Lingering Questions/Ideas after Discussion

1) What does the poem quoted from Rudyard Kipling on page 138 in Hochschild's book mean?

 "Ship me somewheres east of Suez,
where the best is like the worst,
Where there aren't no Ten Commandments,
an' a man can raise a thirst" (138 Hochschild). 


I understand why the chapter was called Where there Aren't no Ten Commandments, but aren't sure what "where the best is like the worst" and "an' a man can raise a thirst" means.

 2) The group discussion could have been better if those who did not speak much would have spoken more. The discussion of seven turned into a discussion of three and when the three of us held back from speaking there were long awkward pauses. Also, if the questions we were answering did not only have one direct answer and left space for opinions, they would be better discussion questions. It did not take us long to answer each question because they only had one direct answer and we read quotes to support. Something our group did well was using support from the book and explaining its significance to the discussion. We answered 4 questions.