WHO estimating the real number as closer to 200,000. By way of comparison, the US had the third-highest number with a mere 42,642. In a single typical year, bad driving kills more people in India than malaria does in the entire world.

This isn’t helped by the government’s recent decision to relax road safety laws. Since spring 2015, running over and killing a child gets you a $780 fine and a single year in prison. That’s the maximum penalty. There are many reports of wealthy teenagers hitting and killing homeless people and not even having their licenses suspended.

5 Nicaragua Suffers Endemic Corruption

Nicaragua is one of the world’s current retirement hot spots, thanks to the tons of incentives that the government is offering foreigners to settle there. On top of that, it’s beautiful, cheap, and hot all year round. What’s not to love?

Corruption. That’s what’s not to love.

According to Transparency International, Nicaragua is one of the most corrupt societies in the Americas. Their 2014 rankings placed it at 133rd out of 175 nations globally, only one place ahead of notoriously corrupt Russia. Only Venezuela and Haiti scored worse in Latin America, and the number of people retiring to either of those nations is practically zero.

Although this corruption rarely touches foreign residents, it still rears its ugly head from time to time. Almost everyone living in the country has a story to tell about police shaking them down for a bribe, and throwing cash around to get stuff done is a common fact of life. Still, plenty of people think it’s worth it for views as stunning as this one.

4 Singapore Has Absurdly Strict Laws

Tiny Singapore is one of the wealthiest, cleanest, and safest nations on Earth. It’s also a top destination for expats looking to make a killing and come home filthy rich. But all that cleanliness and wealth creation comes at a price. Singapore is governed by laws that are often bizarre and always strict.

Some of the strictest have to do with keeping the city clean. Littering and spitting both carry fines, as do chewing gum and tossing cigarette butts away. These aren’t the sort of fines you can shrug off with a quick wave of a US dollar and a mumbled, “Sorry, tourist.” Singapore is a vastly rich country, and their fines reflect this. Anyone caught littering is forced to cough up a cool $1,000. Anyone caught urinating in an elevator is arrested.

These laws are certainly tough, but we imagine some of our readers might be behind them in principle. Littering and spitting are pretty disgusting, after all. But then there are laws that require stuff like flushing public toilets after use. Failure to do so can result in a $150 fine.

3 Britain Is Effectively Unaffordable

Britain Is Effectively Unaffordable
With its quaint villages, rolling hills, and bustling mega-capital of London, Britain can seem like a haven. There’s tea to drink, a queen to fawn over, and terrible food to complain about. Sounds perfect.

Of course, that’s all assuming that you can afford to live there. And we’re here to tell you that you almost certainly can’t.

The UK is currently in the middle of a massive housing bubble. Thanks to rich Russians, Chinese, and Saudis sinking all of their money into property in London, buying a home almost anywhere in the country is essentially unaffordable. The Guardian recently crunched the numbers for people looking to buy a house at the median price while earning the average British wage of £26,500 ($40,200) a year. For someone in those circumstances, they found that 91 percent of England and Wales would be beyond their means.

Of course, an expat would likely be making significantly above the UK average wage, but the problem persists. A worker on £45,000 a year ($68,300) would still find over half the country beyond their means, despite being in the top 20 percent of all UK earners.

It’s not until you hit the top 10 percent of earners at £60,500 ($91,800) a year that most of the country becomes affordable. Even then, 29 percent of it would still be out of reach. This includes most of the area around London—exactly where an expat’s job is most likely to be.

2 Dubai’s Drug Laws Are Fundamentally Insane

The easiest way to not fall afoul of other countries’ drug laws is to not do drugs while abroad, or so you’d think. Dubai is different in that you can still get in trouble without actually breaking the law.

Across the UAE, it’s common for authorities to check the bloodstreams of people entering their country. Under Emirati law, having even trace amounts of drugs in your blood counts as possession. Possession carries a mandatory four-year prison sentence.

The simple solution would be to not do drugs at all, but the list of things that the UAE considers “drugs” is long and absurdly complex. Herbal Spice will get you jail time, as will many types of painkillers. In 2005, a British woman was held for several weeks after medication for her back pain showed up during a random screening. It transpired that she’d taken some prescribed codeine before setting off on her vacation. While being held in jail, she contracted dysentery.

Sometimes, you don’t even need to take a banned substance to land yourself some jail time. One Swiss national was jailed after three poppy seeds from an airport bread roll were found clinging to his clothes.

1 China’s Air Wants To Kill You

As the next emerging superpower, China is a hot destination for Americans and Europeans. There’s history to be seen and money to be made, all while getting a fascinating peek at one of the few surviving communist regimes on Earth. All this comes with a price. China’s air will go out of its way to kill you stone dead.

We’ve all seen the images of Beijing suffocating under thick clouds of pollution, but few of us realize just how bad things really are. In November 2015, air pollution in northeastern China reached 50 times the WHO-recommended safe level. This is a level so high that most outlets described it as an “airpocalypse.” China’s own state-run news agency, which almost never criticizes anything, called it “doomsday.” When a similar smog hit Beijing in December, authorities issued a red alert, complete with wailing air raid–style sirens. Schools were closed, offices were shut, and millions of people were warned to stay indoors at all costs.

These smogs are deadly in a way that most of us can’t even imagine. A summer 2015 study published in the scientific journal PLOS One claimed that pollution was killing 1.6 million people in China each year—roughly 4,400 a day. That’s comparable to how many people were killed in the Ukrainian civil war in 2015. Those who don’t die can still find themselves suffering from long-term health problems even after they’ve moved away. Emigrating to a country like China may seem like a dream come true. Just be sure to pack your gas mask.

Especially when we’re sick and vulnerable, we rely on health-care providers to treat us. We depend on their knowledge, training, skills, and compassion. We expect them to help us to heal so that we can return to our duties and responsibilities as employers or employees, spouses, parents, neighbors, and friends.

We certainly don’t expect to get worse as a result of being hospitalized. However, there’s a chance that, in fact, we will get worse as there are 10 ways a hospital stay can make us sicker.

10 Post-Hospital Syndrome

Dr. Harlan Krumholz of the Yale School of Medicine has coined the term “post-hospital syndrome” to identify a temporary period during which patients are susceptible to an illness following a hospital stay. This requires their readmission within 30 days of their initial discharge.

The cause of readmission ranges from a hospital-acquired infection (HAI), stress experienced during hospitalization, sleep deprivation during the hospital stay, a lack of nutrition or exercise, lowered immune system functioning, and depression. Research conducted in 2009 shows that, among Medicare patients, 2.6 million discharged patients (20 percent) were readmitted to the hospital within a month of their discharge.

9 Hospital Food Errors

A Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority study found that, between January 2009 and June 2014, hospital staff committed 285 errors related to patients’ meals—181 of which were related to allergies—due to charting errors and communication mistakes.

Eight caused “serious harm to patients.” In one case, a patient with a seafood allergy was given fish and had to be “injected with epinephrine, given several intravenous drugs,” and relocated to an intensive-care unit for observation.

Other patients who were supposed to fast were given food or food that did not accord with their prescribed diets. The errors occurred throughout the “dietary process,” from the ordering to the delivery of meals.

8 Food Denial

In an article in the online journal BMJ Quality and Safety, several Johns Hopkins Hospital doctors contend that the practice of withholding patients’ food for eight hours prior to surgery is unnecessary and potentially dangerous. Even worse, in some cases, patients may have to wait days before hospitals allow them to eat in case they need to be anesthetized for surgery.

Patients’ immune systems could be compromised by denying them sleep and nutrition. Inadequate nutrition, suffered by half of hospital patients, could lead to “inflammation, muscle breakdown, and organ damage.”

Dr. Martin Makary, one of the authors of the article, called the need for an eight-hour fasting period before surgery a “myth.” He and his colleagues observed that it’s safe for patients to consume a high-carbohydrate beverage two hours before surgery. He also recommends that patients be allowed to eat food other than hospital meals during their hospital stays.

7 Infections

Contaminated medical equipment, faulty surgical incisions, and too many antibiotics contribute to HAIs caused by bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The magazine Consumer Reports rated hospitals based on their number of infections related to surgical sites, catheter or urinary tract infections, and bloodline infections. A year later, they added C. diff and two common “drug-resistant bacterial infections that can spread easily and are potentially fatal.”

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 650,000 patients acquired almost 722,000 HAIs in 2011. Daily, 200 patients die of these infections during hospitalization.

High rates of HAIs occur even in prestigious hospitals such as Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, and Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. “Strict infection-control protocols, [limited use of antibiotics, and] cleaning hospital rooms and medical equipment” are effective measures in the reduction or elimination of these infections.

In US states with lax reporting requirements, many hospitals “upcode” HAIs, assigning them false billing codes which are difficult to detect. In this way, these hospitals avoid the loss of federal payments due to penalties for the occurrence of HAIs.

One proposed solution is to require hospitals to report all HAIs, including the names of infected patients, the effects of the infections, and the infections’ root cause[s]. This proposal also suggests increasing the number of hospitals targeted by audits.

6 Poor Care Of Elderly Patients

Elderly patients tend to receive worse care than other patients. As a result, many of them leave the hospital in worse shape, physically and psychologically, than when they were admitted. Older patients are sometimes not fed properly, do not get enough exercise, or do not receive sufficient pain control.

Often, oxygen tanks or intravenous (IV) poles prevent the elderly from getting out of bed. Doctors perform unnecessary procedures on these patients and prescribe “redundant or potentially harmful medications.”

The elderly are deprived of sleep in noisy wards or because their vital signs are checked frequently throughout the night. Younger patients are more resilient than seniors, so older patients may have a harder time than younger patients in recovering from such treatment.

Some hospitals separate elderly patients from others, removing IV tubes and encouraging them to get out of bed to eat in a common dining room. The focus in such hospitals is on elderly patients’ ability to care for themselves at home.

However, improved care for seniors is not a high priority for most hospitals because memory loss and the inability to walk, unlike HAIs, are not debilities for which hospitals are penalized by the government. “If you don’t measure it, you can’t fix it,” said Ken Covinsky, a physician and researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, Division of Geriatrics.

5 Reduced Care

To survive in poor economic environments, small hospitals often merge with large chains. Typically, the US government doesn’t monitor these mergers or their effects on patient care.

The goal of these mergers may be “to cut overlapping services, negotiate better deals with insurance companies, and share in the cost savings.” However, some services may no longer be provided at all because decisions about health care are based more on profit or ideology than on patient care.

Even when state governments provide some oversight, it’s not focused on retaining or increasing care. Most of the regulations concerning patient services were developed when the number of hospitals was increasing rather than decreasing. In some cases, declines in services are ideological in nature, as when hospitals founded by religions organizations refuse to provide abortions.

4 Poor Staff Hygiene

In some cases, patients are worse off after hospitalization due to poor staff hygiene. Sometimes, doctors don’t wash their hands as often as they should. Nurses, tasked with reminding physicians and surgeons to do so, don’t think it’s their responsibility to “police the doctors.”

If they were to offer such reminders, nurses said, they’d fear reprimands. Doctors also don’t want to be taken to task by nurses because it implies that the doctors aren’t aware of the need for sanitary practices.

To combat the problem of poor staff hygiene, Internet sites grade hospitals on patient safety. The federal government also maintains an online database based on patient records.

3 Missing And Malfunctioning Equipment

Two of the many problems faced by Princess Margaret Hospital in Eastern St. Thomas, Jamaica, are equipment failure and a lack of basic equipment. The former problem is being addressed by the construction of a new ward and by renovating existing areas of the facility.

Off the record, though, the hospital’s staff complains of an air conditioner that has malfunctioned for months. The unit should cool the operating room, making surgeons and other staff comfortable during surgery. The air conditioner also keeps equipment cool so that it will function properly. Patients for whom general anesthesia is not required during an operation also suffer because of the heat.

According to the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer Janine Hill, air conditioning repairs are scheduled for the future and the hospital hopes to acquire an ultrasound machine. However, she admitted, “There is still a need for other things.” Some of those things include a hematology analyzer and other basic equipment common to hospitals.

2 Sick Doctors

Although doctors often feel obligated to work while sick, they put their patients with weakened immune systems at risk of infection when the doctors do so. In a survey of health-care providers (including 280 doctors) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 83 percent admitted to working while sick at least once during the past year.

Their symptoms included diarrhea, fever, and cold or flu symptoms. These health-care providers worked while sick because they didn’t want to let their colleagues or patients down.

In addition, they indicated that peer pressure was a consideration because colleagues criticize doctors who take sick days. Previous surveys have shown similar results, indicating that doctors respond to workplace pressures to work when ill.

1 ‘Never Events’ And Serious Untoward Incidents

“Never events” (occurrences that should never happen) can make patients sicker. These preventable incidents, such as operating on the wrong part of a patient’s body or leaving foreign objects inside a patient’s body, can seriously harm or kill patients.

In addition, serious untoward incidents (SUIs) can inconvenience, injure, or kill patients. SUIs include patients harming themselves by falling from heights, doctors failing to act according to test results and causing a need for further treatment, staff calling female patients for breast screenings due to faulty equipment, and dentists extracting the wrong teeth.

Hospitals should encourage health-care providers to report “unsafe clinical practice,” a Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said, “[and such reports should be investigated . . . properly.”

Gary Pullman lives south of Area 51, which, according to his family and friends, explains “a lot.” His 2016 urban fantasy novel, A Whole World Full of Hurt, available on Amazon.com in paperback or Kindle edition, was published by The Wild Rose Press. An instructor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he writes several blogs, including Chillers and Thrillers: A Blog on the Theory and Practice of Writing Horror Fiction and Nightmare Novels and Other Tales of Terror.

Getting in shape may be one of your top priorities, but it’s harder to accomplish it during the coronavirus outbreak. Gyms across the nation are closed to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. If you’re having withdrawals from the gym, take advantage of the time to get a little creative around your house. There are plenty of items around your home that can help keep you in shape during this tough time such as frying pans, detergent bottles, and even beer cans! Here are ten ways to stay fit during the stay-at-home orders using only household items.

Top 10 Activities Seldom Seen Outside Gym Class

10 Grab A Chair

A chair has so many uses when it comes to exercising from home. Find a sturdy chair in your house and place it in an open area where you can complete your workout routine. Start the workout with incline push-ups by placing your hands on the seat of the chair and performing push-ups. Then try decline push-ups by placing your feet on the chair this time and perform push-ups.^[1]

A chair can also be used for dips. Start by placing both hands on the front corners of the chair seat and extending your legs in front of you. Bend your elbows to lower yourself, and then raise yourself back up to complete one rep. You can also add an extra chair under the feet for added difficulty. The best thing about these exercises is that you can still binge watch your favorite show while completing them!

9 Load A Backpack

Everyone has an old backpack laying around their home, and it’s time to put it to good use. This is where you can get creative. Fill the backpack with items from around your house to add poundage to your bodyweight moves. You can throw in some old books, clothes, cooking pans, or even some of those beers in the fridge that you haven’t pounded back yet during the quarantine. Once the backpack is filled with a comfortable amount of weight, you can wear it during lunges, squats, pushups and other cardio exercises around your home.^[2]

8 Replace the Dumbbells

Just because you’re not able to go to the gym doesn’t mean you can’t still get the same workouts that you get from using dumbbells. Try replacing the dumbbells with household items such as paint cans, laundry detergent bottles, cast iron pans, and milk jugs. If your looking for lighter weight, you can pull out those beer cans and bottles again.

Once you have chosen the household item you would like to use, you can start checking off exercises. Hold the items in each hand and start doing exercises such a bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, front raises, and overhead presses. These household items can also act as a kettlebell to add several other workouts to your daily routine.^[3]

7 Find Those Heavy Books

Walk over to that bookcase that you forget is there and wipe the dust off those large books that you never got around to reading. A heavy book can help take your core to the next level while working out from home. Place the hardcover book on your chest while doing crunches to add extra tension to the intense workout.^[4]

Also try laying on your back with your hands in the air holding the book above you. Then use your stomach muscles to raise your shoulders off the ground. You can also pull out that chair again for another exercise that targets your core and legs. While sitting in the chair, hold your legs together in front of your body and place the heavy book on your shins. Slowly raise and lower your legs to feel the burn. The book can also be used for several other workouts if you just get creative!

6 Use the Stairs

Many homes have a set of stairs either inside the house or outside. If you are lucky enough to have a staircase at your home, they are a great way to get the heart pumping and the muscles burning. Walking or running up and down the stairs provides a great cardio workout. If you want to add some difficulty to your workout, throw that full backpack on your back before hitting the stairs. You can also use the stairs for other exercises such as incline push-ups, decline push-ups, dips, and various stretches.^[5]

Top 8 Exercises to build the body of a Greek God

5 Grab Some Rope

You might have to search through those several plastic bins in your garage, but there is a good chance that you have some old rope tucked away somewhere. Ideally, you’ll want about 8 feet worth of rope to help you with your at-home exercising. The rope will work as a resistance band and can be used for several exercises such as seated rows, roll up, roll downs, and planks with leg raises.^[6]

Tie at a knot at both ends of the rope and find a good strong tree in your yard. Throw one end of the rope over the tree branch where both ends will now be hanging from the branch. You can now use the rope to execute inverted rows, squats and similar exercises. The rope can also be a good tool to help with stretching before and after your workout routines.

4 Utilize A Wall

Maybe you were unable to use one of the previous household items for your workout, but this next item is guaranteed to be found inside and outside of every home. You’ll find at least four walls in every home, and they provide great stability for stretches and exercises. We all hate to do wall-sits, but they are a good way to work out your quads and glutes. Simply stand with your back against the wall and carefully slide down into a sitting position and try to hold it for a minute. Feel the burn yet?

Since you have a wall, you can also do wall push-ups. Face the wall with your arms shoulder length apart, put your hands on the wall, and perform a basic push-up against the wall. Looking for something more challenging? Try some wall walks. Start in a high plank position with your feet against the wall. Walk up the wall with your feet until your face meets the wall. Slowly walk back down until you get to your original position and repeat for a total of 5 reps.^[7]

3 Pull Out the Paper Plates

The dirty dishes are probably piling up in the sink since you are now stuck at home, unless you decided to use paper plates and cups instead. If you have extra paper plates lying around, then you’ve found another useful household item for your routine. Paper plates work perfect as sliders for certain workouts. They can be used on hardwoods, tile, and carpets too, meaning there is no excuse for you to not try them!

Double up the paper plates and use them just as you would a towel on the floor. Use them for exercises such as plank jacks, mountain climbers, and pikes. They can also add difficulty to your lunges. Stand on the floor with one foot on the paper plate, sliding that leg back and forth bending the knee until the other knee reaches about a 90-degree angle.^[8]

2 Use A Towel

Surprisingly, a towel has many ways of helping you workout in your living room. If you don’t have a yoga mat, lay down a couple of towels. They won’t be as soft as the mat, but it will serve the same purpose. A towel can also help you perform vital stretches before and after your workouts. A resistance band can also be replaced by a towel for many workouts.^[9]

While in a plank pose, place a folded towel under your feet and slowly move your hips toward the sky while gliding your feet towards your hands. For those who have doorknobs that are not round can try using a towel for rows. Wrap the towel around the door handle, place your feet against the door, lean back until your arms are straight, and pull yourself up until your chest hits the door. The best part of using a towel is being able to easily swipe away the sweat after each workout!

1 Replace the Barbells

Remember how you can replace dumbbells with commonly found household items? You can do the same with barbells too if you get creative enough. Start by finding a sturdy bar that can hold weight. Metal poles, fence posts, and strong wood can all serve as the barbell. Now it’s time to find some weights. Paint buckets work great because the handles fit over the bar easily. If the buckets are empty of paint, you can fill them with other heavy materials.^[10]

You can also create your own barbells with weight by taking two five-gallon buckets and filling them with concrete. Before the concrete dries, stick a large piece of metal in the middle of the bucket to serve as the bar. You can use your homemade weights for deadlifting, squats, curls, and lunges. The homemade weights will also work for bench pressing if you can find something to serve as a bench.

Top 10 Tips For The Perfect Diet

If you are thinking about having a nice time with your spouse and you are thinking of having it at home, then we are on the same page. Yes, you are thinking right. You can spice up your love at home. So, this piece comes with some stay-at-home date ideas you can take advantage of without breaking the bank or killing yourself with much stress while planning it out.

It also means that a date doesn’t have to be somewhere in the eatery, recreational facilities, bar, club, etc. It can happen in the house too. The essential thing in a date is to have time to share and be together intimately. So, it’s a great idea that you can hang out with your partner right in your home too. You may begin by making some decorations at home to put you guys in the mood and make it different.

Well, the world itself has changed from what it used to be. Moving around for a date may not be advisable. Remember that Covid19 has not backed down. It is safer to do this to avoid being a victim of covid19. With a stay-at-home date ideas, you would have abolished the stress of moving around. Kindly take your time to read through each and choose one for yourself and your partner.

These are 15 Great Stay At Home Date Ideas.

Paint And Sip Idea

Paint and sip is a great date idea for you and your spouse. It’s just the same thing you do in a paint and sip outing. All I am saying is, bring the idea home. Simply get blank canvases, some paints, and bottles of wine. So, make the moment counts with your painting exercise. Enjoy every moment of the painting. You may add other activities to spice up the moment and make it unique.

Food Date Idea

Here is another idea for a home date that you and your partner can try out. Simply get food ingredients ready. You may select a meal type outside your regular. It could be something you eat once in a while. Then make the date happen in the kitchen as you show your skills. Spice it up with light music. You can even make a food manual available. Make sure you rate the outcome, I mean the food.

Video Games Idea

Not a video game fan before now? Well, it is another great stay-at-home date ideas. Just check out one video game and get it ready for a great time. You play, laugh, and have a great time together. There are lots of video games to select from. These may include but are not limited to strategy, sport, etc. Choose any one that will be of interest to you and your partner. Of course with drinks and something to make the moment count.

Backyard Camp Idea

This is a great home date idea. You can make a camp happen in your backyard with your partner. It gives you the two experiences; you feel in a camp and at home. The vegetation in your backyard can give you that camping feeling. You can add other things to make it great.

Puzzle Date

Create a date with your spouse to solve the puzzle together at home. The puzzle may seem old-fashioned or underrated but it’s a great way to catch fun and make the moment great. It can be picture puzzles, an alphabet, or simply arithmetic arrangements. Whichever one, be sure you are in for a nice time. You can spice it up with discussions in between.

Draw Me Out Idea

Make the home date count by making it a draw-me-out challenge. Simply provide drawing materials. Then take a posture of your choice and wait why your partner draws you out. Spice up the draw-me-out date with great drink, music, and conversation. Artistic couples will this more interesting.

See also: TOP 10 Useful Advices For Your First Date.

Family History Idea

This home date idea will not only give you memorable moments but will also bond you and your partner together. So, you have the opportunity to share histories in your family that your partner doesn’t know. Your partner can also share what they think on what they know about your family. Spice the moment with other side attractions.

Sing Aloud

Try out this great idea. All you need to do to make it great and special is to sing along or mime the songs. So, simply get an old playlist of songs. You can as well get the lyrics. You will be shocked at how much fun you will get from this. You can try those miming things and see how you can go with old and new songs. You can begin with college days music.

See also: How to propose a girl? 10 proven ways.

Personality Test

Well, here is another way to get started with the fun. Take your personality test together and have your results. After getting the results, discuss them. But you can take the test together. This is where you maybe be knowing something new about your partner. So, you catch more fun while you know your partner more. You may even get to discover more than you think there is to your partner.

Digital Event Idea

You can make it a date with your partner in your home as you go for the digital event. So, you learn and laugh together especially if it’s an entertainment digital event. It promises to be great as you engage your partner. It can be something like a comedy show, couples night, or anything to get you together. Just connect.

Don’t Forget The Steps

I will advise this, especially for older couples. Remind yourself of the dance steps. Call it any moment but let it take you back to some dance steps in your history. Remember the dance steps that stole your heart then, it can still do the magic now. Try this stay-at-home date idea, I am sure you will be glad you did. You may spice it with other things to make it a great stay-at-home date.

Something New

This is another one to try among the stay-at-home date ideas, here you will need to identify something you can learn together in a few words. Even if you don’t learn it all in one sitting, at least get started in love. You can even see these things on YouTube. There is hardly anything you want to learn that is not there. You will even get a step-by-step video. You only need to select the things that you want to learn that can connect both of you. You can as well get a manual that gives instructions on how to go about understanding that particular thing or subject.

Tie-Dye Craft

Here is another great stay-at-home date idea that can enable you and your spouse to get creative, catch fun and make the moment count. Simply get a kit for tie-dye and some white cloth on which the design will be appearing. Make some great designs with the love of your life as you have a great time out. You can create designs with it that will serve as your souvenir for your home date. Make sure you add some music depending on the genre you love. That’s you making the moment count for you both.

Technology Aside Idea

This is another great idea to experience yourselves and keep the fire of your love burning. Put all forms of technology aside so that you can see just yourselves. There should be no interference with the outside world through SMS, chats, calls, etc. Well, this technology seems to be taking more from our relationship than it is adding. You may either move them aside or pick a venue in your home where you will neither see them nor be influenced by them. It’s a moment for you and your partner. This is a great idea much more than you can ever think of.

Through The Pages Idea

You can as well consider this great date idea for a home date. Get a nice short romantic book you can read together. Take turns to read it to each other while you discuss the book content. Pick a book with a theme or something you and your partner will enjoy together. It will foster the connection with your partner if it is done regularly. Blend it with light music in the background and drinks. It promises to be great.

These are great but simple stay-at-home date ideas for couples. Interestingly, these are not expensive. These ideas can be achieved without you breaking the bank. This list was made with your pocket in mind. It only calls for creativity and it does not necessarily have to be expensive. It can only come with creativity. Just do something outside the box. The more creative you are about it, the more you enjoy it.

Finally, please note that the relationship only works by the extent to which you have worked it. If you see other people’s relationships getting stronger, it is because they decided to work it out. This is part of the strategy to work your relationship with your partner. Try out as many as possible any of these stay-at-home date ideas in this piece. This is the moment for it, at least for now until covid19 infections drastically go down.

Article written by: Adeyemi Bello

People fork over huge sums of money to live in a place with a view over the water, whether it be the ocean, a bay, a lake, a lagoon, or a fjord. There is something inherently magical about waking up to the sun glittering over the sea or watching as thick mist rolls in over a lake.

But what if you’re gazing out at the water, feeling all kinds of peace, just to see a shadowy figure staring back at you? Or you hear someone humming a long-forgotten tune while you’re strolling along the shore, and you find yourself face to face with a red-eyed mermaid ready to stick sharp claws into your flesh.

Water mythology has been around for a very long time and centers around a slew of scary characters and fabled objects. On this list are just a few of these.

Related: Top 10 Cryptids You’ve Never Heard Of

10 Burning Ship of the Northumberland Strait

If you’re not familiar with Canadian topography, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia aren’t places you would likely recognize. Unless you’ve read L. M. Montgomery’s acclaimed Anne of Green Gables, that is.

However, the Northumberland Strait, located between PEI, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, has put Canada on the paranormal map, as opposed to the literary one.

In 1900, a group of sailors from Charlottetown spotted a ship sailing toward the shore. As the ship drew near, the sailors saw her masts crawling with crew members trying to escape an inferno on the deck. The sailors sprang into action, jumping into a rowboat and oaring toward the burning ship. Just before they reached it, the ship disappeared before their eyes.

This wasn’t the first sighting of the ship. Reports have been trickling in since 1786, and the legend of the burning schooner has served as inspiration for novels, articles, and songs. It even has its own dedicated Canadian postage stamp.

A couple in Glengarry also saw the ship one evening in 1950, fully rigged and engulfed in flames, sailing down the Northumberland Strait. Unlike most urban legends, there is no backstory to this phenomenon. No sinking or tragedy that could have given rise to this eerie story. Instead, those who live in the area just try to keep an eye out for the burning ship and cross their fingers against bad luck.^[1]

9 Flathead Lake Monster

Scotland is not the only place that boasts a water-dwelling monster. Flathead Lake in Montana falls within the boundary of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Flathead Reservation and is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi in the lower forty-eight states.

In 1889, the skipper of the U.S. Grant steamboat and several passengers spotted what seemed to be a huge log in the waters of Flathead Lake. As they approached the object, they realized it was a living creature. It was coming toward them and moving fast. One passenger fired at it with a rifle but missed. And so was born the legend of the Flathead Lake Monster.

Those who have encountered the monster describe it as a massive eel-shaped creature of up to forty feet (12.2 meters). Some say it looks like a giant sturgeon with a head like a bowling ball. There have been many more sightings over the years, and the monster has earned the nickname “Flessie.”

In a strange turn of events, a three-year-old boy who couldn’t swim was found soaking wet at the end of a dock at the lake in 2017. When he was asked what had happened to him, he said that he’d fallen into the lake and a monster had lifted him up and out to safety.^[2]

8 Miniwashitu

In 1921, curator Melvin Randolph Gilmore wrote about a creature named Miniwashitu. This mysterious being was allegedly seen in the Missouri River, glowing like fire and producing an unearthly sound. Soon people began believing that those who saw the beast in the daytime would become inflicted with insanity and unexplained physical pain.

The monster is said to have red hair and one eye in the middle of its forehead, with a horn protruding above it. Its backbone looks like a giant saw.

Even in modern times, Missouri locals still tell the story of the Miniwashitu. It is believed that the monster still lurks in the river and moves upstream during springtime. Sometimes it moves around in winter, breaking ice that has formed over the water.^[3]

7 Ashrays

There is more to Scotland than just unicorns and the Loch Ness Monster. Here you might just bump into what looks like an underwater ghost known as an Ashray. Ashrays cannot live on land and are only found beneath the water’s surface. They resemble the ghosts of humans, as they are entirely translucent, and the best time to look for them is, of course, in the dark of night as they are nocturnal creatures.

In English folklore exists the Asrai, which is supposed to be an aquatic fairy. Legend has it that a fisherman once captured an Asrai and put it in his boat. The Asrai pleaded with the fisherman in a language he could not understand, but the fisherman proceeded to tie wet weeds around the fairy, burning his hands in the process when he touched its skin. Eventually, the Asrai melted into a puddle of water. It is believed that these creatures perish if exposed to the sun for too long.

They are said to have green hair and a mermaid-like fishtail. They only come up to the surface once every hundred years to bathe in the moonlight.^[4]

6 Spiteful Mermaid

Most people have heard of the so-called “water babies” found in lakes and rivers in America. Urban legend says that ancient members of the Paiute Tribe would drown disabled babies in bodies of water, only for the babies to return in spirit form and cry out over the water when night falls.

Pyramid Lake in Nevada is not only one of the locations where the wail of water babies has been heard, but it is also where a brokenhearted mermaid is believed to have spoken a curse after her marriage to a Paiute Tribe member was frowned upon. She was banished from the land and, in turn, vowed revenge should any tribe members go anywhere near the lake. To this day, many Paiute members still believe that any bad luck suffered by the tribe can be attributed to the mermaid’s curse.

Perhaps the scariest part of Pyramid Lake is that it is the last remnant of the ancient Lake Lahontan, and it was also the deepest part. This means that no one really knows what lies in the sediments far below.^[5]

5 Ship of Death

In 1862, Leon Webber watched as a veil of mist enveloped the Platte River in Wyoming. He moved closer to the river’s edge and, out of curiosity, tossed a small stone at the mist. It instantly transformed into a ship covered in frost.

Webber could only stare as several sailors onboard, who were also covered in frost, closed ranks around an object lying on the deck. When they scattered, Webber saw that the object was the body of a young woman. Then with a shock, he realized he was looking at his own fiancé.

Trying to push the experience from his mind, Webber returned home a month later only to find that his fiancé had died on the very same day he’d seen the vision of her corpse.

Since then, the aptly nicknamed Ship of Death has been sighted every 25 years. Creepily, all the sightings are reported to have taken place in the middle of the day, when temperatures usually soar, which makes it somewhat more difficult to explain away the thick, rolling mist and the shadows some witnesses have seen form over the water.^[6]

4 Hafgufa

An Icelandic legend has it that a ginormous sea monster named Hafgufa once existed in the Greenland sea. The monster was said to be a massive fish whose top part resembled an island. Sightings of Hafgufa were rare, but a sailor once witnessed her belch and expel a huge amount of food which attracted thousands of fish. The fish crowded into Hafgufa’s mouth, and she swallowed them all in one go.

It is believed that Hafgufa was the mother of all sea monsters and ate anything she could catch, including ships, humans, and whales. Because she resembled an island, many sailors would mistake her nose and head, which she raised above the surface at low tide, for rocks.^[7]

3 The Octavius

In 1761, the Octavius docked in the port of London and took on cargo destined for China. The ship left London with a full crew on board, as well as the family of the captain. They made the trip safely to China, and once they took on cargo meant to be offloaded in Britain, the captain decided to sail the Northwest Passage. After entering the passage, the ship vanished without a trace.

Fast forward to 1775. The whaling ship, Herald, was sailing the waters of Greenland when her crew saw another ship a distance away. As they sailed closer to the ship, they saw that she was in bad shape. Some of the crew boarded the vessel to investigate and made a horrific discovery below deck. In the crew’s quarters, all 28 crew members of the Octavius were found in a frozen state. The captain was seated at his desk, frozen to his seat. Behind him were his wife and son, both frozen.

The Herald crew members were shocked and terrified. They grabbed the ship’s log and fled. In their haste, the book’s middle pages loosened and were lost. What remained of the writing in the logbook told the story of the ship becoming stuck in the Arctic ice near Barrow, Alaska. Fearing that the Octavius was cursed, the crew of the Herald simply let it drift off. It was never seen again and might still be floating in the open water somewhere, its unlucky passengers still onboard.^[8]

2 Lorelei

On the echoing rock, Lurlei, on the southern bank of the River Rhine, you might just spot Lorelei. German lore tells the story of a woman who had been betrayed by her lover. Her heart shattered, she drowned herself in the river and was reincarnated into a siren. The murmuring echo that emanates from Lurlei is said to be Lorelei’s song, calling men onto the rocks and their subsequent doom.

Heinrich Heine wrote a poem called “Die Lorelei” in 1824, which has since been set to music by several composers.

“The comb she holds is golden,
She sings a song as well
Whose melody binds an enthralling
And overpowering spell.
In his little boat, the boatman
Is seized with a savage woe,
He’d rather look up at the mountain
Than down at the rocks below…”^[9]

1 The Celtic Merrow

Ireland is steeped in folklore. Here you will hear tales of wailing banshees, mischievous leprechauns, and creepy fairies. It is also the place you’ll find the Celtic merrow who used to live in the Celtic seas according to legend.

A merrow is a mermaid with a magical cap that enables her to travel between the sea and the shore. When the merrow combed her soft hair, sailors and fishermen were entranced. The comb used was of the magical variety and a symbol of feminine power.

The merrow is said to be either male or female, with the difference being that the women were exceptionally beautiful, but the men were hideously ugly. The merrow men became bitter when the women looked toward human men for mates. They resorted to capturing sailors and keeping them imprisoned underwater in revenge.

Should a male human wish to keep one of the merrow women with him on land, he would need to take away her magical cap before she could enchant him by singing. Possessing her cap meant the man would eventually be able to persuade her to marry him as well. However, the couple’s wedded bliss would be short-lived, as the merrow woman would search until she found her cap and then drag her husband underneath the waves with her.^[10]